This is a subjective thing, everybody's life is different. It's about how you solve your problems with knives from day to day.
While I'm a regular user of a knife, I doubt my personal pattern is the same as most others. When it's nice out, I have a large fixed blade knife I use for clearing debris on my whopping acre. Most of the land is unusable but looks pretty. I'm out there hacking up small trees that fall in high winds but are too small to be useful as firewood. Maybe I could burn the wood in the fireplace for ambiance, but it's not like I'm going to heat my house with that junk. For that I have a Svord Von Tempsky bowie. It hits as hard as any one-hand axe and has more blade, so I think it's easier to use for that kind of thing. This is my least-used regular knife.
For my second knife, I have a Leatherman Micra keychain tool. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of it, especially when paired with a Gerber Shard. I get 98% of my daily tasks accomplished with those two items. I changed out the speakers in my car with those. I'm going to count those two items as one because they're both keychain tools and they complement each other so well.
Finally, the single blade folder. I must have gone through fifteen of them before I found a few pieces that fit this category well. One is and Opinel #6 or #8, depending on which one is sharper at the time and what my purpose is for those items. Sometimes I carry a Joe Pardue Utilitac II (which is new to me). This is my least used knife and therefore the least important one for my circumstances. What do I really need it for? My work does not involve cutting anything, and it is considered a hazard to have anything that can be considered a weapon in the course of doing business. I do not want to have anything on my person that could be taken away from me and be used against me.
Outside of work, I can have any kind of tools I care to keep handy. I could use the large fixed blade or the micra for many tasks around the house, but a flipper is handy. I'm not a bushcraft guy unless you count loading up a wood stove in the winter. For that purpose, I could use any of my knives to make life easier. Feather sticks, breaking down boxes, whatever. The micra is not the tool for that task, and the Bowie isn't either. A box cutter would suffice for most of it, but a flipper would too.
To wrap it up, here are my three.
Leatherman Micra plus Gerber Shard
Utilitac II
Von Tempsky Bowie
That said, the lineup could change at any time due to circumstances. Three really isn't enough, maybe this list is just for three concurrent knives that span the utility spectrum.
While I'm a regular user of a knife, I doubt my personal pattern is the same as most others. When it's nice out, I have a large fixed blade knife I use for clearing debris on my whopping acre. Most of the land is unusable but looks pretty. I'm out there hacking up small trees that fall in high winds but are too small to be useful as firewood. Maybe I could burn the wood in the fireplace for ambiance, but it's not like I'm going to heat my house with that junk. For that I have a Svord Von Tempsky bowie. It hits as hard as any one-hand axe and has more blade, so I think it's easier to use for that kind of thing. This is my least-used regular knife.
For my second knife, I have a Leatherman Micra keychain tool. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of it, especially when paired with a Gerber Shard. I get 98% of my daily tasks accomplished with those two items. I changed out the speakers in my car with those. I'm going to count those two items as one because they're both keychain tools and they complement each other so well.
Finally, the single blade folder. I must have gone through fifteen of them before I found a few pieces that fit this category well. One is and Opinel #6 or #8, depending on which one is sharper at the time and what my purpose is for those items. Sometimes I carry a Joe Pardue Utilitac II (which is new to me). This is my least used knife and therefore the least important one for my circumstances. What do I really need it for? My work does not involve cutting anything, and it is considered a hazard to have anything that can be considered a weapon in the course of doing business. I do not want to have anything on my person that could be taken away from me and be used against me.
Outside of work, I can have any kind of tools I care to keep handy. I could use the large fixed blade or the micra for many tasks around the house, but a flipper is handy. I'm not a bushcraft guy unless you count loading up a wood stove in the winter. For that purpose, I could use any of my knives to make life easier. Feather sticks, breaking down boxes, whatever. The micra is not the tool for that task, and the Bowie isn't either. A box cutter would suffice for most of it, but a flipper would too.
To wrap it up, here are my three.
Leatherman Micra plus Gerber Shard
Utilitac II
Von Tempsky Bowie
That said, the lineup could change at any time due to circumstances. Three really isn't enough, maybe this list is just for three concurrent knives that span the utility spectrum.
