The value of a good knife.

kamagong

kamagong

Joined
Jan 13, 2001
Messages
10,970
Did some routine maintenance on a few of my knives last night. You know the drill -- sharpen the blades, oil the joints and scales, clean out the innards. When I finished I got to thinking about durable a good knife is.

Take this sodbuster and stockman for example. They are two of my less refined knives. The sodbuster has a crack in one of its scales, and the backspring is proud of the liners in the closed position. The stockman on the other hand has different faults. The grinds of the blades are uneven. It's nothing that affects cutting ability, but it offends my aesthetic sensibilities. And this knife is starting to develop verdigris near the bolsters and around the shield, despite the fact that I keep it well oiled.

Because of these warts, these two have been designated as my go-to knives for ugly, nasty jobs. Tasks like cutting sandpaper. The type of task that you need a knife for, but that you don't want to use your KHnutbuster on. I've done everything possible to wear out this soddie and stockman, in a constructive and useful manner of course. (I don't believe in destroying knives merely for destruction's sake) I'm getting nowhere. Aside from a few dings on the bolsters, some patina, and a little blade loss neither of these knives is any the worse for wear. Barring loss, I expect these knives to last my lifetime. I guess that's part of the appeal of a good knife. With a modicum of care, even a humble knife like a sodbuster will serve you well and for a long time.

users2.jpg


- Christian
 
Christian,
So true your write - up is! I think we have found ourselves a great passion here - as in knife collecting/using, when you look at the cost of a mediocre knife, and then what it does for you ...... your money goes a long way.
 
Many of our fathers and grandfathers made it through life just fine with a humble knife. They could barely imagine the panoply of spendy, exotic knives that are now available to us. I think for them, the qualifications of a good knife may have been 1) that it was at least somewhat sharp, and 2) that it was in their pocket when they need it. Either of your lowly knives would have served just fine, and would have been all that someone needed.
 
Sometimes we tend to be over picky about a knife.
On one side, it's a natural thing, since we all love knives, it's our passion.
But, on the other side, the "user" side, most things are not really needed, and even humble knives, if used properly and maintained with a little care, will take care of cutting what we need to cut.
The funny thing is, many people end up spending alot on money on knives, then somehow refrain from using them, and end up using their low end knives that they "don't care about if they get damaged", to find out that, eventually, those knives won't get damaged and will last more than they expect them to...
This, actually, is a truth that I've always been aware of, since all my childhood was populated with traditional friction folders that lasted for years and did their job, and without real maintenance I guess...this forum has helped me bring back that awareness, and make things simple.

Fausto
:cool:
 
I guess you won't be buying any more knives for a long time then, right Christian?

Riiiiiiiight . . . ;) :D
 
I'd never give up my nice knives. I'm too much of an enthusiast. But you don't need polished bolsters, ivory scales, or eye-catching swedging to have a good knife.

- Christian
 
I could use the humble Case Soddie Jr in Cv as my only knife. One hell of a knife for 20 bucks. Just take care of it. I like my peanut more though. Being picky and obsessive over knives is not a bad thing. In fact, many of our user knives are probably not exotic or anything. And since these are the traditional forums, some of us are carry knives very similar to our grandfathers.
 
I think many of us knife enthusiasts spend a lot of time and money looking for a knife that have all the right features and character. Most of us keep spending more and more working up to customs eventually. Even at the custom level we love these knives but still we look and acquire more. However, during these long road of acquiring we often keep some knives that we use in our daily routines and tough jobs. In time we lose sight of these knives but they are always at our sides even if they are unseen and underappreciated. The irony is that these knives that we care the least about are the ones that are a reflection of the knives that our fathers or grandfathers carried. We keep searching for new knives that so that we can grasp back on what our forfathers had. Funny thing is it is those beaters that carry the magic like your dads old knife. Your children will also be remembering those beaters as well. They won't see the magic of all the customs in the safe. The magic of any knife is the bond between the user and the knife. Fit and finish, steel type, handle material do not give a knife life.

When I look at the knives of the op, I see knives with a spark that few knives that we see today. They have been a part of a persons life and it shows. This makes them more special in my eyes.
 
Thalestin said:
I think many of us knife enthusiasts spend a lot of time and money looking for a knife that have all the right features and character. Most of us keep spending more and more working up to customs eventually. Even at the custom level we love these knives but still we look and acquire more. However, during these long road of acquiring we often keep some knives that we use in our daily routines and tough jobs. In time we lose sight of these knives but they are always at our sides even if they are unseen and underappreciated. The irony is that these knives that we care the least about are the ones that are a reflection of the knives that our fathers or grandfathers carried. We keep searching for new knives that so that we can grasp back on what our forfathers had. Funny thing is it is those beaters that carry the magic like your dads old knife. Your children will also be remembering those beaters as well. They won't see the magic of all the customs in the safe. The magic of any knife is the bond between the user and the knife. Fit and finish, steel type, handle material do not give a knife life.

When I look at the knives of the op, I see knives with a spark that few knives that we see today. They have been a part of a persons life and it shows. This makes them more special in my eyes.
Click to expand...

Very well said:thumbup:
 
Couldn't have said it better myself Thalestin. I've often said that I'd rather have one well used, modest knife to pass on to my son that a whole collection of high end safe queens.
 
A knife is a tool, which gets a fellow and sometimes even a friend. My oppinion. Friendship needs mainentance. Just like a knife. Having to much of them make you not realize the worth of each of them. Having scratches on the blade or a piece broken out of the handle is no problem, for me. Every "damage" gives the knife a new piece of soul. Just as the patina on the blade, none is like the other...

(Excuse my bad english again, I hope, you guys understood what I wanted to say)

Kind regards
Andi
 
Overall usefulness and longevity of materials are why I use my better knives. I know they can handle the tasks I want them to, and I like using/showing off the nice ones. The Mammoth doesn't care what I do to his tooth, and if it survived 10 000 years in the ground okay, I doubt there is much I can do to damage it unless I am trying, but I care too much about my knives for that. It's meant to cut and I'm sure most any knife I have can outlast me.

One of my favorite slipjoints I own is a kissing crane that had clip and 2 Spey blades (I've never seen 2 Spey on a knife before). The clip was broken at the tip, so I converted it to a wharncliffe and tried my hand at adding a swedge. The thing that impressed me the most is that it has been squished, and still works perfectly. Imagine a square pushed into a rhomboid shape- this is what the knife looks like when staring straight at the one end bolsters. The pivot must be deflected, but it has full walk and talk. I can only assume a tractor or such ran over/pinned it but it came back more like a fighting bulldog- ready for more. I will try and get pictures up tonight, I have been meaning to for a couple of months anyways.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top