Once you carry a SAK regularly can you go back to carrying any other knife again.

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.
 
One SAK or another has been in my pocket everyday for the last ten years. It all started with a classic on my key chain which after many years evolved into a rambler. ;) Several months ago needing to lighten my key chain the rambler was grudgingly removed but I still and probably always will select a SAK as first choice in pocket knife carry. Don't think I could ever go back to carrying something other than a SAK as first choice because as our friend, J jackknife might say, "Any other knife is just a one trick pony." 🇨🇭
 
Nope. The versatility of having more tools on hand is what sways me . I do often pair my tinker small with a locking folder of some sort for work, or a traditional for nostalgias sake. Gotta be able to open those beer bottles people 😁
 
I know SAKs are versatile, but for me, they don’t usually bump out other items. Reasons include wanting a locking blade on my knife and using mainly the screwdrivers on an SAK, which aren’t great

I see this comment a lot in discussions of SAK's and it was and is a mystery to me why people are so obsessed about having a lock on the blade. Maybe its a generational thing, but growing up when I did, hardly no pocket knives had blade locks. You just used them with a bit of care. With the exception of my short few months history with a Buck 110 back in the late 60's, I haven't owned a locking blade knife. My fingers are all still attached.

I guess having a Boy Scout knife at age 12, the army issue demo knife in my early 20's, and then SAK's from 1969, my likes were dominated by the sheer versatility of the SAK/demo knife/Boy Scout knife. Once I got used to the slip joints, and used a Buck 301 stockman for a long time as an augment to the SAK, I never had any problem or situation where I thought a blade lock was needed. In fact, in the past few decades where I have used a Sardinian resolza, Opinels without locks like the number 4 and 5, and Japanese Higonokami, a simple friction folder did my cutting just fine with no bloodshed.

Since most knives with blade locks are a single blade thing, I'm just not willing to sacrifice the versatility of a SAK, or even a stockman. Each to their own, but I don't understand the lock obsession.
 
I like a locking folder (plus a SAK) because aside from groceries, half the crap I buy is packaged in plastic that needs stabbed to get thru it, and is secured with a dozen zip ties. Christmas morning was a reminder of why the SAK is not the perfect tool for every job.

One is much better at piercing than the other…

 
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I like a locking folder (plus a SAK) because aside from groceries, half the crap I buy is packaged in plastic that needs stabbed to get thru it, and is secured with a dozen zip ties. Christmas morning was a reminder of why the SAK is not the perfect tool for every job.

One is much better at piercing than the other…

I just use the awl to punch a hole in the plastic then use the blade to cut it open. No problem.
 
I can't help but laugh
Non knife people open those packages and zip ties with little thought. Usually the figure out how to open em with scissors, a kitchen knife or their keys.

And they manage
I think we overthink this stuff

I know my wife thinks I do
But then she is weird, she is convinced pocket knives are dirty. Like real dirty, they are verboten at the kitchen table.
I think it has something to do with what or how her father used his ...
 
I would like to have a MiniChamp in part because of that triangular-ended package opener … love the one that some of the Leathermans have, but it would be genius for (those bastard) zip ties.
I’ve used that tool on my mini champ, it works but is a bit of a chore with the thicker ties.
Side cutters are ideal but I don’t carry a pair everywhere with me.
 
I just use the awl to punch a hole in the plastic then use the blade to cut it open. No problem.
Same here. The awl on my Tinker is amazing tool. I use the awl for tie wraps as well either wedging it in and breaking the tie wrap or using the awl to release the tie wrap tab and loosening the tie wrap

As far as going back to a regular knife after a SAK, I can't go back. The Tinker and Classic SD are my edc. Occasionally I add a Gerber EAB if I know I am going to be doing stuff that will wreak a blade.
 
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