What does a slipjoint mean to you?

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kidwholaughs

Joined
Jan 17, 2004
Messages
1,189
Hey guys,

This a question that only a non knife person can answer adequately with one sentence.
When I think about slipjoints, two things come to mind, Art and Functionality. However, the two need not coincide. I just wanted to know how everyone else on this forum viewed slipjoints.

Looking at a custom answers the art part right away. It boggles the mind to see how natural materials like sambar stag or antique ivory and steel could be brought together in such perfect harmony. The right lines and curves just makes my heart sing. Collecting knives in this sense is collecting art.

Then there is the functionality. This is most eloquently stated by Jackknife in his stories. Constant trusty companion that brings comfort and self reliance. It seems that a guy could do alright if he just had a pocket knife with him. Whether it be cutting some cheese for a snack in the middle of the night or cutting a sapling for shelter in the middle of the woods. That knife would always be there to lend a hand. That's volumes for functionality.

If people were ever meant to bond with steel, this would be hight on my list.

What does slipjoints mean to you?

God Bless
 
Slipjoints mean never having to say you're sorry.


(Couldn't resist. :cool:)
 
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Slipjoints show classic ingenuity from a time when the choices were either friction folders or fixed blades. Incorporating that backspring allowed friction folders to stay closed or open while the varying handle scales added creativity and made each slipjoint one-of-a-kind.
 
I always carry a small plain slipjoint. You would be amazed at how handy it is for cutting chores.
 
It's a reminder to slow down, pay attention to what I'm doing and not forget the wisdom of the past generations. Also, a thin, flat ground blade in a "lowly" carbon steel cuts better than a thick, hollow/sabre ground blade in a "premium" steel. And what is a knife's job? To cut.

Frank
 
I like the functionality of multiple blades, the variety of scale materials (not that there isn't with one handed lockers), the generally slimmer form (at least compared to some of my other knives...Buck 110, RC 4, Spyderco PacSalt, Wenger Ranger and Vic OHT etc)
 
kidwholaughs said:
What does slipjoints mean to you?

God Bless
Click to expand...

By God, that's a question that's as loaded as a side by side Greener with blue whistlers in both tubes!

I don't think a slip joint can mean just one thing. It's been around so long, it's become blended with both utility and history. The end result being a highly refined cutting tool. The weather beaten cowpoke herding a bunch of ornery long horns up the trail, would instanly recognize the stockman or barlow. The harness jack was used by Hanscomb cab drivers in London as well as connestoga frieght wagon drivers on the great plains.

A slip joint is more than a tool, it was the daily companion and workmate of men who lived and worked in the outdoor. Many of the slip joints came about from the particular demands of the owners job.

But to me, a slip joint is a cutting tool, and a link to a past when our grandfathers lived and worked outdoors in whatever conditions it happened to be that day. I think some of the draw for me is the history of the knife. That working cowboy, the squater trying to get a crop in, a trapper getting the pelt off a muskrat, or the sailor with the big sheepsfoot sailors knife in his peacoat pocket, all have a knife refined by more than a hundred years to be the needles point of what they need.

The slip joint reminds me of the self reliance of these men that went before us. That built this country into what it was when we came along. I had the great fortune to grow up around men who clawed thier way through the great depression, then had to fight a world war on top of that. None of these men were the type to call for help if they had a problem. They sat and figured a way to fix it if it was broke, make it if they didn't have it, or figure how to do without it. They all carried some basic tools everyday. A slip joint pocket knife was part of that. It seemed like if they had a pocket knife, and few odds and ends, they could take on the world. And in some cases, they did.

So I guess a slip joint to me is a cutting tool with hundreds of years of refinement behind it to make it as effective as possable, and a link to those who went before us. Holding a stockman, sodbuster, trapper, barlow, or any of the other patterns in your hand, is holding an example of one of the greatest tools a man can carry. How often do you get effectiveness and history wrapped up in something you can carry in your pocket?
 
It can't be better articulated than Jackknifes statment....:thumbup::thumbup:

It's means a trusted tool to me in one way, and a work of art in another....

On a humorous note (maybe). I was using my knife and slipped and cut my finger off at the first joint.....:eek::D
 
d.parker said:
It can't be better articulated than Jackknifes statment....:thumbup::thumbup:

It's means a trusted tool to me in one way, and a work of art in another....

On a humorous note (maybe). I was using my knife and slipped and cut my finger off at the first joint.....:eek::D
Click to expand...

Well, I guess that just goes to show that it really is the perfect cutter. Yeesh. Hope all's good and well now and that it's healed up nicely.
 
kidwholaughs said:
What does slipjoints mean to you?
Click to expand...

Lots ...

Functionality (The good ones just plain cut well!).

Old School (I LOVE that my slippies aren't the flavor of the month).

Respect (... for those of the past who thrived in much harder times, with only a simple slipjoint in their pocket).

Tradition (Grandad carried one - I carry one).

Sanity (No, I'm not a ninja assassin, just a working Joe, husband, and father of three. I peel apples, not bad guys).

Design (Thin blades in a compact, well executed package - what's not to like?).

Personal Responsibility (I do not have to rely on a lock to keep me from cutting myself - I am a big boy and earned my Totin' Chip a long long time ago).

Skill (I can do more with a simple two-blade slipjoint than most can with a big single-bladed, locking, serrated, one-hand-opening, wonder steel knife).

Example (I am conscious of the lessons I am imparting to my young son, also my daughters. I want him to grow up understanding that skill, patience and understanding will win out every time over the latest wonder gadget in the hands of a dolt).
 
If I wrote an answer it would pale to what SilverFoxKnows, jackknife and mnblade have written here.

All those posts reflected my feelings.
 
I like knowing that a cop wont try to bust my here in NY for having a gravity knife if he sees it.
 
For me, it means family.

We're old agrarian folks. Every time I see a slipjoint, I think of my Grandad, Granduncles, &etc.

Now that I'm old, it's a pretty comforting feeling.:)




[Sorry. I'm just not as eloquent as Jackknife.]
 
A very interesting thread.

My thougts have been better expressed by those above than I cold ever do but my thoughts they did express.

Being 66 years old my youth was long ago but through all of those years a slip joint in my pocket has been a constant tie to those gone by days. I can't ever remember being without a slip joint knife on my person. I still have my first year of issue 1972 Buck 313 Muskrat that gets carried on a regular basis and serves me as well as the day I purchased it.

Keep the posts coming, I enjoy reading them.
 
A lot of good responses. Some how the confidence of having a slipjoint in hand brings, even in the worst/best of times is undeniable.

God Bless
 
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