Sense of Scale - pic request

C

coffeemike

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Jul 20, 2015
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Hey, folks. Favor to ask. There are a lot of beautiful pictures of traditional knives in here, and lots of videos online as well. I'm looking at moving more into traditional knives, but I'm trying to think through it rather than start acquiring many to zero in on what I like. (... he says, knowing how slippery that slope is.)

What would help me is a sense of scale. Does anybody have pictures of traditional knife patterns next to common folders? For example, I already own a SAK Pioneer, a Leek, and an Opinel #8. Seeing one of those next to, say, a GEC #77 or a Fremont Jack would help me gauge scale.

Believe me, it's hard to take a ruler and really get a sense of the shape of a knife. I've tried.

We had a Cabela's open near here recently, which had a variety of Case knives on display. They were all larger than I expected them to be, which has me really wondering about the actual size and proportion of the traditional knives we discuss and carry.

(I hadn't found this in other picture threads, which is why I ask. Plus, fun way to see more pictures. :) Apologies if this is elsewhere and I've missed it.)

Thanks!
 
If you are familiar with many modern knives, there is a thread here with traditional and modern pairings. You may want to browse that thread for a while. I'll see if I can find it and add a link.

Add: Here's a link to the thread.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=980449
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Last edited:
coffeemike said:
Hey, folks. Favor to ask. There are a lot of beautiful pictures of traditional knives in here, and lots of videos online as well. I'm looking at moving more into traditional knives, but I'm trying to think through it rather than start acquiring many to zero in on what I like. (... he says, knowing how slippery that slope is.)

What would help me is a sense of scale. Does anybody have pictures of traditional knife patterns next to common folders? For example, I already own a SAK Pioneer, a Leek, and an Opinel #8. Seeing one of those next to, say, a GEC #77 or a Fremont Jack would help me gauge scale.

Believe me, it's hard to take a ruler and really get a sense of the shape of a knife. I've tried.

We had a Cabela's open near here recently, which had a variety of Case knives on display. They were all larger than I expected them to be, which has me really wondering about the actual size and proportion of the traditional knives we discuss and carry.

(I hadn't found this in other picture threads, which is why I ask. Plus, fun way to see more pictures. :) Apologies if this is elsewhere and I've missed it.)

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Hi,
I have a leek, electrician, opinel 9, and a 77. I unfortunately just got to work. I'll try and remember to post a comparison picture of them all when I get home later tonight if someone hadn't already done so by then.
 
Here are the pics. Sorry for the lack of quality and shadowing. Hopefully you get the idea. Again, electrician, 77, leek, no.9. Lmk if you have any other questions.
c36e75f5dca80e5e4783461f49b36d25.jpg
9101cb88615c90653f18adc1377c7f97.jpg
 
Here's an Opinel No. 8 next to some common slipjoints. Northwoods on the GEC 53 frame, Case slimline trapper, GEC 85, TC Barlow on the 15 frame, GEC 66, and the tiny Case Peanut.

 
This is fantastic - thanks for the replies! Helps me get a sense of what they're like and what I think I need. (I tend to prefer larger knives. The Leek is a squinch too small for my hands. Opinel 8 is very nice.)

@bflying, thanks for the thread link - I thought there was something before but I couldn't find it. Will browse that as well!
 
Wow. I never knew the 15 was such a small knife. I always imagined they would at least fill the hand as much as the presidential. Thanks for the photos.

P.S.
Your presidential looks amazing. I have one in blue camel bone and it's one of my most carried knives.
 
The Opinel is a physically fairly big knife. However, it does carry fairly small, because it's so lightweight. It has a single, thin blade, and the only other metal is the thin locking collar. Most of the other traditionals of that size carry like a "big knife" because they are mostly metal. Multiple blades, brass or steel liners, nickel silver bolsters, bone handles. It's not easy to say what constitutes a big or small knife because we all have different hands and dimensions can make a big difference too. Example: that TC Barlow is a two-blade, all steel. It really feels like a substantial knife in the hand, like you could cut away at something all day long and not even phase it, and it really fills my hand. A single blade TC is significantly thinner and lighter, and really can evoke the feeling of a "boy's knife" to me (and I have smaller hands.) The two-blade 77 would be very hand-filling for someone with bigger hands than me. For me it's a bit too big to be really comfortable. Some people love the Peanut, some people find it so small as to just be laughable. The two blade jackknife style peanut feels a lot more substantial than the single-spring GEC Esquire which is around the same size.

There's really no way to know what you like without trying a few.
 
Here is an old cross electrician (same size as pioneer) with an 85 jack. Very close to the same size.

CarryPair2_zpsx1f8pida.jpg~original
 
A full size Sodbuster, GEC 21, or Mudbug might be more in your realm size wise, if you find a Leek to be on the small size. I find the Soddie to be comically large, imo, but a lot people find my knife choices to be too small to be useful.

EI5KO1e.jpg


(Please excuse the quick and dirty pic)
 
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