One folder to last the next 40 years

[rexromic]

I would say this one.

 

[cujobob]

I think a good point is made in wondering how long modern locks can hold up for. How hard it is used would also be a factor...a knife flipped open countless times a day likely won't last as long as one that is only flipped when it's used. That said, what knife do I think CAN last 40 years that I own? My swiss army knives and possibly the Para 2. I'm no expert at this point in time, but I'd like to think a compression lock can hold up. I don't know if a back lock, liner lock or frame lock will. My incoming Pretium from Ferrum Forge will use an insert of the same steel used in the blade, but I'm not sure that it can go 40 years, even still.

 

[jackknife]

Slip joints will weather the long haul better as there is no lock to wear. This slip joint was hand made on the Moran farm in Lime Kiln Maryland by a German POW sometime in 1943 or 44. Bill couldn't recall exactly. The man who made it, Albert Wurtz, was a skilled knife maker in Germany before the war, and was teaching a young Bill Moran about making folders. The blade was forged from an old file. Bill used this knife for 25 to 30 years before semi retiring it, and used it occasionally for many years after. It's lost about 1/3 of it's blade width, has some wobble in the joint, and the stag has shrunk from the steel liners. But it still is good to go, and sometimes I carry it and use it gently just to remember an old friend. It cuts great. The wobble could probably be fixed with some gentle taping on the pivot.

 

[monger4142]

\

damn that's nice

 

[xceptnl]

I love all my knives big and small, but this one would probably be the one to last me for the next 40 years.

 

[CSG]

Sorry, I don't take cool knife pictures to post on forums but if I could have only one folding knife to last 40 years (or more) I guess I'd pick the Buck 501 I've had since around 1980 and still going strong.

 

[GIRLYmann]

One folder to last the next 40 years?
well, i think this would.
only because it would probably still be sitting right in the drawer
at the bottom of my edc list

some years back a senior relative
passed me his german made stag scales othello folding hunter.
it had a back-lock spear pointed blade
(looking a bit like this mikov knives model placed for illustration purpose)

and also a non locking saw blade.
story was, he bought it back in the 1970's
and he gave it to me, mint.
i had intended to keep it that way
and not use it.
however that was not to be.
as the back spring just gave way and snapped in two
whilst i open the blade with intentions to oil it.
so that now,
i just don't know how long a folder's back spring can actually last in storage.