I had case medium stockmans in the late 70’s and 80’s. Since i started carrying a SAK i just cant go back to anything else. Im always using the other tools. The blade and scissors the most. Then the can opener and the bottle opener.
Is this something you’ve done successfully or did you just not even try.![]()
No. Eventually the SAK will slowly takeover and rule the pocket. At least that has been my experience.
I was a stockman guy for a long while, but then I got my first SAK in 1969. Very slowly, I started to carry my stockman less and less. The SAK was like the Boy Scout knife I had as a kid, soooo handy for a a lot of things other then cutting. Just having a simple screw driver made a difference so many times. Maybe having a scout knife as a kid had set some sort of default to where if I did have my stockman, I made sure that the SAK was close by or in another pocket.
Only after many years, and getting older, and having 'other' stuff I had to have on hand, did I take a harder look at my non SAK knives. Eventually, when I did one of my big downsizings, the other knives got put away, and eventually rehomed to others that wanted them. I did giveaways on the forums, gave knives to the kids and grandkids, and co-workers. Its a very very rare case now that I carry a dedicated knife that I think of as a one trick pony. My SAK classic, cadet, bantam, pioneer, Wenger SI will open a package or cut a piece of twine just as well as any other knife. BUT...a knife is no good to me when I'm on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and my Vespa motoracooter conks out. Having my SAK let me fix the problem when I found the loose battery cable connection. Another time, a SAK let me fix the control arm of the electric trolling motor on our canoe at the far en of a long and winding lake that would have been a very long paddle pack against he wind. The SAK tinker saved us a lot of work.
I can't begin to list the amount of stuff I have fixed with just a SAK. Okay, maybe a wrap of the electric tape in my kit. Or making a new throttle return spring from a paper clip. But a screw driver was needed. It's been a very long time since I carried a dedicated pocket knife. If I am anticipating any cutting that may be hard on my SAK, then I carry a folding Husky utility knife with replaceable blades.
In my old age, I became a die hard SAKist. I only regret it took so long to ditch those "other" knives" that were one trick ponies. If I had to do it o er again, knowing what I know now, I never would have become the knife nut that collected all those other knives that looking back on it all, were both a waste of time and money. Yes, we can carry both, but why should we when the SAK will everything a knife like a stockman will do, but not vise versa?
Even the teeny tiny, itty bitty humble classic will out preform a stockman. The classic can be used as an awl by using the fixed part of the scissors to make starter holes for a wood screw. The SD tip fits a wide range of Phillips screw heads, and the you can use the SD tip nail file to open bottles. The tweezers can get a thorn out from between the paw pads of our Australian shepherd. The toothpick can get knots out of fine string. Lets see that kind of wide mission capability from a stockman. With a classic on the keyring, and a two layer SAK like a tinker, cadet, spartan, you'll have far more capability than any knife can give you.
My name is Carl, and I'm a former knife nut converted to multitool only guy.