The vanishing knife.

Hmm. I while I carry at least one knife with me at all times, I don't think this makes me any more of a man than my father, who never carries one. He fought in the Korean war, raised three boys, started up a business with my mother and ran it successfully for decades, has taught thousands of students judo and TKD, and continues to teach today, in his eighties. While I appreciate the OP's story and the wistful melancholy for passing times, I do not believe that men are defined by what they carry in their pockets.

Further, it does not serve the knife carrying community well to deride those who choose not to carry, and make unwarranted and bigoted comments about them. Doing so only belittles the speaker.
 
I'm about to turn thirty two and have been a into knives for some time. I remember being a little kid, and my father was more of a white collar working- selling water pumps to farmers and businesses ...and he ALWAYS had that black pouch with the trusty 110 in it! My grandfather then and to this day, ALWAYS had an Ole Timer in his pocket...i like some of the newer stuff, and i LOVE the becker line, but i will proudly say most of my knives are traditional folders and slippies....that 110 of my dads even goes with me from time to time...I'm a proud edc guy, and I'm trying to turn on my buddies to do the same
 
To be honest I'm getting a little sick of these "Back in the day 'men' carried..." threads. Times change. I'm sure at one point some older gent was complaining about the day when all 'men' carried spears or even earlier when all 'men' carried clubs. Why are you even carrying a slippy when a sharp rock will do you? That's what real 'men' carried back when. Besides, what's wrong with utility blades? They don't have "character" for you but so what? I'm sure your teen thinks you're crazy for (I'm guessing) having an out dated phone and think you're old flip phone has no "character." Furthermore watches are just man jewelry in this day. There's a few jobs where a watch is mandatory but most people aren't in the sandbox 50 miles from the nearest cell tower or writing a report on the perp they just arrested. The world is full of clocks. I have 3 clocks within arms reach of me and if I didn't have that...what's wrong with asking for the time? People seem to forget that society was built on cooperation and helping others. Asking the time from 1 of a few hundred people on the street that have a clock in their pocket is not the biggest obstacle I have to hurtle in my life if I do leave my cell at home. This is just my opinion and I'm sure I'll catch hell for being a dissenter.
 
gtshin said:
Hmm. I while I carry at least one knife with me at all times, I don't think this makes me any more of a man than my father, who never carries one. He fought in the Korean war, raised three boys, started up a business with my mother and ran it successfully for decades, has taught thousands of students judo and TKD, and continues to teach today, in his eighties. While I appreciate the OP's story and the wistful melancholy for passing times, I do not believe that men are defined by what they carry in their pockets.

Further, it does not serve the knife carrying community well to deride those who choose not to carry, and make unwarranted and bigoted comments about them. Doing so only belittles the speaker.
Click to expand...


I never meant any disrespect to your father, and I never derided anyone. I also made no unwarranted or bigoted comments, I merely stated that I don't understand men that don't carry knives, and I still don't. You might want to remember that it also belittles the speaker to make false accusations, like you did in your reply to me.
 
I always have at least 2 knives on me. EDC a Buck 110 of some sort and a pocketknife. I even preach with a 110 and a pocket knife. The only time I don't have a knife is if its someplace restricted like a courthouse or amusement park. Then I feel naked without one. I also wear a watch and feel naked without one..:D
 
You're not alone in your opinion, Shotgun.

[video=youtube;Xe1a1wHxTyo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo[/video]
 
Also on the subject of box cutters and disposable knives... Many employers require that their workers use these instead of their own cutlery.liabilities or something like that... Id be glad to carry mine at work if i could
 
I share your thoughts and feelings, OP, though at 21, I'm much younger than you. My opinion is similar to Locutus', though I feel that I do needtthe knives that I carry. Not all the time, sure, but I've used most of the tools on my SwissChamp, and sometimes I just need to cut something to accomplish a task.

I've always hated those retracting utility knives with the replaceable blades. They always seem so cheap to me - they could be super high quality, and to me, they'd still seem cheap, the very concept reeking of a lack of patience and refinement on the owner's part.

Though our tastes in knives are different, I feel that we are unified in our feelings on the disappearance of quality pocket knives, and their replacement by what I can only consider to be trash.
 
jc57 said:
You're not alone in your opinion, Shotgun.

[video=youtube;Xe1a1wHxTyo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo[/video]
Click to expand...

Did I mention that we had to walk 20 miles to school, uphill both ways? ;)
 
Stoney26 said:
Also on the subject of box cutters and disposable knives... Many employers require that their workers use these instead of their own cutlery.liabilities or something like that... Id be glad to carry mine at work if i could
Click to expand...

My old job tried to pull that after someone hurt themselves with a knife (a SanRenMu 710 I had gifted to the guy) - but I went to corporate and made the case that the replaceable-blade boxcutters were far more dangerous. First, they dull extremely quickly and thus you have to use more force - increasing the chance of an accident. Compounding that is the fact that they typically have some rust after much use, and thus opens up a wide range of infections, dull blades tear more than they rip (making larger, more irregular wounds), and the metal is so thin and so brittle that there's a good chance someone would end up with bits of broken rusty metal in the wound.

I also pointed out that the guy would have injured himself doing what he was doing with any knife (breaking down a box by holding the box and cutting towards the inside of his other arm while walking quickly and distractedly), and the wound was a clean slice because I had sharpened it, and not nearly as deep because it wasn't a wharncliffe blade like razors are. His arm was fully healed and good to go in less than a week, but he would have been on antibiotics and had stitches if he had used a boxcutter. That would have cost the company far more in medical bills.

They agreed and dropped the pending rule, and I felt like a knife diplomat. I went on carrying my multiple knives (typically 3 at once, because why not) with an air of triumph.

Side note: That SRM 710 is still going strong, and it's on its fourth owner. Quality stuff.
 
Well, I normally EDC but thinking about my GrandParents none of them have ever carried a knife..I know because I've asked them..so in my case the notion that "back in the old days" all men used to carry knives doesn't hold water..
 
I admit I use to carry one of those folding utility knives during the day, but I also had a real knife in my other pocket. (This was before I truely got into the knife hobby, I've always daily carried a knife since I was a little boy). One day a few years ago I went looking for something better and bought a Boker nano which totally replaced the foldig utility knife, I gave it away the first day I used the Boker. The 440c blade was easy to touch up at the end of each day and didnt cost money to replace like replaceable razor blades and it was so much more useful for other tasks than a utility knife. At that time I really only wanted to carry one knife so I found a knife that could do the utility work I needed but also the regular cutting I turned to my EDC for.
To be honest, now that im more into knives and carry miltiple each day, if I still had a job that required a utility knife I'd probabily go back to a folding one with replaceable blade, the reason for that being I care more about my knives now days and I did alot of cutting I wouldn't want to put a good knife threw- like drywall and cutting wallpaper/plastic sheeting laying on the ground.

This has more to do with the company I keep than it is a accurate sample of the general public but atleast 90% of my friends/business associates and customers EDC a knife even if they're not really a knife person.
 
Last edited:
Surprisingly, I have seen more than a few elderly men who do not carry a pocketknife and don't understand why anyone would. I guess it depends where and how you grew up.

Several years ago, I gave several SAK Classics to family members, and recently, I was happy to see at least my sister-in-law still has hers on her keyring and uses it.

I met one other guy at work that carries a knife, a stainless-handled Buck one-hander.

Unless you spot the horizontal belt holster that I use to hold my Swisstool Spirit, you couldn't tell that I carry a knife. I've been carrying my Spyderco Pacific Salt down inside my RF pocket, next to my Vic Executive.. It's flat and lightweight. I never clip to my pocket anymore, as it tears up the pocket seams.

Jim
 
tempfile said:
I never meant any disrespect to your father, and I never derided anyone. I also made no unwarranted or bigoted comments, I merely stated that I don't understand men that don't carry knives, and I still don't. You might want to remember that it also belittles the speaker to make false accusations, like you did in your reply to me.
Click to expand...

I was not addressing your post. The first paragraph was my response to the OP. The second was to those who assume that not carrying knives somehow signifies "pussification" and metrosexuality, aspersions which, I have little doubt, the OP did not have in mind at all.

To reiterate, I do sympathize with the OP; the past can often seem more virtuous than present day life. It seems to me that what the OP was really lamenting was not the more prevalent use of knives, per se, so much as the passing of a kind of kind of character which carrying knives signified: readiness, a working man's ethic, an appreciation for the long term expressed through one's respect and care for tools as opposed to the ephemeral consumption of disposable convenience.

There is a great deal of validity to this, in that the forms of these things have changed, and the pace of technological development has accelerated to an unprecedented rate. This online conversation wouldn't have been possible only a few years ago. But there is still a work ethic, and a sense of readiness, and a sense of time; they are just different than what they were because the contextual needs have changed.

Have things changed too much? I don't know, but I do know it's a mistake to overestimate any one facet of experience, present or past. As many have observed here, knife use was not a prerequisite to manhood in the past, nor is it today. Current cultural norms require a certain circumspection with regards to their use, but knives have been with us almost since the beginning, and are far too basic a tool for us to ever lose the need for them. Or for those who respect and revel in their use.

Edit: to clarify and develop my thinking on this.
 
Last edited:
I have not read through all the responses so forgive me if this is covered ground. (Is there a word, or short phrase to cover what I just typed? Should be if there is not, but I digress)

As a guy in his mid 40's who was initiated into the knife lovers club by his father at a tender young age, who cannot envision himself ever not carrying a traditional pocket knife every day, I have to admit I would much rather work with a utility knife than one of my pocket knives. They are just better (no dull tang in the way), and safer I think, for cutting many things like cardboard or carpet. It's just too easy to keep a very sharp edge at hand using a utility knife.
I would rather strip wire with a pair of wire strippers.
I would MUCH rather cut zip ties with line cutters (and have the scar on my left hand to remind me of that).

There are very few jobs or projects that I would prepare for with my pocket knife as a featured tool, it's all those little (and some big) jobs I am not so prepared for that I find my pocket knife indispensable.
 
I carry a knife everyday, my kids are also interested in knives they are to young to carry one but I do have one that has already started a collection. My 16 year old nephew carries a knife pretty much everywhere except school so at least that makes me happy. I do know what the op means seems like most people today have no clue why someone would carry a knife. But while cutting some material at work I sometimes use a snap off blade knife as well because they are quick and always sharp
 
I keep utility knives in my work vehicle; usually have two or three of them there along with a big supply of replacement blades.

But I carry a knife or two just about all the time. I feel naked without one in my pocket. One of the younger members said they used their knife a couple times a week... Hell, I use mine a couple times a day for something. I certainly don't want to dang utility knife to open mail. But if I am cutting up a bunch of boxes, yeah, I'll use utility knives.

Times are changing. Like wrist watches, few carry a knife of any kind. Employers provide utility knives (yeah, I do), but I use a regular knife 10x as much. I provided regular knives and they disappeared within a day. Learned my lesson....
 
I'm a Church minister, recently I took out my Case Peanut to open a box of Bibles. A 15 year old lad watching me was shocked that I carried a knife, believing it was illegal. I explained the law to him. He wasn't converted to knife carrying, or to Christianity!
 
There is no way any of my blades could stand up to a night of work at my job.

I carry one of them folding razor knife's, because my knives won't stay sharp for 5 minutes. Half my work shift would be sharpening. Not that I would mind, but my boss might.

Opening up 15 bags of refractory for a furnace, costs me about 3 razor blades. It takes me less than 5 seconds to go from dull to razor sharp. I can buy bulk blades for next to nothing.

I do carry a knife at work, for less damaging tasks, like these Kabar/Dozier folders. I've had to sharpen them so much, its altered the blade shape.....



I couldn't imagine taking my Dozier folder, Hinderer, ZT, or anyone of the numerous high end folders in the plant. Oh my........

Or even one of my Case Stockman's or my Buck 110's. Knives die where I work, and I don't want to lose any of mine, hence the folding razor blade. Cost me $12 and like I said, dull to razor in less than 5 seconds.

The new working man's knife.......

Moose
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top