One trio for a year.

I've actually come to a similar point. My list of knives would be a bit longer at about 5, but I don't think that's unreasonable as that covers any occasion from an occasion where I have to wear a suit to backpacking 25 miles from the nearest anything. Here's my little list:

Breeden LiCK
Breeden Wharncliffe
RAT Cutlery Izula
SAK Farmer
Spyderco Mini-Manix

These are really the only knives I've been using lately. The Breedens were knives I designed specifically to fit most of my fixed blade needs, and the Izula fills what they don't do. The Farmer is always in my pocket, and the Mini-Manix is a great, stout folder that I love. Sometimes I switch the Manix out for an Endura 4, but I could do without that knife pretty easily.
 
I've been kinda heading this direction for a while, and paring down my knife collection in preparation for it. I don't know if I can stick to just 3, might have to go 4 like d-filgate is doing. It seems I've been on a long search for the right knives for me, and have bought, sold, and traded many more knives than I ever thought I'd lay my hands on. But you're right: in the end, you lose your appreciation for them a little, and forget that after all they're only means to an end, not the end itself. Now that I have nearly the right set of knives, I'm ready to go down that road you speak of. I haven't narrowed down my choices alltogether, but it might look something like this:
Swisstool Spirit: I can't leave this one out, I carry it every single day
Benchmade 943: My most carried folder. It's taken on all comers, including my new Para D2, and withstood the challenge.
JK Kephart: It's tough to choose this one over my NWA Sierra Scout, and I might still switch to the NWA before I make the final decision. But the JK just feels so right in the hand, and is the perfect size.
Victorinox Outrider: my most versatile outdoor blade. Combined with the JK, this is really all the woods steel I need, and to be honest, the JK is probably overkill for most stuff I do.
Like I said, this is the tentative list, and I have yet to come up with a start date, but will probably go May 1, as it has some special meaning for me anyway. So I gotta say thanks, Jake, for inspiring me! I Hope you achieve some clarity from your experiment. I know I'm pretty excited to get started. If anyone's interested, I can post my final list when we get to May.
 
rocketbomb said:
I've actually come to a similar point. My list of knives would be a bit longer at about 5, but I don't think that's unreasonable as that covers any occasion from an occasion where I have to wear a suit to backpacking 25 miles from the nearest anything. Here's my little list:

Breeden LiCK
Breeden Wharncliffe
RAT Cutlery Izula
SAK Farmer
Spyderco Mini-Manix

These are really the only knives I've been using lately. The Breedens were knives I designed specifically to fit most of my fixed blade needs, and the Izula fills what they don't do. The Farmer is always in my pocket, and the Mini-Manix is a great, stout folder that I love. Sometimes I switch the Manix out for an Endura 4, but I could do without that knife pretty easily.
Click to expand...

i could go with 5 for a year i an ambie i use both hands about equal so i never know which hand maybe holding something while the other is cuting it would be 4 but i wont be with out my multi tool my spydreco caly 3 pe caly 3 se busse culti and mt ash le and im happy as a pup. maybe we should start THREAD where those of use who want to do it can post up kind of like a suppport group. show ower knife of chose and help us stick to it whatcha think. i use all of mine daily. let try to limit it to ones that get used not just cause they make up say oh yeah when you look at them or feel them on yur person.
 
Okay - Satan here.....yeah, I go by the handle kgd once in a while, sometimes they just call me the walk'n dude..... but let me just remind y'all of all the knives you want to have....

Fiddleback - woodsman (yeah you want it.....it's on your list)
Brian Andrews - that skinner (yep, you want it...come on, you know you want it)
JK EWOK - probably a the perfect blade, cure all your woes do you want it? (yep you do)
Bryan Breeden - pathfinder - Oh my lord - you want that one! Its weird looking, but you want it...uh huh!
Koster - bushcraft - hmmmm you might already have it, if you don't - well you need it...
Gossman - why stop at the Pskn???? There's a tusker in your dreams - realize it!
David Farmer? - I hear his blades are wicked sharp, I have good intelli, I am Satan after all
Ray laconico - hawk or necker - better get the both, just to be safe
Walter Davis - hmmm those Sog-inspired bowies are pretty hot - yeah, they are! (trust me, I know all about hot!)
Wilderguy - the bushtool - hairy, oh yeah....but how bout a little parang to light the way...ohhhh that leather it is naughty, devil wicked.....(of course you want it)
Koyote - full tang leuku - you need this to shave your legs, goodness (devil) knows, any self respecting biker shaves their legs!

You probably don't need anymore production knives.....
Nope, you don't need an RC-3,4,5,6, izula, browning-crowell competition knife, RD-9. No mora's, no helle's (well they do have the word hell in their name - ahhh so good - you want one of those), no kellams (sounds like kill'em - ya, ya, ya).

You don't want an HI kukri---nope. You don't want entrek. You don't want no stink'n TOPS - they are for kids. You don't want a becker, you especially don't want three of them. No more SAKs (maybe just one), after that you don't want anymore. Leatherman? psst - they don't even have leather with 'em anymore. Do you want a sog - no. How about a busse? - thanks I gotta car already.

Nope - you praying, all good son of a gun. You only want three. Some kind of holy trinity. Yeah thats what you want..


:D :D :D :D :D

(when I drink I get nasty)...........................:D

You are all done......
 
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I can partially relate; I've found a few knives I really like and work for me and as a result there are a lot of knives, even by makers I like, that don't tempt me. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop me from getting new knives. I've bought into the one is none, two is one mantra. As a result, I've ended up with 3 Busse sabre grind SFNOs, 3 RC4s, 4 RC/Rat-3s, 6 SAK Super tinkers, and 3 SAK Fieldmasters. Now I have back-ups for my back-ups.
 
I generally stick to 3 knives for everything anyway,for the past year or two it's been: victorinox swisstool,spyderco delica 4 (plain edge),and a HI Import 20" sirupate. This trio has taken care of everything I needed done. These days a I sometimes swap off my Bumblebee WWII khukuri for the sirupate,and I've started testing out a benchmade 710D2.
My three choices have handled plumbing,electrical work,carpentry,wood working,yardwork and my usual tinkering. It is possible to choose three knives to do it all,at least for the stuff I end up doing. I hope you go ahead with your trio and enjoy the ride..
 
congrats, jake, on cutting back. I definatly think that we get way too caught up in the gear and not enough in the skill (but this is a knife forum, so that makes sense). its also great that you have narrowed down your criterea enough to where you can get everything done with just a few blades. Although my "three" would differ from yours considerably, yours seems like a good combo. it seems like we, as a group, put to much focus on first impressions with knives. If it dosent meet our criterea on the first few outings, we cast it aside and look for somthing else. it seems that we should give knives much more time to grow on us.

anyway, i feel that i am aproaching about the same point. i know what i am looking for, and i know what works for me.
 
i think we all put too much effort into getting more. You'll be fine. And pretty soon you'll be like...whatever. I dont need that many. I wouldn't be surprised if you sold a few.
 
i cant put enough effort i still have 2 of the new temprance 2 to get a batac le tiger hide. a new sak swiss tool the new g-10 endura delica combo there are so many i can think of them all. stop buying hah i will get them and put them aside if we play this game i will be one of the first to drop out well maybe, but there are many more i NEED must have more steel:D:cool:
 
I feel your pain Jake, I hit that wall a while back. Plus I got disappointed by a couple that I waited a long time for. I try to just stop the ordering for a while, focus on or two, and use the crap out of them.

But so long as you can keep getting dirt time and practicing your skills, it's all good! Take lots of pics, I love seeing blades that have seen a bunch of lovin'.

Three for me would be tough, but doable.

It'd be:

Either the Brian Andrews bushy or the Blind Horse Knives bushy
Vic Farmer
Wetterlings 19"

That'd carry me pretty far I think, and allow for EDC stuff.
 
I think its a cool idea. Like many others have said, when I go hiking or on a trip I go through dozens and dozens of knives (hundreds) to decide. Sometimes it sounds crazy but it can be a haslte weighing what I take and what advantages they all have or dont have.

I'd try it but I wouldnt last a week. Good luck:thumbup:
 
Excellent psychological observations in this thread and something to which I can also relate. I've had the same experience before with fishing, and now with my camping/hiking/hunting blades and tools.

Fishing got to a point where the bass boat and the numerous rods and tackle began to be the focus of the trips rather than the original point of enjoying the activity itself. I chucked almost all and kept only a small subset of my packable fly fishing gear and spinning rod/reel for hiking/fishing trip and I regained my love for the outdoors and fishing.

Now I'm having the same experience with my bush tools. To that end, I'm planning on making do with an existing set of 4 out of the following possible combos. My leaning is towards weight reduction as I age:

1) Wetterlings Hatchet/Kershaw Outcast (modified) - wood processing for camp.
2) BM Fixed Grip (modified) or Schrade 165OT Woodsman - food prep, camp and hunting chores.
3) BM Mini-Grip - pocket carry and blade redundancy.
4) LM Skeletool or Charge - fix-its, pocket carry, blade redundancy.

Not my "grail" selections, but perhaps it will also help me to return my focus on the little things that ignited my love for the outdoors in the first place, so many years ago.

Another fantastic thread on a forum filled with thoughtful persons. Thanks J. :)
 
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“Finger pointing to the moon...”

I can get where you are coming from. Knives are just tools to me and after point X I'm more interested in what I am achieving with one than what I am achieving it with. I don't spend a great deal of time marveling at my new screwdriver but I might about what I made with it. I guess the same thing applies to chefs and so on. By nature, we are collected here to examine a specific aspect of a trip, the knife, under close scrutiny, and thereby we make mountains from molehills, and frequently we loose all sense of proportion.

Is that a criticism? Nope, but it can be. If we were on an automobile forum we might expect that for a trip with a three day stay up a mountain we might be forgiven for paying undue attention to the ride there and back than what we actually did whilst we were there. In fact, for some, the whole excursion might just be an excuse to crack open the new vehicle and take a couple of pictures of it parked in trees for their friends. Who'd be surprised about that. Yet by the same token we must recognize the skew. While one guy is on that mountain top just doing another guy will be still be musing with his friends over the Porsche in beige drain paint that got him there. I don't think that's a bad thing at all provided one has handles on it. For me that is the point of drawing from many forums, each with their own agenda, skew, exaggeration and bloat.

Me personally, I like knife design. After a point design is everything to me. A knife with good design to me works in such a way as I scarcely pay attention to it. In actually I really only pay attention when something is wrong with it. To me, a good knife melts into the background and just works.

I do pay attention to the latest materials but for me design trumps that. I have a baseline at 440C, the cutlery grade stainless I won't go below [except SAKs, but I don't really treat those as knives]. The emergence of 440C killed any reason I might have to want a carbon steel [term as defined by common usage here] stone dead. Good for choppers but pointless to me for a field knife. I'm now at a point at which any knife in 440C or better the design holds priority. That's how come I ended up reverting back to the Boker after going with the F1 for a bit, yet there's little doubt the F1 is made from better quality steel. I've used the Boker as my primary field knife for ages and I will for the forseeable future. Why, 'cos I hardly ever pay attention to the finger pointing to the moon.

I've not always been this way. I used to try loads but the path was never satisfying. I refuse to collect stuff; stamps, brass rubbings, train spotting .etc, so they all had to be moved on. And the cycle was never really satisfying. Worse, and apologies in advance to any of you that do collect stuff, but it kinda reminded me of the way my father was; like a tragic autistic little boy that hoarded crap and made little lists. Further, and probably just as much a reaction to his way, I despised his approach to buying stuff. Beware the anecdote: When he decided he wanted to get into fishing he strolled up with “I've bought a boat”. Darn it he had. He bought a boat to fish, a bunch of the latest all singing and dancing kit, and two tenders. Each tender was a rigid hull inflatable about the size of the local inshore lifeboat. I never saw him as happy with any of that shit as the look of delight on mah woman's face when she yanked out her first eel from the river with a handline. I sank into that trap with cutlery, but I'm better now.

And here ends the story with me and knives. I use what makes me happy. It has already come. It's not at the end of some envisaged rainbow. I'm chasing nothing. I am a simple unit and I like the simplicity. Life is simple, only the human mind will ever complicate that.

Happy trails.
 
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baldtaco2, that was some good writing. I see a lot of great insight coming out of this thread.
In the end, it all comes down to "stuff" It's fun getting new stuff, waiting for it to arrive, taking it out and using it for the first time, comparing it to other stuff. But in the end, it's just your "stuff" again.
 
Don't take me wrong but I just feel that even being all of us knife nuts... that isn't much of a challenge. Daily task of any kind plus the extra work we ask for a knife outdoors, can easily be acomplished with those three knives you mentioned. I could go even further saying that you could dump the Spyderco and still be a happy camper. The main blade on the Leatherman Charge ain't nothing expectacular but the SV30 seems plenty for EDC. Heck, even if it was a lower end steel you could do it. You just need to sharpen it more often.

What I think is going to be the hardest part is not buying any more blades while you keep reading in BF, watching the new knives, reviews telling how great is this or that new folder, etc. You all know what I mean.

Keep us posted,
Mikel
 
kgd said:
Okay - Satan here.....yeah, I go by the handle kgd once in a while, sometimes they just call me the walk'n dude..... but let me just remind y'all of all the knives you want to have....

Fiddleback - woodsman (yeah you want it.....it's on your list)
Brian Andrews - that skinner (yep, you want it...come on, you know you want it)
JK EWOK - probably a the perfect blade, cure all your woes do you want it? (yep you do)
Bryan Breeden - pathfinder - Oh my lord - you want that one! Its weird looking, but you want it...uh huh!
Koster - bushcraft - hmmmm you might already have it, if you don't - well you need it...
Gossman - why stop at the Pskn???? There's a tusker in your dreams - realize it!
David Farmer? - I hear his blades are wicked sharp, I have good intelli, I am Satan after all
Ray laconico - hawk or necker - better get the both, just to be safe
Walter Davis - hmmm those Sog-inspired bowies are pretty hot - yeah, they are! (trust me, I know all about hot!)
Wilderguy - the bushtool - hairy, oh yeah....but how bout a little parang to light the way...ohhhh that leather it is naughty, devil wicked.....(of course you want it)
Koyote - full tang leuku - you need this to shave your legs, goodness (devil) knows, any self respecting biker shaves their legs!

You probably don't need anymore production knives.....
Nope, you don't need an RC-3,4,5,6, izula, browning-crowell competition knife, RD-9. No mora's, no helle's (well they do have the word hell in their name - ahhh so good - you want one of those), no kellams (sounds like kill'em - ya, ya, ya).

You don't want an HI kukri---nope. You don't want entrek. You don't want no stink'n TOPS - they are for kids. You don't want a becker, you especially don't want three of them. No more SAKs (maybe just one), after that you don't want anymore. Leatherman? psst - they don't even have leather with 'em anymore. Do you want a sog - no. How about a busse? - thanks I gotta car already.

Nope - you praying, all good son of a gun. You only want three. Some kind of holy trinity. Yeah thats what you want..


:D :D :D :D :D

(when I drink I get nasty)...........................:D

You are all done......
Click to expand...

Why would anyone want a JK EWOK, just look how ugly they are......:D

2mhzmvk.jpg
 
I think its time for some Ragnar therapy here... Anytime I start to lose my religion, I log onto Ragweed Forge and peruse all of the scandis, manufacturer-by-manufacturer, I examine the grind, the handle material, the simple elegance...and slowly I start to make a mental argument why my life could never be complete, and how I could never be adequately prepared without another blade....

BTW - if anyone starts talking about prohibition or abstinence here, I am going to organize an intervention....:eek:
 
mneedham said:
I think its time for some Ragnar therapy here... Anytime I start to lose my religion, I log onto Ragweed Forge and peruse all of the scandis, manufacturer-by-manufacturer, I examine the grind, the handle material, the simple elegance...and slowly I start to make a mental argument why my life could never be complete, and how I could never be adequately prepared without another blade....

BTW - if anyone starts talking about prohibition or abstinence here, I am going to organize an intervention....:eek:
Click to expand...

here here well said:thumbup::D
bottoms up
 
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