- Joined
- Sep 14, 2013
- Messages
- 3
This is my first post and I am only recently getting into collecting knives. I live in Alaska in a remote cabin much of the time and I use several different knives up there (Bucks, Kershaws, etc). My favorite EDC for the lower 48 is a Benchmade 940 Osborne, I have several other knives but this is the only one that seems to ever end up in my pocket; to me it is the perfect EDC knife in the city and at home in the kitchen. I bought the 940 after I lost a Buck 110 that had been my exclusive EDC for a couple of years, and since getting my hand on a benchmade I can't seem to stop buying more knives (before it never occurred to me to have more than 2, work/home). I have recently purchased some Mcustas, Lionsteels, and Bokers as I've begun collecting. Several of these are in the mail still so I can't compare them yet to what I am looking for here.
And now that I'm getting into knives I want to find the perfect one for my work environment and would like to ask some advice from the forum. I am in the Merchant Marine and work on large vessels that cross the inside passage and the Gulf of Alaska year round. I'm an Able-Bodied Seaman (i.e. sailor) and have all sorts of blue collar/nautical tasks to perform every day that need a knife. My daily kit includes one knife, one multitool, one flashlight, and I have to get by with those tools for everything I do. Often it is in a chaotic/hazardous environment (rain, ice, snow, saltwater, rough seas etc); I have to cut everything there is to cut and am often using my knife for purposes for which it is the wrong tool, simply because it's what I have, and end up using it to pry/unscrew/what-have you. I have to cut line constantly. (Theoretically my ability to cut through very thick line very quickly could save a life at some point...but thankfully nothing like this has ever happened.) I am often wearing gloves in the winter. I am often zipping around in little zodiacs and/or dangling over the water, and it is easy to lose small items overboard, so no custom/thousand dollar knives. (I am willing to use a relatively expensive knife, though; if it does its job and I like it it will be worth the investment...I figure I will I lose knives only once every 1-1.5 years or so.) I also eat apples and oranges every day and this knife will have to perform that function also! This knife will be a part of my arm for several months at a time, so I would definitely like something that I like, enjoy, and can have fun just playing with when things are slow and there's nothing to do at sea.
I've been using cheap, small folders (crkt), a myerchin (which broke after six months), or even just the blades in my leatherman multitools, but now that I'm getting into knives I am realizing that I have been using tools that aren't suited for the job, and I would like to remedy that. I'd like to find a knife I really like, that can perform all the tasks I need it to, and hold up under heavy use. From what I've seen so far I think that a general, low cost knife that might do well for me is a griptillian. I considered the Kershaw blur for a bit, but I don't think assisted knives are a safe option in 30 foot waves, frankly. The griptillian is the mid-range knife that seems like it would meet a lot of my criteria, but I suspect that there is a knife that is heavier duty and sturdier that will perform better for me.
So does anyone have any ideas or recommendations? To sum up: I need a knife that is both heavy duty and easy to carry in a pocket, that can perform any task on a boat, cut a lot of line, be mis-purposed, misused, and abused, slice apples well, impress my co-workers, make me happy, and not give me a heart attack if I ever watch it fall into the drink. What would you guys recommend?
(Oh yeah, no fixed blades. There is a coast guard regulation that has been on the books for decades that sailors aren't allowed to use fixed blades because it would encourage them to stab each other. Frankly it's probably still a good rule.)
Thanks!
And now that I'm getting into knives I want to find the perfect one for my work environment and would like to ask some advice from the forum. I am in the Merchant Marine and work on large vessels that cross the inside passage and the Gulf of Alaska year round. I'm an Able-Bodied Seaman (i.e. sailor) and have all sorts of blue collar/nautical tasks to perform every day that need a knife. My daily kit includes one knife, one multitool, one flashlight, and I have to get by with those tools for everything I do. Often it is in a chaotic/hazardous environment (rain, ice, snow, saltwater, rough seas etc); I have to cut everything there is to cut and am often using my knife for purposes for which it is the wrong tool, simply because it's what I have, and end up using it to pry/unscrew/what-have you. I have to cut line constantly. (Theoretically my ability to cut through very thick line very quickly could save a life at some point...but thankfully nothing like this has ever happened.) I am often wearing gloves in the winter. I am often zipping around in little zodiacs and/or dangling over the water, and it is easy to lose small items overboard, so no custom/thousand dollar knives. (I am willing to use a relatively expensive knife, though; if it does its job and I like it it will be worth the investment...I figure I will I lose knives only once every 1-1.5 years or so.) I also eat apples and oranges every day and this knife will have to perform that function also! This knife will be a part of my arm for several months at a time, so I would definitely like something that I like, enjoy, and can have fun just playing with when things are slow and there's nothing to do at sea.
I've been using cheap, small folders (crkt), a myerchin (which broke after six months), or even just the blades in my leatherman multitools, but now that I'm getting into knives I am realizing that I have been using tools that aren't suited for the job, and I would like to remedy that. I'd like to find a knife I really like, that can perform all the tasks I need it to, and hold up under heavy use. From what I've seen so far I think that a general, low cost knife that might do well for me is a griptillian. I considered the Kershaw blur for a bit, but I don't think assisted knives are a safe option in 30 foot waves, frankly. The griptillian is the mid-range knife that seems like it would meet a lot of my criteria, but I suspect that there is a knife that is heavier duty and sturdier that will perform better for me.
So does anyone have any ideas or recommendations? To sum up: I need a knife that is both heavy duty and easy to carry in a pocket, that can perform any task on a boat, cut a lot of line, be mis-purposed, misused, and abused, slice apples well, impress my co-workers, make me happy, and not give me a heart attack if I ever watch it fall into the drink. What would you guys recommend?
(Oh yeah, no fixed blades. There is a coast guard regulation that has been on the books for decades that sailors aren't allowed to use fixed blades because it would encourage them to stab each other. Frankly it's probably still a good rule.)
Thanks!
Some say the balisong was originally a sailor's knife.
