What characteristics cause your favorite knife to be your favorite?

TLARbb

TLARbb

Joined
Jan 24, 2010
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Pictures, pictures; this thread is useless without pictures. Of course you have to verbalize the characteristics.

I must confess, I don't have just one favorite...

Characteristics of my favorite(s):
One or two blades
3-1/8 to 3-3/4 length
Comfortable handle and nice looking covers
I like stag but it is so inconsistent (relatively) that other covers have at least an equal chance of being on my favorite. I have a tendency to like man-made materials for covers - GEC's NifeBrite Acrylic for example. Delrin is a great material, but lacks personality. G10, Micartas are great.

My current favorite knife and a few others vying for the title:

My amber bone mini copperhead, it really needs no introduction:

MiniCopperheads-02.jpg


The new Barlows & Boy's knife series is special. I particularly like the boy's knife.

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The new to me GEC 66 jack is right in the sweet spot and it has STAG! GEC must have had me in mind when they designed this one. I don't know why it took me so long to jump on it. I know Andi's pictures had a great deal to do with it.

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The Case Texas jacks:
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And 250A, B, C Gerber Silver Knights. I've got a few of these, but not nearly as many as Trand's half moon trappers...

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What about you folks?

Ed J
 
TLARbb said:
I must confess, I don't have just one
Click to expand...

That's funny, I saw the title of your thread and I was running all the different patterns I like and why I like them through my head and I could not pick just one, so I opened the thread to take a look, I feel much better after reading your confession :-)
I will get back with some pics

Pete
 
The ones that become my favorites are the ones that grab my eyes first. If I look at my meager collection, my eyes immediately go to my mini copperhead. It just looks good and the blades look like they will do anything I ask of them.
It's not my most expensive, it's not my classiest but it is my favorite.
 
I too love my mini copperheads but my all time favourite is my real harness knife. The frame shape, the beautiful bone jigging, the big leaf shaped master but most of all I love the punch blade that actually works perfectly. Hasn't left my pocket since arriving.

Best regards

Robin

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If I could figure that out I'd save a lot of money. Just sat here for like twenty minutes thinking about all my favorite knives and only two things are the same on all of them. One, they all have a handle. Two, they all are sharp. There may possibly be something wrong with me according to my wife. I love stag covers but none of my favorites have them, I hate composition especially yellow but one of my favorites has these.... I know, it's an ongoing problem,we all have our crosses to bear. I'll probably make it though if the dang mailman will just hurry up and bring some more I'll try to figure it out.
 
TLARbb said:
Pictures, pictures; this thread is useless without pictures. Of course you have to verbalize the characteristics.

I must confess, I don't have just one favorite...

Characteristics of my favorite(s):
One or two blades
3-1/8 to 3-3/4 length
Comfortable handle and nice looking covers
I like stag but it is so inconsistent (relatively) that other covers have at least an equal chance of being on my favorite. I have a tendency to like man-made materials for covers - GEC's NifeBrite Acrylic for example. Delrin is a great material, but lacks personality. G10, Micartas are great.

My current favorite knife and a few others vying for the title:

My amber bone mini copperhead, it really needs no introduction:

The new Barlows & Boy's knife series is special. I particularly like the boy's knife.

The new to me GEC 66 jack is right in the sweet spot and it has STAG! GEC must have had me in mind when they designed this one. I don't know why it took me so long to jump on it. I know Andi's pictures had a great deal to do with it.

The Case Texas jacks:

And 250A, B, C Gerber Silver Knights. I've got a few of these, but not nearly as many as Trand's half moon trappers...

What about you folks?

Ed J
Click to expand...

That´s a great topic for a thread, Ed :)

I like the smaller knives better. Peanut size or up to 4". If it is too big, it doesn´t feel that good in pocket. I don´t have the ONE favorite knife shape at all. But the Serpentine frame is a very nice one.

IMG_2353.jpg


When it is up to the blade setup, I prefer one to three blades. If there are too much blades on an knife, it just feels a little overdressed for me. I had a Case Medium Stockman as my only EDC for roundabout nine months and it worked great for me - until I discovered that there are more great cutleries out there that make great knives.

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I think I should also add, that I really like many other pattern of traditional knives. But nicely made handle scales and a good blade steel are my way to go. I prefer natural materials (wood, bone, stag, horn etc etc). But some nicely made Delrin is also a great feeling material. About acrylics I can´t say too much - I haven´t really handled one until now.

The knife itself should fit in itself... (I hope you know, what I mean)

Here are some pics of great knives I own...

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A mixed setup on handle materials and shapes (blades and frame). As I said above, it must fit in itself...
 
My favorite pattern is the 3 7/8 serpentine stockman. Squared bolsters. The reason? Well let me ask, what can you not do with 3 blade and a handle shape that seems to just "fit" your hand? From there it needs a solid snap and blade pull, Akamai 7, and no blade play. From there just handles scales that I can connect with. Bone usually doesn't do it for me. Stag does. And Schrade's saw cut Deleon does. Those just feel right. Still searching for that "right" feeling bone handle case knife. I thinking indeed to try a 6392 again.
 
For me the major factors are:
- 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 inches
- A mix of straight and curved edges
- At least one sharp, pointy tip
- ??? Some are just favourites for unknown reasons :D
 
Great Thread :)

For me its more about how much use I get out of a knife, the memories it was along for and the character it picks up along the way.

This knife was low on my list (very low) until I took it along to Costa Rica. Now its at the very top.

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Here is one just now back in the states after a quick renwax of the bone covers :)

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I took the knife everywhere with me and used it for everything.

I don't get the problem with carbon steel in a tropical climate after this. It even rode in my bathing suit pocket when wet on the beach. Trudged through rain forest, flew down zip lines.

Its my favorite now.

Kevin
 
Kevin,
I agree that the "emotional" history of a knife has great weight in determining how much you carry and like a knife (oh, and I'm happy about your Gunstock ;) ).
Yet, you will admit that the reasons why you ended up carrying your GEC in Costa Rica are circumstantial. Usually, we choose knives according to certain preferences and characteristics, then we carry them and give them the chance to develop the "emotional history" that really bonds us to that knife.
For me, there are a few features that raise the chances of a knife to get into my pocket...the rest is up to heart and chance :rolleyes:
- 3" to 3,5" closed
- one or two blades, on the same end, and possibly with the nicks on the same side
- if two blades, one main (full length) and one secondary (shorter), curve/straight combination is welcome (or HJ configuration, if the punch has a cutting edge)
- smooth handle material, or worn jigged bone
- comfort in hand and attractive looks ;)
- obviously, there are many others that I'm not aware of...yet :rolleyes:

Fausto
:cool:
 
Yup, we sure did talk about why I took that knife, Fausto :)

It turned out to be a great knife in design too. I love the pen blade and the clip blade. It was comfortable both to carry and use. It even went out when I caught a 100+lb sailfish and got dirty :)
 
Let me say I like different knives and characteristics depending on the role of the knife but for general carry and use, I like a thin knife. Make that handle a comfortable shape like that of a trapper and I like it even more. Add useful blade lengths and its even better. When you can get all that in a 2 blade configuration where the blades don't stick up like my Alsdorf slimline or my Ken Erickson jack and you have a winner.

These trappers are 3 3/4" or 3 7/8" closed and give a useful 3 inch blade.
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This Alsdorf is slightly smaller at 3 5/8" but still gives me a 3" main blade and a secondary blade in the same thicknesses as the above.
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After that, make the knife look good with some classy covers.
 
Trand,
it's unfair to name your Erickson serpentine jack without posting a picture of it :p
That knife is simply gorgeous.

Fausto
:cool:
 
quattromori said:
Trand,
it's unfair to name your Erickson serpentine jack without posting a picture of it :p
That knife is simply gorgeous.

Fausto
:cool:
Click to expand...

An embarrassing oversight on my part... As you can see this knife is also narrow, I don't have a pic against a ruler to show how thin it is. The main clip is about 2 7/8" and the modified pen is the perfect balance between a normal pen and small wharncliffe blade.
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IMG_3482.jpg

IMG_3486.jpg
 
Thank you Trand.
Someday I'll ask Ken to make the same knife for me (just making the secondary blade a plain wharncliffe).
Then I will leave BF, cause I won't have anything else to talk about :D
Sidenote: it was just saying. You won't get rid of me that easily :p
I had forgot to add something to my previous post. At the moment, my most carried slipjoint is a Case Swayback jack :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
What characteristics make a knife my favorite?

1. Convenience of carry. Small enough to do what I need, butnot feel like a brick or large fishing weight in my pocket. About 3 inches is my sweet spot. As large as 3 1/4 down to peanut size. Drops in my pocket and goes without notice until I need it.

2. Feel. It's got to feel right in the hand. I don't like smooth synthetic materials, and overly square handle shapes. To me, nothing feels as good as nice stag or jigged bone. It's got to have some texture to it.

3. Versatility. It's got to have at least two blades, preferably a clip and pen. If there's a third blade in there, I wouldn't mind a awl or a rugged use blade like a sheep foot. But I don't like to overdo it. I draw the line at stockmen and two layer SAK's. So a stockman and scout is the most I'd carry.

4. It's got to be something that my grandfather would recognize, or at least be at home whittling on a front porch down on the bay with the members of the liars circle.

Carl.
 
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