Reflections of a man about telos...

[Diomedes Industries]

All that being said, I think that there is truth to be found in theories that suggest that modern and late modern societies are in many ways defined by systems of commoditization, where the acquisition of objects as the means to an experiential end gives way to the acquisition of objects becoming both the means and the end. And bearing this in mind, I think that there are plenty of people who look into their wallets to find the wilderness.

Me, I just like hiking, sharp stuff, and long walks on the beach ...

All the best,

- Mike

Great comments everyone. Mike, this last paragraph is what I am talking about. I know this is a knife board, but this is also a sub-forum on Wilderness and Survival. I don't think that the subforum was meant to be a particular type of knife collection. That is why the 'skills' is mentioned in the title.

Payette also makes a great point. The Mora will work - but you will have to sharpen it more and treat it differently than a Koster in S3V.


I guess part of my point was that we all seem to be on the search for the perfect knife - I don't think we can identify that without doing enough to know what we want out of a knife.

The other point was a wonderance if we replace experiences with purchases.

TF

 

[Skimo]

I know what my perfect knife is, and I know it might change.

Going into the wilderness without the best tools is like going out to fix your car with a crescent wrench instead of a socket set.

There is nothing wrong with getting the best tools to make sure you have the best chance of coming back out alive and well fed.

I can't help but wonder why anyone would truly go into the bush without great gear, go ahead and ask anyone that climbs... is there better gear than they use, and would they like to upgrade, most say yes.

The crazy free climbers... those are the equivalent of the guys that take a SAK a tarp water and a fire steel for a week+ of bushing it.

I'm no SAK/tarp person. I like to be comfortable, in a tent, with a rifle, with friends, and where I come from wilderness and being all alone is not that far from the house.

All that being said, I really want to go camping right now.

 

[kgd]

I'm like Rotte and admit that I've gone into collector status. I mean really, I counted my fixed blades and they are not a huge collection, but mounting to 21 or so knives. Who really needs 21 different knives? I can't even go to say they are all different intended function. I have a lot of redundancy. The differences are in nuances like handle materials, blade shape, ergos. None of these things really affect performance beyond a slight nuance in how it is used.

Neither do I see the distinction stated in this thread 'I use all my knives, I'm not a collector'. I'm in that same boat. There isn't a single knife in my collection that hasn't forced its way through wood via batoning or whittled or made notches. When I say collector, I don't mean frame it and put it on a shelf. I mean, I buy redundant gear. I get a 'jolly' or endorphin rush opening up a new package containing a new blade. I can take hold of a really nice piece of cutlery at a show and just get joy holding it, feeling its balance, looking it over. Do I project what it would be like to use it in the bush - yeah I suppose I do.

In any event, we do have an out....a little rationalization that we use effectively to stamp out the 'collector' label that so many here find rather abhorrent for some reason. That is the 'survival hoard' concept. Yep, its the guys who rationalize - I'm going to collect a pile of stuff for the SHTF. We have our water reservoirs and food staples. Some folks have their piles of ammo caches. Then we add to that a pile of knives....Do you need a pile of knives in the SHTF? No...Ahw, but we rationalize further, I can barter them....Of course most of the fine friendly fellas saying that are also the ones claiming they will shoot anything that moves 100 m from their hideout. Barter? Do they have the people skills to do such a thing?

Anyhow, I'm playing above and poking folks in the ribs. Talfuchre's original post does I think get at a psychology for many of us. Its a hard truth to swallow, just as the self admittance that I collect equipment to excess seems to be a bitter pill. Man's greatest weakness is his ego, always has been.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

You hit it KGD, you hit it.

TF

 

[gcgcgc]

An interesting topic...

I like to camp, hike and fish. I also like the knives. Sure, I only need a SAK, but I'm still having fun.

No complaints here!

 

[Cpl Punishment]

I think it's a bit of both, in different proportions for each person. I don't think anyone here (except maybe some noobs) that doesn't have more knives than they could really say they need. Some of us own enough that we can't carry them all in one trip. So, we all collect, to a degree.

I'm lucky in that I basically live in the woods. All I have to fo to test a blade is go out back. I'm surrounded by lots of woods and a couple big lakes. Of course, I generally work 6 days a week at this poitn and don't get far from home often.

As far as living vicariously through our gear. Sure, that happens to some extent. I like to canoe camp with canvas packs and "traditional" knives and clothes. It's not to project an image to others, it's to "put on a different life" for a while, and live like the old timers for a few days.

I have found most of what could be considered my perfect knives. I really have. They're the ones I always reach for first when setting about a given task. Some knives I buy just because I like the way they look, and although I do put all of my blades through their paces, some of them don't get much use beyond that. For instance, I took my Battle Mistress around the block a couple times, putting her through her paces. But I hardly ever take it with me anymore, preferring my favorite kukri instead. Yeah, I bought the BM because I thought it looked cool. It happens to work, and well.

 

[BarberFobic1992]

I didn't read through every post, so this may have been said already.

My interest in knives and my interest in the outdoors are independent of each other. I do not necisarily like the outdoors because I like like knives, and I don't necesarily like knives because I like the outdoors. The overlap is just a convenient coincidence.

 

[udtjim]

A lot of good points made here. People here use their knives for different reasons. Some of you like to get out in the woods and just chop the hell out of things for no apparent reason to the guy who goes camping at the local camp ground and only needs a Sak with a can opener. When some go outdoors it may be just to get out of Dodge and may do a little bush craft work. My main reason for using knives is Hunting, Fishing and Camp cooking. Yes for me a Mora is all the knife I would ever need because I have different tools for wood working and fire building. The most active years of my life outdoors( besides the military ) I carried only a Buck 110 and a Sak. I was a hunting and fishing guide and with that setup and a Fillet knife, I never needed anything more. Still don't. I just enjoy trying new knives.

We are all knife nuts or we wouldn't be here, use your time the best way that you can, if it is a knife day, just go enjoy it, it matters not why you collect knives or what they are worth. Just be glad for another day and try to help someone else do the same.

Tal, It does sound like you need more slack time.

 

[mymindisamob]

It's funny that this comes up now. I was at Blade West this last weekend and saw some great stuff. I was there as a proxy and did not buy anything for myself. What I find amusing is that everyone likes to pull out and show off their new scores, but I saw more people pull out users and show them off than ever before. Most were Busses so I guess that shows that I hang with that crowd more, but with folks that use their tools.
I'm not going to go getting all defensive here, but it has become obvious that I need to get out and use my gear more. I really don't collect, although I have 4 SAK Farmers, 1 Leatherman Wave, 2 Cold Steel Finn Bears, a Busse Game Warden and a Busse Badger Attack. They all get used, but I need to spend more time outdoors than on this seat writing about what I have and how I plan to use it. I need to work less too, but fortunately when I get home I am in the woods.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Jim,

I have plenty of slack time - little wilderness time.

TF

 

[pitdog]

All I will say on the subject is that when I used to do a post about one of my hikes with the dogs and a few knife pics thrown in I'd likely get 20 or more replies, if I do a post about wild edibles which is a big interest of mine, I'd be lucky to get 3 or 4 replies !!!!!

Take away all the knife talk and pics and the forum would die real quick !!!!!

 

[martino910]

Hey , I seem to fall into that category as well.

 

[Shotgun]

I didn't read through every post, so this may have been said already.

My interest in knives and my interest in the outdoors are independent of each other. I do not necisarily like the outdoors because I like like knives, and I don't necesarily like knives because I like the outdoors. The overlap is just a convenient coincidence.

This is how I feel. I buy knives because I like them and take them into the woods because I enjoy having them with me. I can't remember ever needing any knife other than a SAK while hiking/camping. But I carry and use a good fixed blade because I like it. In fact, my $19 Farmer is by a wide margin the cheapest knife I have and it's the one that's always being used.

I do sit down after dinner when I have down time and "finger $@*&" a knife to get that feeling of the outdoors like you mentioned. More day dreaming than anything. Heck I could be thinking about worse things.

 

[Cpl Punishment]

All I will say on the subject is that when I used to do a post about one of my hikes with the dogs and a few knife pics thrown in I'd likely get 20 or more replies, if I do a post about wild edibles which is a big interest of mine, I'd be lucky to get 3 or 4 replies !!!!!

Take away all the knife talk and pics and the forum would die real quick !!!!!

Not to get off track, and I can't speak for everyone, but the reason I rarely post on your wild edibles threads is I don't know enough about the subject to discuss it, and don't want to be "that guy" that only posts: "Nice pics."

 

[siguy]

I found that I was in the same situation as you, TF, so I changed that.

I cut my forum time by a huge amount (in the beginning, every time I felt the urge to go on the forum, I would go out back and whittle or something instead), started spending more time outdoors, and got more comfortable being "out there".

Even before that I started cutting my collection a little bit, because it was getting a little silly. I still have more knives than I need, but fewer than I had.

 

[Foilist]

I think TF has perceptively stumbled onto something; for some folks these days, having the equipment for an activity has become the equivalent of doing the activity.

For other folks, it's sort of fetishist; the object (knife or whatever) represents a sort of identity that the possessor admires, and he can partake of it by having the same gear.

For still other folks (like many of us, I think), the tools and gear associated with an activity take on an aesthetic value; we think knives are beautiful and we admire them at a level well beyond mere utility. Think about the tools and equipment you use at your job, whatever it is; You know what works and what doesn't, but you don't contemplate its beauty - you are just concerned with completing the task at hand. Your typical auto mechanic doesn't stand around with his buddies admiring a combination wrench, and likewise Les Stroud probably doesn't think much about knives. We, on the other hand, are mostly hobbyists and part of the fun of a hobby is the gear!

Another theory I have is that there is a sort of Jungian, archetypical attraction to knives because cutting implements were the very first tools that the earliest proto-humans made and used, and they have been with us for countless millenia.

 

[Calebklyne]

i like to have choice for when i do go out but like most i dont need all the different knives, however if its what you are into then why stop yourself as long as it doesnt become a problematic addiction

 

[stabman]

get a 'jolly' or endorphin rush opening up a new package containing a new blade. I can take hold of a really nice piece of cutlery at a show and just get joy holding it, feeling its balance, looking it over. Do I project what it would be like to use it in the bush - yeah I suppose I do.

I know what you mean man.
There's probably some physiological thing approximating addiction in the whole thing; wouldn't surprise me if there was.

 

[kgd]

I think TF has perceptively stumbled onto something; for some folks these days, having the equipment for an activity has become the equivalent of doing the activity.

For the sake of sword enthusiasts - lets hope this sentence rings true

 

[Shotgun]

Not to get off track, and I can't speak for everyone, but the reason I rarely post on your wild edibles threads is I don't know enough about the subject to discuss it, and don't want to be "that guy" that only posts: "Nice pics."

Yea, leave the "nice pics" comments to me.

Another theory I have is that there is a sort of Jungian, archetypical attraction to knives because cutting implements were the very first tools that the earliest proto-humans made and used, and they have been with us for countless millenia.

Knives and hammers are my favorite tools. Maybe I'm a cave man living in the wrong time.