The Changing of the Guard

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Nov 20, 2021
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About fifty years ago, I was in the Scouts and I got a Buck 301 Stockman. I was very proud of that knife. During the Summers, I would go to a cattle ranch in Arizona in the White Mountains and pretend to be a cowboy. A real cowboy and his family ran the place and took in kids for a few weeks at a time to teach them to ride and brand and corral cattle. I wasn't particularly good at any of those things and everyone knew it. One night at a campfire, the cowboy who owned the ranch pulled a stone out of his pocket and asked if any of us wanted him to show us how to sharpen our pocket knives. A bunch of kids handed him their Imperial barlows and single bladed Japanese imports. I handed my stockman to him. Everyone leaned forward to see my knife and a kid said, "Is that a Case?" The cowboy replied, "Hell no, son. That there is a BUCK!" He put an edge on it and handed it back to me reverently. All eyes were on me with great respect for my knife. I wasn't looked upon as a "dude" any more. But from then on, I had to sleep with it under my pillow so no one would steal it in the bunk house while I slept.

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Ever since then, I've carried a Buck stockman in my pocket every day of my life. I think I've carried three altogether. One was lost, one was retired when Buck came out with the rosewood model, and I've carried the rosewood one up until now. I collect pocket knives and have over 100 of them, but I only carry the Buck. ...until now. I broke the bank and ordered a Lionsteel LSTBM13EB... an Italian made muskrat with a clip and wharncliffe in M390 with titanium bolsters and ebony handles.

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The Lionsteel is gorgeous. It's built solid with perfect craftsmanship. The grain on the ebony is super tight. The blades are screaming sharp. And it has the smoothest action and most satisfying snap that I have ever experienced. There's a half stop, and at each of the three blade stops, the back springs are perfectly flush. I cleaned it, oiled it and applied a light coat of Renaissance Wax and went to put it in my knife case... I couldn't do it. Normally, I don't want to carry $150 dollar knives because I like to keep them clean and pristine. But this one was different. I set my Buck stockman on my dresser and said to myself, "I'll just carry this Lionsteel for a week."

It's been several weeks now and tonight I cleaned, oiled and waxed my Buck stockman and put it in my knife case. After 50 years, I have a new everyday carry.

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I know a lot of knife collectors rotate their everyday carries, but I'm an old dog... a creature of habit. It takes a lot for me to break a habit like this, especially one that has gone on for half a century. I feel kind of sad, like I'm sending an old horse out to pasture and saddling up a new pony. Has anyone else has a similar experience where they said goodbye to an old friend and hello to a new one? If so, post pictures of them. I'm curious if anyone else feels about their EDC the way I do.
 
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Great read. I can’t bring myself to carry the same knife for any great length of time. Not anymore anyway. I used to way back when I only owned one knife.

Nowadays it seems like such a cryin’ shame to own all of these knives and only ever use one of them.

I have a Buck 301 BladeForums knife and I also have a LionSteel Bestman in Ebony just like yours. Your post makes me want to get them both out as it’s been awhile since I’ve carried either one. They are both exceptional knives.
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I've been very tempted by that very knife.
Interesting story, which I don't share. The closest thing for me is my Camillus medium stockman that I bought myself and carried for a long time, but I don't remember what displaced it. Probably my first Swiss Army knife, which maybe I stopped carrying in my Buck-110-on-my-belt years in college.
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Then there was the alox scout for years, then the celidor till it crumbled.
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No, I guess I'm not very sentimental about my knives.
 
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I started carrying a pocket knife when I was about 15. I carried one knife, a Gerber Silver Knight for about 15 years before I lost it. I replaced it with a BuckLite lockback, which I carried for another decade or so. When I got to a point in life where I could afford to have more than one, I never looked back. Like Railsplitter Rick, I have too many nice ones now to carry the same thing for more than a few days at a time. I still have favorites that I carry more often, but on a whim I will dig into the collection and carry something completely different. Freedom of choice is a good thing.
 
At about age 14 I got myself a Buck 112 which I carried into early adulthood. I t was lost in the gulf of Alaska over the the side of a Coast Guard cutter. Then I carried a Buck stockman for maybe five or more years. At that time I had accumulated many knives and would switch them out with no rhyme or reason. One day I was making a delivery to a customer on my companies truck, and cut the shrink wrap on their pallet with a really nice knife, I don't remember exactly which one but I think it was an AG Russell damascus lockback. The receiver was like why are you using such a nice knife like that. He gave me a Buck Odessey from the stores stock and said check this thing out...it was definitely not a traditional knife but it found its way into my pocket for about fifteen years. It was a tool and it served its purpose.

After that I went on ano9ther spree of switching out my carry for many years, until I found this one:

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This ebony powderhorn saw a fair amount of use and carry, and still holds a warm spot in my heart. Random carries were the norm for some years until I came upon this knife:

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This one rides in my pocket most days now, it just fits and is perfect in proportion, weight and size, occasionally I'll mix it up with this sweetheart:

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which has also obviously seen a bunch of pocket time. I can't really say I have a favorite knife at this point, as I have learned that many or most are capable tools to get the job done, it's more about what catches my fancy these days.
 
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