What traditional knives have you seen people in your area with

[sunnyd]

This topic interests me a lot.. I live in southeast Florida in Palm Beach county and there is only a few of my friends and neighbors with slipjoints. Mostly the so called 'modern' pocket-clip types, especially prevalent among the younger crowd. Although, I find the folks that do carry traditional's most interesting and for some reason much more easy going, cordial and just plain nice to interact with. They are usually upper middle age to older and have been carrying slippy's for many moons.

My neighbor Harry is a good example.. He is in his mid 70's I'm guessing and carry's a Case peanut pattern in Bone-stag that looks like it was built in the last 10 or so years. Its a dandy and a replacement for a way older Case peanut that he completely wore out. He speaks fondly of the old Peanut with it's superior carbon steel blades he bought new in the early 1960's. He said he wore the jigging on the bone clean off after 50 years of use and pocket carry.

Then their is Kim who is our mail lady or ahh.. our postal delivery person, who carry's a Buck 112 on her hip in a real cute after market belt sheath she got from a friend as a gift. Its pretty unique and is leather with her initial embossed in the center with very nice blue leather stitching that matches the blue shorts postal uniform she wears. She wears the 112 well but also has a very nice Gerber multi-tool in her truck. Its jet black and has got a bunch tools on it, more than my Leatherman for sure. She said its come in handy on many occasions.

And if you go a little north west from my location you'll find the horse folks or equestrians to be more formal. The ones that do carry knives have Trappers and Stock knives that I've seen, but more likely is the horse groom is who has got possession of the knife..

It's been my experience that you have to look for folks that have knives and are using them, or have got them out for some reason, or on display, and then slow down and speak with them. Typically they are happy to talk with you and then you've made another friend in the process.

 

[boy&hisdogs]

Horsewright

Interesting to see so many horse riding folk with fixed blade knives on the belt. I have to ask if these are worn both doing ground work and also on horse back?

I ask because around here, many prefer a folder when on horse back. Something about getting thrown off or taking a fall and getting stuck with the blade. I am not experienced in this field whatsoever but horses were a big thing where I live, often used for bush work guiding hunters or overland travel or maybe rounding up your horses that have spent the winter in the bush and never for cattle. Fixed blade was always very close at hand in a pack or on accessible from the saddle but always a folder on the person. I suspect kept around for cutting meat more than anything else.

My great grandpa had a story about a time he found a dead hunter in the woods. The guy was carrying a knife towards the front and he fell on it, and it went into his femoral artery.

Always makes me think twice about when and how I carry a fixed blade.

 

[Horsewright]

@jmarston nad B boy&hisdogs

Exactly. Vertical carry is really dangerous horseback. An even bigger problem is lack of retention. What got me on this path of getting that fixed was watching my then girlfriend now wife riding a horse that was bucking and seeing her fixed blade come flying out of her sheath. Couple of jumps later she went flying too, fortunately not landing on the knife. This got me really getting it figured out.

Our company motto is "Designed From the Saddle for the Saddle". Over the years I have tweaked sheath design, fixed blade design and size, for saddle use. I'm not the only one doing this but I have made and sold thousands and thousands of knives and sheaths to working cowboys and ranchers, guys that are horseback daily for their work, not just for recreation or fun. The ranch that my son works on, they are horseback so much that each guy has eight horses in his string! These guys are out there and that is our primary market. Ideal fixed blade knife size for comfortable and safe carry horseback. 5.25" oal to about 6 5/8" oal. If ya want to go larger you limit the safe ways and places to carry. My preference, so much so that by default unless ya order something else you tell me you are right handed you will get a horizontal to almost horizontal carry sheath for above your left front pocket. Bigger knives go to being carried small of the back or what I call SOB.

I can't tell ya how many knives my sheaths have sold for us. Sheath design providing a safe place and retention horseback is paramount. I often see my designs both in leather and steel copied on Instagram and other places. I'm working on a knife for a our new horseshoer, he said he couldn't get it sharp. Well the reason was it was made by another shoer and he bought it at a shoeing convention. Its less than 5" oal and it was made from 5/16" stock and hardly bevelled. I've seen axes that were sharper and had finer slicing ability because they were thinner behind the edge. So I knocked the handle off and re ground the blade for him and will get er fixed up so its usable. Point being it came in a copy of one of my Slotted sheaths. Interesting. Anyhoo pics:

This young lady and her husband both cowboy in AZ and NV and do some guiding too. There choice is SOB as they both carry larger knives. Recently sold them two smaller ones too as they were starting to do more cowboying and less guiding and didn't need as big a knife. They are both devoted to horizontal cross draw now.

This guy rides bouncy horses on purpose. Look above his left front pocket.

If ya look close just below the wife's left elbow>

We've never done a knife show. We do ropings etc. Here's our table with some knives and sheaths ready to sell. At a small little show like this its not uncommon for us to sell 35- 50 knives in a weekend.

Roping competition, Janine is my partner at The Brannaman Pro AM, turns out our Pro, here doing the groundwork, had 4 or 5 of my knives already and I'd never met him before.

Me and "Battleship" ready to go.

If ya miss ya have to get down and do the groundwork, I was recovering from a double hernia repair surgery. Made sure I didn't miss, I didn't.

When "Battleship", his real name is Sonny, goes, steer comes with. Wes our Pro caught and so Janine got down to do the groundwork.

Close up of the wife's knife and sheath while she is modeling these leggings we made for our daughter in law.

Anyhoo point is ya can carry a fixed blade successfully, and safely in the saddle. Just some thought needs to go into it is all. Designed from the saddle for the saddle........

 

[JTB_5]

@jmarston nad B boy&hisdogs

Exactly. Vertical carry is really dangerous horseback. An even bigger problem is lack of retention. What got me on this path of getting that fixed was watching my then girlfriend now wife riding a horse that was bucking and seeing her fixed blade come flying out of her sheath. Couple of jumps later she went flying too, fortunately not landing on the knife. This got me really getting it figured out.

Our company motto is "Designed From the Saddle for the Saddle". Over the years I have tweaked sheath design, fixed blade design and size, for saddle use. I'm not the only one doing this but I have made and sold thousands and thousands of knives and sheaths to working cowboys and ranchers, guys that are horseback daily for their work, not just for recreation or fun. The ranch that my son works on, they are horseback so much that each guy has eight horses in his string! These guys are out there and that is our primary market. Ideal fixed blade knife size for comfortable and safe carry horseback. 5.25" oal to about 6 5/8" oal. If ya want to go larger you limit the safe ways and places to carry. My preference, so much so that by default unless ya order something else you tell me you are right handed you will get a horizontal to almost horizontal carry sheath for above your left front pocket. Bigger knives go to being carried small of the back or what I call SOB.

I can't tell ya how many knives my sheaths have sold for us. Sheath design providing a safe place and retention horseback is paramount. I often see my designs both in leather and steel copied on Instagram and other places. I'm working on a knife for a our new horseshoer, he said he couldn't get it sharp. Well the reason was it was made by another shoer and he bought it at a shoeing convention. Its less than 5" oal and it was made from 5/16" stock and hardly bevelled. I've seen axes that were sharper and had finer slicing ability because they were thinner behind the edge. So I knocked the handle off and re ground the blade for him and will get er fixed up so its usable. Point being it came in a copy of one of my Slotted sheaths. Interesting. Anyhoo pics:

This young lady and her husband both cowboy in AZ and NV and do some guiding too. There choice is SOB as they both carry larger knives. Recently sold them two smaller ones too as they were starting to do more cowboying and less guiding and didn't need as big a knife. They are both devoted to horizontal cross draw now.

This guy rides bouncy horses on purpose. Look above his left front pocket.

If ya look close just below the wife's left elbow>

We've never done a knife show. We do ropings etc. Here's our table with some knives and sheaths ready to sell. At a small little show like this its not uncommon for us to sell 35- 50 knives in a weekend.

Roping competition, Janine is my partner at The Brannaman Pro AM, turns out our Pro, here doing the groundwork, had 4 or 5 of my knives already and I'd never met him before.

Me and "Battleship" ready to go.

If ya miss ya have to get down and do the groundwork, I was recovering from a double hernia repair surgery. Made sure I didn't miss, I didn't.

When "Battleship", his real name is Sonny, goes, steer comes with. Wes our Pro caught and so Janine got down to do the groundwork.

Close up of the wife's knife and sheath while she is modeling these leggings we made for our daughter in law.

Anyhoo point is ya can carry a fixed blade successfully, and safely in the saddle. Just some thought needs to go into it is all. Designed from the saddle for the saddle........

This is awesome! I have no vocational need for a fixed blade, and most days I only get to use my pocket knife for food prep, opening letters, or pulling out splinters from kids' fingers. Still, I love having knives on me, and carrying a fixed blade has been less desirable because of its size and more cumbersome nature for carry (not to mention not appearing very "teacherly"). However, I am growing convinced that buying one of your knives and sheaths would make carrying a fixed blade a real pleasure, even for a sedentary teacher like myself.

 

[Horsewright]

Thanks JTB_5

 

[FarmKid]

Mostly medium stockmans. Do see a few guys with trappers. Most of the folks here are rural blue collar mountain people. When I was younger a yellow case trapper was standard issue with a lot of farmers and guys in the trades. Now it’s stockmans and utility knives. I’d still rather strip a wire, cut drywall, castrate a calf, or

 

[FarmKid]

Cut netwrap off hay with a pocket knife rather than a utility knife. Just seems more manly. Sorry for the two post the first got cut short some how.

 

[tmd_87]

In the Sierra Foothills of California: A lot of the old timers, (my grandfather's generation) carry some sort of multi blade peanut knife. Most of my buddies my age are carrying some sort of modern knife. I have one buddy who consistently has an Anza Fixed blade on him. I have two buddies who exclusively carry a trapper on a belt sheath or in a pocket slip with a buckaroo strap that ties to a belt loop. My dad exclusively carries some sort of modern, usually a Kershaw or Spyderco. I have gifted him traditionals but he doesn't carry them much.

 

[Horsewright]

tmd_87 cool you're in the Sierra. Our ranch includes the southern tip of the whole Sierra range. This ridge is the southern most tip of the Sierra and comes out onto the flats of the Tehachapi Valley. We call it Rocky Point.

Riding with my daughter a few years ago on Rocky Point looking down onto Hwy 58 and across the valley to the Tehachapi Mountains.

Whereabouts are you?

 

[tmd_87]

Horsewright Beautiful country! I'm up North, let's just say between Sacramento and Tahoe "Old Hangtown," born, raised and reside! It's got amazing history, pretty much where the state of California all started due to the gold rush.

 

[Gabriel Velasco]

I have not seen many traditional knives in my area. Anything I see on people's belts is usually tacticool.

 

[WinchesteRalox]

Got something else to add to my own observations, in the town north of me they have a gun show every two months and I always make sure to get to at least two or three a year and the most predominate traditionals there are worn down yellow case trappers Other popular knives there include imperial kamp kings, plenty of beautiful buck 110s and the occasional 112. Oh and one more thing I want spotted a woman at the library with a small buck fixed blade on her belt And if I really think about it I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a few various different people with small fixed blades on their belts I just can’t remember where or when, also my grandmother and uncle Carry SAK Classics on their keychains, and my grandfather sometimes carries his old red handled imperial scout knife In fact that was the knife that he taught me to sharpen

 

[WinchesteRalox]

Bump. Some guys at Ocktoberfest had jagdnickers in there lederhosen.