Real men carry slippies.

E

ElCuchillo

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There's been alot of construction at work lately, and I've had a chance to see what the construction workers carried, and almost to a man, they all carry a slippie of some type. Stockman, Trappers, Slimline Trappers, and SAKs seem to make up the patterns used. I've asked a few of them about this, why they carry these knives, and quite a few of them gave me looks like "What the hell else am I going to carry?" When I asked if they ever carry tacticals and such, one guy said "You mean those plastic gimmicks with the cute little hole or nob for my thumb? Pretty little clip for my pocket? I need a knife, not a toy. Real men carry THESE (he points to his pocket, which is hiding some type of slippe). That's interesting. Here I thought we tradiionalists were a dying breed, but in reality we are going strong. Very cool.
 
ElCuchillo said:
There's been alot of construction at work lately, and I've had a chance to see what the construction workers carried, and almost to a man, they all carry a slippie of some type. Stockman, Trappers, Slimline Trappers, and SAKs seem to make up the patterns used. I've asked a few of them about this, why they carry these knives, and quite a few of them gave me looks like "What the hell else am I going to carry?" When I asked if they ever carry tacticals and such, one guy said "You mean those plastic gimmicks with the cute little hole or nob for my thumb? Pretty little clip for my pocket? I need a knife, not a toy. Real men carry THESE (he points to his pocket, which is hiding some type of slippe). That's interesting. Here I thought we tradiionalists were a dying breed, but in reality we are going strong. Very cool.
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Heck yeah. The university I work at just finished a 7 mil dollar renovation. I was part of it and had reason to spend time with the superintendant. One day we were in the union and were eating. he had an apple and pulled out a WORN buck 110 from his pocket. That sucker was SHARP. He had it for 30 years and never went to a job without it.

:)

best,
Brett
 
Slippies are very cool. Especially old ones. Kids and ladies generally like them too. A good slippie is like a piece of old jewelry.
 
Before I retired, I worked at a place up in Frederick called S.F.A. Manufacturing. We did alot of defense dept. contracting and we had a good size machine shop, sheet metal shop, welding shop, and an assembly building. I don't think I ever saw a tactical with any of the guys we had. I did see a heck of alot of well used Old Timer middleman stockman, some Buck stockmen and cadets, a few Old Timer 2 blade jacks, a couple of sak's, one Camillus TL-29, and an Opinel. But more Old Timers than anything else. They seemed to be the most popular knife among the machinists, welders, assembly crew.
 
Great thread ElCuchillo -- I too ask folks what they carry at every given opportunity.. Its good to survey the general population when possible!. Every time I do this I get a pretty similar response, but with the only difference down here slightly south of you is, there are a good portion of folks who carry Leatherman's(or some form of Multi-Tool) in addition to the aforementioned folding knives.

So,, you have concluded correctly. We are in good company!:)
 
As a union electrician in NYC in the 70s, we all had a Colonial Electrician's knife on our tool pouch.
That was the only knife and brand you could buy in the Supply Houses.
Later on Klein came out with a knife.

Still have it!
 
I see a good bit of tactical but its based on young white kids wanting to look tough. Many that work for us usually see us using knives a lot and with their first paycheck go get a knife. Sadly, they go to Lowes and get those cheap tacticals with pocket clip.

The "real" adults I run into that are hard working and have a need to carry a knife usually do have a slipjoint of some sort.

I hired a guy to do some work on a house I recently sold. He pulls out a Vic Tinker.

My heating/air guy pulls out a Buck medium stockman(don't know which # it was).

My next door neighbor is an 80 yr old man that still paints houses. We were comparing our medium stockmans recently. His was an old Shrade with SS. He bought it new over 30 yrs ago. haha...He still was complaining about how much it cost.hahahaha... That little knife has been used!!! It sure was pretty.
 
65hoss said:
My next door neighbor is an 80 yr old man that still paints houses. We were comparing our medium stockmans recently. His was an old Shrade with SS. He bought it new over 30 yrs ago. haha...He still was complaining about how much it cost.hahahaha... That little knife has been used!!! It sure was pretty.
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What do you supposed it cost, max? $15? So, 15/30 = 50 cents a year. :p And the knife is still going strong. Love it. :D
 
I'm a supervisor in a power plant. All of the plant operators, electricians, I&E techs, millwrights, etc. were issued Buck 110s when the plant was comissioned. Last year they bought us all Leatherman Waves. A few of us carry slipjoints too (my red Case CV slimline trapper is in my pocket), and a few carry Spyderco Enduras along with the Leathermans.
 
Where I live, real Cowboys carry slippies. You could show them the most expensive custom tactical by the most popular maker out there, and they would think of it as the black pocket clip jobs sold at the gas station. Some of them like the big old folding hunters of 5 and a quarter inch in closed length, on a belt sheath. The two blade ones. All are smart and knife savvy enough to not worry about them closing on their fingers.
 
Certainly not by any means a construction worker, just an old man that piddles in his wood shop and has uses at work. But it has nearly always been a slippie in my pocket, first a peanut, then came a William Henry, and now I have been carrying a TA Davison. Slippies are it for me. No clips just a drop in pocket worker.
James
PS: Nice Thread
 
"You mean those plastic gimmicks with the cute little hole or nob for my thumb?
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So I guess this guy never finds himself holding something in one hand and needing to get out and use his knife with the other?

Sorry folks but the Spyderhole is without a doubt the single most important development since folding knives themselves.
 
I think the job the knife is for should be taken into consideration. I love my Queen stockman in carved bone, but I never did EDC it when I worked nights at a warehouse easily making 500+ cuts a night. It just wouldn't be practical compared to the Kershaw Leek I brought with me as it would of slowed me down on the job. But for whittling, trimming my nails and opening small packages when time isn't as crucial I love the thin Wharncliffe blade on the Queen.
 
jh205 said:
So I guess this guy never finds himself holding something in one hand and needing to get out and use his knife with the other?

Sorry folks but the Spyderhole is without a doubt the single most important development since folding knives themselves.
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I sure am glad Bill Scagel thought of it, very useful on his knives and the various copies.
 
jh205 said:
So I guess this guy never finds himself holding something in one hand and needing to get out and use his knife with the other?

Sorry folks but the Spyderhole is without a doubt the single most important development since folding knives themselves.
Click to expand...

Or it could be holes used in folding knives for around 100 years that I know of.
(For example Scagel) ;)

On the queen stockman. That is not a wharncliff. It is a sheeps foot.
Lots of blade in that stockman compared to a single blade of the same length.
 
Bastid said:
Or it could be holes used in folding knives for around 100 years that I know of.
(For example Scagel) ;)

On the queen stockman. That is not a wharncliff. It is a sheeps foot.
Lots of blade in that stockman compared to a single blade of the same length.
Click to expand...

Shoot, forgot about the scagel. it's not round, but it works!!!

:)
 
Bastid said:
Or it could be holes used in folding knives for around 100 years that I know of.
(For example Scagel) ;)

On the queen stockman. That is not a wharncliff. It is a sheeps foot.
Lots of blade in that stockman compared to a single blade of the same length.
Click to expand...

I usually just carry one knife from each category: Tactical, traditionals and multi-tools.

Today the set-up is my Spyderco Manix, the Queen stockman and a Leatherman Micra.

No reason different types of knives can't co-exist :)
 
Vivi said:
No reason different types of knives can't co-exist :)
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Amen to that. Not many knives around at all that I could not admire or at least learn from or wonder about.
 
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