Slipjoint vs. SAK

B

bennyG19

Joined
Sep 22, 2007
Messages
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I have realized that I don't really need to carry a super strong lockback with a 4" blade in my pocket anymore. I still like my Benchmades and Spydercos but I can do everything I need to do with a slipjoint. I started carrying a Case pen knife a couple of weeks ago and was loving the old time style of it. I just bought a Victorinox Cadet swiss army knife and I think the Case may go in the drawer for a long time. The SAK is the same length and the same width in the hand, just a little taller than the Case. I can get it sharper than the pen knife, plus it has a nail file, can opener, bottle opener, and three screwdriver options. I think I might have found the perfect EDC for me with this knife. It is large enough to meet my needs and small enough that it doesn't scare anybody, plus it is super useful. I also have a Vic Farmer that is just a little larger and adds a saw and reamer.
I wonder why so many people still carry a multi-blade slipjoint like a Case or similar, and I'm not trying to knock anyone for doing so. I still think the slipjoints are beautiful knives and would understand carrying one for that reason. It just seems to me that for the same size package I can get a more useful knife. Not as aesthetically pleasing but it's in my pocket 90 - 99% of the day and I can't see it. So what are the reasons behind the slipjoint in your pocket? I'm sure some of them are special hand-me-downs from grandfathers or fathers (I have one of those but don't carry it for fear of losing it). I'm sure some people love the beauty and craftmanship. What are your opinions?
 
I recently retired my case stage bone trapper to carry a super tinker I got for 11.00 on sale and it has come in handy sooooo many times since then I can't believe it. I too have come full circle back to a swiss army knife. I will save the case for my first son to have when he is ready. I was thinking the other day when I realized all 3 of my grandfathers carry a SAK -all different models but there is a reason for this. Most of what gets used is that small pen blade. I leave my Buck 110 in my BOB now and carry my new favorite knife.
 
Reasons vary, but I have always carried a SAK (I own and sometimes carry other knives).

For some people it is habit, the first knife they owned was type X and type X has done everything they needed a knife to do.

For some people it is tradition, every man in the family as far as anyone can remember has carried a type X slipjoint.

For some people it is a cultural thing, the only knife anyone in geographic area Y uses is a slipjoint of type X.

For some people it is not "made in America."

For some people they think the knife is just to cheap to be worth it (compare SAK prices with slipjoints from oh say Case).
 
It's a matter of taste. I like both, and most of the time I carry a sak and a small slip joint because I can. Thats the nice thing about being grown up, doing what you please as long as it does not harm anyone else. Some days I like the sak, some days I like the traditional slippy. Its like a drink- sometimes a cold beer tastes good, other times a small glass of a nice whiskey is what goes down well. Room for all.

I have a cadet II and I do carry it, as well as sometimes my Wenger SI. They are both good knives and if they were my only edc I'd get along very good. But I grew up with the traditionals, and that will always be where my first love is. True, they don't have the tool versitility of a sak, but thats easiely fixed by just carrying a Sears 4-way pocket screw driver and a P-38 on your keyring. I watched my dad go through his whole life with that setup plus a small Case two bladed pocket knife. It worked for him. In his day there were no sak's in the U.S., but they had boy scout knives. Even then, the scout knives did not account for sales anywhere near what the rest of the knife industry was turning in with all the two blade jacks, stockmen, pen's, congress, and barlows. Back then most men carried a pocket knife with a couple of sharp blades, and got by. I've done it, and left my sak at home for periods of time. I think the tool thing may be over done. I do alot more with the knife blade of my sak than I do with the tools. Opening packages, blister packs, mail, cut twine, a little snack duty now and then. Once in a while I'll need a screw driver, even rarer a can opener. Heck, most of the cans I deal with these days are pull tabs. Campell soups, sardines, even good old Hormel Chille is easy opening now. Mostly when I reach for my pocket knife, its because I just need to cut something.

I think I still carry a slip joint because I don't think that in the real world I deal with daily, I'm loosing much utility by not carrying a multi tool type of knife. There's a small tool kit behind the seat of my pick-up, and another in the glove box of my Vespa. I have'nt used anything out of it in years. But I do like the beauty of nice jigged bone scales or nicely aged stag and grey carbon steel. Again personel taste. I also like old blued rifles with walnut stocks, no black plastic or stainless steel for me. If I run into a need for a screw driver my keyring is right there. The little round Sears job fits all the screws on my Smith and Wesson revolvers and Marlin rifles.

But I also like the link to the past. In my childhood all the men carried a traditional slip joint. Our fathers and grandfathers did well with simple break open shotguns and lever action rifles and simple slip joints. Multitool type knives go back to the civil war, yet they never got the popularity of the simple pocket knife. I have to wonder why, and that maybe our grandfathers knew something we don't?
 
For utility there's little that can rival the practical convenience of the many incarnations of the SAK.

That said, there's just something beautiful, functional and a link to days gone by that I find satisfying with my various traditional slipjoints.

I bridge the gap by always having a Leatherman Micra in my watch pocket to take up some of the "functionality slack".
 
Jackknife! Vespa! I had one when I was 12. In those days we could get a license at the age of 14, so I was given one a couple years early to learn how to ride. All over the vacant square mile behind our house, then every day to school 10 miles away it represented freedom to me. It was bullet proof and never broke down. With my Plumb hatchet and Western knife combo set in the side trunk and a Crosman pellet gun I was John Wayne on wheels:D.

I still have the knife/hatchet combo and use them. My first good slip was a Schrade stockman, still carry it daily. My first will always be a stockman regardless of what one- hander is clipped to my pocket. :)Regards, ss.
 
I've been debating that questio0n myself lately. I mean, I love my Vic Cadet, My Wenger SI, and My Vic Super Tinker. They're utility is unmatched, except with a pliers based multitool. However, as some here have already said, I don;t really have a need for all the other tools on a daily basis. I mean, the knife blade is what I usually reach for. I've used the other tools for a myriad of other uses other then what they were intended for (like using the Super Tinker's can opener to extract a coworker's hand from the mouth of a Ball Python) mainly to find a reason to USE them. Otherwise they would mostly just go unused, and I would feel unjustified in carrying them. From Jackknife and other's stories on here I've learned that our grandparents found ways to get by using just the knife blades on their knives. A little ingenuity goes a long way, and a simple pocketknife nourishes that ingenuity in us. I've put my SAKs away for a little while so I can go back to carrying my slippies (Peanut, Stockman and Soddie Jr.) and see how I'll do, although to be honest with ya, I did perfectly fine when my Peanut was my only EDC. It's been a while since we've had a thread like this. Glad to see it again.
 
Swiss army knives are good solid tools, and I carry one some times when I am fishing or hiking, but most of the times I honestly just don't need all the extra tools they offer. When I am at work, home, or by my truck I have tool boxes with full size tools available. I carry a 4" adjustable wrench, and a 4 way craftsman screwdriver and a TL-29. I pretty much need my pocket knife to cut things and often it is a slim one with just 1 or 2 blades. Some SAK's that I do edc are the alox bantam, alox solo, and pocket pal because I find their blades handy, and they are quite slim. Joe
 
I also carry both a SAK & a traditional SJ . If a cutting chore is at hand I always reach for my case knife, so the blade on my SAK manager sees little use. However, I don't leave home with out either one. I would have to say that of all the items on my SAK Manager I probably use the ink pen and scissors more than any.
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I like SAKs, and have several. If I'm camping our hiking, I have one in my pocket. I use the tools in an outdoor setting, but for 99% of my needs, a stockman or peanut gets the nod. I have just discovered the peanut, BTW, and I'm impressed! Great little knife! I always thought they were too small to be of much use, but I'm finding out differently day by day.
 
Alox SAKS always find favour with me, they're like a Japanese engine-unlikely to let you down.I always have a Vic multi tool in the car and if I'm on a long walk a SAK goes in somewhere.

But I like a bone or delrin handled pocket knife for the aesthetics of the thing,beautiful tools.So,a Medium Stockman, Mini Trapper,Peanut or CASE Mini Copperlock always get a turn too.So will a sheath-knife, but that's another thread....
 
I have several traditionals and SAK. I like and carry them both. The SAKs find themselves stashed in shaving kits, tackle boxes, backpacks, glove boxes and brief cases. The traditionals ride in my pocket. To me they are like a fine pen, style, function and feel.

If I weren't drawn to the history, design and aesthetics of a traditional, I would not feel shorted by carrying a SAK.
 
I just find that an sak does everything I need without feeling bulky in my pocket. I only carry the alox soldier
 
ElCuchillo said:
a simple pocketknife nourishes that ingenuity in us.
Click to expand...

This is my new favorite quote.:thumbup:

I do love the utility of the SAK, and I carry a Vic Spirit multitool alot, but I've discovered (or rediscovered) that there is just something . . . wholesome and intimate that resonates in a traditional slipjoint. I was thinking about this very thing last night as I was sharpening my new Queen gunstock and also the blade on my Spirit. As I was handling them both, the Spirit oozed with functionality but the gunstock exuded "personality," for lack of a better word.

For a fairly hefty knife, that gunstock fits the watch pocket of most of my pants pretty well, so I've been carrying it along with the Spirit this weekend.
 
I have many of each model but I find the SAKS are consistent in fit and finish. I love the Traditional look but I marvel how every SAK has the same even spring strength on each knife. And they sharpen easily and come sharp. I have several Queens and find I have to work on the edge on just about every model and this should not be on a new knife that is well made. And quite a few new Case knives have burrs on them. I doubt if I will buy anymore Queens because of the edge because I don't believe I should have to sharpen a new knife, and especially since they are not cheap.
RKH
 
I'm a big fan of SAK's and have carried them my whole life as I find them to be well built and a reliable tool. With that said - I've always missed the look and feel of a traditional slipjoint. I realized long ago my most used function aside from the blade was always the scissors - but was unwilling to give up my small SAK's unless I could find an equivalent function of scissors in another knife. I find the scissors from the Micra and other LM's to be serrated and not as easily managed as the SAK scissors. However, I recently came across a wonderful small Case known as the Amber Bone Pen Knife with very nice small scissors - as good as the SAK. I now carry the Case along with a small Sebbie as I came to realize I rarely needed screwdrivers and other functions as an edc - and when I need to access a knife at work or elsewhere in public etc. - it truly garners zero attention from anyone - a big plus. I even handed the Case to someone who needed a knife at work in front of 5 or 6 others - not an eyebrow raised. The Case or other small slipjoint is the perfect edc for me as long as those great scissors are present along with an easy to sharpen blade.......Omegaguy
 
great answers so far. I'm going to go with my Cadet and one of my larger knives clipped to the back pocket for a while (BM mini-grip, Spyderco Native, or Kershaw Storm II). I guarantee that on occasion the Case will sneak into my pocket.
 
personally i am not really a huge fan of the steel that is in the SAK. it gets razor sharp, but loses the edge fairly quickly. most of my cutting is on wood, so it kills the edge pretty fast. it still cuts great though, because of the grind. the ultimate problem for me though is ergonomics. SAKs just aren't comfy to hold for me. the handles are very square and the tools sticking out make cutting un-fun.

i love the handles of opinels though. they are very round and nicely contoured to fit my hand. the steel is still a little bit sub-par, but i would put it about even with SAK steel, or slightly better. the ergonomics are really the main point for me.

also, SAKs are a little on the heavy side, because of the extra tools. i don't really need any extra tools like screwdrivers or can openers. i don't really need them and i don't use them when i have them.

the other day i was at a friends house and they asked me to help take apart a metal shelf held together with slot/phillips screws (where one of the cross lines goes all the way to the edge). shockingly they didn't have any screwdrivers, so we used coins and butter knives to take it apart. a proper screwdriver would have been nice, but we really didn't need it.
 
I love SAKs, I use the extra tools all the time. No matter what other knives I carry, there's a SAK in my pocket.

The steel they use isn't the best, but I don't use the blade that much so it works fine for me. Thanks to my SAK and SwissTool Spirit, I've been able to fix lots of things in places where no other tools were available.
 
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