Picking the Perfect Pocket Knife

[Dr-Mabuse]

For me the Northwoods Presidential was a revelation. Mine came with blue camel bone handles that contain all the colors of an iceberg. I'd carried spydercos for over a decade when I got it. At first, I had no intention of carrying it really, I thought it was nice piece of semi-functional art. No knife that required you to reach into your pocket and open it with both hands could ever be useful. How little I knew! This knife has so much to offer, it's slim, light and the blade combo is incredibly versatile. It is graced with a long beautifully proportioned slim spear at one end that swings above it's weight class and good sized wharncliffe for trimming, peeling and performing precision cuts. It quickly replaced my modern knives and opened my eyes.

But the Perfect Pocket Knife (PPK) is not the Pres, it is an ever moving target. To me the PPK is rides well in the pocket, can handle any cutting task you might encounter, looks good enough to draw praise even the most knife adverse, and is durable enough to handle constant use. Maybe it's a 54 or 79 or maybe I should see what this barlow hype is all about.
So what does the perfect pocket knife mean to you? Have you found it?

 

[Ernie1980]

I am still searching, and have a feeling that I always will be! I originally dismissed traditionals as somthing that my dad would carry, but after trying them they now encompass half of my collection!!
Welcome to the forum, you will find lots of great people and advice here:thumbup:

 

[paulhilborn]

Great post Doc:thumbup: it's mentioned here that traditionals slow your roll a bit but they do, like you say "swing above their weight class" when it comes to flat out cutting

The perfect pocket knife is an elusive animal to many including myself...but one that checks about every box for me is a 2013 Clip blade TC Barlow in Gabon Ebony

 

[EyeDog]

Moving target describes my favorite. At the moment it's a #99 Wharncliffe Wall Street natural stag.

From time to time I wear a neck knife and also carry a Buck and a Cal Legal Benchmade Auto.

Part of the problem is that what I carry is not often the most favorite pocket knife. I've got a few Barlows and ivory or mammoth ivory folders that I just can't bring myself to use. I really like the feel of my Northwoods Hathorn but don't carry it in favor of a #64 Babylon Hill Special in smooth motley bone. I love the feel of the #64.

One of the reasons for carrying the 64 and 99 is that I can pinch-drop them open and close them with one hand. This is a carry over from my obsession with tactical auto and assisted opening knives. I sold off most of them to fund my new passion for traditional folders. But I do miss the one handed opening and closing. Not many traditional do that.

Mike

 

[Ace Krampus]

=
The perfect pocket knife is an elusive animal to many including myself...but one that checks about every box for me is a 2013 Clip blade TC Barlow in Gabon Ebony

I pretty much agree, except that I rock a 15 Boy's Knife single clip in ebony.

 

[Student762]

^^clip TC with long pull and pen in front. Been in my pocket every single day since 13 October last year.
James.

 

[paulhilborn]

I pretty much agree, except that I rock a 15 Boy's Knife single clip in ebony.

Great knife Ace:thumbup: the #15 frame is amazingly versatile.

^^clip TC with long pull and pen in front. Been in my pocket every single day since 13 October last year.
James.

Mine has the pen in front as well James...I failed to mention "two blade":thumbup:

 

[Student762]

I had a sneaking suspicion you were a two blade man PaulHillborn. On most of my knives the pen is the most used blade as I am a habitual whittler but the main blade on the TC is just short enough to cop most of the work. I convexed the main blade and the pen is a scalpel. All in all it's a beautiful little knife courtesy of Chief's generosity. Can't remember what I did before I got it.

 

[bonzodog]

Not found it yet,but I’m happy to keep looking

 

[knarfeng]

I dunno. I feel like I'm getting closer, though.

 

[oldmanrunning]

Its a worry isnt it? Every time i open the lid on my little collection of GECs i see my favourite but it changes all the time, at the moment my #66 Slim fits the bill just fine but before it arrived the #66 Buckaroo was hard to shift and before that the #68 Calf Roper and bef... i think we can see where this is going, The Perfect Pocket Knife is the last one we just had to have, nuts aint we ?

 

[jc57]

The "Perfect Knife" is the enemy of the wallet. I've decided that I have plenty of knives that are "good enough" so I have stopped looking for perfection.

 

[nugun55]

It may be the perfect knife is how I've come to view the perfect guitar, after years of searching. The one in your hand.

 

[Old Hunter]

I've narrowed the perfect length down to a quarter inch (3-5/8" to 3-7/8") and the perfect number of blades to 2 or 3; that's as close as I've gotten to the perfect pocketknife. Stockman, Whittlers, and certain Jacks are all patterns in the mix; John's right, but I'm still rotating around with a box full like Old Man's. Pictured are a few of my contenders. OH

 

[Dr-Mabuse]

Welcome to the forum, you will find lots of great people and advice here:thumbup:

Hey thanks! I think I'll stick around.

Its a worry isnt it?... i think we can see where this is going, The Perfect Pocket Knife is the last one we just had to have, nuts aint we ?

It is! I think about it all day! My last was a #48 Buckeye Trapper SFO and I gotta say I think that one's gonna stay special for a loooong time, too fancy for everyday use though. You do have a mighty fine selection there.

^^clip TC with long pull and pen in front. Been in my pocket every single day since 13 October last year.
James.

Man, that's dedication! I'd like to see what's so special about all these Charlows and TCs everyone is flashing around here but I can't seem to get my hands on one. Someday, I'm sure I one will hop in my pocket. Must be awfully special to inspire such devotion.

Great post Doc:thumbup: it's mentioned here that traditionals slow your roll a bit but they do, like you say "swing above their weight class" when it comes to flat out cutting

The perfect pocket knife is an elusive animal to many including myself...but one that checks about every box for me is a 2013 Clip blade TC Barlow in Gabon Ebony

Thanks Paul, I think I've lurked around here long enough. The TC strikes again in this post! I guess I'll have to get ahold of one if I wanna be like the other cool kids on the forum.

I've narrowed the perfect length down to a quarter inch (3-5/8" to 3-7/8") and the perfect number of blades to 2 or 3; that's as close as I've gotten to the perfect pocketknife. Stockman, Whittlers, and certain Jacks are all patterns in the mix; John's right, but I'm still rotating around with a box full like Old Man's. Pictured are a few of my contenders. OH

I can see we have similar sensibilities, OH. Not too big, not too small; slim, useful and who doesn't like the feel of a serpentine frame in the hand. As traditional knife newb I gotta ask you a question though. You see a main spear or clip coupled with a smaller pen or coping blade makes a lot of sense to me but I have to know what can you do with 3 blades that you can't do with 2?

 

[Steely_Gunz]

It's a wonderful problem to have, isn't it

I find that when it comes to traditionals, the one I select is usually based on how I feel rather than what I think I need. Today it's a mini Case Trapper with red bone. It's a nice little utility knife that my wife and daughter got me for my birthday. I had to convex the spay blade because the shoulder was ground down too much and the edge was hitting the back spring. Convexing the edge really beefed it up and resulted in a tough as nails hard use blade to compliment the laser sharp clip. It's perfect...for today

 

[Old Hunter]

DrMabuse, Nothing at all! However, my most useful blade combination preference is a Clip master (Full or Turkish) and a Sheepfoot or bigger Coping - very hard to get that combination in a Jack, but quite easy to get those two in a Whittler or a Stockman (but of course in the typical Stockman you usually get a short Spey as a 3rd blade). A nicer Stockman design is the Case 6332 and 63032 for sheer usefullness of the 3rd blade - it's a Pen and a hefty one at that. There are always compromises, thus the search! OH

 

[screened porch]

The Boker has one straight and one curved edge, and gets rid of the third blade, but saves me almost nothing in weight or bulk, so why not go with the old Western stockman.
But the stockman is a bit bulky.
The Case mini-trapper is so close to perfect, but it could use a short blade and I wish the clip were broader. (The Queen Pardue cattle king would be perfect, except the long blades are over three inches.)
I don't seem to have a picture of my new Queen BEM #9 stockman, which has stainless steel pivot pins and a high RC.

 

[jackknife]

The perfect pocket knife?

Yeah, it's out there someplace, and I've found a few over the years. The perfect pocketknife is one that rides in your pocket without taking up too much real estate, has one to three blades, cuts what you need to cut, and rings the bell in the looks department for you.

I had a Buck 301 stockman that was my perfect pocket knife for 25 years. I wasn't a knife nut back then, or at least I didn't know about computers and knife forums then. They were still years in the future for me. But for 25 years that old beat up stockman was my cookie. It was there when I raised three kids, opened tons of cartons and packages, whittled and cut snacks for my kids when we were out on an adventure. After than I had a Case peanut that I carried. A whole different breed of cat from the stockman, but it was inspired by my dad's old peanut. A peanut in one form or another rode in my pocket for along while until arthritis parked it. It did the same job as my old stockman, cutting open all kinds of packages, whittled, snack duty, and whatever. It had two blades, which I like for choice of cutting tool, didn't take up much room at all in the real estate department, and was not noticed until I needed it.

The perfect pocket knife is like the common cold, it mutates from person tp person, and may differ a lot according to their needs and person taste. Kind of like whiskey. Some folks like Scotch, while I prefer good old Kentucky sour mash.

Right now, I'm back to a stockman, thanks to the generosity of a good friend. It's easy to open for arthritic fingers due to some light springs, has three blades to choose my cutting tool from, and has nice trim rounded lines so it's easy on the pocket. So I've come a full circle in that respect. From a stockman to a peanut to a stockman again.

 

[black mamba]

I haven't found it yet, although I'm close. It would need to be between 3¾ and 4 inches closed, serpentine frame, with a full length bellied blade (clip, drop or spear) and a shorter sheepfoot secondary. A caplifter/driver for a third blade at the opposing end would make it perfect. I guess custom is the only way to get one right now, but I'm still looking. A stockman satisfies most of the criteria, so that is what I carry most of the time.