- Joined
- Mar 7, 2006
- Messages
- 2,171
Neck knives have been carried around the neck of American Indians and Mountain Men centuries before all this "tactical" neck knife stuff started. It was the mountainy man thing that got me to try one. I never got to the point of having the sheath beaded and fancied up yet, but found a small fixed blade knife to just be very handy dangling in a leather sheath around the neck.
At one time I carried a Boker fixed blade I had blued the blade on that way. I think the knife was that was one I sold in a period of weakness a few years ago. I did get good use out of it as I got it for 25 cents at a yard sale in the mid 80s.
After that I had a little nostalgia piece I've been using until recently. It is a cheap little Monarch with about a 3 inch blade I got out of a display in a hardware store in I think West Union, Ohio in 73, just before we moved to Texas. There's a story that makes it a little sentimental, but it would only make sense to me and not be the least bit entertaining for anyone else, so I will save you all from that.
The knife had lounged around and not been taken seriously until just a few years ago. I pulled it out, blued the blade, then sharpened it up. It sharpened up good enough for general cutting. I had a generic, roughout pouch type sheath with a little fringe on it. Just above the slots on the back I poked two holes and knotted in some leather thong. Putting the three together I had an old fashioned, traditional neck knife that I took to wearing around the house and sometimes forgetting I had it on I'd run to the store wearing it.
What I discovered was what mountain men and indians had known long before. That's just a dandy and useful little setup. I wouldn't really notice it there until I needed to cut something, then I just reached up, pulled it out, made my cuts, and slipped it back into the sheath. Just handy. Okay, I sort of felt it there, but in a warm, comforting sense, not an inrusive, can't forget its there way.
I've tried several of the modern, kydex sheathed, upside-down carry neckers and find that for me and my body configuration they are not comfortable or easy to use. Or asthetically pleasing. I don't get a warm and fuzzy using them. I've found that a small, traditional fixed blade carried in a leather pouch dangling at chest height to be comfortable to carry and just really handy to reach up and withdraw single handed without the need to yank it free of some clickit retention feature. Gravity and light friction seem to do just fine.
My cheap little Japanese made Monarch is out of service currenlty for a cosmetic upgrade. The knife originally came with a small metal half guard and a stag looking plastic handle held in place with a cast metal pommel. The capgun like plastic stock was a little dismaying so a little while back I Dremeled the pommel and handle off. The blade is now laying with a piece of antler which will eventually become the handle. When I finally get around to that. (I'm notorious for leaving a project around for a long time before I just up and one day finish it.) I'll then make a leather neck sheath specifically for it.
Obviously this type of setup isn't the ideal to be wearing if you are going to be wrestling around or tumbling down hills, or leaning over whirling machinery, but for home and camp carry, I find it both useful and reassuring, almost like a talisman.
So, I'm wondering. Currently or in the past have you use what I would consider a tradtional neck knife? By traditional, I mean traditional fixed or even a folder in a leather or maybe cloth sheath mounted vertically, handle up, around your neck? Any comments on the traditional neck knife? Comfort? Convenience? Usefulness? I'd like to hear your thoughts.
Please though, no tales of how great your waykewl latest, black-n-plastic, concealed carry taktikill necker is. We're talking old fashioned stuff here. Like us.
At one time I carried a Boker fixed blade I had blued the blade on that way. I think the knife was that was one I sold in a period of weakness a few years ago. I did get good use out of it as I got it for 25 cents at a yard sale in the mid 80s.
After that I had a little nostalgia piece I've been using until recently. It is a cheap little Monarch with about a 3 inch blade I got out of a display in a hardware store in I think West Union, Ohio in 73, just before we moved to Texas. There's a story that makes it a little sentimental, but it would only make sense to me and not be the least bit entertaining for anyone else, so I will save you all from that.
The knife had lounged around and not been taken seriously until just a few years ago. I pulled it out, blued the blade, then sharpened it up. It sharpened up good enough for general cutting. I had a generic, roughout pouch type sheath with a little fringe on it. Just above the slots on the back I poked two holes and knotted in some leather thong. Putting the three together I had an old fashioned, traditional neck knife that I took to wearing around the house and sometimes forgetting I had it on I'd run to the store wearing it.
What I discovered was what mountain men and indians had known long before. That's just a dandy and useful little setup. I wouldn't really notice it there until I needed to cut something, then I just reached up, pulled it out, made my cuts, and slipped it back into the sheath. Just handy. Okay, I sort of felt it there, but in a warm, comforting sense, not an inrusive, can't forget its there way.
I've tried several of the modern, kydex sheathed, upside-down carry neckers and find that for me and my body configuration they are not comfortable or easy to use. Or asthetically pleasing. I don't get a warm and fuzzy using them. I've found that a small, traditional fixed blade carried in a leather pouch dangling at chest height to be comfortable to carry and just really handy to reach up and withdraw single handed without the need to yank it free of some clickit retention feature. Gravity and light friction seem to do just fine.
My cheap little Japanese made Monarch is out of service currenlty for a cosmetic upgrade. The knife originally came with a small metal half guard and a stag looking plastic handle held in place with a cast metal pommel. The capgun like plastic stock was a little dismaying so a little while back I Dremeled the pommel and handle off. The blade is now laying with a piece of antler which will eventually become the handle. When I finally get around to that. (I'm notorious for leaving a project around for a long time before I just up and one day finish it.) I'll then make a leather neck sheath specifically for it.
Obviously this type of setup isn't the ideal to be wearing if you are going to be wrestling around or tumbling down hills, or leaning over whirling machinery, but for home and camp carry, I find it both useful and reassuring, almost like a talisman.
So, I'm wondering. Currently or in the past have you use what I would consider a tradtional neck knife? By traditional, I mean traditional fixed or even a folder in a leather or maybe cloth sheath mounted vertically, handle up, around your neck? Any comments on the traditional neck knife? Comfort? Convenience? Usefulness? I'd like to hear your thoughts.
Please though, no tales of how great your waykewl latest, black-n-plastic, concealed carry taktikill necker is. We're talking old fashioned stuff here. Like us.
