My name is Samek and I'm a knifoholic. And axeoholic. And multitooloholic. And so on
.holic. But seriously: I'm 52 years old, I'm forest ingeneer and I'm working as nature conservationist. I spend a lot of time in nature, I manage basic woodcraft and survival skills and I never go in nature without a knife (= two knives and hatchet 
). Already as a kid I have always had a jack-knife in my pocket.
Affection to this simple and allmighty tool increased and with it also the number, shapes and sizes of my cutting tools. I learned how to mend, improve, reshape, remake and to sharpen them, how to make new handles and make leather sheats and pouches, and use them in 1000 and 1 way. To the knives soon joined some axes, hatchets, machetes and clearing tools and also little woodworking and woodcarving knives.
Books and internet increased my knewledge about cutting tools. Today I possess over a hundred of knives about 40 SAKs, about 25 other pocket knives, cca 10 multitools, the rest are fixblades, from little ones with just 2 or 3 cm long blades to large and heavy knives that weight half a kilo or more, some machetes an a dozen of axes and hatchets. Among them are beautiful specimens of knifecrafting, for example Busse, Fällkniven, Cold Steel, scandinavian and other knives and axes and hatchets from Gransfors Bruks, Wetterlings and Pfeil. I am allways kept up with news in knife craftsmanship and I afford myself quite often a knife nowelty and test and use it in nature for work and bushcrafting purposes, around a house or in my workroom.
But, interesting, this hardly awaited and sometimes financially not-easy-to-buy things somehow don't stay in constant use. I make to them sometimes new, better handles and sheats, but they slowly find their final place in a drawer and stays there
.
But, in long years there was formed (based on my experiences, habits, nostalgy and their usability) a group of knives and other cutting tools which are in everyday use and are my permanent companions. Today I gathered them all and phpotographed them. There are no famouous names (except Victorinox
) and no technical perfect and expensive noveltys and new superb materials among them. But, theye are good, old, trusty experienced tools, the ones I possess and use for many years, I am used to them and I like them much more than the »drawer« group.
Here is my 1st team:
1. Wooden handeled slip joint, 35 years old;
2. ugly knife with handle made of plastic junk and little piece of bone (?), 50 years old;
3. swedish Mora knife with wooden handle, carbon steel, pretty old, scandi grind;
4. Swiss Champ XL, about 10 or 12 years old, his home is on my belt;
5. light machete, made 35 years ago in a factory nearby, intended for export in South America;
6. heavy machete from Italy, rusted, with stamp INOX on it , 15 years old;
7. branch cutter clearing tool (?), Swiss pattern, forged by my uncle 25 years ago,
8. hatchet, same origin, 30 years old,
9. kitchen knife, perhaps over 100 years old;
10. carving woodworking knife I made 20 years ago from broken slip-joint that looked like the first on that list.
This tools (and one heavier axe and woodsaw) are all I need. And I am still buying new ones. Stupid me.
I wonder if among you, forum friends, feels someone just like me; if there is someone who uses old, trusted knives, rather than quality novelties, which are waiting in drawers for better times. If so, show them (not only old knives and axes but tools you really like much more than other tools and use them for a long time and have special place in your heart) and tell us something about them.
I think you noticed english is not my mothers language. That's why there are pictures; they tell more than thousand words.
Greetings, Samek
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). Already as a kid I have always had a jack-knife in my pocket.Affection to this simple and allmighty tool increased and with it also the number, shapes and sizes of my cutting tools. I learned how to mend, improve, reshape, remake and to sharpen them, how to make new handles and make leather sheats and pouches, and use them in 1000 and 1 way. To the knives soon joined some axes, hatchets, machetes and clearing tools and also little woodworking and woodcarving knives.
Books and internet increased my knewledge about cutting tools. Today I possess over a hundred of knives about 40 SAKs, about 25 other pocket knives, cca 10 multitools, the rest are fixblades, from little ones with just 2 or 3 cm long blades to large and heavy knives that weight half a kilo or more, some machetes an a dozen of axes and hatchets. Among them are beautiful specimens of knifecrafting, for example Busse, Fällkniven, Cold Steel, scandinavian and other knives and axes and hatchets from Gransfors Bruks, Wetterlings and Pfeil. I am allways kept up with news in knife craftsmanship and I afford myself quite often a knife nowelty and test and use it in nature for work and bushcrafting purposes, around a house or in my workroom.
But, interesting, this hardly awaited and sometimes financially not-easy-to-buy things somehow don't stay in constant use. I make to them sometimes new, better handles and sheats, but they slowly find their final place in a drawer and stays there
.But, in long years there was formed (based on my experiences, habits, nostalgy and their usability) a group of knives and other cutting tools which are in everyday use and are my permanent companions. Today I gathered them all and phpotographed them. There are no famouous names (except Victorinox
) and no technical perfect and expensive noveltys and new superb materials among them. But, theye are good, old, trusty experienced tools, the ones I possess and use for many years, I am used to them and I like them much more than the »drawer« group.Here is my 1st team:
1. Wooden handeled slip joint, 35 years old;
2. ugly knife with handle made of plastic junk and little piece of bone (?), 50 years old;
3. swedish Mora knife with wooden handle, carbon steel, pretty old, scandi grind;
4. Swiss Champ XL, about 10 or 12 years old, his home is on my belt;
5. light machete, made 35 years ago in a factory nearby, intended for export in South America;
6. heavy machete from Italy, rusted, with stamp INOX on it , 15 years old;
7. branch cutter clearing tool (?), Swiss pattern, forged by my uncle 25 years ago,
8. hatchet, same origin, 30 years old,
9. kitchen knife, perhaps over 100 years old;
10. carving woodworking knife I made 20 years ago from broken slip-joint that looked like the first on that list.
This tools (and one heavier axe and woodsaw) are all I need. And I am still buying new ones. Stupid me.
I wonder if among you, forum friends, feels someone just like me; if there is someone who uses old, trusted knives, rather than quality novelties, which are waiting in drawers for better times. If so, show them (not only old knives and axes but tools you really like much more than other tools and use them for a long time and have special place in your heart) and tell us something about them.
I think you noticed english is not my mothers language. That's why there are pictures; they tell more than thousand words.
Greetings, Samek
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