Most of us on this forum are knife nuts. Pure and simple we go ga-ga over the shiny sharp things, and on this particular sub forum, shiny sharp things with some tools on them. For most of my life I was a knife nut. I speak in the former sense as I've come to realize that I am no longer a knife nut.
For many years I've felt the fading of the passion for the sharp shiny things, even with tools on them. Maybe its a natural progression of age, or some psychological thing I'm not smart enough to fathom. But my love of knives just for the sake of collecting and accumulating and fondling faded out. I no longer felt the urge to carry multiples of knives to deal with any situation that came along, no matter if real or fantasy. I've always been a practical minded person, and thats one reason my default was always a SAK. Starting out life with a Boy Scout knife, had a deep and long lasting impression on me to have a few tools on hand. Its surprising how many situations can actually be solved with a screw driver. And its actually equally surprising how many things can be cut with just an inch or two of blade.
I had to get old before the total sense of it came to me. I remember once watching my dad deal with some cutting job with his little Case peanut, and asking him if it wouldn't just be easier to carry a bigger knife. I'll always remember his philosophical answer. "Well son, my pocket knife is a mostly thing. It will cut what I mostly have to cut, and thats good enough, because its impossible to prepare for everything life can throw at you. So you carry what does the job for the 98% of what you have to do, and improvise the other couple percent."
As I went through middle age, I found myself carrying less and less stuff, realizing that it was slightly silly to try to carry everything to deal with fantastic scenarios. The one time it really was a life or death situation, getting lady out of a burning upside down old Datsun B210 that she had rolled with stupidly reckless driving, an inch and a half of pocket knife blade did very well in cutting the seat belt she was hanging upside down in. A larger knife would not have been any better, and maybe a dangerous hindrance the way she was thrashing around in a panic. That sheep foot blade of a Buck stockman was all that was needed. It cut right through the nylon webbing of the seatbelt.
And as a result of these lives experiences, I came to realize what dad had known long before me, that less sometimes is more. That knowledge means you really can carry less because you've 'been there, done that' and you now know what isn't needed.
All of this has recently made me realize that I have become a non knife person. The kind of person who doesn't really obsess over knives like I once did as a knife nut, but like millions of SAK buyers, do realize that a sharp little knife with a few basic tools is a good thing to have on hand. Over the years I downsized from 93mm SAK's to 91mm, then 84mm's, and then in an epiphany brought on by watching my wife torture a little classic, did the classic experiment of my own. I used a classic as my EDC pocket knife and the Zombie apocalypse didn't happen, nor did the sun rise in the west, or the earth shake and destroy life as we know it. Once in a while the classic was not enough, and always this was food duty. No, the classic couldn't handle a loaf of Italian bread, or slice an apple in half to share with the better half, or slice the better half's burger in half like she has a quirk of liking. But, since Karen carried an Opinel number 8 in her purse, it is a moot problem.
They say more Victorinox classics are made and sold each year than any other three knife manufactures combined. The humble classic was once the cover of one of the knife magazines as the most confiscated knife in the world. As of the late 1990's, Victorinox was making 9 million of them a year. I'm sure with the push Victoriox did in the early 2000's employing more high speed computer controlled machining and ramping up production, its even more now. Who buys all these little SAK's? The non knife nut people who know a small sharp knife is a good thing to have on you. The kind go people that walk right by the display case of shiny new knives in the store because they just are not interested, but will stop at a SAK display because 'everybody' knows what a SAK is.
It came as a little bit of a shock, that I am now in that class. The non knife person SAK carrier. I now walk right by the knife display at the sports store where I used to slow down if not stop and look at the shiny new knives. I now give a glance as I pass, realizing that there is nothing there that I am at all interested in, because I have a small SAK in my pocket that does all I need of a pocket knife. The Buck's, the Kershaw's, the Case's, the whatever's, just don't have any draw for me anymore. I'm a SAK carrier and it has to be a smaller one at that. To me now, an 84mm is a bigger SAK, like my recruit, cadet. My executive is my regular carry if the sun rises in the east knife.
I think now I understand my friend Howard more, and my dad. They had 'been there, done that' and they figured out what wasn't needed.
For many years I've felt the fading of the passion for the sharp shiny things, even with tools on them. Maybe its a natural progression of age, or some psychological thing I'm not smart enough to fathom. But my love of knives just for the sake of collecting and accumulating and fondling faded out. I no longer felt the urge to carry multiples of knives to deal with any situation that came along, no matter if real or fantasy. I've always been a practical minded person, and thats one reason my default was always a SAK. Starting out life with a Boy Scout knife, had a deep and long lasting impression on me to have a few tools on hand. Its surprising how many situations can actually be solved with a screw driver. And its actually equally surprising how many things can be cut with just an inch or two of blade.
I had to get old before the total sense of it came to me. I remember once watching my dad deal with some cutting job with his little Case peanut, and asking him if it wouldn't just be easier to carry a bigger knife. I'll always remember his philosophical answer. "Well son, my pocket knife is a mostly thing. It will cut what I mostly have to cut, and thats good enough, because its impossible to prepare for everything life can throw at you. So you carry what does the job for the 98% of what you have to do, and improvise the other couple percent."
As I went through middle age, I found myself carrying less and less stuff, realizing that it was slightly silly to try to carry everything to deal with fantastic scenarios. The one time it really was a life or death situation, getting lady out of a burning upside down old Datsun B210 that she had rolled with stupidly reckless driving, an inch and a half of pocket knife blade did very well in cutting the seat belt she was hanging upside down in. A larger knife would not have been any better, and maybe a dangerous hindrance the way she was thrashing around in a panic. That sheep foot blade of a Buck stockman was all that was needed. It cut right through the nylon webbing of the seatbelt.
And as a result of these lives experiences, I came to realize what dad had known long before me, that less sometimes is more. That knowledge means you really can carry less because you've 'been there, done that' and you now know what isn't needed.
All of this has recently made me realize that I have become a non knife person. The kind of person who doesn't really obsess over knives like I once did as a knife nut, but like millions of SAK buyers, do realize that a sharp little knife with a few basic tools is a good thing to have on hand. Over the years I downsized from 93mm SAK's to 91mm, then 84mm's, and then in an epiphany brought on by watching my wife torture a little classic, did the classic experiment of my own. I used a classic as my EDC pocket knife and the Zombie apocalypse didn't happen, nor did the sun rise in the west, or the earth shake and destroy life as we know it. Once in a while the classic was not enough, and always this was food duty. No, the classic couldn't handle a loaf of Italian bread, or slice an apple in half to share with the better half, or slice the better half's burger in half like she has a quirk of liking. But, since Karen carried an Opinel number 8 in her purse, it is a moot problem.
They say more Victorinox classics are made and sold each year than any other three knife manufactures combined. The humble classic was once the cover of one of the knife magazines as the most confiscated knife in the world. As of the late 1990's, Victorinox was making 9 million of them a year. I'm sure with the push Victoriox did in the early 2000's employing more high speed computer controlled machining and ramping up production, its even more now. Who buys all these little SAK's? The non knife nut people who know a small sharp knife is a good thing to have on you. The kind go people that walk right by the display case of shiny new knives in the store because they just are not interested, but will stop at a SAK display because 'everybody' knows what a SAK is.
It came as a little bit of a shock, that I am now in that class. The non knife person SAK carrier. I now walk right by the knife display at the sports store where I used to slow down if not stop and look at the shiny new knives. I now give a glance as I pass, realizing that there is nothing there that I am at all interested in, because I have a small SAK in my pocket that does all I need of a pocket knife. The Buck's, the Kershaw's, the Case's, the whatever's, just don't have any draw for me anymore. I'm a SAK carrier and it has to be a smaller one at that. To me now, an 84mm is a bigger SAK, like my recruit, cadet. My executive is my regular carry if the sun rises in the east knife.
I think now I understand my friend Howard more, and my dad. They had 'been there, done that' and they figured out what wasn't needed.
