Recommendation? Pocket slip, or let it scuff?

I do the same as you except I humbly admit that I lay my knives down easy when setting them on hard surfaces.

My carries reside in pockets with no other items and it seems just as good as a pocket slip to me. Perhaps even better because the pocket fabric is softer than some slips and they ride loosely in my pockets as opposed to fitting tightly in a slip.

It takes my knives a long time to acquire scratches on surfaces other than the blades. When they do get scratched it's from usage only.

 

It's a knife, made from durable materials of metal, wood, bone, stag, and the like. While it might pick up some scratches being dropped bare into a pocket with keys and coins, the damage will be superficial and cosmetic.

I have a #73 that's been my primary carry for the past few years. It was an actual EDC for a couple, as it was actually in my pocket every single day during that time. I tried to get that trusted companion look like you see on this knife. Maybe not the crack, nor the lead patch job, but I liked the smoothed covers and the rounded corners.


image by cnas122

I failed. I haven't even gotten the covers to yellow adequately. I'm certain this knife will last the rest of my life. Should I somehow manage to wear it out, no big deal. That's a perfect reason to treat myself to a new knife!

 

Depends on the knife, I have some that I treat gently and carry in a pocket slip. Others I just toss in my pocket along with my keys. I enjoy seeing the well worn pocket patina sometimes.
This 77 just gets tossed in my pocket.

This Davison gets carried in a pocket slip

 

When not wearing jeans, keys ride in the same pocket so I use a slip to keep things in place, not so much to prevent scuffing or damage. All the capped ends of my knives are scuffed because i like them sticking out for easy retrieval. Maybe that's why i prefer bare ended knives.

 

I just toss the knife in my pocket to use, and whatever happens, happens. I've never really had a safe queen, and although I may like some knives better than others, they are all a using tool to me. They get scuffed and dinged, but they still cut great, and thats what's important to me. Same with my guns, just use them and never mind what they look like.

 

Always carry my knives in a slip. Not super worried about scuffing them, I just find them more comfortable in the pocket that way, keeps them from turning longways at the bottom of the pocket.

 

The sitting longways in the bottom of the pocket thing leads me to carry larger ones in a slip, keeps them upright.
3 inch ones, like Peanuts, just get tossed in.

 

This is a thing of beauty.



As is this.



Neither item is no longer pristine. The pistol has a fair bit of silvering along its edges. The knife has dings and scratches, with a few pepper spots thrown in. But a quick glance identifies them as mine, distinct from the mass of 1911s and 73s that live in safes.

Even more important, these things work and have proven themselves reliable. Time and use have smoothed them both out, so they function better than when they were NIB. In the case of the barlow, the edge has been tuned up the way I like, which is immeasurably better than the one it originally had.

 

I use a slip for mine, more to keep them sitting upright in my pocket than to protect them. I am also a fan of the knives ship free pocket sheaths for small fixed blades. Their northwoods slipjoint slip with space pen is also very nice.

 

I enjoy getting a little wear on my knifes. However, I can see if I had nice collectible knives using a slip if I'm carrying it.

 

Always in a pocket clip, but mostly just to keep the knife from going horizontal in my pocket.

 

Knife goes in watch pocket without a slip. If there is no watch pocket, I may use a soft slip to keep keys from doing extensive damage to knife, or knife from damaging phone. I probably only use a slip about 10% of the time though.

I'm not super picky about my users, and know they'll get marked up, but I don't need my car keys to be the primary aging factor.

 

I just let em get dinged up. I like patina. And scratches. Heck I have been known to sharpen on a coffee cup. I rotate two ebony gec 33s for edc (I have two as I am afraid I will lose one haha) and they disappear among the coins and keys. If I am outdoors somewhere I bring a bigger knife that rides in a bag with my gear.

 

Let it scuff!

My current daily traditional carry, a GEC 77 Barlow, gets spun on my desk, tossed in my pocket with keys when I walk the dog, dropped (accidentally), and, of course, used for cutting stuff. Casual treatment gives my knives character and deepens my enjoyment of them.

"Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete." -- Leonard Koren

"A knife is a tool, and if we don't treat our tools with a certain familiar contempt, we lose perspective." -- Bob Loveless

 

Just throw em in your pocket along with whatever else is in there and let em ride.


A couple of the above knives have even ridden in a tool box and tractor box. Really, none the worse for wear.

 

I carry my knives loose in my pocket. However, I don't normally have them in the same pocket as keys and change. Usually in a pocket to themselves (ex: jeans watch pocket) or along with something not particularly abrasive (back pocket along side a soft-cover notepad). The only knife I have carried in a pocket slip is a GEC #77 Barlow, just to keep the big bolster from getting scratched up needlessly. I've only carried it a few times, but if I were to make it a regular carry knife, then it would go into a pocket bare, same as any others.

 

In my eyes, pocket slips add bulk and an unwanted step to the blade deployment process. I usually carry knives in the jeans coin pocket, or if in dress clothes, in the RFP by itself. Keys are on a dangler clipped to the pocket hem so they're kept away from that precious Delrin.

 

If it's a user, it's meant to take the abuse of being used, including being carried. It all adds to the patina of the knife. The only time I carry a knife in a pouch is if it is a knife that I'm carrying for show (or to show someone), but I intend on keeping it mint for my collection.