Progression from tactical to slippies?

Gmountain

Gmountain

Joined
Oct 2, 2005
Messages
475
Do you all thibk there is a progression of collecting from tactical to slippies. i know in my case there was. I liked them but sort of moved to slippies, because really, how much can you do with a tactical knoife design wise?

I like them, and love my Sebenza, but I really enjoy slippies.
 
I started with slippies, then bought 2 tactical- Kershaw cyclone ao and BM Griptilian plain edge satin blade 154cm. Once I got the grip, it satisfied my desire for tactical, now I am back to trad slips. There are something about them that is unquenchable. I do have a penchant for old school hatchets, they are cheap enough on the auction forums.
 
I don't really "collect" knives, i sort of accumulate them in a using capacity. However, I have changed drastically in my preferences over the years. In my early days, I was hugely into tactical knives. Way back when, if i had run into a Strider, I would have thought i had died and gone to heaven. I would have worked my ass off and saved and saved for a year or two in order to get one. These days, i wouldn't buy one at a quarter their normal price. This is purely from an aesthetic standpoint. They just don't appeal to me in the least. Nowadays, I get really excited about things like my new Chambriard Compagnon, which is a slip joint, so i think i actually stayed on topic this time. So, yeah, i think my taste in knives has drifted a bit as well.
 
I don't know whether everyone goes this way, but I know I did. Started off with a SAK Farmer, which I still carry today. Tried a BM Minigriptilian, wasn't too fond of it, went on to Spydercos (which I still have an appreciation for, love that Caly Jr). I decided to go for the big one and bought 2 Sebenzas simultaneously. Once I got them, can't say I was too impressed, at least not much more than I was with Spydercos. I knew that I reached the apex of tactical style knives at this point, and it possibly wouldn't get any better, so I went back down to slipjoints. Turns out I love slippies, really dig my Schrade Old Timers, Cases, Queens, etc. Never felt the need for a lock either, and when I did, the RAT comes out to play.

I thought it would be cheaper. Alas! It isn't...

I'll say that this only applies to folders. I love my fixed blades (RAT Izula and RC-6), never felt the need to get any other fixed knife, tactical or not.
 
You can add me to the list of people who've moved - slowly - from tacticals to slipjoints.

Interesting thread, BTW.
 
I see myself doing the same.

I can carry a Case medium stockman from 1999 and it feels like it has soul or something. The tactical knives are cool but they feel "empty" in regards to a soul or something.

The tacs are just missing something.
 
Seems to be the case over here. I use my slippies much more often than the tacticals. Though, I do keep a Byrd Robin around for others to use if they need to borrow a knife. I'm not quite sure why or when the switch occurred, but I like how it's going.
 
I moved from a survival kick with all the gear, to Barkies, to Spyderco, to flashlights, to slippies.
 
I went a full circle. I started out as a kid with simple slippys and a scout knife my dad gave me. Then I went through a stage where I had to satisfy the knife knut in me by tryong out the other side. One hand folders, ever a Pacific Cutlery company balisong. They were okay, but just lacked something. In the one hand foldes, I got tired real quick of having just a single blade on tap. I was just too used to havong a selection of at least a second smaller pen blade, or a screwdriver on my scout or sak.

The other thing, was more asthetic. Black zytel handles and bead blasted blades didn't make it for me. But then I like blued steel firearms with nice hand checkered stocks. Just my taste.

Then there's the cutting. I like how the thinner blades of the slippies cut.

After a few years of the 'other stuff' I came back to what I grew up with. Sold/gave away the tacticool stuff and went back to a slip joint in the pocket. Even sold off the Glock and kept the 40 year old Smith and Wesson Combat Masterpiece.

I'm happy being back where I started.
 
Its easy for me to go back to slippies cause it was my roots and what I carried a lot in my youth. I still carry one quite a lot. For some the back slide to slippies after tactical is easier to do if you go to something like the new Terzuola Slipit by Spyderco or an Urban, UK Pen Knife or something like that. Whats funny is that when it comes to a "hard use" folder none of my tacticals have ever been used as hard as my tried and true 8OT Schrade Old Timer. Now thats a real world worker right there! I've done things with that knife that I'd never do with my others. Whats even funnier is its asked for more in most cases. Oh the edge has suffered but fortunately it sharpens back up easy enough to satisfy working conditions. Nothing works better than a nice old carbon slippie though.

STR
 
jackknife said:
Then there's the cutting. I like how the thinner blades of the slippies cut. ... I'm happy being back where I started.
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Same here. For me, the revelation came three or four years ago when I was trying to slice up some mushrooms we'd collected in the woods with my shiny new Endura. It just cleaved them apart, a very messy job. Instead I pulled out my SAK and it rendered perfect thin slices. More and more I began carrying a SAK or Old Timer and noticing how they just cut stuff better. I came to realize that I was perfectly willing to give up the (IMHO over-rated) ability to open a knife one-handed, and I was even willing to give up the "cool factor" of having the latest/greatest steel and/or lock and/or lightweight material, etc. (it's a never-ending chase, by the way) -- all in exchange for a lighter, smaller, time-tested knife that performed better.

... Oh, and I guess it helps that I'm an old fart of 40 now. :grumpy:
 
Back and forth. My Bob T Slipit from Spyderco is a great combination of slipjoint and tacticool. My Tidioute 73 still gives the Slipit a run for its money.
 
Without regard to what constitutes soul, most tac oriented blades are fad related base on materials vs something that gets used for a variety of uses. Then again, some folks use their blades for everything regardless of style, etc. Use what ya like, but it is difficult to argue that most tac folders will stand the test of time. A few will and deserve to do so, but many will not. Same for slip joints. A chinese made remington stockman at wallyworld isn't any more endearing or soulful because it is a slipjoint than us made spyderco (of which there are few models and vastly different price points from the PRC remington).

I guess a good knife is a good knife and quality constitutes soul more than anything else.
 
If it's sharp, I love it :)
Right now I have on me.. large u.g. Sebenza, Spyderco urban (wharny), Rat Izula, and Case small Texas jack in CV :)
Being 40- I grew up with slippies, and I love them, but I love the tacticools as well. I carry a small classic Sebenza most days, and it's not too different than a single blade trapper- it just has a lock and ti slabs. I agree that the tacticools aren't as warm and fuzzy, but I enjoy them for what they are. If i need to open an envelope, cut a string, or carve up a box, I'll grab a one-hander. If I'm whittling a marshmellow stick for my daughter, or peeling an apple, I'll grab the slippie. I did go quite a while without carrying a slippie. It didn't happen on purpose- it all started with a 110 when I was in the Navy in the late 80s, and I never gave it a second thought when I started going from one onehander to the next. A few years on, I wandered why I rarely saw anyone with an old school slipjoint- and why I didn't carry one of those old gems I loved so much growing up... so I slipped one in my pocket, and now I won't leave the house without one. I guess I came full circle to some degree, but I don't think I ever really left slipjoints.
 
I started carrying a knife as a boy sometime about 1960, before the 110 appeared. In 1960, if you carried a knife, it was pretty much going to be a slipjoint. The first knife I had was carbon steel. The second was stainless, a Schrade I think. Got a 110 in my teens. I carried it in college. When I was a truck driver for a spell in the late '70's I carried a Buck 303 in a sheath on my belt. That way I didn't have to dig in my pocket for it. I think I carried a 303 for almost 10 years on a daily basis. Later I carried an SAK Tinker for a couple of years, then one of the early Leatherman models that dug into your hand if you clamped too hard with the pliers. Then I had a couple of lockbacks that opened with a nailnick. Then I got into one-hand openers in the late 90's.

I'm not sure I've ever carried a "tactical knife". I like one hand openers. They're handy when you are working. You can grab and position the thing to be cut with both hands, then hold it with one hand while you open the knife with the other and cut. I have a few and I carry them frequently. There's still a few I'd like to try, just to see how well they work.

But I also like the slipjoints I grew up with and used as a younger man. I still like stockman models. Of all my knives, I think I could be happy with just a single stockman if I had to, just like I did a while ago.

I guess I said all that to say, I may not have progressed so much as come full circle.
 
I was raised up carrying cheap slipjoints. I now carry moderately priced custom slipjoints the vast majority (probably 95 % or more) of the time.


I still have a little internal conflict, however, because I find most of the modern designed factory knives to offer a great deal more quality, use of high grade steels and precision engineering than an equally priced slipjoint of the present. I realize factory high tech knives lack the "folksiness" we love, but dollar for dollar I believe they offer more your money than factory slipjoints. I guess that's why I carry almost exclusively custom slipjoints:confused:
 
I'm also in the full circle age group:eek: I still like my one hand knives but carry a slippie 7 days a week with 2 of those days as a second to a one hand knife.
 
bigrob911 said:
Try the case trapperlock. I feel it's the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

:thumbup: I've been thinking a lot about the trapperlock, and a few other knives that I feel bridge the gap between modern and traditional. Blackjack Folding Mamba anyone...?
 
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