Thinking about my old TL-29 and trying to convince myself to buy the new Electricians

G

george c

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Jan 26, 2013
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Moderators, not sure if this "story" needs its own thread. Please feel free to move.

Well, this has been an interesting day. Let’s see how it got started?

Many of you folks often say a knife is calling to you. When the electrician’s knife was first announced there was something about it, that well…in a quiet voice called to me, or maybe just beckoned. But, I immediately didn’t listen as I surely don’t want or need a knife with a saw (hey, I have a SAK Farmer and used the saw once, just to see how it worked).

Then noticed folks mentioned the TL-29. I guess that’s why it may have been calling me.

Yes, while in Curtis LeMay’s Air Force I had one of the issued electricians in my pocket every day. Yep, used it to strip a million miles of wires and popped open a zillion Zeus fasteners. I worked primarily on B-47s and KC-97s, though toward the end of my time in the service worked on B-52s and KC-135s.

Not sure if anyone’s interested, but, yes, I remember my AFSC, 30150. Worked on the radios, nav aids, and intercom systems. Though it’s been a few years, the TL-29 was a tool that was used. Used for what it was designed for and attempted to use it for many things it wasn’t designed for. Had the same knife all of those years and it never failed to do its job. Day in and day out…it just plain worked. I never stopped to think if I should use it in a certain way. If there was something that needed to be done I’d pull the knife out and see if it would do it.

Ironically, 6, 7, or 8 years or so ago, I happened across a TL-29, here in my home. Didn’t pay any attention to it though, since I’ve only recently became a knife knut. I have checked a couple of tool boxes with no success. Of course, it may well have been my step-father’s knife as he was in the service and also worked on planes.

Then I said, well why does it have to have the saw? Why not just the screw driver like my old knife? Of course, now I’m saying, Hey, it’s your old knife with a free saw, use the saw or not. It’ll always be there in case it’s needed.

Well, folks, that’s my story, sort of. Yes, I guess you could say I’m trying to talk myself into buying this knife that I truly don’t need. And, truth be told, I don’t work and just use my knives for the simple mundane things, opening boxes, mail, and peeling apples. But, dang, I remember my old TL-29 as being almost magic (yes, I’m sure my memories are a little clouded). It would do just about anything you asked of it. And, yes, I have several Boy’s knives. A truly nice size. And, there’s the lanyard tube.

Any comments would be well-received. Are any of you folks buying these not planning to use the saw (which from the video looks as though it works really well)? Are any of you planning on this being your only knife to carry? You know, day in and day out.

It seems like I go from favorite knife to favorite knife; however, I guess this one has the “nostalgia factor” or whatever you would call it. That knife from many years ago never let me down.


Regards,

George
 
You can still find Klein Tools TL-29s at a lot of hardware and electrical stores, Made by Utica I think.
Mine cost $13 and only needed a minor sharpening. Only complaint is it has a lingering "oily almost cosmoline smell"
But is it pure OG TL-29.

Initial feedback on the saw was lack luster I recall.
 
I may be wrong, but I believe that there is a version coming soon with a caplifter/screwdriver blade instead of the saw, that would be the one I am holding out for...otherwise I like my Camillus and recently acquired Kutmaster just the way they are. Great tools to have on hand when doing stuff around the house.



 
sitflyer said:
I may be wrong, but I believe that there is a version coming soon with a caplifter/screwdriver blade instead of the saw, that would be the one I am holding out for...
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I doubt you'll be alone in that Duane :thumbup:
 
billym said:
You can still find Klein Tools TL-29s at a lot of hardware and electrical stores, Made by Utica I think.
Mine cost $13 and only needed a minor sharpening. Only complaint is it has a lingering "oily almost cosmoline smell"
But is it pure OG TL-29.

Initial feedback on the saw was lack luster I recall.
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the kleins come in carbon or stainless and in several configurations. reasonably priced.

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Jack Black said:
YEAH! :thumbup:

Pete (Stich) sent mee a TL-29 a while back, good knife :thumbup:
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-yes they are, a really handy knife to carry. Lately I've been drawn to older models with advertising on them, odd colored scales, too. Lotta fun :)

I'm holding still though, until a concours condition signal corps type shows itself somewhere, with the TL-29 cut in the handle.
 
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I manage to find TL-29's pretty easily... I'm only 15, started collecting knives a year ago, and have only been collecting traditionals for a few months. I have almost ten TL's, ranging from Klein, Camillus, Case and a few others. They've all been aquired recently, I'd say in the past month or so. They're out there... You just gotta look hard. :)

Chris
 
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billym said:
You can still find Klein Tools TL-29s at a lot of hardware and electrical stores, Made by Utica I think.
Mine cost $13 and only needed a minor sharpening. Only complaint is it has a lingering "oily almost cosmoline smell"
But is it pure OG TL-29.


Initial feedback on the saw was lack luster I recall.
Click to expand...

I would like to see this initial saw feedback that was 'lack luster' on the saw for the electricians because all the reports of the saw on the knife I co created with Bill Howard have been praise nothing but praises from people using it reported back to me. The only complaint, and the only one if you can call it that is to have to open and close both blades a couple times to work out the piece of sheet rock to let it fall out and once it fell out it was right back to walking and talking.
 
'How do I love thee, let me count the ways."



“wert thou as far
As that vast shore washed with the farthest sea,
I would adventure for such merchandise.”
 
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I know nothing of electricity save for changing lightbulbs and plugging/unplugging lights. I still bought one of the GEC models. Just read Jacknife's post about "Paul's TL-29" and see if that doesn't help you decide. With the quality GEC is putting out, I feel it is almost a duty to buy one and support a company that is doing it right and doing it here, not overseas. Just my $.02.
 
I hear that a lot lately Eric. GEC is building epic quality knives and the bar is raised so high I don't think anyone even realizes it yet. Honestly I don't understand the hesitation here! All you fans of this knife cry over it and are as attached to it as I am and yet this hesitation to buy it!? What is it the price? Realize the cost of a good knife is still about the cost of the same bag of groceries. I just filled up a small bag for $82 and some change last night at wal-mart so maybe its deceptive to think its expensive even at $80 or whatever. The model was dying. Taking a back seat to multi tools and gadgets more and more each year. It gets revived and hold outs almost act as if they are threatened by it instead of embracing it all over a stupid saw? Please! The saw was needed. It completed the package. Its all there now. All of it. Miss out its your fault you missed an epic knife company making epic quality knives. Legendary! Think I'm kidding!? Ask the numerous customers so far that have bought one and then slept on the couch after pissing the wife off to buy a second one before they regretted it. You have a limited opportunity here to get a great folder. Once they are gone I don't know that they'll do more and I know nothing of a regular model when it would be redundant since the one they offer has all the old had and more and I don't know that I will be in a position to do more either. This economy could tank anytime. I jumped on this while I could. You should too. It may never be available again while you guys debate and in the mean time the numbers dwindle. If you want one you bette get on the stick thats all I have to add. These are the kind of things you jump on and grab. You think you regret wishing you jumped later. Its that good. None of you will know that until I'm dead and threads are going seeking one cause they were sleeping when it was available. :thumbup: The knife has it all and its pockeable! Really pockeable unlike you've ever had available and you have to think about it? :(
 
STR said:
All you fans of this knife cry over it and are as attached to it as I am and yet this hesitation to buy it!? What is it the price? Realize the cost of a good knife is still about the cost of the same bag of groceries.
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A really bad analogy. Don't get me wrong, I like knives, and I really like groceries, but groceries are a necessity while another knife is a luxury. Better might be comparing a knife purchase to going to the cinema.


Also another knife is not worth pissing off your mate so much you sleep on the couch. In my mind that's just screwed up priorities. No hobby is worth a wedge like that.
 
leghog said:
A really bad analogy. Don't get me wrong, I like knives, and I really like groceries, but groceries are a necessity while another knife is a luxury. Better might be comparing a knife purchase to going to the cinema.


Also another knife is not worth pissing off your mate so much you sleep on the couch. In my mind that's just screwed up priorities. No hobby is worth a wedge like that.
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Supposed to be a pun intended there mate. But a few have said things such as, this is not going to make the wife happy but, or the wife said she would rather I not buy another but, and that. Its not that they really separated any. Wow. To many a knife is an essential also. Like many I love the 29 yet even tho I own three they saw little use. The Camillus 27 is what I used and still love but like a lot of folks thought it too much for the pocket. GEC knocked it out of the park with this. The bail is gone and so are the accidental closing of the blade on it to ding up your edge, the large foot print and heavy package are gone, you don't have to have a dry wall saw and a screwdriver now cause you have both in one, and you can loop it on a ring or in the pocket and priced for the average man to buy. Its a no brainer where I come from but any doubts you had are soon gone replaced with a smile once you open it up. :thumbup:;)

I'll go one further for traditional and you guys on the fence about it if you guys want to I mean, and we can pick one of these here knives and pass it around. Play with it and you decide. I still have a couple of the dirtied up but fine test knives in sheepsfoot that we could do that with if someone knows how to set it up. We can take that to the visitor messages if anyone is wanting it. George, since you started this thread if you want to launch that off get hold of me and I'll let you see one to play with STR@bladeforums.com
 
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I bought two kleins last year. Didn't work for me at all. STR has created a new take on an old pattern. I will buy another one if mine is as good as I believe it will be. The minute it meets my expectations I will place my second order. Hopefully there will be some left. I bet these will go for double the price in a year.
 
Reading the OP, I almost wonder if the nostalgia factor will work against you.

Yes, the STREK is for all intents and purposes a TL-29, but it has been changed enough that I wonder if after all those years of using TL-29s will mean that it feels "off" to you.

First off, it's smaller. Imo that change has turned it into a perfect daily EDC versus the bricks that all my TL-29s are, which I find unpleasant to pocket carry on a daily basis although I love them. The liner lock tab is quite a bit smaller than the one I've seen on any other TL-29... but what I call "now unobtrusive" may seem more like "too tiny" to a longtime user of the original pattern. You may miss the bail, even though I find the lanyard tube offers the same purpose but in a much more streamlined fashion. There is the saw, which of course no one is forcing you to use but then again... another unfamiliar element. For regular around-the-house kinds of chores, I have found it to be a very helpful change, and I've already needed to use mine. You may be 'wired' (heh) to be used to stripping wire with the long edge of the secondary blade, and may not like using the choil-like wirestripper cutout that has been added between the saw and the pivot. Hell, you may prefer the feel of the original plastic in your hand versus linen micarta. And finally, who can tell when someone just prefers the familiarity of all the qualities that come along with a mass-produced thirteen dollar tool versus the fine crafted quality that GEC has provided with the STREKs!

All I can say is that I love TL-29s, and I love love the STREK. It hasn't left my pocket since I got it, and it is a minute-by-minute struggle to not buy a linen spear and one of the cocobolo ones too.
 
George, if it wasn't about collecting and cool knives, we'd all be divided into those with super knives, and those with broken jagged rocks :D. This is the place for telling stories!

I've found a few TL29s over the past couple years, and let them go on down the road, either by selling/trading or giving them away. I liked them, except for the liner lock. I have to say that I wasn't all that enthusiastic about these knives with the saw, but I like the ones with the cap lifter. I got my cousin's husband, who is an electrician, a Victorinox electrician with alox scales. That was and is strictly a work knife. This GEC, however, looks like the knife that can take a licking and keep on ticking, going from your work clothes to your casual wear without any discomfort etc. I would be up for a pass around.
 
I remember Dad having a TL-29 (Klein, he only bought Klein Tools) in his electrician's pouch along with his liner lock hawkbill for skinning Romex. After he passed away I looked for both knives and couldn't find them, and Mom couldn't remember what he may have done with them after he retired. I have all his tools including his pouch, but no knives.
When I worked in electronics for Uncle Sam (civilian), I had a TL-29 issued to me. I used it now and again, but the wires and screws I worked on were a whole lot smaller, so the TL-29 didn't get a whole lot of use.
Now that I'm a knife nut, I think about getting my own Klein TL-29, but the small notice I saw about GEC making an "radio" version of their new Electrician caught my eye. I don't have much use for a drywall saw, but I can see me pocketing a knife labeled an "radio" knife, albeit not practical for today's equipment.
 
STR said:
I would like to see this initial saw feedback that was 'lack luster' on the saw for the electricians because all the reports of the saw on the knife I co created with Bill Howard have been praise nothing but praises from people using it reported back to me. The only complaint, and the only one if you can call it that is to have to open and close both blades a couple times to work out the piece of sheet rock to let it fall out and once it fell out it was right back to walking and talking.
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Didn't mean to offend. I recall a post where some said the saw only worked well for cutting sheetrock which may have been the original intention. It sounded like it did not cut through wood very well. I don't have time to look up the thread but my intention was never to insult anyone.


BTW I love TL-29s maybe one of the most unique and useful traditional patters of all!
 
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