Something occurred to me... agree/disagree?

dogstar said:
However, the gap might not be as big as one thinks.
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I see yor point but the gap between "in a pinch" and "regular use" is huge in this as in many things. It's why I could never get the hang of a stockman. Too many screws to turn and paint can lids to flip when I'm in town. I love the idea of a stockman but if I used a stockman how I use a small multi-tool or SAK, I'd be buying new stockmans every week.
 
I think the gap is still huge , unless we were just talking about cutting things.

One is designed to do many different things and will come in handy for most of them on a regular basis.
The other is only designed to cut things, it can theoretically be used for some of those other things but only in a pinch and not on a regular basis.
 
Wandering away from the Porch and seeing this got me thinking. Sorry about that.
WARNING! Long rambling content, but basically I like the idea of SAKs, but the tools on them are poor substitutes for real tools, and really only good “in a pinch” as well, and I got through life just fine so far without one.

Growing up, my dad always gave me multi-blade slipjoints as gifts (starting at age 5…). We did a ton of camping, fishing, canoeing, and other outdoor activities, but he never got me a Swiss Army knife or scout knife. A kid my age who was a classmate, and in the group of families my folks typically hung out with, had both. I remember admiring what I now suspect was an Imperial SAK equivalent in the old Hudson Bay Outfitters store in Gaithersburg, but I never got one.

My teen years saw a continuation of the outdoor activities, with the addition of backpacking, and again, all I ever used was a slipjoint.

My young adulthood saw many outdoor adventures, and I managed to add a Case Mako lockback to my arsenal, which became the knife I relied upon. And yes, I opened cans with it occasionally. Looking back, I definitely think an SAK would have come in handy at times, but I always made do just fine without one.

My late 20’s to mid 30’s I worked in a trade for just under 5 years, then outdoors surveying for a few more years, always with a smallish jack knife in my pocket and the lockback in the truck.

Leaving the trades and getting into surveying meant losing my company tools and a cut in income, so for several years, until I built up a tool collection, the lockback served as a scraper/hammer/you-name-it around the series of apartments I rented (but never a screwdriver - good grief, people, that’s what table knives are for!).

I stopped carrying a knife entirely for a while when security became a thing and I got tired of stashing my knife in the bushes outside the courthouse, or having to remember to leave it at home when taking my daughters downtown to museums and such. There were other reasons too. The lockback stayed readily at hand at home but not carried except on my yearly car-camping trip with the girls. The slipjoints stayed in a drawer.

Now the kids are all grown up and I can do pretty much whatever outdoor stuff I want, I still find no real use for an SAK. My knife use is limited to opening stuff, making lunch on days I go into the office, slicing things in the kitchen where a SHARP knife is needed, whittling, fishing, and bike-camping. A P-38 opens cans great, and I like a longer blade for food prep and other camping chores.

I do have a Fieldmaster and a couple other camp knives, and as much as I think they’re neat, if I was being honest with myself I would have to admit I don’t really need them (of course the same could be said for 90% of the other knives I own). The saws are cool but really too small for any practical use.
 
Yes, I 100% agree you can misuse a knife to do things it was not designed to do, in a pinch.

I have always carried a Vic Waiter to prevent those kind of "pinches".
 
Just Tom. said:
I remember admiring what I now suspect was an Imperial SAK equivalent in the old Hudson Bay Outfitters store in Gaithersburg, but I never got one.
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Gaithersburg?

Wow, they say its a small world, and in all that time growing up in Wheaton and then living in Germantown, we probably crossed paths and never knew it. Many the times we took the kids downtown to the Smithsonian or the zoo.

But you are right of course, many people got by with just a small slip joint. Heck, I was very strongly influenced by my own father who carried a Case peanut as his real every day pocket knife. in his later years he retired the peanut and carried just the Christy knife. But he did carry his Sear's 4-way keychain screw driver on his keychain, and a P-38 in his wallet. I copied him for 25 years with my Buck 301 stockman and Sears keychain screw driver and P-38. But then I went over to the other side, seduced by SAK's, with their outstanding quality and versatility.

It was never the same after that.
 
The only times I have used the can opener on my SAK was while camping, when I had cans of soup for dinner. I've never had an occasion where I needed a can opener and had to rely on my SAK.

As for turning screws, it's the same story. Usually, I use my SAK because it is close at hand, and I'm too lazy to go to the toolbox. I bring an SAK religiously on backpacking trips, but there are no screws to turn or cans to open. It is only for the fantasy scenario when we go scrounging for food in a cabin and find some canned food.

I love my SAKs and will continue to carry them. The times I've needed the tools are entirely predictable, and I've never been "in a pinch." When it finally happens, I'll have a good story to tell y'all.
 
dogstar said:
I was writing a review of the Buck 303 Cadet, and came to this realization:

The only thing I might argue against this knife is that its utility might be limited compared to a Swiss Army knife. However, the gap might not be as big as one thinks. Can you open cans with the 303? Yes; it's not great for the edge, but it is possible. Can you turn screws with it? Given there are three blades, I venture that either the spine or tip of one can turn a screw in a pinch. How about opening a bottle? If you know the trick using a lighter, you can use the 303 in the same fashion.

Do you agree? Or disagree?
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I'm dead set against pushing the cork into a wine bottle. Therefore:View attachment 2112201

^^ That thing is starting to show its age a little ain't it?
 
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jackknife said:
Gaithersburg?

Wow, they say its a small world, and in all that time growing up in Wheaton and then living in Germantown, we probably crossed paths and never knew it. Many the times we took the kids downtown to the Smithsonian or the zoo.

But you are right of course, many people got by with just a small slip joint. Heck, I was very strongly influenced by my own father who carried a Case peanut as his real every day pocket knife. in his later years he retired the peanut and carried just the Christy knife. But he did carry his Sear's 4-way keychain screw driver on his keychain, and a P-38 in his wallet. I copied him for 25 years with my Buck 301 stockman and Sears keychain screw driver and P-38. But then I went over to the other side, seduced by SAK's, with their outstanding quality and versatility.

It was never the same after that.
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I remember you saying you were from this area, and wondered if you would remember the Hudson Bay store in Gaithersburg, near the old train station. It was a small operation before it moved to Lakeforest Mall, then changed the name to Hudson Trail and went national. As kids we thought the things like freeze-dried food and emergency blankets were pretty cool, but we never actually bought any of that stuff. As a teenager I mostly just bought maps there for our backpacking trips, and I did once get a fancy pair of hiking boots.

I live in Rockville now, which is also where I grew up.
 
Just Tom. said:
I remember you saying you were from this area, and wondered if you would remember the Hudson Bay store in Gaithersburg, near the old train station. It was a small operation before it moved to Lakeforest Mall, then changed the name to Hudson Trail and went national. As kids we thought the things like freeze-dried food and emergency blankets were pretty cool, but we never actually bought any of that stuff. As a teenager I mostly just bought maps there for our backpacking trips, and I did once get a fancy pair of hiking boots.

I live in Rockville now, which is also where I grew up.
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Yes, I do remember the little store in Gaithersburg. Then they had one a little closer to home of rme in Wheaton, in Kensington, on Metropolitan avenue next to the Volvo dealer that became a Subaru dealer later on. I bought my first real good all wool water proof Peter Storm sweater there. That thing kept me warm on many a canoe camping/backpacking trip.

It was at the Kensington store in about 1981 or 82 that I got my first Opinel. They had them in a jar by the check out, and it was weird enough to interest me, so I got a number 8. Then I got a number 12. Then I got a...

Those things really did cut like the dickens! My little number 5, A Christy knife, and the Sardinian resolza I got from Faust over on the traditional forums, are the only knives I cheat on my SAK's with. All nice thin blades that cut like the dickens.
 
"Pinch" sure. I plan on using my multi-tools and SAKs a fair bit more than in a pinch, so for me, that's a factor. In many cases an improvised tool will work once, I live in a world where I probably need that tool twice, so For Me, even though I know that a SAK screwdriver is not ever the "right tool" it will be the "right-er" tool twice, where a slipjoint blade will probably only be the "right enough" tool once. Hope that makes some sense.
 
DocJD said:
And then there's REAL life ! :oops:
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It's a great movie! Made in 1931 and yet is very modern.
No, it's not real life, but turning a screw with a knife doesn't take much imagination.
Let's face it, most screws that need turning these days aren't flat head. There are more and more hex and torx. I am hoping Phillips will last a while.
 
dogstar said:
I was writing a review of the Buck 303 Cadet, and came to this realization:

The only thing I might argue against this knife is that its utility might be limited compared to a Swiss Army knife. However, the gap might not be as big as one thinks. Can you open cans with the 303? Yes; it's not great for the edge, but it is possible. Can you turn screws with it? Given there are three blades, I venture that either the spine or tip of one can turn a screw in a pinch. How about opening a bottle? If you know the trick using a lighter, you can use the 303 in the same fashion.

Do you agree? Or disagree?
Click to expand...
Disagree firmly.
I'm an electrician by trade and theres no blade that will fit in the recessed Phillips screws in a junction box, I run much less risk of butchering my fingers opening beer bottles/turning screws with a dedicated opener , I've never broken the large screwdriver prying with it (but I've heard of plenty of people snapping blades doing it), I can turn Robinson # 2 square drive screws with the small screwdriver tip, and I"m not about to pick my teeth with a blade, and so on.
No they are not as good as the dedicated tools, but they never were intended to be-they're a small portable set of solutions to various problems that life chucks our way.
That said, I do love a good traditional as well.

It'd be a boring world if we were all the same :D
 
D dogstar

I used to use the can opener on my Waiter to open tuna cans at my desk when working in a large cubicle farm in a fortune 50 company.

I just enjoyed doing that with my knife.

I have used the screwdriver occasionally, often due to being too lazy to seek out a suitable screwdriver.

I have used the corkscrew several times.

By far the most used items are the tweezers and toothpick. Many a splinter has been pulled with those tweezers...
 
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I must have been around 14 years old 1972-73 when my friend was using his old timer 34ot to loosen a phillips head screw and broke the tip. I was horrified and decided then to get a multi tool for just such a chore.

I got a decent one from the hardware store that was the pliers style in a nylon sheath. It was about 4 inches folded and had a knife blade, screw drivers and opener. Kinda clunky but It came in handy many times over a couple years before I lost it. Even a cheap multi tool is better than using a good pocket knife for screws, prying or opening a tin can.
 
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