Thinking about traditional folders

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
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There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who have traditional folders. In the past two decades, the knife world has shifted its focus on to more modern knives.

Modern knives are admittedly made of better materials, nicer (subjective) and more versatile.

I haven't taken a very close look at traditional folders but I do like the feel of the few which I have held.

The fingernail groove of traditional foldiers is almost obsolete when compared to the thumb-stud, the disc and the hole.

So when someone comes up to you and asks: "What do you see in traditional folders that I don't?" What do you say?
 
I would say to them,if you have to ask you would never understand.I know I'll never understand the fascination with so called tactical knives,but that's cool,I don't see why anyone should have to justify their preferences.
 
In a word, Tradition. These are old designs, and they work. And I love natural materials like bone and wood and pearl far more than I will ever like composites like Zytel or G-whatever it is. I like carbon steel better than stainless too. Stainless does not work as good for cutting wood (whittling). The tactical designs are not comfortable in my hand either. Too flat and angular. Give me a stockman or a whittler any day.
 
There are reasons why traditions become traditions; they work.
Not only do traditional folders carry a great sense of nostalgia, they do what knives were intended to do and do it very well. They cut.
 
I gotta agree with brothers Willis, Bob and Coonskinner. Even though I have learned to appreciate all types of knives at 47 my strongest preferances lean towards traditional folders and fixed blades.
It is not that I do not enjoy tacticals, but there is much more variety in the traditional arena.
 
I’ll spit out a few reasons for carrying a traditional folder over a tactical.

1. The traditional folder is about 138 times more socially acceptable.

2. Your average stockman pattern slipjoint is MUCH more versatile than a single bladed tactical folder, because it has three different blades of varying shapes and sizes.

3. Traditional folders, with their natural handle materials, just look better to the eye.

4. Try whittling a ball-in-cage with a huge tactical folder. It just aint happening!!!

5. Traditionals tend to have thinner blade grinds, which cut more efficiently than the majority of tactical folders.

6. To tell you the truth, in thirty years of using them, I’ve never had a slipjoint close up and cut me. Locks are highly overrated amongst the crowd that actually knows how to properly use a knife.

7. If you’ve seen one black handled, black bladed, black pocket clipped, thumb studded, liner locked folder, you’ve pretty much seen them all.
 
6. To tell you the truth, in thirty years of using them, I’ve never had a slipjoint close up and cut me. Locks are highly overrated amongst the crowd that actually knows how to properly use a knife.
Click to expand...

yup.
 
Can't really add anything to that! Just reiterate: PRACTICAL – show me a job a 3 blade stockman cannot handle. Also my stockman rides as easily in a pair of lightweight khakis at the office as it does in my weekend jeans, without the need for a sheath or fancy rig. SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE – as Buzz said, I can pull out my slipjoint anywhere and I have only had good comments. While this is NOT the reason I carry a slipjoint and to a point do not give a rats ass about over -PC sheeple you are much likelier to convert a non-knut with an elegant slipjoint than a black, serrated tactical knife. TRADITION –_is a word that is thrown around here a lot and I think something a lot of us feel we have a connection to. MATERIALS –_there is so much variety in slipjoints: smooth bone, MOP, buffalo horn, stag, jigged bone, cocobolo. Zytel is Zytel!
Finally and I am leaving myself wide open to ridicule here – I think that slipjoints have soul! Ever pick up an old slipjoint at a grage sale/gun show????

Am not against modern tac' knives, I am Benchmade fan but If I was on a desert island with one knife - give me a 3 blade stockman with arbon steel blades (well oK and some oil to protect from all that saltwater :D )
 
I like the modern tacticals and such, however there is something cold and mechanical about them.

A nice folder feels comfortable in your hand. When you look at them, there is a blend of different materials that seem to flow smoothly together. Backsprings, liners, bolsters, and handle material all contour nicely. With most tacticals, they look like they were bolted together to me.

I agree with Dr Van Nostrom, I do think they have soul, especially the older ones. You know these were probably all made by hand, by people who cared about their jobs and the product they were making.

Don't get me wrong, tacticals have their place, but 9 times out of 10 I would choose the folder.
 
Tradition, looks, nostalgia, and multiple blades (at least on a some patterns). While none of these by itself is enough to convince me to carry a slipjoint, the fact that they work very, very well is enough to convince me. While I like tradition and looks, it has to perform. I don't wear for show. The traditionals do perform, especially with good quality components.

Yes, they do have soul! They speak to me of a time gone by, one that I wish I could have experienced.

I still like other blades too, for different reasons, but am feeling myself pulled into the traditional world more and more...
 
Golok - mine is not an answer to your original question, but no entirely off topic.

I like many aspects of traditional folders such as blade profiles and natural handle materials. In particular, most "tactical" knives have much too tall of a profile to be used in detail work. So while for my office knives I am drawn to traditional folders for these reasons, I definitely prefer one-hand opening (and closing) over using a nail nick. I also prefer a postive lock over a slipjoint.

There is a small group of knives that fall into a transitional category, filling the gap between "tactical" and "traditional".

William Henry Lancet
Chris Reeve Mnandi
Kershaw Double-Cross
Spyderco Jess Horn (original) and Kiwi

I encourage the development of these crossover knives by owning and using at least one of each.
 
You´ve made me think about this:

Modern knives are bettter material ?, well not really, there are slipjoints in modern steels, the inexpensive ones can be 1095, 440A, AUS6, 420HC, just like the inexpensive tacticals, more expensive ones can be ATS34, D2, etc.just like more expensive tacticals, handle materials also, I have a Gerber stockman linerless with black plastic scales, delrin is not an "old" material, neither is stabilized wood, many fancy custom modern knives use stag, bone etc.

The fingernail nick is obsolete ?, well not really, its a very convenient system for thin multibladed knives, hey, even multitools like leathermans have them.

So what do I see in traditional folders ?, yes, tradition, soul, history, memories, but also some very practical, portable, pocketable and convenient tools.

Slip a little stockman or similar knife in your pocket for a few days
and you may get to like them (don´t substitute your modern knife, just complement it).
 
The fingernail nick is simply the proper application of technology.

It is the proper opening aid for a true POCKETKNIFE, and especially a pocketknife with more than one blade.

With a nail nick there is nothing to catch on the pocket or its contents, either going in or coming out. If you keep all sorts of things in your pockets (like me, and most guys I know) there is all kinds of stuff to snag on in there.

When have you *ever* heard a slipjoint user bitch about their knife opening up in their pocket? Never - it doesn't happen (ok, it's true that the springs have more to do with that - but the nail nick prevents the problem from starting in the first place).

With round opening holes there is still the danger of catching on things like keys (basically anything that can fit thru the hole can give you a problem).

A nail nick adds no weight, requires no more space than the area of the nick to access it, no extra parts, and works just fine with multiple blades. Try to mount thumbstuds or disks or use holes with a three or four blade knife. I've seen two bladed knives with thumbstuds, but you must have the blades on each end of the handle, and the handle shape is limited by the need to get at the thumbstuds.

Disks were tried ages ago on slipjoints (no later than 1920 I think - on some knives made in Sheffield) - but the disks limited the designs to two blades (on opposide ends of the handle) and reduced the blade length (each blade had to clear the other's disk when opening/closing). Holes (slots) were used by Willian Scagel in the 1920's on his slipjoints - I have a couple of repros and they work just fine (the slots are curved in the real thing and my repros, so it becomes harder for stuff to poke into the slots).
 
Traditional knives (and even Classic style switchblades) have "Soul" and everyone is unique. Tatical folders are made the same, like processed chesse, They have "Guts". I like both and commonly carry both. With me it's a matter of prefernce and the job.
 
Variety in blade shape, thinner grinds, rides well in a pocket, not likely to freak anyone out. All good things. I have a modern one hander, too, that I've used to tackle jobs that would have sent my little Old Timer screaming for the hills. But for 90% of my cutting the Middleman does just fine.

Frank
 
Bob mentioned Tradition, and I'm sure that's a big part of it, but I think it also may have to do with the age of the knife buyer. I'm a child of the 50's now in his 50's and when I think about Pocket Knives I think back to the knives my Dad, my uncles and everybody else I knew back then carried...Slippjoints. For me there's a certain comfort range about traditional knives. I think if you got into knives after onehanders came out it would be kind of hard to go back and get hooked on slipjoints. It would be like going back to using rotary dial phones after Touch-tone.

For me the best of both world's is a knife with the finest materials and a traditional look, maybe that's why I like stag on just about everything.
 
Well I'm 31 PHiL - guess I was just born too late! :) For me, even though I didn't experience that era I kind of indentify with it, in some respects. A time when people were a lot more self reliant and less coddled by technology. A time when values such as hard work, manners, respect for others and freedom of rights were still in place and when the term PC had never been uttered. OK, ok I am romaticizing but I think many slipjoint fans know what I am getting at!
 
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