New to Traditionals...First Purchase

Locutus D'Borg

Locutus D'Borg

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Dec 1, 2012
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Greetings,

I have a small collection of modern knives, which I have amassed in conjunction with the able help of fellow forum members. I decided to expand into traditionals (at least one, probably a couple more) and after reading many of the threads in this forum, and having off-line discussions with a respected collector, I took the plunge and bought my very first (well, in 40 plus years) traditional, a Schatt & Morgan File and Wire D2 Mountain Man (Non BF member dealer website link removed). It should arrive by the end of the week.

I want to move into custom traditionals, but thought I had better start with a production knife to familiarize myself with the F&F, etc. I realize the knife i bought is a lock back, but something in its appearance spoke to me. My next traditional will likely be a slip joint.

Unless I win the lottery, I won't be buying a Bose (father or son), but a couple of other makers have caught my attention in the style of their work: (excuse me if I get their names wrong): Joel Chamblin, Mr. Halfrich, Mr. Shadley, Don Hanson III. And some others that I can't recall right now. I have some of their knives scoped out on custom dealer sites, but am holding back until I learn more.

I plan on keeping my entire collection manageable, so I can carry each knife once every couple weeks, which is why I'm not going to buy a bunch of production traditionals off the bat. I hope to end up with 2 or 3 high quality traditional knives.

I welcome any suggestions and feedback.
 
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Check out the Jared Oeser knives thread, that guy makes some absolutely beautiful pieces! Functional too, by the looks of them.
 
Locutus D'Borg said:
Unless I win the lottery, I won't be buying a Bose (father or son), but a couple of other makers have caught my attention in the style of their work...Don Hanson III.
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Hahaha...Don commands the same prices that the Bose boys do.

- Christian
 
I think you made a wise decision with the S&M in D2. It will serve you well for many times.

I don´t know anything about customs - but I have several production traditional knives and the S&M seem to be good knives in general.
 
Thank you Humppa. It has been confusing, figuring out GEC, Queen, M&S, Case, and their changes in quality over the years. I read that the fellow who took over Queen intended to restore their former glory, so that aided in my decision. But it really came down to liking the gray bone and the shape of the handle.

Humppa said:
I think you made a wise decision with the S&M in D2. It will serve you well for many times.

I don´t know anything about customs - but I have several production traditional knives and the S&M seem to be good knives in general.
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There are quite a few threads dedicated to individual custom makers in this sub-forum. You can drool over the pictures in those threads. :D
 
There are lots of excellent makers, and you can spend a long time looking over their beautiful creations. I strongly suggest looking over the work of Todd A Davison, Keith Johnson, Kerry Hampton, and Ken Erickson to start. And there are plenty of others--Bret Dowell, Rick Menefee, John Lloyd--worth considering as well.

I have some nice modern knives, but there is just something satisfying about having a traditional in the pocket instead.

DJK
 
Looks like you picked a nice one for your first - the bone on that one is sweet!
Look forward to hearing your impressions once you have it in hand
 
Thanks, I will give my impressions, not that my untrained eye will be reliable.

jwren said:
Looks like you picked a nice one for your first - the bone on that one is sweet!
Look forward to hearing your impressions once you have it in hand
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Very nice, Locutus. I just started to get back into traditionals myself and I find I really like them. They feel more organic and familiar than any of my tactical-style folders.
 
Appreciate the list of makers. Davison is one I knew about and forgot to mention. I find his work very appealing, but there aren't many of his knives available right now at the dealers' sites I visit. The others I'll keep an eye out for.

expwmbat said:
There are lots of excellent makers, and you can spend a long time looking over their beautiful creations. I strongly suggest looking over the work of Todd A Davison, Keith Johnson, Kerry Hampton, and Ken Erickson to start. And there are plenty of others--Bret Dowell, Rick Menefee, John Lloyd--worth considering as well.

I have some nice modern knives, but there is just something satisfying about having a traditional in the pocket instead.

DJK
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Most interesting, bld522. Yeah, I can see myself going broke on this new traditional tangent.

bld522 said:
Very nice, Locutus. I just started to get back into traditionals myself and I find I really like them. They feel more organic and familiar than any of my tactical-style folders.
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You have a nice collection of knives under your signature Mr. D'Borg. I have only been over here on the traditionals side for about 4 months now, but some knives have really caught my eye. I tried the medium stockman from Rough Rider to see how well I liked the pattern, then afterwards I bought a couple of Case knives in carbon steel. I have been carrying my Case Peanut non stop since I have had it, then the other Case that happens to be a large stockman, pretty much just sits there.

What patterns have caught your eye? I really liked having a smaller pen blade in my arsenal, but I don't care for a spey blade that much yet.

I hear Rough Rider is coming out with carbon blades soon, but then after you tried the pattern out, you may be stuck with your purchase for a longer time:thumbup:
 
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I've been looking for a small (blade under 2") penknife that I can carry in the watchpocket of my Levi's. I'll search for Peanut: that sounds like a small knife.

In addition, I want a roughly 3"-3.5" two blade knife (I don't care if they pivot from each bolster or both from the same one).

I don't care for blade play; I've heard that in production knives blade play can happen even in new knives. That is one reason I want to check out customs, which are known for superb fit and finish.

Otherwise I'm pretty open to suggestions.

SweptEdge said:
You have a nice collection of knives under your signature Mr. D'Borg. I have only been over here on the traditionals side for about 4 months now, but some knives have really caught my eye. I tried the medium stockman from Rough Rider to see how well I liked the pattern, then afterwards I bought a couple of Case knives in carbon steel. I have been carrying my Case Peanut non stop since I have had it, then the other Case that happens to be a large stockman pretty much sits there.

What patterns have caught your eye? I really liked having a smaller pen blade in my arsenal, but I don't care for a spey blade that much yet.

I hear Rough Rider is coming out with carbon blades soon, but then after you tried the pattern out, you may be stuck with your purchase for a longer time:thumbup:
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Definitely check out Great Eastern Cutlery. You're not going to get 100% F&F 100% of the time, but as far as regular production traditional knives go, they're the top of the heap. And if you have an issue (blade wobble, whatever), they'll take care of it for you. Also, check out the Tony Bose collaboration knives made by Case. Both the inexpensive regular production ones (like the beloved Sway Back Jack) and the annual limited production ones. You don't have to spend hundreds (or thousands) to get a high quality traditional knife. I don't own a custom yet, but Bret Dowell, Rick Menefee, and Todd Davidson are on my short list for my first. In the meantime I'm very happy with my GECs, and mostly happy with my Cases.
 
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