So you're outfitting the hands on a ranch ...

[MerryMadMonk]

Some of the knives used by farmers/cattlemen in my family from about the 1960s to the 1970s (with a couple of exceptions).

 

[Liberando]

Merry Mad Monk, superb photo! If those knives could talk.....

 

[Amos Iron Wolf]

U know every knife I would hand out has been covered so I would just ask my hired hands what they wanted in either a stockman or a trapper. The price for a yellow case stockman and trapper is around the same price. The first one that wanted stag or something more fancy I would fire to set an example!

:thumbup:

Now that's the way to run a ranch! And if someone loses or breaks their knife being stupid, then it comes out of their pay. The cost of the original AND the replacement.

Then again, you expect a cowboy or ranch worker to come with basic, personal equipment anyway. Any cowboy or farm hand who doesn't own and carry a pocket knife should never have been hired in the first place.

 

[FarmKid]

I know a few guys who run a lot of cattle that don't even carry a knife. Most farmers or cattleman here carry a medium stockman or something in that size range. They say a trapper or something in that size range wears holes in pockets.

 

[Amos Iron Wolf]

I know a few guys who run a lot of cattle that don't even carry a knife. Most farmers or cattleman here carry a medium stockman or something in that size range. They say a trapper or something in that size range wears holes in pockets.

Yeah, I found the full size trappers can be a bit bulky in the pocket and usually have some edge to the bolsters. Same for the larger stockman. I've found the mini-trapper which is about the same size as a medium stockman to be much better in the pocket.

Of course right now I'm carrying a Boker Arbolito fixed blade (7.5" OAL) with stag scales in my pocket in a Glacier Bay pocket sheath and finally moved my wad of keys back onto a belt loop. It ain't so much the big as it is pointy parts that really wear. Like the slightly squared off bolsters on a larger Case Trapper or Stockman.

Growing up on a farm I can't imagine not having at least some sort of cutting tool on you. I certainly see non-blade head types just carrying a simple knife or multi-tool, but at least something to cut with. Ah well, it's a brave new world.

 

[Ed Fowler]

Years ago a local rancher hired some hands from the city, a family who had the desire to become cowboys. They outfitted themselves with drugstore cowboy clothes and were a sight to see. He sent them to turn out a new high ticket bull he had just bought with one of his stock trucks. He had dug out a unloading ramp near where he wanted the bull turned out. They decided to cut their trip short and tried to unload him by just jumping him out of the truck. The bull decided to jump over the stock racks, caught a front foot in the side of the rack and hung there.

They did not have anything to put him out of his misery so had to stone and beat him to death with a tire iron, he died very slowly. Pried his front leg out, breaking his new stock rack, the bull fell to the ground and laid there. They did not have a knife to bleed him out and had to drive over 30 miles round trip to get a knife. It was a hot day. There was not much of a road and going was slow, they got back and spent the large part of the day dressing him out. Something they had not done before.

The rancher was out of town at the time, when he got back he first saw the new truck and broken stock rack, found the meat laying on the floor of his cooler. He did well and kept his temper.

Every year his crew got a beef for their family to eat. He gave them the meat, naturally it did not taste very well, they complained - got fired and the ranchers dogs got the meat.

So much for those who don't carry a knife, or follow directions, they put themselves and all who depend on them at risk.
At least they got to enjoy the benefits of their complete failure to do a simple job.

 

[Brian.Evans]

Ed, that is a fantastic story. Felt like I was there watching it.

 

[ol' smoke]

I vote Gerber Gator half-serrated. Tx. briar cutter.

 

[Student762]

With the fecing pliers coffe cup was close. To pull out a staple you grip it in the narrow teeth at the very front of the mouth then use the curve to pull it out like a claw hammer. Fencing is a summer job for me I would give them the humble opinel No.8, in carbon. Dirt cheap at approx 20 bucks and a good knife.

 

[pinnah]

With the fecing pliers coffe cup was close. To pull out a staple you grip it in the narrow teeth at the very front of the mouth then use the curve to pull it out like a claw hammer. Fencing is a summer job for me I would give them the humble opinel No.8, in carbon. Dirt cheap at approx 20 bucks and a good knife.

I was waiting for somebody else to say that. I prefer the N9 as it fills my hand better but I'm not a rancher. Still, it's hard to imagine a harder working folding knife for the money.

 

[coffeecup]

With the fecing pliers coffe cup was close. To pull out a staple you grip it in the narrow teeth at the very front of the mouth then use the curve to pull it out like a claw hammer.

In an ideal world you can do that, and just use the pick to get the stubborn staples, or the ones driven tight by some idiot. For the past 15 years or so, the fencing I've done has been either repairing or replacing fences built and maintained by folks I suspect were members of the Royal House of Idiots! I don't even bother trying to draw out staples with the pinchers: I just swing the pliers to set the pick under the staple, and rock the handles. After a few thousand times, you can do it in your sleep.