Reality check

I worked in construction and manufacturing for about ten years before I worked in an office. Do you know what knives I carried most often in the field? A tiny Buck 309 Companion and a Stanly box cutter. It wasn't until I worked in an office full-time that I started carrying "hard use" knives.

I have a Cold Steel Spartan in my pocket right now. Not because I need it, but because it's awesome!

Good on you for honoring your friend :thumbsup:
 
gastonian said:
I worked in construction and manufacturing for about ten years before I worked in an office. Do you know what knives I carried most often in the field? A tiny Buck 309 Companion and a Stanly box cutter. It wasn't until I worked in an office full-time that I started carrying "hard use" knives.

I have a Cold Steel Spartan in my pocket right now. Not because I need it, but because it's awesome!

Good on you for honoring your friend :thumbsup:
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Just out of curiosity, was that before you discovered online knife forums?
 
jackknife said:
Just out of curiosity, was that before you discovered online knife forums?
Click to expand...

Yes, it was. I actually lost my 309 and got laid off of my manufacturing job around the same time so I had time to research a replacement. That's when I started reading and lurking on the forums. I wanted a knife with a pocket clip and I had no idea I was going to get into a great hobby and meet some genuinely nice people in an awsome community.

I joined BF around eight years ago and have owned literally hundreds of knives since, still looking for that replacement!
 
I work in a woodshop building doors, windows stairs etc and carry a simple Douk Douk since I started 10 years ago
It's so slim I don't feel it until I need it and that carbon steel blade gets very sharp!
This knife is used for sharpening pencils, deburing holes trimming various wooden parts, cutting straps and opening bags and boxes, it gets used a little rougher when I'm on a job site but nothing extreme.
I often find myself shopping for a replacement but then say to myself why spend more when this one does the job fine!
 
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Ever since I read the story of the guy who defended himself and successfully fought and killed a grizzly bear with a Buck 110, it's given me a moment to remember where it all started for me and how the 110 was the first "good knife" for many of us. We've come a long way in the last ten years, yet the traditional knives we started out with are still very functional and capable tools. No exotic knife steels or handle materials, just very well made knives at a very fair price. It's good to be humbled now and again and still be able to appreciate the old and the new. The modestly priced lower end to the high priced customs.
 
I've recently come to respect and use more of the traditional locking and non locking patterns. I have started focusing less on high end steel and started focusing more on finding good heat treatments, practical blade shapes, and good grinds.

They are tools, made to be used, scratched, dulled, sharpened, rinse and repeat. I've personally watched an older man clean a bucket full of bluegill with a few swipes on each fish, it was impressive to see. It wasn't a $400 hard use folder with high end steel and an unbreakable framelock. It was a worn out old Case slipjoint that had undoubtedly seen many buckets of fish before that.
 
I just did a quick search for reviews of the Milwaukee "Fastback". All I could find were from tool guys, not knife guys, and the consensus seemed to be that it was lousy and dangerous because of the strong spring. A different crowd, no doubt!
 
I batonned that mora with a hammer countless times,and cut wire ,shingles,soft metal etc,and it took it without problem,its iasy to fix the edge with belt sander and touch it up on stone.Utility knife is much more usefull than any pocket knife for pure cutting in construction work,and thats what i use,along with mora,but i pry sometimes with it and do basically anything.This is where thicker grind helps ,but for pure cutting,utility knife cuts way better and blades are easy to replace.
 
I have that milwaukee knife,but its hawkbill blade variant,nice useful knife,i cut carpet with it,blade is little soft,but its its to sharpen and cuts well.Paid maybe 5$us for it.
 
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