Slip joiny knives instead of tactical folders

J

Jccrigger

Joined
Jul 15, 2013
Messages
85
I'm 18 and I've carried tactical kvives and haven't thought anything about slip joints until I recived my first one which was a case yellow stockman which was in 2010 and ever since then I have used that and the tactical knives but I eventually converted to using and carrying nothing but slip joints with the exception of a few traditional lockbacks and when I get on the forum the only thing I look at is the traditional knives section. But anyway the point I'm trying to get to is I don't know how I feel about me carrying slipjoints well of corse I feel great about it but I also feel different about it because most the kids my age are carrying different tactical knives and I feel that the traditional knives appeal to me more but I want to know what's your opinion on my situation....much appreciation
 
Well all I have to say is good on you, of course if carrying a slippy is going to make you a pariah amongst your peers maybe it would be ok to keep a Kershaw Skyline on you. Its a very decent flipper and I hate flippers! =)
 
1. Carry what you need.
2. Carry what you enjoy.
3. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing.
4. Welcome to Traditionals!
 
pipedreams308 said:
1. Carry what you need.
2. Carry what you enjoy.
3. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing.
4. Welcome to Traditionals!
Click to expand...

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

That very neatly sums up what would have taken me three paragraphs to say in my long winded rambling way.

What YOU like is important. As long as you like it, then go for it. Don't give a seconds thought as to what the great unwashed masses are doing. Lemmings run of a cliff in droves. Cattle stampede and trample many of their own. The great beauty of being an individual is, the only person in the whole world you have to please is yourself. Uh oh, I'm starting to go philosophical, so I'd better just say, welcome to traditional's Jc! Hang around and pull up a chair.:thumbup:

Carl.
 
Seeking the approval of man can cause many problems in life.

Tactical is Knight to Queen Bishop 3, not a knife.

You said that "I feel great about it" and "I feel different".

I personally like feeling different once I learned that majority is nearly always wrong.
 
You may just be more mature than your peers. At least as far as your taste in knives :)

Sometimes a one hand opener can be handy, but traditionals are just more interesting. More history, more variety in materials, patterns, etc. (also the nicest corner of these forums!)
 
There's nothing wrong with carrying what you like. It's your pocket and you blade. Both tactical and traditional are fine. Both are equally capable. I've been rotating between a benchmade grip and a spyderco para 2 but whenever I decide to go light I carry an opinel No. 8
 
Be yourself, don't fret over what others are doing or what they think. Welcome to the Traditional forum, this is a great bunch. Your taste in pocket knives is first class.

PS: a knife pic is required here :)
 
mrjefe2u said:
Seeking the approval of man can cause many problems in life.

Tactical is Knight to Queen Bishop 3, not a knife.

You said that "I feel great about it" and "I feel different".

I personally like feeling different once I learned that majority is nearly always wrong.
Click to expand...

Man, that is true wisdom. Especially that last line.
 
Challenge those sharpened pry-bar carriers to a cuttin contest!!! :D my bet is on your thin bladed slippy, I bet they'd catch in real quick!
 
I carry a clipped CR and usually about 3 slip joints every day. The slippies are rotated. What can I say? I love knives....I end up using one of the slip joints for 90% of the tasks. Carry what makes you happy and what you like. I personally do not care for most of the newest Alien slaying tacticool looking knives. I like to appreciate the way they look and the way they work.
 
I think it all depends on what you personally really want out of a knife. There's some, that will carry tactical knives because of the cool factor. Some TV show or movie with a knife in it got their imagination going. But if you just want a handy cutting tool, it's hard to beat what has a track record of hundreds of years of service to people like cowboys pushing a herd up the Chissom trail with a stockman in their pocket, or a trapper skinning out his catch, or just a hard working man with a barlow in a pocket. Things hang around a long time for a reason, they work. There's always going to be the latest and greatest thing coming down the road. They have to stimulate sales some how. And some of the new stuff is good stuff. It's just what you are into that makes the difference. Knives, guns, car's, it all is about trends. But that doesn't mean the old stuff is obsolete. There's a couple of brothers I know that own a gun shop. The Glock is the pistol that flies off the shelf. People want the new high capacity glamor gun. But there's the people that go out on the weekend to Cowboy Action shooting, and you see what some of them can do with an old single action thumb buster and a lever action rifle, and you'd think twice about making them very mad at you. Same with knives. When if comes down to real world performance, it's surprising what a stockman can do in the hunting field or work site.

I think you have to figure what you really want out of your knife.

Carl.
 
My opinion is that you should carry and use whatever type of knife appeals to you, as long as it's legal in your area. If it happens to be slipjoints, then that's great. Everyone has their own unique tastes and those may change over time.


Todd hit the nail on the head with his post. At that age, I know it's easy to get caught up trying to fit in with the crowd. We've all been there before. What you start to realize after getting a few more years under your belt, is that figuring out what fits you best is more important.
 
Carrying slip joints makes you much more distinguished, and much cooler.


Trust me, my mom says so...............









Seriously, though, when I see some one with a nice traditional, I think to my self "That fine gentleman has taste, and class........ He is probably intelligent and undoubtedly the women find him handsome, and he has much success in dating and life......."






When I see some one with a tactical folder I think............"well, at least he has a knife............but he is probably a degenerate, and the women find him unappealing.........he will have limited success in life........"







Unless the tactical folder is a high quality piece, that I my self own or want. Then it is immediately apparent that he is both intelligent and successful with the ladies.













Carry what works for you. Don't worry what "kids these days" are doing. They are likely noisy, self important, and generally tasteless degenerates. You, on the other hand, can carry your traditional slip joints with class and sophistication, letting the world know you are possessed of uncommon good taste, and and destined for success in life and with relationships..........



I often carry both traditional and one modern folder. But then, I am a man of immensely good taste, sharp whit, and inordinately successful with the ladies. I attribute this, in part to my enjoyment of a good traditional folder. The ruggedly handsome good looks haven't hurt either.
 
There's a beauty and economy to traditional knives. Beauty because many of the handles are natural materials like wood, bone, stag, ivory and such. They just look good and they feel good in your pocket. It's really hard to beat what nature has created, complete with imperfections and character. Nature gave each piece a certain uniqueness--there is nothing else in the world exactly like yours. Even manufactured handles like delrin take on their own character depending on how you use them and what you carry with them in your pocket.

There's an economy with traditional knives, too. For old-time manufacturers, raw materials were expensive but labor was cheap--the opposite of today. Factories used just enough materials to make their products work as they were intended, and not a bit more. Makers couldn't afford to "waste" excess materials to overbuilding things, including knives. Look at the steel in their blades. There's enough to cut, to slice really well, but they're not so overbuilt as to do things like pry or turn screws or to do other "extreme" stuff. They were made to cut and to do it efficiently. Traditional knives cut better than many modern knives because they are optimized to to that--the steel is usually thinner and shaped differently.

Spend a morning at the range cutting down shotgun shell boxes and cases of clay pigeons. With a traditional knife, even when the edge dulls, the thin blade will still slice cardboard pretty well. Compare that to *most* modern-style knives. Even when sharp, their relatively thicker grinds bind up in the cardboard and they cut less efficiently. When dull, fagettaboutit!

I'm not arguing that all traditionals are good and all modern knives are bad. That depends on intended use. But for pure cutting, traditionals are hard to beat. Plus they look really nice, too!

Throw a traditional knife in your pocket, and a 2" or 3" micro-prybar on your keychain, and maybe a Sears key-coin tool--and you have the basics to take care of most of the day's business in a small, lightweight package.
 
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There are a few younger guys on these traditional forums.... 18 is a pup, I get a lot of guff for carrying a traditional and i'm 29. Good for you though, us younger guys have to carry on the legacy and buy from custom slipjoint makers and whatnot. There sure is something special about a nice warm jigged bone handle and a basic carbon steel. If loving jigged bone is wrong...... I don't wanna be right...

Keep carrying what makes you happy...
 
I can't help but share similar sentiment, seeing as I'm your age, and have taste that are similar in knives. These types of folders have stood the test of time for good reason, in short they're venerable. These new/trendy modern folders, are subject to changing, and being improved, in one way or another, I just don't see getting overwhelmed in them. The same could be said for neo-traditional folders though, like GEC, there's more variations than I'm capable of keeping up with. In the end it boils down to aesthetics, and the utility value. It all works itself out in the end, you'll find yourself carrying what you need, or want to carry, or both. I haven't carried a folder with a pocket clip in 6 months, if I need to quickly deploy a blade, I'll just put a small fixed blade on my belt. Actually, my preferred combo, is a smaller Case Peanut, or Buck 309, and my Anza small skinner.
 
I fell in love with traditional knives maybe 3 or 4 years ago. Don't get me wrong, the odd modern folder still tutes my horn but most days I stick with a single traditional knife. I work in a professional environment with a wide mix of people that has no place for a bulky modern clipped folder. However my slipjoint in a fine leather pocket slip has a lot of class and works great for anything I need cut. A nice carbon steel blade develops a lot of character and the organic handles are fantastic to hold or just eye ball with a little down time. Sometimes I just enjoy moving a slip joint around in my fingers as a kind of worry stone. It can be quite relaxing for me after a long stressful day.

Bottom line is use what you enjoy and it sounds like you are more into traditionals. One thing that differentiates a boy from a man is that a boy will look for a lot of guidance for his choices (eg peers). A man makes his choices based on merits based on his own values whatever those may be. The question is, are you a boy or a man?
 
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