Most useful pattern

M

mdsmith

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Jan 7, 2009
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If someone you knew, who was not a knife person, was looking for a knife for general use, which pattern would you recommend? Let's take SAKs out of the running.

For me, two patterns come to mind. For a multi blade knife I think the stockman is very versatile. For a single blade, I'd recommend a sodbuster.
 
I think a jack is. You have two blades, one smaller and one larger. Seems like that is all you would need.
 
Vanguard41xx said:
I think a jack is. You have two blades, one smaller and one larger. Seems like that is all you would need.
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I agree with this.

While I have a couple small stockman knives that are nice to carry, the jack knife is by far my most used knife. Simple, yet versatile.

Also, I think a non-knife person may tend toward a smaller package since they are not accustomed to toting a knife around.
 
I vote small stockman. It is very hard for me to get in the mind of a non-knife person.....just sayin!
 
I'd probably go with a small stockman like a 3 1/4 Buck cadet. Not too big to intimidate a non knife person, but big enough to handle those everyday cutting jobs that come up. Second choice would be a old time barlow. Hard to beat a two blade jack. Two blades for two different edges.
 
When you exclude SAK's does that include camper patterns? I'd bet having those tools on hand would be a good selling point, whats a better reason then " why spend time looking for a cap litter when you have one in your pocket?"

If campers are out, then something in the 3" length would be good I bet, small enough to be fiendly, large enough to tasks at hand. A nice sway back jack maybe
 
Most useful pattern? Why not ask us who has the prettiest wife.

Medium Stockman by far. It's the epitome of versatility.
Followed closely by a congress with four redundant blades. :)

Subbed.
 
brets-ftw said:
When you exclude SAK's does that include camper patterns? I'd bet having those tools on hand would be a good selling point, whats a better reason then " why spend time looking for a cap litter when you have one in your pocket?"

If campers are out, then something in the 3" length would be good I bet, small enough to be fiendly, large enough to tasks at hand. A nice sway back jack maybe
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I would agree, a scout pattern would be perfect, IMO.

They can cut, lift caps, tighten screws, open cans, punch holes and be used to scrape - perfect for the average Joe for day to day life, especially on the road.
 
mdsmith said:
Most useful pattern
If someone you knew, who was not a knife person, was looking for a knife for general use, which pattern would you recommend? Let's take SAKs out of the running.

For me, two patterns come to mind. For a multi blade knife I think the stockman is very versatile. For a single blade, I'd recommend a sodbuster.
Click to expand...

You kinda got two questions going there:
1) most useful pattern
2) What useful knife would I give to a non-knife person.

1) For me, the most useful pattern is a 4" stockman.
2) But last year when I gave a knife to a non-knife person, I chose a simple Case pen knife because its smaller, rounder, and more likely for him to slip into the pocket.

IMO it takes a bit of usage to figure out all the good points of a stockman.
 
I'd have to say a Wharncliffe Trapper, I carry and use one about everyday and it
will do anything you need in a days work. It rides nice and it's a great size 3-1/2 or 3-5/8.

Jason
 
knarfeng said:
You kinda got two questions going there:
1) most useful pattern
2) What useful knife would I give to a non-knife person.

1) For me, the most useful pattern is a 4" stockman.
2) But last year when I gave a knife to a non-knife person, I chose a simple Case pen knife because its smaller, rounder, and more likely for him to slip into the pocket.

IMO it takes a bit of usage to figure out all the good points of a stockman.
Click to expand...

Good point. I guess the non knife person part was more just to set up a scenario where you would need to think of only the knifes utility, instead of looking at from our perspective, which tends to incorporate many other factors.
 
If it was one of you guys cousin, I would say a two blade clip/warcliff.....But here is a different sort of consideration. I would likely say a small stockman because the 'non-knife' person could feel a part of the knife clan when they see a bunch of other people carrying the same type of knife. If female get a nice colorful scale stockman, if a guy get one that has some jigged bone, yellow, stag or even black sawcut and tell them its 'historical'. Either type would be a knife like there Grandpa carried and be sure to say so. All this for the effort to not only get them a good knife, but to make them a convert to the clan...........300
 
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Hmmm... well you took my first suggestion out of the running. I think a SAK is about right. Of course it all depends why a non-knife person wants a knife in the first place. A Stockman? If you're a non-knife person, what blade do you choose, and why? And unless you're cutting nuts off pigs, what's the point (no pun...) of the spey blade?
I say fewer blades, so a larger and smaller blade make some sense. And stainless. Or a single blade lockback. Or yeah, a...
 
Wharncliffe mini-trapper.

3-1/2", not too big, not too small, one curved belly and one straight edged to handle anything.
 
I like big spey blades for a few tasks.

Cutting fruit and cheese is better with a spey blade than either clip or pointy spear point for any food prep that does not require fine point control. If you bump your hands (thinking specifically when holding potatos to slice etc), you don't get a stab.

A clip/warncliff trapper would be excellent as well.


I love the look of equal end stockman and cattleman knives.
 
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Hm... This I asked to myself almost several times. Imo (!) the most useful pattern is the Jackknife (including the mighty Peanut) for EDC. Two different blades of shape and length. And small enough to add a bigger knife, if needed for the days work.

Kind regards
Andi
 
I like a medium/medium small stockman. The main clip blade is used on things that the other blades aren't designated for or won't work well at, and the spey blade is used for the more paper related jobs (cutting sandpaper, opening mail, etc.). I put a thinner edge on the spey blade, and it works great. The sheepsfoot is for whittlin' and other tasks that are similar (cutting away sheathing from a wire), as well as opening clamshell packages. The knife really has to be sharp, useful, attractive, easy to pick up, and hard to forget each morning.

Cheers,
Connor
 
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