Reality check

GronK

GronK

Joined
Apr 1, 2001
Messages
19,305
A person near and dear to me gave me the below knives as "gag" gifts over the years. He was not a knife person but knew my tastes in expensive knives and how I hated black blades, assisted openers, tantos and half serrations. He passed away Feb 28 and I have carried only these knives for the month of March in his honor.
View media item 8302The surprise is that I have not missed my usual EDC carries, those being Sebenzas, Spydercos Kershaws and Benchmades with an occasional ProTech along with a nice GEC in the pocket. These proletarian blades have done everything I've asked with no problems at all. I don't plan to sell off all my shiny blades but I will no longer kid myself about how much I "need" them.
 
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This little Kershaw has horrible lock stick. By far the worst of any framelock I've ever owned. That said I've gotten over it as the blade is near identical to my small CRK Insingo. So much so that I carry the Kershaw all the time now and am trying to trade the small Insingo for a large.

It doesn't replace the CRK which is a cool knife with faults. But the Natrix is a cool knife with faults too and I like em both!
 
That's a great way to honor your friend and to remember the relationship the two of you had. What you've discovered is also a good "back to the basics" reminder of what a knife was originally intended to do... cut stuff.

I have a few knives that friends have given me over the years. All of them together wouldn't cost as much as one of the knives I buy for myself, but I'll never part with them because of the people and relationships they represent.

I'm sorry for your loss, and I hope you continue to take some comfort in the "gag gifts" that you two enjoyed together.
 
GronK said:
A person near and dear to me gave me the below knives as "gag" gifts over the years. He was not a knife person but knew my tastes in expensive knives and how I hated black blades, assisted openers, tantos and half serrations. He passed away Feb 28 and I have carried only these knives for the month of March in his honor.
View media item 8302The surprise is that I have not missed my usual EDC carries, those being Sebenzas, Spydercos and Benchmades with an occasional ProTech along with a nice GEC in the pocket. These proletarian blades have done everything I've asked with no problems at all. I don't plan to sell off all my shiny blades but I will no longer kid myself about how much I "need" them.
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Gronk, you've made a very valuable discovery.

They like to quote the rule, "always have a knife." and that a good rule. But it really doesn't matter what kind of knife, unless one is just looking for bragging rights. We, the obsessed knife nut, is not looking at it from a rational point of view. Being knife nuts, we are skewed in our judgment of the thing. The truth is, any decent knife will do 98% of what you need. It doesn't have to be the new wonder steel of the month, or the latest cover knife of the knife magazine industry. The whole rest of the world, including most third world countries get by very well with knives that the knife snobs on most knife forums would turn up their already up turned noses at. Processing food for a meal, dressing/butcher gamer domestic livestock, harvesting crops, all done with nominal knives of mediocre steel by our standards.

I used to be a knife snob. Long ago, in my misguided younger days, I was really into the customs. Started with Randall's, and moved into the American Bladesmith Society knives from Jay Hendrickson, Bill Moran, and others. Then I had an awakening. Out hunting withy friend Danny, we both scoured on opening day. With two bucks down we went to work. I had a Randallsmall hunter and Danny had a little Swedish mora, and his mora out cut the Randall. That day started my 'experiments' with knives. To my dismay, I found the the custom high dollar hand forged knives didn't really cut any better than a mora number 1 with the laminated blade, a Buck 102, a Schrade sharp finger, and most surprising, an old Rusell-Dexter carbon steel butcher knife. But they did have the snob appeal.

All the customs got sold. It was the start of my disillusionment. Like you said, reality check. Now I just have a SAK in my pocket and if I need more knife, my old Buck 102 is around, as is a 12 inch Ontario machete. Over the past several years I've been backing away from the whole knife thing, and trying to use common sense. The knife industry has become as ridiculous as the gun industry. You can get a very good knife for 20 dollars at most big box stores. Your Milwaukee is a good testimony to that.
 
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Pretty cool of you to carry them to remember your friend. Nice of him to care enough to tease you.

I've had folders from $50 to a little over $200, most being in the $120-200 range. Ive had fixed blades over $300 but most in the $120-150 range. I like all kinds of knives from traditional to modern, all kinds of styles and blade types and operation methods and locks, and finishes.

I have always said people go a little too nuts over supersteels. I think the highest I have owned is S35VN and have no interest in particular for anything "better". I grew up before there was a new flavor every month so traditional steels work great, I absolutely love 1095 and VG10 for instance, and have no problem with old tool steels or old style 420 or 440 stainless steels.

I will admit I haven't carried any of the older steels in some time in a folder, most have been at least VG10-S30V pretty regularly. I have medical issues and have had to sell off most of my knives, and recently found myself without a decent modern folder even in order to pay bills. I found a Kershaw Cryo II for about $10 and carried it for several months and it did everything I asked of it. Now I have a Tenacious lightweight on my hip, but I did dig out a Buck or two and bought a Buck 110 LT and its in 420 steel and its great.

So in a lot of ways I've gone full circle. Its nice to know that "the good stuff" doesn't necessarily mean the latest and greatest steel lr an expensive design necessarily. Of course you don't have to limit yourself to a junk gas station knife either if you know what you're looking at.
 
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Nice tribute to your friend, GronK GronK - I like that.

A plus is that I think that Milwaukee looks like a great user knife. I have come to appreciate serrations - it gives you a nice option when cutting fibrous material.

I am believing that there is two kinds of edc - the every-day user, a knife that is very high quality (eg high cost) and then the every-day abuser.

I remember the day I was hammering in sap-taps when the sap was flowing in the local maples with my OG 1999 Emerson CQC-7. Yea, it did the job but I always regretted boogering up the scales like a dolt. There is a place in the knife world for a cheap but well-made knife.

best

mqqn
 
Victorinox sak is always handy,not just blade but tools too.When camping and in kitchen,hatchet,axe,or butcher-chef knife is best.Best and easy to replace,inexpensive too,most collectors arent using their knives,are scared to sharpen and use them..they do not know real limits of those knives or if they really perform.If they got used,many would be left on shelf,thrown away ,or sold,because the truth is a lot of them do not perform the way they should and are way way overpriced with non practical fantasy designs.Machetes,hatchets,butcher knives,and simple sak from victorinox and wenger are what will work in any setting.Some manufacturers and custom makers make really good stuff,but majority is just overpriced garbage with ton of marketing.Simple is better,every time.
 
lonestar1979 said:
Victorinox sak is always handy,not just blade but tools too.When camping and in kitchen,hatchet,axe,or butcher-chef knife is best.Best and easy to replace,inexpensive too,most collectors arent using their knives,are scared to sharpen and use them..they do not know real limits of those knives or if they really perform.If they got used,many would be left on shelf,thrown away ,or sold,because the truth is a lot of them do not perform the way they should and are way way overpriced with non practical fantasy designs.Machetes,hatchets,butcher knives,and simple sak from victorinox and wenger are what will work in any setting.Some manufacturers and custom makers make really good stuff,but majority is just overpriced garbage with ton of marketing.Simple is better,every time.
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You're totally correct on that. The knife magazines that are the paid shills of the knife industry has sold people on products that are as Jeff Randall said, 99% B.S. Hollywood and hype sells.
 
Combo of hatchet and sak,or machete and sak is perfect for camping-wilderness survival-bushcraft.Isurvival-bushcraft.I see all these specialized "bushcraft" style knives that are advertised by various expert,and do not think they work any better than sak-hatchet combo at all.Especially scandi grind thats so popular,still do not know advantages of that grind,as i find flat grind most versatile for everything.Its just marketing.
 
Thanks for all the kind responses. The man who gifted me these worked for an apartment maintenance company doing everything from plumbing and heating to decorating, lawn work, and pool maintenance. His daily carry was normally a Milwaukee with the blade inserts. He was a tool guy, the one who could go to his truck and pull out the specialized tool for a given job. I gave him a few knives over the years and the only ones he carried were a Case "Carhart" and a Spyderco Tenacious that he beat up good at my request, just to see how it held up. It did really well!
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GronK said:
Thanks for all the kind responses. The man who gifted me these worked for an apartment maintenance company doing everything from plumbing and heating to decorating, lawn work, and pool maintenance. His daily carry was normally a Milwaukee with the blade inserts. He was a tool guy, the one who could go to his truck and pull out the specialized tool for a given job. I gave him a few knives over the years and the only ones he carried were a Case "Carhart" and a Spyderco Tenacious that he beat up good at my request, just to see how it held up. It did really well!
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Tenacious is a great "Construction" utility blade. I used one for about three years and it was a great blade in addition to a Stanley utility knife.
So you have some of his blades as well?
 
At the end of the day all a knife needs to do is cut and many of us don’t even need a knife to cut the things we cut on a daily basis (think opening envelopes by tearing the end off, opening packed boxes by ripping the tape with your keys, ‘cutting’ bailing twine with another piece of bailing twine).

We often say we “need” certain features but I’m sure 99 percent of us could make do just fine with an old hickory paring knife, an Opinel, or a Pakistani made gas station knife as our only cutting tool.
 
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