What does it take to kick a knife out of your pocket?

CUTS LIKE A KRIS

CUTS LIKE A KRIS

Joined
Sep 28, 2005
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I've carried a small pearl lobster in my pocket nearly every day at work or school for the past 3 years now. But I think I have found a replacement for it, a little 2 3/4" Imperial ?equal end jack? with punch that I got for $1 at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. It had a badly rounded tip to the clip blade that I turned into a Wharncliffe as I am prone to do with broken/damaged clip blades. It surprises me as it has clipped on metal scales (forget the name) and isn't as nice looking as the lobster. But when carrying them both I stopped using the lobster for small tasks- trimming loose skin/nails, loose threads on sheets, small boring/light prying with the punch. I find that the punch increases utility as an overall tool, and replaces the nail file on the lobster well, especially as I carry a full sized file with me (massage therapists have to have decently short nails after all). I have carried it, along with a larger food prep knife, this week without the lobster, and figure that it has retired the lobster at least for now.

Here is a pic with a friction folder I found earlier this summer that I carried as a decently complimentary duo a couple of times (if anybody knows the inscription please let me know- I got an answer in General, but nothing concrete):
CB03E85E-686D-485F-BA06-E77541D79CA2-369-000000677225FD8D.jpg


Any stories about how your current supplanted it's predecessor? Or any knife in the past that took the place of an old friend?
 
CUTS LIKE A KRIS said:
Here is a pic with a friction folder I found earlier this summer that I carried as a decently complimentary duo a couple of times (if anybody knows the inscription please let me know- I got an answer in General, but nothing concrete):
CB03E85E-686D-485F-BA06-E77541D79CA2-369-000000677225FD8D.jpg
Click to expand...

WOW, that is a very cool friction folder!:thumbup:

I am curious as well to the inscription on the blade. Hope someone comes up with it. How does it cut?

Carl.
 
Folks, This is a traditional knife forum. Please post accordingly.
Thanks
 
As it is still hot here and I am wearing shorts or light pants, I've been carrying small knives (peanut, 120T, random little blades). Once I'm back in jeans, the bigger (barely) knives will come out to play. SBJ, SAK, TL-29. The only reason I won't carry a knife is if it is irreplaceable (family) or has a propensity for slipping out of my pocket.
 
LKJW said:
As it is still hot here and I am wearing shorts or light pants, I've been carrying small knives (peanut, 120T, random little blades). Once I'm back in jeans, the bigger (barely) knives will come out to play. SBJ, SAK, TL-29. The only reason I won't carry a knife is if it is irreplaceable (family) or has a propensity for slipping out of my pocket.
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Interesting, I tend to carry bigger knives when I wear shorts (cargo pocket). Also, glad to hear you carry TL-29's on the regular ;)

For me to get a knife to kick out another knife it's got to have a certain feel. Most of the knives I carry on a regular basis just FEEL good, the spring is just right, the sound of the snap, how it transfers into my hand when I open the blade. It's hard to put in words, but it's like I am feeling the steel.
 
Usually when it gets dull and it goes in the "to be sharpened" pile. I've got a bunch of EDCs and no sane way to pick one, so that gives me an excuse to rotate through.

Jon
 
For a knife to kick my regular out, it has to push some emotional button and make me react. I actually haven't had that many regular pocket knives in my life, knives that have stood by for many years of use. Lots have come and gone in experiments with other styles, but they got carried in addition to what my regular pocket knife was, and if they didn't make the grade, they got sold/traded/gifted off.

That emotional trigger is usually a good friend or family member. My ec Buck 301 was phased out after 25 years by my friend Andy's old 303 cadet. That got phased out by my dad's old peanut. I've had sodbusters and SAK's come and go, along with a few lock blades, but noneof them kicked out either of the Buck stockman's or peanut. I was into the yellow peanut for a few years steady, until Jamie gifted me the damascus peanut. That's been in my pocket now for a year and five months. The sole exception was the Vic recruit that went to Key West on a one way trip. I wasn't willing to risk my peanut to the mail or airline baggage thieves.

Maybe I'm one of the few knife knuts that gets attached to a knife. I'll get used to a knife, and if I see another knife, I may try it for while, but in the end, ifit doesn't do anything more than my 'old' one, the new one will go down the road while the old tired and true knife will remain in my pocket.

To kick out my regular, it's gotta have some emotional draw to me.

Carl.
 
No knives have ever actually gotten kicked out of my pocket. They've all been benched for a while, but eventually I come back to them. I do play favorites though. Like Carl mentioned above, the ones that really trip my trigger are the ones that I have an emotional attachment to. Only a couple of knives meet that criteria for me. The first was in my pocket on the days of my wedding and when my daughter was born. The second is also my recent slipjoint acquisition. It was a Father's Day present from my wife and little girl, and since receiving it I have not really carried any other.

- Christian
 
Sorry that I dropped the ball on responding. I guess my message I typed out did not post, and I never noticed before now.

scrteened porch said:
Any idea where the big knife is from?
Click to expand...
I have no idea, but in my linked thread it was said to possibly be Farsi/Persian.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/989680-Translation-help
jackknife said:
WOW, that is a very cool friction folder!:thumbup:

I am curious as well to the inscription on the blade. Hope someone comes up with it. How does it cut?

Carl.
Click to expand...

Stich2442 said:
Nice knife, is it a Navaja?
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I thought it was a Navaja when I first spied it but am not too sure. It doesn't have the ratcheting lock like I seem to remember Navaja's having, plus I've only held a single true Navaja before I knew much about them. This one is a friction folder that seats deeply when closed, and is actually very safe in pocket. It isn't a CPM steel, but sharpened up very nicely and slices beautifully due to sharp edge/very thin blade stock. It carried very well in scrubs, and the combo in the picture make a nice, odd looking pair.

Thanks for the other replies! Slipjoints were not prevalent when I was growing up, so I have none that hold familial importance, therefore it is easier to replace some in my pocket than it would be if I carried a second or third generation slipjoint. My wife generally only buys me CRKT knives so she knows what knives of one brand I already know, and not many of theirs are scrubs friendly (although I would like their slipjoints/lightweight lock backs.
 
I try to rotate through all the knives in my collection, but there are three that get the most pocket time, two of which are Peanuts, one Case (stag Damascus) and an AG Russell Pinched Peanut.

The third I bought on a whim after looking at it on my wish list for awhile. It is a French Chambriard Le Thiers Compact. I have to say it is my all time favorite single blade slip joint folder. The FnF is first rate, it came shaving sharp out of the box and the Juniper handles are very unique and even have a pleasant sweet peppery smell.

The Chambriard kicked most other single blade slipjoints out of my cargo shorts for the summer. I still rotate single blades but this little French knife gets more pocket time than any other:

thiers.jpg
 
No knife has ever been kicked out of my pocket. When I was young and poor and only owned two pocket knives, I carried the Silver Knight and left the Scout knife on my workbench. I carried that Gerber for over a decade before I lost it. After that I carried a BuckLite 424 for about 5 years. I have a thing for 3½ to 4 inch drop point lockbacks. These are the only two knives I've carried for more than a few months straight.

Now that I have become more prosperous and have lots of knives, I have become a "player" with my EDCs. I have about a dozen that I carry with some regularity, but never for more than a week or two at a time. It could be anything from a 3"+ swayback jack to a 4½" stockman, with several newer lockers in between. And every once in a while I look fondly at one outside my regulars, and in the pocket it goes.

I guess I'm just more curious than sentimental. As the downed bank robber said at the beginning of "Dirty Harry" . . . "I got's to know!"
 
jackknife said:
... Maybe I'm one of the few knife knuts that gets attached to a knife.... To kick out my regular, it's gotta have some emotional draw to me.

Carl.
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I tend to get attached to my knives as well. And I will admit that in recent times the knife needs to grab me. But there are a couple other factors that are at work as well.

I have noticed that when a big change in my life comes to pass I will commemorate the occasion with a new knife. When I graduated from college and the VERY lean times were done I bought a knife. Same after I went back to grad school, graduated and then got my (at the time) dream job. Now preparing to get married I have done the same. It can work the other way as well. I had a couple of life's tragedies hit me at almost the same time around 2005... it was a very painful period for me and I ended up, for whatever reason, remembering those bad times whenever I picked up the knife I carried at the time. I put that knife away and have never carried it since.

One time though I swapped out knives because of a design or function error that just reached the breaking point. My beautiful little Queen mini trapper got drawered after 6 years because I just plain got fed up with the shallow nail nick. I couldn't open it after trimming my nails and was tired of having to try to open it 4 times to finally get it opened.

Anyhow that is how it has worked for me. But I usually have 3 knives in a given period that get carried. One for every day and it gets 95% of the pocket time. I have another for dress occasions. The last one is for hard work, hiking, gardening, that kind of thing. But once I settle on my knives it usually takes quite a bit to get me to change.

Will
 
When I get a new one, I try it out for a few days in a row, usually. But, if it doesn't strike that particular chord, I'll either sell it, give it away, or (rarely) hang onto it in my cigar box. They all cut well, and are of nice quality; I don't buy junk. In order to replace a tried-and-true member of the pack, a newcomer needs to be one that I can form a certain bond with. It's not an intellectual process (that part was just addressed: they all cut well, and are built well), but an emotional one.
 
puukkoman said:
When I get a new one, I try it out for a few days in a row, usually. But, if it doesn't strike that particular chord, I'll either sell it, give it away, or (rarely) hang onto it in my cigar box. They all cut well, and are of nice quality; I don't buy junk. In order to replace a tried-and-true member of the pack, a newcomer needs to be one that I can form a certain bond with. It's not an intellectual process (that part was just addressed: they all cut well, and are built well), but an emotional one.
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Yep, second that. A knife has to live up to it's name. I guess for me my knives are broadly divided into two categories; work and weekends. Being in the UK and because of my job I can carry a locking folder, weekends I carry a slipjoint. My pocket choices at the weekends are more varied but must still be useful, cut! I've not found anything to push out my Opinel during the week, have had several close contenders including the Bullnose work knife which gave it a run for its money but the O1 steel doesn't suit this Welsh climate! The bottom line is my Opi gets treated badly, opening bags to mix concrete being a classic example. The quest continues....

Sam
 
This is a neat question. It got me thinking.

Ultimately though, I find it really hard to put into words what will make me replace my EDC with something new. I'm kind of a... I guess you could call me a serial monogamist when it comes to knife. I'll carry a knife for a couple years, and then something will come along to make me retire it. I don't really go looking for a new EDC, it just kind of finds me. When I do replace my EDC though, it's always because a new knife just kind of gives me "that feeling." It becomes the knife that just screams at me to pick it up and put it in my pocket, the knife that I'll find myself pulling out of my pocket and using as a sort of worry stone. Next thing I know, I've been carrying it for months and I feel weird if I somehow manage to leave the house without it.

Right now "the knife" is my GEC White Owl, sometimes along with my Beaver tail 72.
 
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