My thoughts on slipjoints

S

ShaiHulud

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Jul 21, 2022
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Like many, I grew up on them, my first was a sak of unknown model, later received a schrade stockman when schrade was still schrade tough, I fiddled with the sheepsfoot more than the others and it got a lot of use.
Like many others i also dabbled with modern locking folding knives, but I find myself going back to slipjoint knives, it's not their charm, or their traditional nostalgia, but rather the simplicity and durability of their design. While most of the old well-known names have gone belly up, their creations are ubiquitous, and I would always run into them in antique and thrift stores and others. Although old, they still have years left of use in them. And to me this puts them ahead of modern locking folders.
 
I’m with ya. Grew up watching dad and grandpa use Schrade and buck stockman. I have grandpas UH. I do like some modern knives. The sebenza is about perfection. I like the spyderco delica. Couple others. Dabble in Microtech OTF’s even. But I still always have a traditional on me. Also, I build and am always around nice cars. So, pocket clips are the devil. Even any modern I carry gets stripped of its paint scratcher. Which might be another reason I alway carry a traditional.

They each have their place and their use.
 
I like both and believe there is room for both in people’s lives.

Traditional knives bridge the time when knives were only made by blacksmiths and the Industrial Revolution that made them common and affordable for everyone. Still requiring skilled labor which is part of the charm, I think. Links to the past.
 
I usually carry both. I have a modern folder with a clip clipped to my right front pocket. I also carry a traditional folder in my right front pocket, usually a Buck 307 but sometimes an SAK. I use both depending on what I need and who's around.
 
Bit of a full circle thing for me, as a kid, slipjoints from the junk shop were probably the first thing I started with. Timeless classic. I am an equal opportunity collector tho. Love almost anything with an edge. Not big on serrated tho. Im sure they have their uses, but just not for me.
 
mrknife said:
Bit of a full circle thing for me, as a kid, slipjoints from the junk shop were probably the first thing I started with. Timeless classic. I am an equal opportunity collector tho. Love almost anything with an edge. Not big on serrated tho. Im sure they have their uses, but just not for me.
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Can't get around serrations either, but they are excellent to have in the garden
 
mrknife said:
Not big on serrated tho. Im sure they have their uses, but just not for me.
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agree.
None of my knives (including "bread knives") have serrations.
(unlike that fraud "Chef Tony" I know how to slice fresh baked bread WITHOUT crushing it using a non-serrated edge.)
that fraudulant p.o.💩 "Tony" crushes bread in his 0.5 and 1.0 hour long infomercials using a serrated blade ... tho not the same brand he is hawking ... 🙄

If/when I need a saw, I use a proper saw.
 
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I pretty much love traditional knives because they're the polar opposite of modern knives, they lack everything I hate about modern knives & the modern knife industry, and modern knives & the modern knife industry lack everything I love about traditionals.
Well that's how I got into and fell in love with traditionals anyways.
There was so much I didn't like that when I got into traditionals I just could not look back, I know plenty of people enjoy both but I simply can't.
As long as I stay away from the pocket clip and one hand opening I don't miss it, and my traditional knives would just constantly remind me of what I dislike about the modern stuff so they just can't coexist in my life.


What I specifically love besides the aesthetic is all the very small traditional options that are so satisfying , I just love little knives so much.
Then especially with slipjoints in particular I love the ability to just close the blade without having any sort of lock to deal with, I have a number of lockbacks that I love regardless but having to transition to and disengage the lock to close the knife is very noticed every time I carry one.
Having two blades is so great as well especially one that's smaller than the main, in fact when there's two blades one has gotta be smaller than the other or I don't need it.
 
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afishhunter said:
agree.
None of my knives (including "bread knives" ... unlike that fraud "Chef Tony" I know how to slice fresh baked bread WITHOUT crushing it using a non-serrated edge.) has serrations.
(that fraudulant p.o.💩 "Tony" crushes bread in his hour long infomercials using a serrated blade ... tho not the same brand he is hawking ... 🙄)
If/when I need a saw, I use a proper saw.
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If that bread gets too stale, I might consider my dad's 40 year old wood saw😏
 
Hickory n steel said:
I pretty much love traditional knives because they're the polar opposite of modern knives, they lack everything I hate about modern knives & the modern knife industry, and modern knives & the modern knife industry lack everything I love about traditionals.
Well that's how I got into and fell in love with traditionals anyways.
There was so much I didn't like that when I got into traditionals I just could not look back, I know plenty of people enjoy both but I simply can't.
As long as I stay away from the pocket clip and one hand opening I don't miss it, and my traditional knives would just constantly remind me of what I dislike about the modern stuff so they just can't coexist in my life.


What I specifically love besides the aesthetic is all the very small traditional options that are so satisfying , I just love little knives so much.
Then especially with slipjoints in particular I love the ability to just close the blade without having any sort of lock to deal with, I have a number of lockbacks that I love regardless but having to transition to and disengage the lock to close the knife is very noticed every time I carry one.
Having two blades is so great as well especially one that's smaller than the main, in fact when there's two blades one has gotta be smaller than the other or I don't need it.
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I agree 100%, wonderfully written, you illuminated the same issues I've noticed with the modern knife industry over time
 
Definitely a nostalgia thing for me as my grandad always had one on him and used it for everything. And that’s what I started with, slipjoints from our local hardware store (and I bought a bunch because I couldn’t keep from losing them). I have a couple Case knives from my grandad and his Old Western 2 blade that he used to clean his deer with and a couple from my father in law that has also passed away now. Great momentos of great men!
 
I pretty much am traditional only. I do have a couple of modern folders, but I never use them. Those are a Buck Vantage 345 and a CRKT Denali. The Denali was gifted to me, and the buck, I do like the look of, but it doesn't really suit me.

Traditional knives represent a slower pace, where you didn't have to have your blade out in an instant, when life wasn't taken for granted. It's a touch of class, when a dirty hands farmer pulls out a shiny Case XX.

I've always liked traditional slip joints, and have carried one almost constantly since I was about 10. I've dabbled with other varieties, but I just didn't care for them and didn't dabble very far or long.

About as non-traditional as I will go is a Buck lockback with plastic grip, like my Bucklite 426.

For me, there is just nothing like traditional knives.
 
I just like the looks, feel, and charm of them. They have a sort of older craftsmanship vibe that you just don't get off of some of the newer, precisely manufactured modern knives. Generally, a slipjoint handles pretty much everything I need out of a pocket knife.

I own and like some more modern knives too. Good solid sturdy task-built knives. I use them when I need their size and features. Right now sitting out on my desk are a Victorinox Cadet and a couple of Case stockman patterns, along with a ZT and Spyderco modern locking folders. All are 'favorites,' all get used.
 
I started carrying a traditional pocketknife when I was 8, I’m 68 now and nothing has changed in traditional pocketknives to make me not want to carry one. I do own a few Buck 345/347 Vantage modern knives (although not as “extreme” looking as some moderns) that I carry when I think I may want a heavy duty knife, but I always have a traditional - because they can do 98% of what I need a pocketknife for. OH
 
A while back I took a case peanut and trapper on a trip with a friend that spanned a week. The slipjoints did everything I could ask for, food prep, cleaned some fish, some camp chores, whittling, etc
My friend brought a usmc kabar and crk sebenza, he said he wanted to handle anything that we ran into, and seemed serious about wilderness survival, but most of what I saw him do with his knives is whittle wood and hack at some branches that didn't need mangling, we ended up using the case slipjoints for the actual knife cutting chores that needed doing.
I never felt under prepared with a slipjoint
 
I started always carrying a SAK when I was 6 and lived in countries that didn't allow locking folders (and independently, neither did my mom, and my dad had to convince her about the SAKs).

So SAKs are kind of boring, but - say - a Buck 110 very much rocks ! (my dream knife as a boy). I don't think very different of traditional and modern folders, just what I like and don't, and what was unusual when I grew up. For example an Elephant Toe, larger Wharncliffes, etc. My favorite GEC, for instance, is the 36.
 
Traditionals are often smaller, lighter, and less "threatening" than modern folders. One of the biggest draws for me is the natural materials like wood and bone that most modern folders don't really get into as much.
 
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