What is Your Knife Zen?

richstag

richstag

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Feb 22, 2007
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Pocket-Stone.jpg


I have been around the knife world block a time or two now and I may end up looping around a time or two again (thats why I am a knife nut right?). I love all my knives and also all the ways to sharpen each and everyone. I have to wonder when I have drawers full of knives of all types and the ability to sharpen any steel to an insanely sharp edge, why do I come back around to a humble and modest traditional paired with a pocket stone?

I believe it is because I found a happy balance that really works for me and my current lifestyle. This post is meant to share my thoughts but also ask you all about your thoughts. What have you found to be your "knife zen"? I am not looking to argue or debate any single person's opinion. I simply want to know what really works for you.

Maybe its the way carbon steel ages, maybe its stainless. Maybe its a sound you hear out in the yard honing an edge as you go a long working. Maybe its a high end Custom with supersteel. Whatever it is, I am interested to hear. Trying to focus down to one particular option and not listing off multiple knives for separate uses if possible ( I know thats challenging :) ) This goes a little further than a particular pattern or steel or handle material. It is more of the single knife that gives you the "thats just right for me" feel. This is not a, "if you had to get rid of all but one knife"...you do not have to get rid of any of them.

Photos would be great too.

Kevin
 
Now and Zen I feel the yen to put my edge to the stone again...

...Just because raising a keen edge is such a labor of love. (Even when it isn't necessarily needed.)

Interesting topic, Kevin. I've found over the years that I enjoy collecting various hones almost as much as I do the knives themselves...be they natural or synthetic, pocket or bench stones.

There's something about the feel and sound of the edge running over the stone that just puts me in the zone. (Though my own Zen is to not get overly preoccupied by making the "perfect edge".)

I have learned something about myself over the years and that is that a well cleaned and polished motorcycle was less likely to be ridden and enjoyed the way I wanted.
Fixating on the edge to too much of a degree (for me) makes me reluctant to want to use and thus ruin it. Then again, it allows me the joy of bringing back that edge. Yin and Yang. :cool:
 
Thank you for that Elliot! It was actually the conversation that I had with you that brought me around even more so than before. I have been enjoying using and keeping my knives sharp more than ever since we spoke. Thanks for that my friend.
 
Kevin,
I will be the first, and give it a try...hope I understand the sense of the whole thread :rolleyes:
The closest thing to my knife zen probably is...
...well a few times in my life, I found myself in situations when cooking and food preparing was kind of unscheduled, maybe an empty house in the fields, or just a picnic in the woods, or some friend asking for help after he found out he had his house full of people and lunch/dinner time was approaching...
...there it comes. From my front pocket, there comes the knife. I don't need to ask for one, or look for one, or beg for one. And then, slowly, but with no hesitation, I start helping out in the kitchen, and no matter if I'm slicing onions or cutting meat, it's just me and my knife, and I feel at ease.
Probably just at ease as you feel with your #85 and your pocket stone.
And I'm not even close to being that sharp :rolleyes:

Fausto
:cool:
 
Back atcha, Kevin. :cool::thumbup:
 
Thanks Fausto, you got the feel of the thread just right! This is in no way a , "my knife is better or I can get it sharper than you". Just the opposite actually!

Thanks Elliot, its always my pleasure.
 
I'm glad I got the thread right :)
Your knives are better and you can get them sharper actually...but you can't cook as good as me :D
Seriously...there is something special (to me) in the act of reaching for my knife and starting to cook in my own little angle of a "stranger's kitchen". I feel that the knife helps me feel on my own territory and I just enjoy it. Don't ask me why, it doesn't work the same way when I'm home (and I never have a knife in my pocket when I'm home, nor I would use it instead of my kitchen knives).

Fausto
:cool:
 
For me, zen is when I am working on a knife for the first time (most of my knives are flea market finds that need overhauling in a little to big way), and I am beginning to work on the edge. At first, I must take a long time to make sure that each and every stroke is equal: in edge angle, speed forwards, and speed along the edge. Using my combo oilstone (trash picking find) is nice, but I have to load the PITA with 3-in-1 once a minute. My old Norton rough orange pocket oil stone, which I reserve for large knives and tools, like shovels, is very zen like in use. When I run the stone along the blade, I just focus all my being into keeping it level, and the stone works just perfectly, because it takes forever to clog when I let some oil soak into it (longer than other oilstones I have), and it doesn't wear fast at all.

The most zen might be when I am working on something and it is cold and/or I am injured, because I know that I am so in the zone that I do not feel anything. I remember the last step of flattening my oilstone was using sandpaper and glass, and I cut myself pretty deep on the glass, but didn't realize it until I saw after a few minutes that the blood in my slurry was not disappearing. It was a moment like that that I truly realized how in the zone I could get, and it both frightened and amazed me, because with my ADD, I didn't know I could brush away something so noticeable like pain while doing something so menial.

I dunno really,
Connor
 
For me, knife zen is a magic monemt when a knife transcends being just an object, and becomes a comforting friend.

I don't vary my daily knife carrying much, and I tend to get attached to a particular knife for long periods of time. To me, a new knife feels like just an inanimate thing in my pocket. Just a lump of steel and bone and brass, with no real personality. My hand is not used to it, and when I go to pull it out, the hand has to feel around and get adjusted to it. But days and weeks will go by, and sometimes during the day my hand feels for the knife in my pocket like a worry stone. Fingers explore the strange features of the object, getting used to the new shape of the handle, the way the blades nest in there.

But there comes a magic moment, when needing the knife for something, the hand reaches in and finds a shape that has become a familiar presence. Sometimes when I was not aware of it, the knife crossed over from a lump of material, to an old friend that feels good in the hand. Like a reassuring friend. No longer a stranger, but a daily companion. Your fingers now know every jig in the bone, and you pull open the blade without even having to look for the nail nick. That is a zen moment for me. The moment you realize the knife has become something more than a lump of steel and bone, but something with a personality.

Carl.
 
Unlike Carl, I alternate among several knives for daily carry, but there is just something about my Schrade Walden 832 stockman that I cannot articulate in words. The blade combination, the feel of the wood in my hand when I use it, the patina on the blades, the dark springs, the fact that the clip blade came chipped and I was able to hone it to a useable edge, the ideal size in my pocket, all this and so much more.

I just can't get with any other of my pocket knives the sense of connection I have with this one.

And since you asked for pictures, I am only happy to oblige.

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Summer 1977,got divorced. Walked straight from the courthouse, to the hardware store. I intended to buy a Buck "Stockman". Until that day, it would have caused a furor, to spend "that much money" on a knife.

I looked at the Buck display. As i recall, the 305 through 307, were represented. Took one look at the 309 "Companion" and never even took a second look at the "Stockman" i had come for.the 309 hides deep in my pocket, un-noticed. It cuts well and holds the edge well. It has , since the day i bought it, felt right in my hand.

That knife has been my friend, ally and worry stone. In times of trouble, it has been like a security blanket. It has been with me through re-marriage,birth of my children, birth of my grandchildren,death of and funerals of all my grandparents.

Luckily, it doesn't need sharpening often,cuz even though i have sharpened sparingly, about 40% of the blades are gone. I know, because i was astounded when i bought a like new back-up, i was astounded how much blade was gone from mine. regards Henry
 
You guys may find this odd but my Zen is when Im using a knife I just sharpened well and Im using it to prepare food and the cuts are nearly effortless so I dont have to concentrate on the act of cutting as much as with a dull or inferior knife.
 
if i have a zen state with a sharp object its probly with the imacasa pata de cuche machete. its the one in the middle with the black handle.
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sometimes ill be working, cutting a walking path through a briar thicket or cutting some vines out of a tree or something like that. ill have that machete and maybe my radio or mp3 player with one of the headphones on one ear and the other headphone slightly off the other so i can hear if a co-worker calls to me. music will be playing and im listening to it but not necessarily concentrating on it while i work. im cutting stuff but not overthinking; ive used that machete a lot and my muscles know what to do if my brain will stay out of the way lol. when i get like this a lot of time can pass but it doesnt really seem like it.
 
Great answers. For me, I think whenever I use a knife fishing (whether to cut line or a fish), I feel especially connected to the experience. I can think about it now and smile. Just being out in nature where it is quiet and a knife is really all I need (and a rod). ;) Same with food prep when camping. I just appreciate a knife more when I'm using it with my whole heart if that makes sense. Focused.

I never carry this knife because I revere it. I add the pics because I think it is very interesting that big brother up above has the same 'resonance'. When I first touched this knife, I swear something happened. Like it was vibrating slightly. And I'm not usually a new age kind of guy, but there's something about that smooth wood. I don't know. Doug knows, though. ;) I really should carry it.

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Great idea for a thread, thank you.

I don't often get into the "zone" much, as a drummer with a bad back I usually can't sit and play that long anymore but when I did with good musicians I would regularly drift into the zone and time would stand still. But (and you knew there would be a but coming!), I found myself in that zone last summer once while camping.

We took our Troop to Ricketts Glen State Park for a weekend, and there is a beautiful hike along a series of waterfalls. I've done the hike before and my back was sore, so I volunteered to stay at camp and clean up after breakfast while the rest went on the hike. After putting away the dishes and stoves I went and sat down next to the fire that the guys got going as it was a bit cool that morning. There was a bunch of sticks piled up with the rest of the firewood, so I grabbed one and pulled out my whittler from my pocket. For about 2 hours I whittled sticks into little piles of tinder, unaware of time passing, just in the zone enjoying nature, the sounds, the blue sky and trees, it was perfect.

That doesn't happen very often, but I look forward to it again :)

Cheers,
Griff
 
Henry44 said:
Summer 1977,got divorced. Walked straight from the courthouse, to the hardware store. ... Took one look at the 309 "Companion" and never even took a second look at the "Stockman" i had come for.the 309 hides deep in my pocket, un-noticed. It cuts well and holds the edge well. It has , since the day i bought it, felt right in my hand.

That knife has been my friend, ally and worry stone. In times of trouble, it has been like a security blanket. It has been with me through re-marriage,birth of my children, birth of my grandchildren,death of and funerals of all my grandparents.

Luckily, it doesn't need sharpening often,cuz even though i have sharpened sparingly, about 40% of the blades are gone.
Click to expand...

Great story! I'd love to see a photo of that knife.

As to the OP's question about zen: For me, it's that moment in life when a knife is needed, and I'm able to reach into my pocket and take out a small, previously unnoticed tool, accomplish the task at hand, and return it to my pocket. Just that. No showing off, no waving it around, no gasps from nearby sheeple, no rubbing it down with a diaper. Just a self-reliant man doing the job at hand with a simple, unassuming tool he keeps on hand to make life easier.

-- Mark
 
Knife Zen for me,
Is when my brother's rifle boom echoes through the trees and across the hollow and I know it's time to get to work. A few moments later I'm up to my elbows in deer and at the end of a blood soaked arm is a pocket knife. A few pieces of amber stag and carbon steel just going to work. We have come along way in the world, but cleaning and preparing game with a relatively simple tool has always been my religion.

Thats when I really connect with a knife, thats when it's more than a tool.
 
mnblade said:
Great story! I'd love to see a photo of that knife.

As to the OP's question about zen: For me, it's that moment in life when a knife is needed, and I'm able to reach into my pocket and take out a small, previously unnoticed tool, accomplish the task at hand, and return it to my pocket. Just that. No showing off, no waving it around, no gasps from nearby sheeple, no rubbing it down with a diaper. Just a self-reliant man doing the job at hand with a simple, unassuming tool he keeps on hand to make life easier.

-- Mark
Click to expand...

Mark nailed it for me almost word for word in regards to a tool that does the job unnoticed:thumbup: I to would like to see the buck that's served one so well, I enjoy looking at knives with history attached to them. I love sharpening---the sound, the feel, the ability the knife has to glide thru when cutting material.

Paul
 
I really don't know why, but it's only once in a while that I find something that resonates with me. For some odd reason, it feels so much different that it almost speaks out to me. I've found that there were 'special' knives, a gun one in a while, or something else. I've owned a lot of knives, guns, cars, motorcycles, and other possessions and very few f them really meant anything to me. Oh yeah, I liked them, but if something happened to it, I could just go get another one. Except for the few items that 'spoke' to me. Like it was meant for you. Like Henry's 309, or LKJW's Schrade-Walden.

I don't know why this happens, but I think it contributes to the zen thing with some of us. Some weird connection to an object, that when we carry or use it, the universe seems right. The thing just clicks with something inside us. Fate? Past life memory? Who knows. But it is real and tangible when something clicks with us. I got to a point some years ago that I was able to sell off most of my stuff because it didn't mean anything to me. It had become a burden to have it all. But there were some things I couldn't part with. It would have been like amputating a part of myself.

Human psyche is a strange thing, and we don't really know what goes on within ourselves. But it is a real thing when you bond with an inanimate object to the point where it becomes an extension of your hand. The Japanese believe that some of the spirit of the maker remains in the blade, and perhaps that's true of knives as well as the swords. Or some vestige of a former owner remains in a used knife we find in a shop. Who knows?

Carl.
 
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