New here--At 75 do I still need to carry a knife?

wackafew said:
Put a couple of knives in each pocket. At 72 I some times have a knife go missing for a few days. 😉
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I have Knives "go missing" at 60! :) And often for longer than a few weeks! (I'm still looking for my Kershaw "Flythrough" after six months and I KNOW I never carried it out of the house!) EVEN buying another didn't make the first one reappear!
 
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Hashishiin said:
You said you like Spyderco? Guess the Spyder can bite folks at any age... Have a look at the compression lock and ball lock. They may work for you. Backlock is okay, too. We have guys your age on the forum using and loving these knives all day. 2.5oz roughly? Sage 5 (it's like the Para3 but a little better). 3oz? Manix with ball-lock. 3.5-3.75-4oz? Lightest Paramilitary 2s (BD1N alum handle, S45VN G-10 handle or micarta handle Cruwear steel are three models around frequently). Or maybe a Gayle Bradley 2, a real no-nonsense work folder in M4 steel and carbon fiber with the comp lock?

Steels have different attributes. They can cut a long time, but be very hard and brittle so that you can't torque on 'em. Or they'll be tough but won't hold a fine edge as well. Or it can be somewhere in the middle. Then there's corrosion. Lots of factors, but lots of great stuff out there, and Spyderco does it great.
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The Sage 5 would be tied with the Wharncliffe Dragonfly as my favorite Spyderco but it took a few mods to get there. An issue I have with finger choils and thumb ramps is that they need to line up right with the geometry of my hand. (This is another issue that has increased with age.) The specific contours of the Dragonfly land well on my hand. The Sage 5 wasn't terrible out of the box but deleting and bottom of the finger choil and rounding off the bump from the thumb ramp did a world of good for me.

I tried a Manix 2 LW and I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately, It presented a higher degree of the same problems for me and had a few other hot spots that ultimately dissuaded me.

I'm okay with S30V. Sure, we have fancier steels now and some are legitimately better in different ways. I view S30V kind of like I do VG-10 in the next tier down. It's a decent steel and a solid performer in its tier. Of course, if they released a Sage 5 or Wharncliffe Dragonfly in S45VN, Vanax, or MagnaCut; my order would be in on the first day.
 
Chronovore said:
The Sage 5 would be tied with the Wharncliffe Dragonfly as my favorite Spyderco but it took a few mods to get there. An issue I have with finger choils and thumb ramps is that they need to line up right with the geometry of my hand. (This is another issue that has increased with age.) The specific contours of the Dragonfly land well on my hand. The Sage 5 wasn't terrible out of the box but deleting and bottom of the finger choil and rounding off the bump from the thumb ramp did a world of good for me.

I tried a Manix 2 LW and I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately, It presented a higher degree of the same problems for me and had a few other hot spots that ultimately dissuaded me.

I'm okay with S30V. Sure, we have fancier steels now and some are legitimately better in different ways. I view S30V kind of like I do VG-10 in the next tier down. It's a decent steel and a solid performer in its tier. Of course, if they released a Sage 5 or Wharncliffe Dragonfly in S45VN, Vanax, or MagnaCut; my order would be in on the first day.
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Sage 5 is my judge for all comp locks. The lock almost acts like a button it is so hydraulic-like and smooth.
 
Thank you all for your friendly welcomes!

I am still around (at age 76 now) and happy to visit here quite often to read and learn, though I don’t post much.

To answer a few questions:

Yes, I still carry all the knives in my modest Spyderco collection:

Para 3 LW
Chaparral LW
Native
Lil’ Native LB
Dragonfly 2 wharncliffe
Dragonfly 2 Salt serrated
Manbug wharncliffe serrated

One example of everyday use happened yesterday in our Publix produce department.
We bought organic carrots in a bunch with huge messy greens attached, my Dragonfly Salt took them off with ease.

What am I carrying lately?

I added my first OTF (Heretic Manticore S black anodized w/stone washed recurve blade) to my collection.

Being new to OTFs I am pleasantly surprised at how handy they are for EDC.

At first it was very difficult for me to operate so I took it apart, stretched the spring slightly, and smoothed the
surface of contact points with a ceramic file, and oiled sparingly.

It now works very nicely, though it might be a little too small.

I have another OTF coming in the mail this week, a Guardian Tactical Recon-035 OD green w/partial serrated.

..
 
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I'm 67 and I've carried a Spyderco Sage I for years. S30V steel. Carbon fiber handles. But the big plus for me is that I can hold something needing to be cut in my left hand, pull the knife out and open it with my right hand, make the cut, close it with my right hand and put it back in my pocket. What more do you need?
 
Dude, the OP is not “most people”. He’s a 75 year veteran of cutting his own stuff. Without a knife, he must rely on the mercy of strangers or the charity of friends and family. His teeth and claws are not young, yet he still roams far from the kitchen drawer and sewing table. Stray threads and plastic clamshell packaging lurk around every corner, not to mention unsliced apples and unpeeled oranges. If a damsel in distress needs something opened or severed, will he hang his head and admit his inadequacy?

Banish the thought. With a knife he is a man in full - brave, confident, unwavering. Knifeless, just another useless hipster trying to gnaw open a package of beef jerky.

I assure you, this guy needs a knife.

Parker
 
I'll share this story here because I think it applies, and because it's a great story.

Back in December of 2020, a couple and their young child were driving here in my home town of San Diego when a gas can fell off the back of a truck in front of them. The gas can got wedged under their car, and before they could stop, sparks from the steel can scraping on the road caused the gas to burst into flames.

With the family's car now on fire, the driver stopped, and the parents tried desperately but unsuccessfully to free their toddler from the car seat in the back (defective latch).

A Marine from a local Marine base came upon the scene, pulled out his pocket knife, and cut the toddler free from the burning car, saving it's life.

You can read the story for yourself by Googling "San Diego Marine Saves Baby", the story received a lot of coverage here.

Now sure, this is an extreme example, and the chances of encountering such an occurrence are slim, but could you imagine, being in a situation where a mere pocket knife could make the difference between someone living or dying, maybe even a child, and you don't have a knife because you decided that you didn't need a knife?

On a related note, I remember seeing a cell phone video of the immediate aftermath of a car accident. The driver was trapped by their seat belt in the smoking car. The first responder, an LEO, apparently didn't have any cutting tool and called out to the gathering crowd "Does anybody have a knife?!". I don't remember how it turned out.

Whether it's something as mundane as cutting open a package, or cutting the tag off an article of clothing, or whether it's a matter of life or death, the need for a knife isn't always something you can predict, sometimes the need for a knife just happens.

But being on a knife forum, I'm sure that I'm preaching to the choir.

I never leave home without one (two actually. sometimes three ;))
 
IMHO, the most “age handed” (or in my case tremor handed) friendly knives are fixed blades.

I often carry a Fiddleback Forge Esquire, horizontal on the belt (2.75” blade, 6.5” OAL). It’s quite handy and totally unnoticeable unless I draw it.

That said, I can still easily operate a folder. 10 years from now though, who knows.
 
sharp_edge said:
Actually no. Other than kitchen knives If you do cook, most people certainly the OP included do not need a knife. Do you want a knife or knives? That is a different question.
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What? He's 75, he needs a knife now more than ever. Tearing apart packaging,,, hell no.
I'll always donate a knife to my elder in need.
killgar said:
I'll share this story here because I think it applies, and because it's a great story.

Back in December of 2020, a couple and their young child were driving here in my home town of San Diego when a gas can fell off the back of a truck in front of them. The gas can got wedged under their car, and before they could stop, sparks from the steel can scraping on the road caused the gas to burst into flames.

With the family's car now on fire, the driver stopped, and the parents tried desperately but unsuccessfully to free their toddler from the car seat in the back (defective latch).

A Marine from a local Marine base came upon the scene, pulled out his pocket knife, and cut the toddler free from the burning car, saving it's life.

You can read the story for yourself by Googling "San Diego Marine Saves Baby", the story received a lot of coverage here.

Now sure, this is an extreme example, and the chances of encountering such an occurrence are slim, but could you imagine, being in a situation where a mere pocket knife could make the difference between someone living or dying, maybe even a child, and you don't have a knife because you decided that you didn't need a knife?

On a related note, I remember seeing a cell phone video of the immediate aftermath of a car accident. The driver was trapped by their seat belt in the smoking car. The first responder, an LEO, apparently didn't have any cutting tool and called out to the gathering crowd "Does anybody have a knife?!". I don't remember how it turned out.

Whether it's something as mundane as cutting open a package, or cutting the tag off an article of clothing, or whether it's a matter of life or death, the need for a knife isn't always something you can predict, sometimes the need for a knife just happens.

But being on a knife forum, I'm sure that I'm preaching to the choir.

I never leave home without one (two actually. sometimes three ;))
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Wow! That was scary! I really was afiraid they wouldn't make it.
Sometimes I have been known to have four, haha... Reg knife, backup, Leatherman and Matriarch 2.
 
Zulus said:
Yes,
you may need that one :^)
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I want to try some Riga Sprats...
 
I'll be 70 next month and at least one knife is in my pocket every day - often two or three. Today for example there's a large Inkosi/Insingo, SAK Farmer and Case Copperhead. I just counted four knives that are always in my truck plus the SAK classic on the keys, there's a couple zip tied in handy places in my boat, one in the nightstand drawer, two in the top drawer of the tool box, one or two in every fishing tackle bag, one in the hunting pack and about 20 in my sock drawer.

Yes, you need a knife, always.

Just one example - we went to my granddaughters birthday party this last summer. Dad's ex moved out two days before and took basically everything - every piece of cookware, every cooking utensil, every knife and all the dishes among other things. We were doing a cajun boil. My inkosi was the only decent knife there and it processed potatoes, sausage, corn on the cob, watermelon etc. Saved the day it did.
 
Boattale said:
I'll be 70 next month and at least one knife is in my pocket every day - often two or three. Today for example there's a large Inkosi/Insingo, SAK Farmer and Case Copperhead. I just counted four knives that are always in my truck plus the SAK classic on the keys, there's a couple zip tied in handy places in my boat, one in the nightstand drawer, two in the top drawer of the tool box, one or two in every fishing tackle bag, one in the hunting pack and about 20 in my sock drawer.
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Is there one in your bathroom near the toilet? Just a friendly reminder, like to see you fully prepared.

Parker
 
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