My God! I think I'm there!

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zrfunited said:
I think this is the proverbial nail on the head. It's what gives your posts weight with me. It isn't the extreme tests of a knife but the daily and spontaneous utility of these knives. It's brilliant; I think my internal dialog for too long was missing the point, "what if .....(A) or (B) or both extreme situation happens, will this handle it?" Often to the point that my knife choice was overkill for my needs. I suppose it just youths folly of imagining crisis and heroic deeds to be quite honest. Now I have blades that will be proudly passed to my children and they will have true character, not imagined intent. .....sorry guys I got so excited by this thread that I lost all consideration of it's subject and went off on a tangent. The lost point here is that the downsizing has hit me as well and I am really excited by it. Like others have said, it will definitely be better for my wallet. Although I suspect that I will just be more directed in my purchases and not so thoughtlessly random.

Brandon
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Brandon, that's the trap I had fallen into many years ago. The young mans 'what if' senerio. In my 20's I carried a Randall 14 as my backpacking knife. Overkill to the max, but I had bit on the hype and and high end knife. Only after reaching middle age, and age made me take a hard look at what I had leave out of my pack, did the hype fade. After age 40, knee's weren't what they used to be, an old injury to my right foot acted up, and I had to cut weight. In the almost 20 years I carried that Randall, I never used it for anything that needed that big and heavy a knife. It was phased out for a Frosts mora number 1 and the mora served just fine. Old age makes one get more pragmatic, if only for the reasons that you can't carry stuff like you used to. Reality has a way of popping up in real life. Now I don't worry over the 'what if', but just go out and do what I do, and carry stuff that does what I need. All my knife has to do is cut bait, twine, boxes, open mail, and I'm happy. I'll leave the Walter Mitty fantacies to others. The fact that I love the looks of the peanut is just gravy for the 'taters. :D

Carl.
 
I´m slowly but surely getting there as wel.
Still have the little yella Peanut on me.
Including bandana which really works.
Didn´t need any other bigger knife.
Sure, I still fondle my Spydies, but the little peanut does it for me at the moment.
 
I dont understand all the hubub over the peanut pattern to me it just seems to be a smaller texas jack. (wich im planing on getting next month) but maybe i will get a cheaper case peanut along with it to see if I will then, finaly understand the love some of you guys have for this pattern.
 
TheSharpStuff said:
I dont understand all the hubub over the peanut pattern to me it just seems to be a smaller texas jack. (wich im planing on getting next month) but maybe i will get a cheaper case peanut along with it to see if I will then, finaly understand the love some of you guys have for this pattern.
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For me, it isn't so much that the peanut is distinct pattern or offers a blade combination that I can't get in other patterns(it's just a small jack knife). My evergrowing appreciation for it stems from not liking to have any more weight and bulk in my pockets then is absolutesy necessary. I think that for a lot of people, carrying this knife can be an eye opening experience in just what you really need in an everyday knife, and this small blade can handle most if not all of the task you come across on a daily basis (well, at least for me). Not that there's anything wrong with carrying something larger if that floats your boat.
 
zrfunited said:
I think this is the proverbial nail on the head. It's what gives your posts weight with me. It isn't the extreme tests of a knife but the daily and spontaneous utility of these knives. It's brilliant; I think my internal dialog for too long was missing the point, "what if .....(A) or (B) or both extreme situation happens, will this handle it?" Often to the point that my knife choice was overkill for my needs. I suppose it just youths folly of imagining crisis and heroic deeds to be quite honest. Now I have blades that will be proudly passed to my children and they will have true character, not imagined intent. .....sorry guys I got so excited by this thread that I lost all consideration of it's subject and went off on a tangent. The lost point here is that the downsizing has hit me as well and I am really excited by it. Like others have said, it will definitely be better for my wallet. Although I suspect that I will just be more directed in my purchases and not so thoughtlessly random.

Brandon
Click to expand...

Boy, can I relate to that! Being ultra-prepared, knife-wise was becoming an obsession. I would spend more time fussing over what knife to carry based on what I expected would happen that day than I did preparing for anything else. It got so ridiculous that I would get upset if I left the house and thought of a (usually unrealistic) scenario that my knife could not handle.
I have a daily rotation still but it is down to three knives, all slippies, all (relatively) small. It doesn't feel so much like I have given up something as much as I have freed myself from the burden of being over prepared.
Have I found "the one"?
The swayback jack and the small Texas jack come awful close and there is a peanut in my near future, we'll see.
 
yobbos1 said:
It doesn't feel so much like I have given up something as much as I have freed myself from the burden of being over prepared.
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:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Only now do I really get what my old man was trying to tell me; how not to carry more tool than I really needed, it'll weigh me down.

Carl.
 
I am in the same boat as alot of you.When I was younger I had to carry a big knife and was into the what if thing.I've aquired quite an array of knives over the last 35 years.I have a giant standing tool box full of them.Carl and his tales of the little Peanut pulled me in after a couple years on this forum.About 2 months ago my dear Wife purchased a Case Damascus Peanut for me.It is my favorite knife period and has not left my pocket.I carry a Vic Huntsman or Climber in a sheath on my belt,I use the various tools alot.But,that little Peanut is my "the knife",Thanks to Carl and his stories and my Wife whom bought it for me.I'm fast approaching 50 now and think I finally get it.-Jim
 
Peanut is the knife for me. I came to this conclusion after falling in love with the swayback jack. My wife bought me the swayback jack in exchange for me letting her do what she wants with the attic. I carried it in my pocket one day and then the peanut was back. This peanut is my albatross. So many knives will never be used again...
I used to have my top drawer as a dedicated knife drawer. Each morning, I would open the drawer and select one, often imagining I was Batman selecting which tools to put in my utility belt. Now, as I approach 40, I realize I don't live in Gotham City, and carrying a "folding broadsword" is just ridiculous overkill. If I were a cop, fireman, EMT, or park ranger, it would be a different story. But I'm not. I'm me. And peanut wins.
 
I think Case should issue a special edition peanut named after Carl for promoting their product so effectively over the years.
 
yobbos1 said:
I think Case should issue a special edition peanut named after Carl for promoting their product so effectively over the years.
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Probably a decent forum knife idea... I'd buy one, along with a Mr Van commemorative utility scout knife.
 
Hey Carl...
Once again...great reading my friend, what you bring to us at the forums here is immensely appreciated, and its neat that you are sharing your transition in your knife world.
Please....keep us updated of any venture that you embark upon...because you have all of our thoughts with you and your wife :thumbup:
I think that I have made several changes in my collecting, from a fixed blade obssesion, to a mental break down in the Traditional world :D, now I am broke....but damn I am happy :)
 
Once again, I get caught up in Jackknife's stories and threads...but how couldn't I? and mostly, why should I refrain from the pleasure of reading ur stories?
Lately I have noticed how much this part of BF is having an influence on me (and I guess it's not just about knives), so I want to thank u all (Jackknife first) for this. Somehow the new perspective makes me feel better.
My relationship with knives is kinda different from most people on this forum. Coming from a land of traditional folders, and not having seen one handed openers or "modern" knives at all until recently, made me grow up with the idea that a one blade non locking folder or a SAK is more than enough...my ancestors never seemed to be lacking anything as long as they had their resolza, and I bet they used their knife in a month as many times as I use mine in a year.
The bug of buying knives has touched me the moment I entered the world of US production knives, but living here kinda saved me from spending all my money in such things. The fact is that here any knife would cost twice as much as in the US, and somehow I never liked that. The "always prepared" things never made much sense to me...not on knives for sure (it can be a good thought on other subjects, but - for me - not about carrying 4 knives at a time while going to the supermarket. Also (mnblade would be proud of me) I have lived the last 10 years of my life spending all my savings to travel around the world, and I'm not willing to spend a thousands euros a year on knives...I rather spend 50 on knives and 950 on a trip.
The "Traditional" forum brought me back to where I began my path. There was a time (short one) when I wished I could spend 200 euros on a knife...well that time is way over.
I'm incredibly far from becoming a one knife man, and maybe I will never get there. But now I realized I feel perfectly fine with one knife in my pocket, and a relatively small one tho.
An Opinel 7, a 91mm SAK, a resolza or arburesa....they all work more than fine on my tasks. I'm glad I didn't spend much on other knives, especially now that I'm aware I will use them less and less with time, apart from a fixed blade for the outdoors.
Now I am thinking about my first (and probably only one - at least for a long time) traditional american pocket knife (I am willing to ask u for suggestions but I'm not doing it now). I assume this will kinda close the circle of the knives I use daily.
Choosing just one among them will take longer but I'm not in a hurry. I assume my roots and tradition will eventually take over, but for now I am happy to reduce my circle of sharp little friends to a few good ones...I know they won't let me down.
Thank u for sharing all ur lives through ur knives...cause that's what u do.
Fausto
:cool:
 
quattromori said:
Also (mnblade would be proud of me) I have lived the last 10 years of my life spending all my savings to travel around the world, and I'm not willing to spend a thousands euros a year on knives...I rather spend 50 on knives and 950 on a trip.
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Nice! Way to go. :thumbup: :thumbup:

-- Mark
 
Travelling (even more than camping/trekking) has taught me the importance of being as light as u can, and it's not just a matter of load or weight...don't want to get on the philosophical side but it's a matter of being light, more than carrying lightweigh...I try to be like that in my everyday life (sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't) and I wish Jackknife all the good for his new "simplified" lifestyle (in the best possible sense of the word)
Fausto
:cool:
 
I have no credit in this. As u said, I just stumbled on it, and I was lucky enough to notice that I had stumbled on something...but difficult as it may be, I hope I will be wise enough to take that road whenever I get the chance to do it...
Fausto
:cool:
 
quattromori said:
Once again, I get caught up in Jackknife's stories and threads...but how couldn't I? and mostly, why should I refrain from the pleasure of reading ur stories?
Lately I have noticed how much this part of BF is having an influence on me (and I guess it's not just about knives), so I want to thank u all (Jackknife first) for this. Somehow the new perspective makes me feel better.
My relationship with knives is kinda different from most people on this forum. Coming from a land of traditional folders, and not having seen one handed openers or "modern" knives at all until recently, made me grow up with the idea that a one blade non locking folder or a SAK is more than enough...my ancestors never seemed to be lacking anything as long as they had their resolza, and I bet they used their knife in a month as many times as I use mine in a year.
The bug of buying knives has touched me the moment I entered the world of US production knives, but living here kinda saved me from spending all my money in such things. The fact is that here any knife would cost twice as much as in the US, and somehow I never liked that. The "always prepared" things never made much sense to me...not on knives for sure (it can be a good thought on other subjects, but - for me - not about carrying 4 knives at a time while going to the supermarket. Also (mnblade would be proud of me) I have lived the last 10 years of my life spending all my savings to travel around the world, and I'm not willing to spend a thousands euros a year on knives...I rather spend 50 on knives and 950 on a trip.
The "Traditional" forum brought me back to where I began my path. There was a time (short one) when I wished I could spend 200 euros on a knife...well that time is way over.
I'm incredibly far from becoming a one knife man, and maybe I will never get there. But now I realized I feel perfectly fine with one knife in my pocket, and a relatively small one tho.
An Opinel 7, a 91mm SAK, a resolza or arburesa....they all work more than fine on my tasks. I'm glad I didn't spend much on other knives, especially now that I'm aware I will use them less and less with time, apart from a fixed blade for the outdoors.
Now I am thinking about my first (and probably only one - at least for a long time) traditional american pocket knife (I am willing to ask u for suggestions but I'm not doing it now). I assume this will kinda close the circle of the knives I use daily.
Choosing just one among them will take longer but I'm not in a hurry. I assume my roots and tradition will eventually take over, but for now I am happy to reduce my circle of sharp little friends to a few good ones...I know they won't let me down.
Thank u for sharing all ur lives through ur knives...cause that's what u do.
Fausto
:cool:
Click to expand...

You hit the nail right on the head Fausto.
However you have been a bit smarter than me:o
I had a time when I would spend a great amount of my money each year on my beloved Spydies which have cost me a small car:eek:

When I got to this forum, it slowly ceased.
I no longer need a $$$$$$ 10 centimetre bladed fully serrated one hand opener.
I get pretty much by with my SAK Alox Solo, Opinel or Yella Peanut.

Just wish I came to my senses and discovered this forum a lot sooner.
Could have done soo much other nice things with my "Spyderco money"
 
I was just lucky.
I guess most of it depended on circumstances: the fact that I didn't have much spare money at the very apex of the knife bug, and the fact that I live in a place where those knives are hard to find, and expensive, and pretty uncommon.
Since I guess the knife bug only hits once (altho it can last for very long,and I know better than getting hit again), I'm happy that I won't find myself one day looking at a closet full of wonderful and unused knives and thinking that, with all that money, I could have spent 3 weeks in the Andes or in Alaska or in one of the 1000 places I still want to discover in the world. And the funny thing is that I got into this website due to the knife bug, and this same forum eased my way out of it.
Fausto
:cool:
 
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