Options on a nice pocket knife

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scrage

Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
4
I've been looking around for a good bit trying to replace my broken, basic Winchester pocket knife and I landed on here reading some reviews. I was looking into puma knives, specifically:
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as i love the style of the blade but I've heard mixed reviews knives created by puma, especially for that price.

A Boker knife,
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, also caught my eye but like the puma, its size seems a little big. The Winchester knife was small (1.5 - 2 inches) and I'm currently carrying a 3in Bear & Son knife where the size isn't too bad, definitely likeable. I just feel like anything bigger than 3 inches would be too big, even though I've never really had the chance to carry one around for the day.

What do you guys carry for pocket knives (closed length) and do you have any recommendations towards a excellent blade of good quality that I can carry around for a long time. Most of the knives I've seem are pushing four inches closed but I'm not sure if that is considered a normal length for a pocket knife.

boker image substituted for vendor link by moderator
 
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Welcome scrage,

I removed a vendor link in your post. Please take some time to get familiar with the rules here.

I hope you end up enjoying this place at least as much as I do.

Gus
 
The only Puma I have I bought back in '83 and carried all over Europe for years. I still use it, and it holds a very nice edge. It is larger though, at over 4" closed.

Usually I keep one smaller folding blade in my pockets, and when I go out in the field I keep a larger one handy. Currently I have a Buck 373, a Mayo and a couple other custom folders I've picked up in the last couple months.

I'd suggest looking on the sales areas here; there are some very nice deals for the kind of money you're looking to spend.
 
welcome scrage to the forum. there is no "normal" size for knives.normal is what is practical for you.some people are fine with a 2.5 in. knife & others are very comfortable with a 5in. closed knife. look at your daily life & consider your normal activities requiring a knife. certainly a computer programmer is probably going to be satisified with a different model than a rancher. then there are people like myself whom carry certain knives in the city but different knives in the sticks. take your time --read & ask formites questions & you will form your own conclusions.one thing is for sure the knife to satisfy all purposes has'nt been produced yet & probably never will be made.
dennis
 
scrage said:
I've been looking around for a good bit trying to replace my broken, basic Winchester pocket knife ...
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What is your price range? Do you have a preference on number of blades? Carbon or stainless, or do you care? Do you have a preference on handle material?

Welcome to the coolest knife subforum on the net, btw.

-- Mark
 
mnblade said:
What is your price range? Do you have a preference on number of blades? Carbon or stainless, or do you care? Do you have a preference on handle material?

Welcome to the coolest knife subforum on the net, btw.

-- Mark
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I tried to show the picture of the puma blade just now but I couldn't get it to show but under 100, 2 or 1 blades but not with them sitting right next to each other and a high carbon steel would be perfect but honestly as long as its sharp and has good quality to it I would love to have either or. Handle wise its kind of up in the air to anything except plastic.

eisman said:
Usually I keep one smaller folding blade in my pockets, and when I go out in the field I keep a larger one handy. Currently I have a Buck 373, a Mayo and a couple other custom folders I've picked up in the last couple months.
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What size is your smaller folding blade out of curiosity?
 
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Hi Scrage, welcome to the forums,

Right now I think that 3 7/8" closed is just about perfect, but, I am very careful to try to pick a slim pattern, like the muskrat. At that length, the main blade should be around 3 inches long, which is perfect for cutting fruit IMO. I would consider anything under 4" or so to be pocketable, anything over I would have a belt pouch for.

Good luck on your hunt!

Paul
 
scrage said:
... under 100, 2 or 1 blades but not with them sitting right next to each other and a high carbon steel would be perfect but honestly as long as its sharp and has good quality to it I would love to have either or. Handle wise its kind of up in the air to anything except plastic.
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Case makes a pretty sweet 2-blader with carbon steel and stag handles. If you root around in Case's list of CV knives, you're bound to fine a one- or two-blader that fits the bill.

Also, the Buck 55 is a pretty handy little knife. Here's mine:

Buck55.jpg
 
As Dennis pointed out, you're going to get all sorts of answers to this -- some guys carry knives in their pockets that I wouldn't even want to carry on a belt sheath. For me, a comfortable front pocket knife is between 3" to 3 5/8" -- the great majority of the time I'm carrying a knife between 3" and 3 3/8" long closed. If you're used to and like the size of a 3" knife, I wouldn't get anything larger than about 3 3/8" - or maybe a slim 3 1/2". Also - be very wary of stag handled knives -- these can be stupid thick and virtually unpocketable. I once had a 3 1/2" knife that there was no way to pocket carry it -- it was simply too thick and too heavy - it was one of the first custom knives I ever got and I was determined to carry it - thought I'd get used to it. I was wrong. As Tony Bose says, it was like trying to carry a potato in my pocket, only heavier.

Take a look at this thread -
yablanowitz posted several pictures of a number of Case stockman patterns showing relative sizes -- look at the three photos showing the group of five knives - note the top and bottom knives with the squarish bolsters in the photos. The bottom knife is a 6344 - 3 1/4", the top knife is a 6375 - 4 1/4" -- the same basic pattern, just made to a different scale.
 
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I think if you polled a number of experienced knife users you would find many that think a 3-1/2 to 4 inch stockman to be the closest thing to an all-around knife you could find. Large enough for almost anything, with a variety of blade and edge profiles, while still of pocketable size.

A Case #6318 in CV would be a great knife to start with.
 
Since I started carrying my large stockman (Craftsman) again, I really like it for the variety of blades. It truly covers 90% of the cuts I use a pocket knife for. On a work day at the office, I tend to just carry that in my front pocket.

If you are a cutter and not a pryer or digger with your knives, look at a stockman or a congress or similar multi-blade pattern so you have some variety in blade profiles. If you are rough on a knife, avoid the thin slicer blade profiles or you'll just break them.

If I'm not at work, I tend to carry something heavier, 3"+ heavy blade locker in my other pocket. Between the two, I'm covered until I go out hiking or something and when I do that I carry a day pack with more toys. My CRKT folding razel + a stockman is my most frequent combination lately.
 
The Buck 55 and the Case mini Copperlock are both 1 blade lockbacks and slim. Great Eatern Cutlery (GEC) makes some nice 1095 carbon blade pocket knives. I love the size and look of a 4" pocket knife, but 3 1/2" carries better in the pocket, IMHO. Case makes some yellow, synthetic handled knives with ss or carbon blades. You came to the right place for research.
 
Should I steer clear of Boker and Puma? In my past experiences I haven't had too much of quality coming from Case but I do have a Buck leatherman which is really nice.
 
Buck 301 Stockman, 3 7/8- overall, yellow scale. Also in 303 at 3 3/8. 300/ch

Yellow301frnt.jpg
 
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