The Older I Get...

T

TheGent

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Aug 3, 2009
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the smaller my knife gets. As a young man I started out with a Buck 110 or 442. Then, worked my way to the pocket with large stockmans mostly. A year ago retired my Schatt and Morgan Heritage Woodsman that I carried for almost three years and have been perfectly content with a Case Baby Butterbean over the last year. My dad is the same way. His knife is a Case Peanut with scissors. Any one else experience this? If so, what's your minimalist knife in regards to traditional?
 
It just depends on what you like, and what you cut and feel comfortable using to do it. Some people like the Vic SAK classic and for the life of me, I can't understand that one if you actually use it to cut with on any kind of regular basis.
 
Can't say that I have. I like a knife that I can get a comfortable grip around, ~ 3 3/4" closed. But then again the first knife I carried with any regularity was a Spyderco Endura. Most slipjoints are quite small in comparison.
 
I find that when at home and plenty of larger knives close to hand that a 3⅛ to 3½ inch knife is fine to carry, less bulky and lighter, which I like. But when out and the only knife or knives I have to use are the ones I carry, then a 3¾ to 4¼ inch knife is my preference.
 
I still carry big and small-ish knives. I started out with knives when I was very young so my knives were smaller. As I grew older the knives got bigger. Recently I've moved into carrying two knives on me when I leave the house. A large-ish folder (a modern) and a small-ish folder (traditional) When I'm in the house, not doing yard work or tinkering around I just carry a smallish traditional.
I have a group of knives though (moderns and traditional) that I have coined "my vers (versatile) knives" like for example my GEC Bullnose or my Camillus TL-29, which can go anywhere at any time and fill the roles of my modern or traditional.
 
I definitely like a 3 inch us blade for house work, but 5 days a week I commute to NYC and often end up in building that require a metal detector.

I find that has really driven my last few traditional purchases and my sweetspot is a smallerish knife with a 2.25" blade.

I got a full size case copperlock by accident I really don't have an instance for edc's but I do like it so it just stays with my non edc knives.
 
I've been carrying the same Case mini trapper since 1973 with a 2.75" main blade and 2" pen but I find a 2.5" SS medium stockman does as well lately. About all I might cut in a day are hang nails, string, tape, packages or cigar butts. There's a utility knife in the tool bag in my truck and a hatchet or two in the garage if anything heavier comes along.

So yeah, I'm good with Gent and his Dad
 
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I joined that club about the time I got into my 50's.

For 25 years I carried a Buck 301 stockman as my everyday pocket knife. There were some 91mm SAK's that came and went, but that was the smallest. Then I gradually downsized to a Buck 303 cadet. I was happy there. I had a Stanley utility knife on my workbench t the job, and if I went camping or hiking Ihad a sheath knife on the hip.

One day a few years after my dad passed away, his old Case peanut was sitting in the try of stuff on top of my dresser, and on whim I dropped it in my pocket and took it to work. My dad was a study in minimalism, and he always carried that little peanut as his go-to everyday pocketknife. He had a cut down machete in the trunk of his car for the bigger stuff, and the peanut handled everything else. Well, I tried it.

I ended up buying a peanut because I liked having more room in the pocket and a knife that weighed very little and did what had to be done, knife wise. I tried an experiment; for a month or so, I deliberately left my Buck stockman hem and just carried the peanut. I never went back. To this day, I carry a little Remington peanut as my edc pocket knife. I have kitchen knives in the kitchen, a machete in the car trunk, and a sheath knife in my hiking bag. The peanut does 98% of my cutting.

Then my better half got me into the Victorinox classic. But that's another story.:D

So, yes, my knives got a great deal smaller as I got older, and a bit smarter and took a long hard look at who I was, and what I was. As a retired gentleman of leisure I don't really need more than an inch and a half to two inches of blade.

These are my go-to blades these days. All are under 2 inches and do all I need in a urban/suburban environment.
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If they won't do it, then it's time for me to use my dad's old bushwhacker in the trunk.
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I used to have a thing for pen knives. I found a small one in an old car and liked how handy it was. Since I've gotten into traditional knives more heavily, I've settled on 3-1/2" for EDC. Perfect for watch pocket, and small enough not to be bothersome if sideways in my front right pocket. Whether getting bigger or smaller, you throw out the sizes that don't work and settle on a number.
 
My minimalist knife is the BUCK Ranger Skinner #113 knife. It is my EDC knife.

I only use fixed blade knives due to my hand arthritis.

Cate
 
The older i get the less i want a knife with half stops and "gator"snap, which is why i have given my beautifully made GECs a rest and gone to my trusty old Case Texas Jack i really have enjoyed carrying it so much i have ordered a matching Stockman, while i have been waiting i remembered that i already have one.
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It slipped neatly into my watch pocket and has proved to be capable of tackling most of my daily tasks and what it can not do the TJ is there and of course that Small Stockman is so darned cute, i just wish Case made it in cv.
 
3 1/2---4in is what I feel comfortable with in the rfp.. Smaller ok but not bigger... John :)
 
4 to 4.25 inches closed is what I prefer to use now. I can live with a 3.5" closed length slippie, but I prefer something a bit larger. But I do get into ruts in my thinking and considering picking up a peanut sized slippie just to try out again.
 
and to think i used to walk around with just a SAK classic, that tiny little thing! i once ordered a Queen coke bottle and that came out to be like 5.25 inch closed, it was too comically large for me to carry. 3.5 to 4 in is ok to me too
 
All I've got on me today is this little #22 Donna gave me. I've paring back a bit on size during the past year myself.

 
The knives I carried for....lets just say decades were 4" stockmans, first a Case (may not have been 4") then an Old timer 80T and then a Buck 301. Sometimes a Schrade Barlow but I was starting to like stainless so I didn't carry it as often. Often a Buck Cadet was carried as a second knife. All those knives have gone into retirement now.

Now I'm retired but I still pretty much carry the same as I always have a main knife and sometimes a second knife. Whats changed is the variety, the main RFP knife might be a Railsplitter, IRJ, Barlow, or 4" Stockman. I don't carry a second knife as often now but it's usually the Queen #51 dogleg but at times a CSC Boys Knife.
 
Dean51 said:
The knives ...
Now I'm retired but I still pretty much carry the same as I always have a main knife and sometimes a second knife. Whats changed is the variety, the main RFP knife might be a Railsplitter, IRJ, Barlow, or 4" Stockman. I don't carry a second knife as often now but it's usually the Queen #51 dogleg but at times a CSC Boys Knife.
Click to expand...

after my Eric's Jack arrived from Charlie, the only thing i can say for that CSC boys knife is it is so adorably small
 
I find at 63 years old my knife carry needs/wants have changed. When I was a young man I always carried something in the 4" folder range that was commonly referred to as tactical. I now no longer feel tactical at my age and while I still like to handle and use larger folders, the Case Peanut or similar small folder finds its way into my pocket. I always have a Vic Classic on my key ring and use the scissors, nail file and tooth pick often. My strong hand side is usually takes up with my carry pistol. Got to keep the werewolves at bay.
 
It's kind of the opposite for me. The older I get, the bigger and more expensive my knives get.
 
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