The Old And The New

C

coffeemike

Joined
Jul 20, 2015
Messages
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Okay, gang. Hoping to tap into the collective consciousness.

Who makes traditional knives with less traditional covers?

I'm looking to get more into traditional knives; I own a mix of modern and traditional knives (more on that below), and am looking for that one nice traditional that'll trump them all. Production knives; my budget puts me right about there for GEC/Queen/Northwoods, not into customs or the like.

I'll tell you what REALLY got me looking at trads - seeing (pictures of) the Northwoods Madison Barlow in Denim Micarta. It hits many of the marks for me - carbon steel, long pull (never liked look of nail nicks), good size, mix of traditional function and contemporary feel. Looking more at Northwoods knives, like the Fremont Jack, I find they have more of an art deco feel than a frontiers/old-timey feel for me. (You may call me crazy, that's fine.)

I've not been a fan of jigged bone or horn handles that dominate the traditional knives. That's part of what's kept me from looking into them more. I like the look of micarta, I really like the look and idea of non-traditional/non-linen micarta (I like canvas, or given my deep love of coffee, a coffee sack micarta is excellent). I don't mean modern covers like G10 or carbon fiber, but something other than bone or horn. I'm okay on woods - some look better than others.

From anything I can find, aside from Northwoods, everything else is more traditional jigged this or western that. Am I missing anything? Manufacturers and makers I'm not seeing?

Oh, and as long as I'm trying to pick out a pattern, some loose thoughts:
* Prefer a single blade; I don't know why, but having blades off-center (like with a two-bladed knife) bugs the living daylights out of me.
* I carry a SAK Pioneer often; that's barely large enough for me. The Kershaw Leek is too small in my hand. So, blade between 3-3.5", I expect.
* I love my Opinel No. 8, but it doesn't ride in the pocket so well. (Maybe if I had a slip cover for it.)
* I *love* my Douk Douk - great handle size for me, great blade size for me, rides well in pocket; the perfect knife would have a slightly-thicker-than-utilitarian handle and lose the turkish clip point (although I like regular clip points).
* I own a $3.87 Walmart lockback wood handle pocket knife. For what it is, it's kind of stupidly useful. I don't carry it much now, but I did for a while, and it proves that usefulness doesn't always equal cost.
* My whole array of knives, save maybe the Leek and the Boker Urban Trapper (awesome knife) are all budget knives. Looking for that one-and-done (hah!) grail traditional that I can save up for. That, or I save up and go buy a Benchmade 940-2. :D
 
Hmm. Buck 110 maybe? I think Case makes their back pocket model with a bunch of different cover materials. If you can find one the GEC Bull Nose was available in a micarta. There is also the Smith & Sons Mudbug but they can be pretty difficult to find.
 
Look at some of the GEC acrylic knives. Since the stag and the bone knives go first, the acrylics can be found new from dealers. I personally love the nifebrite. The big jack or big moose is a substantial knife, and the lava acrylic is funky!
 
Hi, and welcome!
I like smooth handle materials as well. I grew up with smooth horn handles and SAK's, so jigging usually bothers me a bit. I assume it's a matter of habit, but I'm more than fine with mine :rolleyes:
As for your question, to be honest many factories produce traditional patterns with smooth handles, either with an old style material (bone, wood, horn, delrin) or more modern versions (micarta, G10).
Case has an entire series of G10 handled slipjoints which might be worth a look.
Buck also offers their 300 series with smooth handles in different materials.
GEC has also procued many of their patterns in acrylics, delrin or micarta. Some of them might not be easy to find (being very limited runs), but not impossible either.
My advice: look for a natural micarta GEC #77. It seems to fit all your requirements.

Fausto
:cool:
 
GEC has made a number of patterns in micarta. Most usually linen, but occasionally rougher canvas, and most recently in a natural golden color (surely more reminiscent of coffee sack than their red, maroon, or olive drab linen.) I doubt any other manufacturers are going to offer much, unless you go custom, where your options broaden considerably.
 
I'll second the Buck 110. Standard version has wood covers, but the Custom Shop offers black G10, and a choice of blades, including S30V and a choice of brass or nickle silver bolsters.
 
Agronox said:
I just recently bought my first traditional knives after getting into real knives as a hobby, and I swear I would sell half of my collection to buy that black and orange handled knife that's in the zulu section of that maker's site. Dear god that thing is beautiful, and I don't even know what the materials are that it's made from.
Click to expand...

It's a nice looking knife for sure. I think Jared's Zulu uses Tony's pattern (with permission, of course).

zlbk2.jpg
 
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