Starting some new memories with a new freind

M

MacTech

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Jan 7, 2006
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I've finally decided to actually put my yellow handle CV Case Trapper to use, I had been holding off because I wasn't sure if I wanted to get the nice shiny blade all not-shiny-and-patina-ey, but as I perused the numerous threads showing well loved and well used carbon steel bladed slipjoints, something in my mind changed

these knives had *stories* to tell, every scratch, pocket worn, rounded corner, and satiney patina-ed blade told a story, a story of a faithful friend that was always there when it was needed, ready for whatever cutting task was at hand, maybe it was whittlin' a large stick into a smaller stick, or something more sophisticated, perhaps it was an errant thread, a cardboard box that needed breaking down, or even cutting or peeling a humble apple, the pocketknife was a ready friend

there's something about a well made slipjoint that reminds us of a simpler time, of our parents or grandparents using these simple tools in their daily task, the blade may have been gleaming and shiny, or sporting a well worn, time worn patinas, but the cutting edge was always razor sharp and gleaming, these were more than tools, they were a part of them

So, I decided it was time to stop "babying" the Trapper (and the SS Peanut), I grabbed a couple McIntosh apples, cutting the first one with the Peanut, which it performed admirably, cuts were smooth and very little pressure was needed to induce the cut, the stainless blades shrugged off the acids in the apple, they were completely unaffected, in all honesty, it felt no different than cutting an apple with my Victorinox SAK's or my Spyderco Salt series

I then took the halved apple, and opened up the main blade on the Trapper...

It glid through the apple like it wasn't there, no pressure was required to make the cut, and the edges of the cut were absolutely, surgically clean, it was like the apple had been cut at the molecular level, with a laser or the mythical "monowire" (a cutting edge one atom wide) it was, quite simply, the *cleanest* cut apple I had ever seen, I had unprecedented control over the depth and direction of the cut, I could actually steer the blade through the apple flesh, and the cuts it left, like the edge cuts, were surgically clean, absolutely amazing, no tearing, no striations, perfectly flat and smooth

While I was snacking on the apple, I noticed the main blade gradually start to darken, and take on a rather attractive bluish/grayish/goldish patina, it looked like the case hardening on my Parker VH side-by-side shotgun, it looked quite nice, it looked like it was starting to have a story to tell

I then cut up the second apple, halfway through, I decided "why let the main blade have all the fun" and used the spey blade to finish up the job, it doesn't have the patina of the main blade, but it's developing

a quick ten passes on the white Sharpmaker rods (5 corner, 5 flats) and some stropping, and the edge was back to monowire sharpness

It's a good starting point, I can see many pleasant memories being made with this knife, now I just need to pick up a CV peanut to go with the Trapper

Now, if only my cherry tomatoes in my Aerogarden hydroponic desktop garden would finish ripening up so I can slice them up, I understand tomato juice really reinforces the patina well....
 
MacTech said:
I then took the halved apple, and opened up the main blade on the Trapper...

It glid through the apple like it wasn't there, no pressure was required to make the cut, and the edges of the cut were absolutely, surgically clean, it was like the apple had been cut at the molecular level, with a laser or the mythical "monowire" (a cutting edge one atom wide) it was, quite simply, the *cleanest* cut apple I had ever seen, I had unprecedented control over the depth and direction of the cut, I could actually steer the blade through the apple flesh, and the cuts it left, like the edge cuts, were surgically clean, absolutely amazing, no tearing, no striations, perfectly flat and smooth.
Click to expand...

When I had this revelation was pretty much the same time I put away my Spydercos and went fully back to carrying traditional slipjoint pocketknives.

One day I was at a playground with my kids and had a two-bladed Case penknife with me (very similar to the Eisenhower model). My son and daughter wanted to split an apple, so I decided to use this humble penknife for the job, rather than my Endura which was clipped, as always, to my pocket. Well, I was really astonished at how much easier it was to quarter the apple, cut out the core, and peel the pieces. Compared to that humble penknife, the Spyderco was just too unwieldy. Despite its superior steel, space-age lightweight handle, one-hand opening and pocket clip, the thick-bladed Spyderco cleaved and hacked apart apples, whereas my penknife "sliced" them with precision and efficiency. Since that dawned on me, I've been a crotchety, errrr, folksy, dedicated slipjoint toter ever since.


(BTW, great post, MacTech. Thanks!)
 
MacTech said:
these knives had *stories* to tell, every scratch, pocket worn, rounded corner, and satiney patina-ed blade told a story, a story of a faithful friend that was always there when it was needed, ready for whatever cutting task was at hand, maybe it was whittlin' a large stick into a smaller stick, or something more sophisticated, perhaps it was an errant thread, a cardboard box that needed breaking down, or even cutting or peeling a humble apple, the pocketknife was a ready friend

there's something about a well made slipjoint that reminds us of a simpler time, of our parents or grandparents using these simple tools in their daily task, the blade may have been gleaming and shiny, or sporting a well worn, time worn patinas, but the cutting edge was always razor sharp and gleaming, these were more than tools, they were a part of them
Click to expand...

I love it, posts like this make my day. It's like seeing yet another brother come into the fold.

I think that's one of the main reasons I love slip joints. It's a conection to a simpler time when a knife had to be an effective cutting tool because mot of the work was done by hand. Once upon a time a knife was a daily companion of just about every man who wore pants. Even the suit guys in the city had a little pen knife on them, and it was kept as sharp as a country boy's trapper.

And a knife was indeed a personally treasured item. People back then didn't have the disposable income as they do now, so they had way less stuff. Most men of my fathers era wouldn't think of buying another knife if the one in thier pocket was still good. But then people didn't buy a new car either untill the old one was really ready for the junkheap. I thought my dad was going to cry when the mechanic told him the old Hudson Hornet had gone as far as it was going to go.

I think back then there wasn't the materialisim you see today. A man had one knife, one rifle, and maybe if he was into upland or bird hunting, one shotgun. When a elderly family member passed on, there was actually very little to hand down, so it ment more to get a knife that was graddads, or a shotgun that was uncle so-and-so's. That it was used by that person for his life, made it so much more than just an object. It was firmly identified with him. It even may have defined him.

Value is often determined by amount. Supply and demand. When a man carries just one knife for 30 years or more, it has stories to tell. It's been everwhere the owner has been, good and bad. It may even at one time made the difference between life and death by just being there. Sometimes great things are done with ordinary tools. I knew one old man who till his death carried a badly worn old Camillus stockman. When he passed away, several brand new knives were discoverd in his sock drawer. They had been gifts over the years from people. But he never would stop carrying that old stockman. The new knives discovered in the drawer were all given away, as they were souless items not really conected to the man. Yet the old stockman was a treasured family hierloom that now sits in a box with letters and photo's of it's owner, passed down to another generation who will tell the stories about him, and how this humble worn old knife saved his life one dark night by cutting the straps fee on a life raft seconds before an explosion blew up his burning PT boat. So the old knife is a connection to a man, and a third generation of his family takes out the knife and knows it's history.

Yet another man I knew, was given a small two bladed pocket knife by his mother. He was the first one of his working class family to go off to the University. At the the bus staion his mother handed him a small package, and told him it was more suited to an acadmic. In those days University students wore suits. But before he could finish his 4 years, WW2 broke out, he went off to serve his country, and served in the European theater. While overseas, his mother came down with a rare form of liver cancer and died at a young age. He never got to see her again, so the little peanut became a link to his mother's last gift to him and he carried that little knife his whole life. In carrying that knife, it became so identified with him, it became his childrens link to him, so in effect spanning three generations. Now it too is kept with photos of the man, and letter about him and what he did.

When I see an old slip joint, stained with the years of use, the blade a little wobbly with wear, I know it was a treasured daily companion. It was somebodys workmate, fishing/hunting buddy, and maybe did some amazing things along the journey of life.

History isn't made in a sock drawer.


I very much doubt that some of the knife collections I've seen will have much meaning for the family left behind. 20 almost identical knives made with bead blasted stainless steel and black plastic won't be that meaningfull.
 
It's funny, I seem to have come full-circle, I started off in Boy Scouts in the mid-late 1970's with the classic Boy Scout knife (or a cheap knockoff of one, it always seemed rattly and junky) and got my Totin' Chip merit badge, the importance of *safe* slipjoint use was pounded into me, I was instructed numerous times to be careful when cutting, that if pressure was put on the spine of the blade, that it could fold on me and give me a bad cut

like every other boy of the day, words were meaningless, I had to learn by *doing*, in other words, cutting myself ;) , thankfully the cuts were never bad, as the blade was rarely sharpened to a scary edge, to be honest, it was rarely sharpened at all, I hang my head in shame when I remember that fact, but at the time it worked in my favor, keeping the resultant cuts minor and easily hidden from reactionary parental units... ;)

I really felt like I had "arrived" when my Dad gave me a brand new Victorinox Champion (or maybe it was a Wenger Tool Chest, I don't rememb...wait, it *was* a Vic, it had the short gray magnifier lens...), at the time, it was the top-of-the-line SAK, and I *LOVED* the wide variety of tools, I think the tools saw more use than the blades, I carried that Champ everywhere with me, even in school, a pocketknife was considered a normal thing for a boy to have, I did keep it pocketed though, and only used the tools in the occasional science lab, where I was often complimented by my teachers for my preparedness and thinking outside of the box

The Champ came with me to college, where it was a faithful companion, until I lent it out to someone and it came back with the main blade snapped clean off, no explanation, no apologies, I was heartbroken, I used the knife for a few weeks after that, but the broken blade issue always annoyed me, so I eventually just threw it out (I wasn't aware of Vic's repair policy at the time, or I would have sent it in, I really wish I had kept it)

after the loss of my Champ, I was knifeless for a while, and never really missed it, at some point, I picked up an original Gerber EZ-Out lockback and used that knife *hard* for a few years, looking back, I realize I was never really happy with it, mainly because the blade couldn't hold an edge worth a damn, butter would hold an edge better than the EZ-Out....

fast forward to about four years ago, I finally decided to get a *good* knife, I stopped off at my local sporting goods store, and picked up a Spyderco Endura 3 CE, it was my first experience with a *real* one-handed opener (the EZ-Out didn't count, it was horrible in every way), with "supersteels", and pocket clips, and it started an obsession with the modern "Tactical" folder, and Spydies in particular, an obsession that continues to this day

At one point, I felt the need to get another SAK to replace the long-lost Vic Champ, as the toolset was always handy, I stopped off at a local pawnshop, and was amazed at their massive pile of SAKs (mostly TSA turn-ins), amongst the numerous and sundry SAKs, I found three that really caught my eye, a Vic CyberTool 34, a SwissChamp, and, joy of joys, an original 1970's vintage Champ, with the fluted corkscrew and everything

Those SAKs came home with me, and started a SAK obsession, for a while, I was on a mad quest to acquire more SAKs, but thankfully, I was able to pare my collection down to the original three pawnshop finds, and a Vic Soldier, it felt good to trim the collection down to the necessities, a SwissChamp for the car, a CyberTool 34 for work (Mac repair), and once again, a Champ in my pocket :)

Problem is, the SAKs have started an obsession with traditional slipjoints, but thankfully, due to my insistence on functionality and *users*, I've been able to control the urge to collect vast quantities of slippies, I have made a conscious decision to limit myself to three carbon-steel slippies, a Trapper (my Case yellow CV Trapper mentioned in my OP) a Stockman pattern (Boker Tree Brand Whittler Tortoiseshell) and a Peanut, right now, I only have a SS Case Peanut, but at some point I will replace it with a CV version, of course, this means I will have to sell/trade/give away my SS Pocket-worn Stockman which I have never truly bonded with, it doesn't speak to me or call to me, it's just "there", soulless, mundane, nothing special

Strangely enough, my SS Peanut *DOES* seem to have a "soul", for lack of a better word, even though it's a mundane stainless steel blade model, maybe it's because I'm able to get both blades scalpel/monowire level sharp, while the SS Stockman fights my attempts to put a truly Scary edge on it

So, it's taken a while (much like this long, rambling post ;) ) but I started out with a slipjoint, and I've come back to slipjoints, I love the simplicity, the feel, the precision craftsmanship, the simple, timeless designs, the razor-sharp edges, ease of resharpening, and how they fly under the radar of all but the most hysterical Sheeple, how could anyone take offense to a classic two or three blade slipjoint, one like their father or grandfather would have carried in a simpler, quieter, slower time

Another thing I've noticed is that slipjoints (especially carbon-steel slippies) seem to have not only a "personality", but a "soul" as well, there's something indefinable about them, they seem "alive" somehow, connected to their owner in more than the physical sense, it's almost like they take on the essence of the owner, store it, and magnify it, how else can you explain the flood of memories that come rushing back when you think about, hold, or use Dad's/Grampa's old pocketknife, it gives you a tactile connection to both your loved ones, and the past

It seems to be most powerfully present in the classic multibladed slipjoints like the Stockman, Trapper, Canoe, Peanut, Congress, etc... celidor SAKs seem to be immune, but the Alox SAKs seem to take on a "soul" or personality of their own

My Spydies all have personalities, are excellent cutting tools, and have ergonomics that blow away any classic slipjoint (the Manix, Civilian, Persian and Dodo are perfect examples), but the slipjoints have "soul" and somehow feel more "alive"...

I've recently been fighting the urge to really simplify my cutlery collection, to "whittle it down" as it were (pun intended), I really don't *need* the small pile of tactical folders I have now, most of my cutting chores could easily be handled by any of my SAK, Case, or Boker slippies, and the exceedingly rare hard use cutting chores would be easily handled by my Ka-Bar, the only tacticals I would keep would be my Dodos (the ultimate clampack slayer), my Manix (for when I need a hard-use folder), and my Civilian (just 'cause it's the coolest Spydie there is, that's a valid reason, right? ;) )

I don't plan to really do this, I'm keeping all my Spydies, but for the forseeable future, all cutting duties other than clampacks will be handled by a slippie

It's good to be back
 
So many good posts in this thread. So many wise words. Something Jackknife said about a knife, or rifle, being identified with the man got me to thinking about the knife being more than a tool but a talisman. Swords were often said to possess a soul or spirit. It could bestow courage or maybe even wisdom. It wasn't just a hunk of iron, like a nail or a hammer. It was special. A link to the anscestors and to other worlds. A symbol to the tribe that a man was worthy. Or maybe I'm reading too much into this.

Frank
 
I sat here reading this post as I enjoyed a few small oranges (with the help of my dog). Until recently I had forgotten the joy and utility of a good slippie, and reading posts like this are what got me back to it. I enjoy the heck out of using my CV Soddie to slice apples, oranges, and anything else I can.

Thanks for sharing!
 
I too have full circle, from my scout knife to an oldtimer to a buck 301 to a wide variety of one hand openers back to trappers peanuts and now my CV swayback. I love the Peanut, and they do multiply, but I kept wanting something a little bigger, the swayback has been with me every day since I got it. Love the feel and simplicity/elegance.
 
I'm still trying to generate some memories for my current line up rather than picking up new ones. I'm not done purchasing by any stretch of the imagination, but I think that I have a good, solid line up in my Case Stockman, GEC Barlow, Case Soddie Jr, and Buck Medium Trapper. They're working well so far.
 
Its my yellerhandles cutting apples for my baby girl since she got her first teeth to chew them. She would sit at my feet watching me cut them. Then she would take the closed knife in one hand and her apple slice in the other and act like she was cutting the apple too. I have lots of pics of that. She is 3 now and we still do that all the time.
 
Hoss that sounds really cute, I'm sure that ol yeller' Case will carry some fond memories for her when she's old enough to actually use it

I've made a conscious decision this week to try to do all my cutting with slippies of one flavour or another, and actually leave my Spydies at home, and it's actually going quite well, yesterday I did, in a moment of weakness, clip my PE Dodo to my RF pocket, but that was in *addition* to the Case Trapper, Peanut, and Boker Whittler that I've been toting

the Trapper has become my "fruit knife", cutting up apples and tomatoes for snacks, the Peanut has become my general use blade, or for opening salty snacks, due to the stainless blades, the Boker, I don't know what I'll use it for, but it was carbon steel and I must have it

I have been using the Boker as an apple-cutting knife as well, mainly to get a patina started on the main blade, I've also been fighting with getting the edge to the level of sharpness I want (Scary/Monomolecular-sharp), the factory edge was rather obtuse, and it's taking longer than I like to thin the edge down, I was having a similar issue with the Case Pocketworn SS Stockman (which the carbon-steel Boker is replacing), the Case Stockman is *finally* coming around to my preferred level of sharpness, it just took some time and patience on the Sharpmaker, which is what I'll need to do with the Boker

The more I cut with my slipjoints, the more I appreciate their finesse and performance, they glide through the material I'm cutting with precision and control, when I use my Spydies they feel.....thick...and ungainly, more a "chopper" or "cleaver" than a "slicer", I can slice gossamer-thin slivers of apple with my Trapper, Peanut, and Stockmans, thin, gauzy slivers, the closest I can get with my thicker-bladed Spydies are apple *wedges*, and forget steering the blade around the core section, I have to "V" cut it, losing too much edible apple flesh, the slippies feel like scalpels by comparison

I think I'm figuring out why I prefer carbon-steel over Stainless, it's the interactivity, the fact that it must be cared for, like a sharp little metallic pet, almost a living thing, stainless steel is "ignorable" and can be used, abused, and ignored, treat a carbon blade that way and you'll get a corroded, rusty mess, a little TLC is all a carbon blade needs, a little time with you after flawlessly cutting what needed to be cut, a quick wipedown, maybe a light film of oil applied to the blade, a stropping on your pant leg, or a quick touch up on your favorite sharpening device to keep the edge keen, and back into the pocket to wait, stoically, until it's services are needed again

the interaction and caring for the knife gives it a sort of, well, almost a "life" of it's own, it's reliant on you to keep it in good shape, and it doesn't respond well to neglect, take care of your knife, treat it with care, and it will take care of you....

I guess that's also why I like automatic analog watches, as opposed to quartz analog, or digital, sure, they're more accurate, maintenance free, and , in the case of digital watches, (which seem to be a pretty neat idea anyway ;) ) they have fun feature to play and fiddle with, but they don't *need* you, you can toss them in a drawer, and six months to a year from now, you can take them out and they've never missed a beat, heck, I have an old digital Casio tide-graph watch that keeps track of the tides and phases of the moon that I haven't worn in a year, I just checked it now and it was synced up *to the second* with the U.S. Atomic Clock! absolutely *no* discrepancy, amazing

My Seiko Orange Monster Automatic movement analog diving watch, however, will wind down and "die" (actually I consider it to be "just resting", (remarkable watch the Orange Monster, beautiful Lume-age, eh? ;) ) ) if it's left unworn for more than 48 hours, I have to give it a few shakes to restart the mechanism and start winding the mainspring, then reset the time and date, it relies on me to keep it alive, if I don't keep it wound, it'll "die", it may not have the features of even the most basic digital watch, but it has a personality, a "soul" if you will, something lacking from those mass-produced lumps of plastic and circuitry

It's also why I love cooking on well-seasoned Cast Iron cookware, sure Teflon pans are more maintenance free, non-stick, and lighter, and you can soak them in the sink or put them in the dishwasher to clean them, but they also emit noxious fumes at any temperature above 400 degrees (setting 3 or 4 on my cooktop), and rapidly break down under high-heat cooking, and when the teflon starts breaking down, it can't be repaired, they also have a hot spot in the middle of the pan when used on electric burners, Cast Iron, OTOH is heavier, can't be cleaned up with soap and water (just use water and a nylon scrubbie for the tough scuzz), the dishwasher is a death sentence to CI, but nothing, and i mean NOTHING tastes better than food cooked on CI, it's hard to define, but food just tastes *better* on CI, and with a well-seasoned pan, almost nothing will stick, I have a griddle pan that I could probably cook super-glue on and it wouldn't stick, cleanup really isn't that hard either, a quick wipedown with a paper towel, maybe some hot water and a green scrubbie for the nasty stuff, give it a quick spraydown with oil, and back on the burner to cool off to reinforce the seasoning, heck, if you ruin the seasoning, burn off the old seasoning and re-season it, you can actually fix the non-stick surface of CI, try doing that with teflon

To wrap up this rambly post, I find a certain charm in time-tested, reliable, simple things, you know that'll be there for you if you'll be there for them, modern technology really isn't the answer for *everything* (says the computer tech, typing on a laptop connected to the internet via a wireless base station and playing a DVD in the background.... ;) )
 
[The more I cut with my slipjoints, the more I appreciate their finesse and performance, they glide through the material I'm cutting with precision and control, when I use my Spydies they feel.....thick...and ungainly, more a "chopper" or "cleaver" than a "slicer", I can slice gossamer-thin slivers of apple with my Trapper, Peanut, and Stockmans, thin, gauzy slivers, the closest I can get with my thicker-bladed Spydies are apple *wedges*, and forget steering the blade around the core section, I have to "V" cut it, losing too much edible apple flesh, the slippies feel like scalpels by comparison

I think I'm figuring out why I prefer carbon-steel over Stainless, it's the interactivity, the fact that it must be cared for, like a sharp little metallic pet, almost a living thing, stainless steel is "ignorable" and can be used, abused, and ignored, treat a carbon blade that way and you'll get a corroded, rusty mess, a little TLC is all a carbon blade needs, a little time with you after flawlessly cutting what needed to be cut, a quick wipedown, maybe a light film of oil applied to the blade, a stropping on your pant leg, or a quick touch up on your favorite sharpening device to keep the edge keen, and back into the pocket to wait, stoically, until it's services are needed again] Quote from MachTech.



Once upon a time, a hundred years or more ago, knives were made as cutting tools. Different patterns evolved for different ways of making ones living. Shaping the tool for the job. A cowboy out riding herd needed a different set of blades than a fisherman on a Glouster schooner working the cod schools off the Grand Banks in the Atlantic. But they all had one thing in common; they were working tools and needed to do what they were made for. Cut. These hard working men didn't and wouldn't put up with a tool that didn't work. The various slip joint pocket knife designs may have had a dozen different shapes, but the blades were all ground and profiled for a thin blade, with nice edge profiles coming down to nice sharp edge. Blade profiles like these, even when the fine razor edge is worn down, will still be able to cut. Heck, you can give yourself a painful little cut with the edge of a piece of paper. Thin is good. I don't think they had mall ninja's in the 1800's, but they did have people who needed to get things done. Like trappers. A trapper needed to get that pelt off that critter, and he didn't want to spend all day sawing away at it. So a knife pattern evolved that gave him a tool to do just that. Hide, fatty tissue, needs a very sharp edge, and it's not going to happen with thick saber ground blades. Those gossamer thin slices of apple are the end result of centuries of knife manufacture that figured out what really works best. It's only in the past couple of decades that I've seen these folding knives being marketed with thicker blades and steeper edge angles. One never saw knives like that in times when a mans knife was a real work partner. Barlows, stockmen, trappers, all had thin flat ground blades. Even the little peanut which was a devopment of the early 1900's, was first and formost a cutting tool. With the exeptions of some National or ethnic cultures, working knives have always been a thinner flat ground blade.

A carbon steel knife will stand up to being out in the elements just as well as any stainless, it just needs that interaction you spoke off. It actually amuses me a bit to hear the younger people talk of a non stainless steel knife, and how they think it will rust away on them the first rainstorm. One has to wonder how the Vikings managed to sail the Atlantic in open boats and still have ax ax or sword left when they got to wear they were going. Or the old Mountain men carrying plain carbon steel butcher knives and carbon steel Hawkin rifles into the snowy mountains. They just gave thier gear a little care. Just a little attention that night.

I remember both my dad and grandad having the same habit. A ritual even. Every night after dinner, dad would sit back in his chair and reach over to the kitchen drawer where he kept his strop. It was made from a 5 gallon paint stir stick, and dad had cut off and shortened to about half it's length, and glued a stip of leather down on it. Every single night he'd examine his little peanut, and then give it a stropping. Once in a while he'd put a little drop of 3-in1 oil on the joint. It only took a few minutes, he didn't take long. But he did it every night. I watched grandad do the same thing. After a lifetime of carry and use, both of their knives were in condition to be carryied and used some more. There was some patina, but no rust. And grandad was a working waterman in a salt environment.

I think people are in too much of a hurry these days with things that don't really matter. They are all in a rush, and don't want to spend any time with something that makes them slow down a bit. take a minute. Something in the way of finese has been lost from life. Manufactures certainly don't want to spend time having experianced cutlers setting pins. Nor experianced blade grinders putting a nice blade geometry on that knife. A certain crudeness has crept into our lives. There's no appreatiation for fine design anymore. No soul.

Maybe more people should use a carbon steel slip joint to make them slow down a bit. Pay a bit more attention to the little things in life. Slice an apple for your child. Teach them to whittle the perect hot dog stick. Take a moment to wipe down that blade and give it a lick on a strop. Take a breath.
 
I dont have the time to write here now but reading this made me in a very good mood. I will koment one thing though I found out by using carbonknifes my whole life. I also seen the treamendous worry about knifes rusting away in short time, this is not my experience. I see people be so fond of their patinas the knife is almost not for use anymore. Patina comes and goes. You cut some apples and get coulour on the blade. Another week its used for fishing or wittling and out of that a new patina rizes leving the old coulours from the apple in the past. After a time the edge got to step and The knife needs to be thinned down with sandpaper, and after that its shiny 1000 grit polished, after that its barbercueseason and the food gives it patina again. Sometimes its beautifully grey and other times its more spotty in coulour because what you done with it as of latest. This is living surface giving an picture of the use, nothing to worrie about. Also stainlees gets scratches and patina in its own ways and can tell stories together with the status of handle wear. I think that a scratched up and honed stainless has more to tell than a intentional vineager dark grey patina.

Bosse
 
To go with the previous post.

I think that a knife with a real patina also often shows wear on the handle and the absence of that wear often is as disturbing for the looks of the knife as a to perfect forced patina. The old treasures/beaters usually show bouth by blade and handle. A dark blade needs a dark backspring and not so shiny handlematerial so to say.

Bosse
 
NirreBosse said:
To go with the previous post.

I think that a knife with a real patina also often shows wear on the handle and the absence of that wear often is as disturbing for the looks of the knife as a to perfect forced patina. The old treasures/beaters usually show bouth by blade and handle. A dark blade needs a dark backspring and not so shiny handlematerial so to say.

Bosse
Click to expand...

I argee. You can tell a knife that has been a long time friend to someone when its got a handle that matches the patina.

I have a yellerhandle CV medium stockman that has some cuts in it were I lost it one time. I forgot I had it opened and laying on the side of my trailer. We took off down the road to the next job. Got there and realized it was gone. Retraced my path and found it only because it was YELLER. Hitting the ashpalt and sliding on it gave it some marks, but it also gave it another story and some extra character. That was 3-4 yrs ago and I still remember it daily when I pick up a yellerhandle.
 
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