The humble pocket knife.

RescueRiley

RescueRiley

Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
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for about the past month or so I've been carrying basic slipjoint pocket knife patterns. mostly large stockman. I keep a vic farmer in my bag as backup. aside from being extremely solid and well made (and carbon steel) this style of knife is really nice to look at, Thety have alot of charectar and classic versatility. a stockman pattern has 3 blades which offers 3 cutting edges should one become damaged. so far I've performed numerous cutting and bushcraft tasks including but not limited to carving trap triggers and hobby stuff making fuzz sticks, food prep. cleaning and skinning small game. and have not felt under knifed. When going out I pair it with my new opinel folding saw and a small fiskars axe. However I just ordered a kabar heavy bowie. I think a small folding knife a saw and a larger heavy duty fixed blade would provide alot of versatility and a large margin for error...so far the axe combo has worked great I'll update my feelings on a large fixed blade after I've had time to play around with the kabar.:D
 
Best of luck with your new conundrum, I picked up the heavy bowie as a possible replacement for my much loved Fiskars hatchet, and I've been torn between them ever since. Too many choices! They both have worked quite well for me, and each offer a lot of versatility. Both are about the same weight and size.

How do you like that Opinel saw? Does it work better for you than other folding saws? I've got a couple of cheap saws, but was thinking about upgrading to that little $10 Fiskars saw.
 
Our grandfathers and their fathers did a heck of alot of outdoor jobs with patterns like stockmen, trappers, sturdy jacks. A traditional pocket knife paired with a small saw or hatchet will do most anyting you need to do in the outdoors. If another knife is needed a Mora will fit in for a nice woods trio.

But you are right Riley, a three bladed stockman gives alot more versitility than any single blade locking knife. You have the option of using the sheepsfoot alot ot "save" wear on the clip. The spey makes a fine skinning knife for small game. I once watched a man do a deer with a Buck cadet and he did a neater job than alot of people with a fixed blade.
 
Thanks Guys.... I've only had the opinel saw for about a week. But it works great is has a nice trad look to it too.
 
Beyond the SAK, I don't seem to prefer the traditionals as much. There are a couple of models that appeal to me, but not many. They aren't quite as comfortable in the hand to me as a good compact fixed blade, or many other types of folders. Just a personal thing though, the benefits are still there and they're still capable blades.
 
I'm not a real fan of folding knives other than SAKs and multitools.

That said, I don't think you could go wrong with a slippie paired with a larger chopping tool. I'm not sure I'd want to go with just a slippie and a saw, just in case you need to put some force into a cut or split some wood. I know some people claim to baton SAKs, but it isn't something I would want to do.

I'm not fully convinced on the utility of three blades on a knife. I can see the redundancy protection against dulling in the field, but it doesn't protect against damage to the knife or loss. I imagine if you put enough torque to snap a blade, you would damage the entire tool, or end up with an inability to close the broken blade. If you just snapped the tip on a single bladed knife you could probably still work with the cutting edge or under worst case scenario try to reshape a cruder tip on a rock as a surrogate hone. Of course this is all coming from a fixed-blade guy who is used to going out with one or two knives.

I do agree the traditional slippies are really gorgeous. Pulling one out of your pocket while in the bush, just gives you that 'this is the old days feel' doesn't it?
 
Yep, a three bladed pocket knife is about all you could ever ask for for cutting chores. Growing up in rural North Carolina, I carried a Buck stockman-type knife (and a barlow style) for years and used it for everything (short of cutting down trees). Having three blades is 3 times better than having one!
 
I literally just got back from a trip to Target where I picked up a Vic Hiker. It came with a "free" single bladed utility knife too. I'd been wanting something to round out a fairly inexpensive modern "Nesmuk trio" with my Fiskars hatchet and Mora 521. I think the Hiker will do the job very nicely. I don't know if I'll ever go out with just this trio though. I have too many other knives that I like too much to leave at home. I'd like to try a stockman pattern or something like that with carbon steel blades. Does anyone have any recommendations for something like that for around 30 bucks or so? Or at least under 50. Most of the ones that I've seen that I like are pretty pricy.
 
i recently strayed away from my usual 'tactical" knives for edc and switched to my Saks, my current favourite being the OHT GAK version. With 45 min of work I managed to remove the serrations with just a coarse DMT diamond stone. It slices like a demon now.
The saw has come in handy as we just planted a bunch of small bushes in the front yard.
 
You would not catch me without my old Camillus Stockman. My father gave it to me in 1950, and I've carried it ever since, including when I was in the Army. It's been with me on trips to England and Europe, in my pocket on airplanes... although I've not been overseas since Sept. 11. 2001.

I've used it for about every reasonable task one could ask of a pocket knife and it's never failed me. That includes taking apart an elk, various deer, antelope, small game, fish, shaving wood for kindling, cutting string, paper, cardboard, etc., etc. etc. etc.

I've used the very sharp point of the main blade to drill several holes in my thumbnail in order to let the blood out when I crushed it (What a relief!!!), and have used that point to dig out splinters, etc.

Carbon steel and easy to sharpen. When sharpened, the blades -- still tight as when I received it -- are sharp as razors.

A lot of people eschew pocket knives without locks, but many, many years ago, when it closed while cutting a stick and cut my finger, I LEARNED not to handle the knife in such a way as to have it happen again. It's called "an object lesson."

In my opinion, a good Stockman is the most versatile of knives, for MOST cutting chores requiring a knife. Yes, I carry a good fixed blade out in the boonies, but that old Camillus is ALWAYS in my pocket.

FWIW.

L.W.
 
I am looking foreward to a review of that heavy bowie, it's next on my to buy list,
as is the opinel saw, actually.
I agree about the versality of the multi blades, I picked up a few a while back, but left them at my parents, so I never really got to use them. One had a large clip point, a medium sheep foot, and a small drop point, I figured it was a perfect combo. I think it was a case.
 
You know, one thing to keep in mind, the lockblade has been round long before 1963 and the Buck 110. Or folding hunter as some call it. As has assisted openers. Before 1957 switchblades were leagal in the U.S. and many pocket knife manufacturers made them. Schrade, New York knife company, and others. Ka-bar has a folding hunter style auto called the Grizzly, that was a large heavy duty spring action knife back in the 20's or 30's. It did not sell well and was discontinued after a short run.

But for use by true outdoorsmen they were never popular like the old slip joints like stockmen and barlows and trappers. Those old timers must have known what they were doing, as they lived in a much more rural setting than we do now, with suburbia eating up the countryside. In a day when a man needed truey effective outdoor tools for the wilderness many teamed up a slip joint pocket knife and a small sheath knife and a hatchet. George Sears was but one of them who made a living seeing what was really needed in the great woods. His own choice of a hatchet, thin blades skinning knife, and two bladed moose pattern jackknife said something.
 
quote:
"You would not catch me without my old Camillus Stockman. My father gave it to me in 1950, and I've carried it ever since, including when I was in the Army. It's been with me on trips to England and Europe, in my pocket on airplanes... although I've not been overseas since Sept. 11. 2001."

I recently had a Stockman with a 2.5" blade confiscated by TSA in Detroit. It was in a metal container along with a small bic lighter, some tweezers, etc. They only took the knife. What is up with your deal vs mine?

OMT
 
I carry a Vic Farmer, but I love Old Timers (the older US models). They were good folders. Case makes a knife that I am considering buying, the Jr. Scout. The only downfall to me is it's size. Just a little bigger would be perfect. Stockmans are great too. I have used them a couple times.
 
I now carry a 4" Boker Stockman, a self made O1 copy of a Puma White hunter, and a Estwing sportsman hatchet. when treking, huuntin or camping. been looking for a small handsaw (possibly an old coarse miter saw) to throw in the pack.
 
ONEMORETIME - "They only took the knife. What is up with your deal vs mine?"

O.M.T., as I said, although I've carried that Camillus Stockman on many, many commerical flights over the years without any problems ... I have NOT tried to carry it on an airplane since Sept. 11, 2001. I have no doubt whatsoever it would be confiscated now, were I to try it.

Now, several days before my flight, I will send a UPS package to where I'm going to stay, containing that pocket knife... and a few other goodies I'd no longer try to take on a plane.

L.W.
 
I carried a Case carbon stockman for about three years after my Vic Huntsman found a new home on the bottom of the Big Miss. That California clip is mighty handy and the sheepsfoot was used constantly. Now a Farmer has replaced that.

From my experience, the only pocketknife more versitile than a good stockman, is a Swiss knife of some sort.

Maybe I'll leave the Voyager at home and pocket the stockman again?
 
There used to be a guy on TV called the Bush Tucker Man. He carried a stockman pattern knife in a horizontal sheath on his belt. He used that for everything. He also had a Toyota truck full of tools as well. My first deer was done up in the field with a "premium stock knife",it was the only one sharp.
 
nick-nack said:
i recently strayed away from my usual 'tactical" knives for edc and switched to my Saks, my current favourite being the OHT GAK version. With 45 min of work I managed to remove the serrations with just a coarse DMT diamond stone. It slices like a demon now.
The saw has come in handy as we just planted a bunch of small bushes in the front yard.
Click to expand...

Did the same thing to my OHT with a DMT diamond stone too. I was very impressed with how it turned out and like the knife a lot more now.
 
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