Something different--what patterns/styles/features do you dislike?

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Eric H

Eric H

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Jul 15, 1999
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For me, its hard to say exactly what I like in a traditional knife--sometimes a blade shape or handle material or frame just catches my attention and I can't get it out of my head. Right now its teardrop frames, but there are others that I seek out too. Once in awhile though, something grabs my attention and I have to have an example, even though I've never wanted one before.

My dislikes are much easier to list. There are some patterns/features/styles that I just do not like. Here is my list (and I do not have any rational explanation as to why):

-Patterns with blades that open from both ends--muskets, moose, stockmen, etc.
-Case Peanuts, only due to the shape of the front bolster--I prefer the traditional "Trapper" shape in a small knife.
-The Congress pattern. I hate the curve of the handle.
-The blade setup of the Trapper pattern. This was a "learned" dislike. My first traditional a few months ago was a GEC Trapper in jigged blood bone. Love the knife, but hate the two long blade setup. If I could go back in time, I would've gotten it in the jack pattern.
-Barlows with curved handles or rounded bolsters (like the GEC version.)
-The Canoe pattern, due to blades at both ends (as mentioned above) and the shape of the.bolsters--although for some reason, the baby butterbean really intrigues me.

I know that most (if not all of you) will disagree with some of my dislikes--I know they are irrational and personal--just like everyone else's dislikes. I'm just interested to see what others steer clear of...
 
Interesting thread...
Ok, I'll bite :D

This is going to be a surprising one, but... Clip point blades!
There, I said it. I have many of course, and I can't argue with their utility, but I'm not keen on the way they look.

Red bone. Use to like it when I first got into traditionals, now I think it looks cheap and tacky.

Anything designed to be collectible, especially if it comes in a 'collector's tin'.
This to me is the male collectors equivalent of collecting commemorative plates.

Coping blades. I think they look like whoever made them forgot to finish them! I'm sure they have a legitemate woodworking use, but I personally have no need for one. I reshape mine into wharncliffes.

Over buffed knives. I like properly polished knives with crisp edges and corners. Overbuffed knives look badly made to me.
If any corners are to be rounded off, the contents of my pocket can do the job just fine thank you.

So-called 'super steels'. I thought for years that I was simply incapable of sharpening a knife. When I bought a knife with 'crappy' 440 series steel, all of a sudden I could sharpen just fine!
I'd rather sharpen little and often than have to maintain a knife with good 'wear resistance' (ie sharpening resistance!)
I can sharpen super steels, but I get no pleasure from it.

Nail breakers. A manufacturing defect as far as I'm concerned, and the ruin of many a good knife. If I'm worried that what I'm doing may cause the blade to fold on my fingers, I'll use a locking knife or a fixed blade.
 
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:D What Jamesbeat? You hate my stockman... ;)

I agree with you on the "designed to be collectable" and add serial numbers to that. :thumbdn:

I don't like bone that is dyed colors that are not natural, except dark blue. John Deere knives are particularly annoying to me. :yawn:

I don't like cleaned knives presented as MINT. :grumpy:

I really dislike engraving on bolsters. :(

One I really hate is one where the shield fell out. :mad:

All in all though, I like any knife that was designed well for it's purpose. I'm very partial to vintage production knives.
 
This is a neat thread!
Patterns I don't care for so much, and I hate to admit it, are Canoes. For me, it's the blade pattern and not so much the overall package. They just don't seem convenient on a day to day knife and the blades are too similar to make it an appealing pattern for me.
Like Jamesbeat i've always avoided 'supersteel' type knives. I'm sure they are great for some but I'm fine with touching up an edge from time to time.
I have to admit that the Trapper pattern does not click for me. I tried it. I wanted to like it but, it's never been usable or convenient on a daily basis. It's too big, for me, and over all and the blades are easily substituted by other knives dedicated to a specific task. Plus, my work does not envolve trapping for which I am sure the Trapper is well suited.
I like well built knives and am not so taken with overbuilt knives. If there is such a thing it is the GECs. Well built, yet overbuilt. As such you have a well built knife that is too thick and heavy for my taste. Rather, I prefer a well built knife that I will carry and use. If I had a carry choice between 'well built' and 'over-built' I choose the former. All things being equal I would rather have a lighter, more pocketable package of the same quality than such an overbuilt (and well built) traditional from GEC. Lighten it up and I'm all over it.
When a pattern gets 3 1/2" or so they start to become a problem for me. Smaller has become better and vise versa. I would give up blade(s) length or specific patterns to meet this criteria.
A nice pettite Barlow would really ring my bell if done right. A good Eisenhower peanut would do just fine. I'm not picky
 
Main thing I hate is polished old knives. Keep'm original. I also hate any handle material other than plain micara/g10, ebony, ivory, stag or natural colored jigged bone (with the exception of typical yellow handles). I'll add more later.
 
Agree, I greatly dislike canoes. Probably the only pattern I don't have at least one of (of the major patterns). Like my blades plain. Stag has to be done right.
 
Most of the time I like or dislike a knife based on the knife itself, but two patterns I do not like no matter what, are the Muskart and the toothpick.Something just don't feel right for me.
Mike
 
Great thread. Hmmm. I don't have any (If I did, maybe my opinion would change), but I don't like the Sunfish/Elephant's Toenail style. They look to broad and clunky.
 
Interesting. Fortunately, like you mentioned, many of my current dislikes are irrational. That's fortunate because over time they may change and I have a new style of knife to look at! For right now here's my list.

Trappers. My Dad has carried one as long as I can remember. I really want to like them but just don't.
Any pattern with more than two blades. Another one I wish I could warm up to. I mean what's a traditional knife collection without a stockman?
Muskrat. Don't need the same blade twice.
Elephant Toenails and Sunfish. I just look at them and say "why"?
GEC's French Kate. No explanation needed.
Engraving. I'm not a safe/investor collector.
File work. Like engraving....just not for me.
Fat stag scales. I don't like a knife that is shaped like a football.

Like I mentioned before...This list is subject to change at any time.

-Allen
 
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I know what you mean.
A month ago, the peanut would have been on my list. Funny looking knife. Weird handle, clip point main blade, too small to be of any use.
Well, I got one in a trade and dropped it in my pocket, and the rest is history.
The really weird thing is that I used to own several Case peanuts (sold my collection a couple of years ago) and I didn't like them. I bought them because of all the good stuff I read, but hated the way they looked and never carried them.

However, my new found love for the pattern will NOT persuade me to buy the Case peanut in my local Ace.
It comes in a clamshell package with a collector's tin and a country & western cd, and is no doubt destined to lie unopened in a drawer or closet in the hope that it will skyrocket in value, just like the thousands of others, also lying unopened, in drawers and closets around the country.

I also used to hate the congress pattern, but now it's on my shortlist of favorites, surpassing even the canoe (sorry guys ;))
Now, all I need to do is find a nice congress with 'Elvis' written on it, serial numbered 1 of 1,000,000 in a collector's tin, (or maybe a faux-wood wall display) and I'm all set.
 
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Interesting thread for sure. I'll give it a go.

-stockmans. I don't like stockmans. I just don't. Which is a real shame cause I keep getting them as presents.
-multiples of the exact same blade. Muskrats and most congresses come to mind. I love congresses that have four different blade shapes like the Boker Carver's Congress.
-peanuts. If I am going to carry a small knife, I would rather just have a small canoe or baby butterbean.
-pakkawood scales. It usually looks cheap and garish. All though, my newest knife has black pakkawood scales. It actually looks pretty good in just plain black.
-collector's knives. If I buy a knife, its cause I want to use it. Period. Thus I dislike knives that seem to have no use other than to collect. Sunfish, elephant toenails...all that rot.
 
I don't care for warncliff style blades. Pretty sure I spelled that wrong but you you guys know what I mean. I really tried to like them, I just don't tho.
Jim
 
Nail breakers! I not only can't stand them, but can't see any reason for their existence. Why any knife should be unable to be opened by anyone over the age of 10, is a mystery to me. I have zero use for any knife I can't open as easy as a sak.

I've never been drawn to a congress for some reason. I lived with a stockman for 25 years as my edc, and I can see the why of having some extra blades. Intellectually I like having two, or three, or even four blades. But I've always been a little turned off by the shape of the congress. I'd go for a four bladed stockman over a four blade congress.

Single blade lock blades. Never liked them, just seem too limited for a folding knife. I don't like the idea of a lock, too easy to start developing bad knife handling habits, and trust in a mechanisim that can fail. Twice in my life I've seen the horrible results of a young man trusting to a lock and leaning on the knife to the extent of abuse. Young men are entitled to be stupid once in a while, but they should not abuse the privilege. If I need a knife that I'm going to be doing heavy work with, then that's what sheath knives are for. If it's going in my pocket, I want at least two blades.

Any tacticool knives with blazing light speed opening or weird blade shapes designed to sell to impressionable teenagers of any age, with more money in their pocket than common sense in their heads. Somehow I've reached senior citizen status without ever having been in a quick draw situation with my pocket knife.

Carl.
 
The patterns that do nothing for me are the Russlock and the Doctor's knife. I have never been able to warm up to those two.

Weak snap is a huge turn off for me.

I don't like it when I can see the pins in the bolsters. It's OK if they are faintly visible but I don't like it when they really stand out.

I usually dislike blade etchings but some of them are OK.

Case's "as ground" blade finish. Strange though because I really liked it at first.

Blade pulls lighter than 4 and stronger than 8.
 
I can find a way to appreciate just about any well made knife. With that said, the two pet peeves that come to my mind are from a slight personal dilemma. I can't warm up to recurved blades. Especially when they are the tiny recurves starting right at the sharpening choil of the blade. You know the ones that are from bad grinding. Even properly executed and intended recurves I love to hate. I love them for looks and actually function. I hate to sharpen them on anything other then my belt sander. Sure don't like trying on a flat stone, which is what I use for my small blades.

Okay, and second is the real dilemma. The favorite knife I have used and held, that just melted into my hand and became a natural extension in use is the GEC Big Jack. It has a main spear blade and secondary clip point. I try to feel like this knife is perfect because by all rights it is for me. BUT, I have this constant struggle of why two blades the same size and basically the same shape. Here is where it gets worse. I like the added thickness from having room for both blades. It is part of what makes it fit my hand perfectly. Anyhow, I have come to really like the 73 all around. Slim, light, one blade I can understand. I am not saying I dislike multi-blades or feel like there is no purpose for a second on the big jack for some users, I just couldn't find a reason and it just kept giving me a headache..."what am I going to use this clip point for???" lmao

Also, I was always a natural kind of guy, natural stag, natural finished wood etc. But with the gift of the red bone 73 I have changed. I look at it this way, as soon as you dye bone ANY color it is no longer natural, so what the heck :)
 
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The only pattern I truly dislike...The stockman.

Serrations. I'm sure some people have a legitimate use for them. I ain't one of them.

Excessively thick blades.

Most blade etches.

Recurved blades.
 
Grateful said:
I don't care for warncliff style blades. Pretty sure I spelled that wrong but you you guys know what I mean. I really tried to like them, I just don't tho.
Jim
Click to expand...

I never liked wharncliffe blades until I realised that I had been using my SAK scissors as one almost every day for years.
I would open the scissors all the way so that one blade was sticking out, and use that for fine work, trimming cuticles etc.
Once I realised the utility, I gained an appreciation for the blade, although only as a small seconday blade.
 
I dont really like the sea horse patterns and others like it where the handle REALLY tapers in thin...it just irks me and isnt something I'd want, same with some washboards, I have one and its OK but doesn't sit how I like it in the hand. Muskrat and others with duel blades at opposite ends, but its the same blade!!! makes me think of cheesy ninja weapons in old movies.

Weak snap, give me 6-8 when it comes to pull strength...I love my little Schrade 120T but it has the weakest pull and snap on any traditional folder i've owned.
 
I'm not a big fan of the clip blade on the GEC 25's. A few of their other patterns have the same blade. I think it is because of how "tall" the blade is, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Their French Kate is another that is beyond me. Seems gimmicky to me, but to each their own.

Speaking of gimmicky, I detest novelty type knives. Knives the shape of crosses, legs, vehicles and the such almost make me want to kick a puppy. Almost. They aren't toys, so don't make them look the such.

Not a fan of the Doctor's knife, Coffin Handles, or Gunstocks. That is all subject to change should I ever handle one. Don't care for "Collectibles" either. For example, I like many of the Case knives, but some of the scales they use leave me scratching my head. Again, I am but one person, and I'm pretty sure they aren't making knives to suit only me.

After reading my response here, I appear to be a crabby ole codger. :(
 
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