The pattern that crept up on you

The small drop point lock back. Mine is a Schrade 5OT, but the current Buck 501 is very similar.

I like bigger drop point lockers with blades out in the 3" - 4" range. For me, a small knife meant the class Ulster BSA/Camper, with the full bellied spear point. I found the comparatively narrow profile of the smaller 5OT to be too small for food prep and frankly a bit undersized compared to the frame.

Two things have happened. First, I discovered the light but huge Opinel #10 which I converted to a drop point. It now resides in my PDA carrying case almost always near at hand for heavier chores and dealing with food prep where a bigger blade is better.

Second, I found the combination of a firm lock and larger handle to smaller blade makes the 5OT cut and perform way above it's size. I now prefer it for nearly all basic cutting tasks. Add to this that it is the best carrying knife by far, due to its narrow profile.

Hands down my all round favorite EDC knife. (I still carry a 3" locker in the woods.)


schrade-5ot by Pinnah, on Flickr
 
On old german pen knife has been sneaking into my pocket quite a bit lately....two blades and a nail file. Something about that knife.
 
Probably patterns like the pioneer. I just used to think the flare at the end was ugly. Now I love it.
 
GEC's 4 1/8 cigar pattern is creeping up on me. I have a #53 moose in rotation and a #5x big jack waiting for it's first rotation. I avoided GEC's cigar pattern thinking that it was a bit too big for EDC; my mindset is to carry my 4" Case trapper for weekend/hardwork. So I thought a 4" framde would be a bit too large for EDC. I was just plain wrong. My medium stockmans are getting nervous.
 
For me it was also the peanut. I never thought I'd actually carry one. Not because it was small, but because it didn't lock. I carried a Spyderco Ladybug as my small knife along with whatever other folder left with me that day. I ordered the peanut out of nostalgia. It was the closest thing to my very first knife. But after it arrived I dropped it in my pocket to see how it carried. I happened to like it. I hadn't really looked at slipjoints before. Not seriously. The backspring kept it open a lot better than I figured. My only real experience with slipjoints were cheap knives made who knows where to a very poor fit and finish.
Now, many peanuts, jacks and a few stockmen later....I carry a slipjoint every day. The peanut every day. Even if I have something else. And now I find that I carry the peanut by itself sometimes. Something I never did with the Ladybug. It only comes out when I go on a run or a long hike and I don't want to worry about rust. (It's the H1 version)
 
Hmmm surprisingly large number of 'nut converts. Who would have thunk that such a small knife could gain such a huge following?
 
For me it's the trapper, and I only use my Schrade 96ot as a back-up for gutting and skinning deer.
 
IVANKERLEY said:
particularly the sowbelly, never cared for the look until i got one, fits the hand nicely like a chunky stockman
regards
gene
Click to expand...


It was the same way for me. Until I handled one, I always thought the Sowbelly had a funky curve to it that looked like it would be uncomfortable. It's a pattern that has to be held to truly appreciate it.
 
"Crept up"?

th_confused1.gif


For me, most of the formerly unknown/unwanted patterns I've now come to really enjoy sat there all pretty and innocent-like in others' pictures and accounts, then suddenly pounced.

~ P.
 
Yep, you guessed it, the Peanut for me too.

For years I carried nothing but SAK's, the medium size and bigger ones like the SwissChamp, Huntsman and Trekker. I originally came to this forum looking for info on the Case Trapperlock (which I still love BTW) and ran across a yeller Peanut in one post. Because it's not always easy to judge the size of a knife from a photo of it without reference, I had initially thought the Peanut was really bigger than it was (and I didn't pay much attention to the size spec ;)) So I bought my first, a Case Tan Caliber BSA handled one with as ground blades. When it arrived I was like, "uh, it's sorta small", but dropped it into my jeans watch pocket anyway, while still carrying the Trapperlock or other one hander clipped to my pocket (Spyderco, Benchmade, Kershaw, Buck etc). Then I found I was pulling the Peanut out of my pocket more often than using my other blades.

At first I figured it was just because it was easier to reach the Peanut, then the realization that even though the handle was small, the blade really wasn't. That's how I was converted, and when wearing jeans or jean shorts there is either a Peanut, a Buck Lancer, Tiny Trapper or mini Stockman in my watch pocket. I love those little big knives :thumbup: but the Peanut is my favorite of them all.
 
The full size serpentine jack.
As a child I had a Vic SAK, with a quill blade. I found the tiny blade useless.
So I disdained the Jack, as having a useless blade.
Recently I collected an Old Cutler serpentinejack, by Colonial.
I love it. The small blade is usefull because it is small (not as tiny as the SAK, though).
 
No pattern has crept up on me yet...I have yet to find a pattern I love as much as the Case Gunboat Canoe, I fell in love with that pattern as soon as I saw it!
 
Well, it's not replacing my favorite or anything but the tl-29 electricians knife is creeping up on me as an extremely handy work knife (as it's meant to be).

"Don't use your knife as a scraper/pry bar!"

"Wait, it has a scraper/pry bar blade!"
 
Traditional knives in general crept up on me. In my youth no one I knew really used them. My dad occasionally used a buck 110 and I did want one. My whole life I used more modern folders but did use a sak for sometime. Maybe 3 years or so ago I came to this forum and became interested in the knives here. Some of the gec knives sung to me an they are all I carry these days.
 
Thalestin said:
My dad occasionally used a buck 110 and I did want one.
Click to expand...
That's how I got into knives too. Dad had 2 Bucks that he used for hunting, a 103 Skinner and a 110. Going hunting with him as a five or six year old led me to my first real exposure to knives, and I've been hooked ever since.
I never did notice his pocketknife though.
 
Like many of you, the peanut, who would have thought that little knife was so useful.
 
The sodbuster has stolen my heart recently. I was spending some time with one of my best friends, and he pulled out a yellow, CV Sodbuster and asked me it it was a good knife since I am the 'knife guy'. I am so proud of the kid :D

I really like the Sodbuster for what it is; it is a very comfortable working knife in the hand. I cannot express how much I love that I can pinch it to open it like an EO Jack, but without the cutout. I have never like the look of yellow derlin (generally speaking, I find it hideous), but the almost cream-colored handle really impressed me.

I think I will be picking one up here soon. :thumbup:
 
if you don't like the yella handles, there's always the stainless and black one, and they're a bit cheaper in my experience.
 
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