Whats your most useful slipjoint

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fishcakes

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Apr 18, 2015
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Hey guys, ive just started looking into slipjoints,(ive got a peanut on its way to me. I blame all the pretty pics in the peanut cult thread:rolleyes:)and i was wondering, whats your most useful traditional knife in terms of day to day use?

Im talking blade shape, size, what you generally use the knife for. You know, the whole shebang.

Pics are most appreciated.:D
 
Hmmm, useful slip joint?

Hard question, as my most useful slip joint may not be my most used and loved one. I have problems when the ego and the id fight. Going on sheer utility usefulness is my alox SAK's. LIke my old Wenger SI or pioneer Vic. The basic scout pattern is very hard to out do for plain everyday utility. Nice size, nice wide spear blade for great geometry at the edge. Some basic tools in a compact package.

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But for the business of cutting, the SAK is a little handicapped. For sheer cutting and slicing it's hard to beat a stockman with a nice assortment of blades led off by a nice clip. I do like a fine point on my everyday blade. Someitmes I team up a traditional type like a stickman with a SAK.
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But for every day in and day out, the small clip point takes first place. My all time most carried knife these days, a peanut type, is a clip, and it's useful every single day on something. So I guess I'll vote clip point. I love a nice clip!!:)
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Well, I am a tradesman and work with my hands all the time. I like a slipjoint that fills the hand well but doesn't feel like a brick in the pocket.

My GEC 72 Cody Jack runs at 3.875" with a drop point main and a pen secondary. The main blade I keep sharp but not as polished as the pen. I am often cutting in abrasive environments which dull a polished edge as quickly as a toothy one. I keep my pen blade hair popping sharp for things like hangnail trimming and sliver slicing.

It performs well on the trail as well as a formidable food slicer, fish unzipper and rabbit biforcator.

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Most useful? There's no right or wrong answer. The Victorinox Classic my dad (a retired dentist) totes and uses countless times a day wouldn't fit the bill for a rancher, perhaps. And vice versa ...... Dad would never carry a big ole stockman or trapper or even full-sized SAK. Those just wouldn't fit his lifestyle and attire -- thus, they wouldn't be very useful for him.
 
Useful is going to be very subjective... There are lots of useful tools on my tinker, but it's a little bulky sometimes. If I want just a cutting edge, my favorite is a whittler pattern. (Sorry no pics of the whittler)
 
Welcome to the Tradional knife world :)

I agree with jackknife on this. The SAK Pioneer is nearly impossible to beat from a sheer utility pocket knife standpoint. It's great quality, very affordable and provides a wonderful package of useful tools for the average person's day to day needs.

The Stockman and it's three blades makes for a great dedicated cutting tool. (I see the SAK more as a tool that happens to have a pretty darned good blade on it too - so I carry the SAK Farmer or Pioneer, but my "knife" is typically a Barlow or Stockman). My actual "knife" is a traditional that's 3.5" to 3.75" closed. This can vary up or down in size depending on your lifestyle and typical mode of dress. I wear Carhartt work pants or similar, so the pockets are sturdy and robust compared to dress slacks for example. I can carry a larger knife in my front pockets and not even notice it. If I wore dress slacks I couldn't carry these very well.

After saying all that, there are many very cool traditionals. Choose what suits your lifestyle and needs, Barlow, Texas Jack, Peanut, etc. An SAK of whatever size is a great choice also.

For most of this year now it's been something like this for me...
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Vic Pioneer and GEC #77 Barlow
 
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Interesting point, I find ALL my slipjoints useful as they are pleasing knives - that's a major utility to me anyway. Certainly, candidates such as the SAK Farmer are going to feature but I don't actually carry one on my person, it is in a kitchen drawer for household jobs or in my day-pack for walks/trips.

Recently, this one has found a lot of favour: normally I dislike knives with shackles/bails as I find they can get in the way on a multi-blade yet this one works well both from an aesthetic and practical perspective. It hangs on a hook in the kitchen, ever-ready. The screwdriver at the end of the bottle-opener is certainly useful, a Sheepfoot blade is very handy for slicing foods,fruits or scoring stuff around the house (easy to sharpen another useful feature) Then there's the opener,:D I enjoy beers and cider and there's a lot of bottled crown stopper stuff still in Europe even some mineral-waters still retain them. Never been at all keen on soft-drinks, what you call sodas, I thank my parents for never encouraging me to drink sweet fizzy stuff when a kid, but there are still a few of these needing an opener, I hear.

But at the end of the day, nearly all Traditional knives have an inbuilt usefulness factor, one reason they've survived and thrived:thumbup:

Thanks, Will
 
I asked my grandfather that question once, and his answer was "the one you have with you, if you know what you're doing,". That being said, I guess it depends on what you find yourself doing with your knife. I personally either have a Vic Cadet if I'm going to be at the office, or a Vic Pioneer if i'm away from the office. If I'm in a whittling mood, I either have my #38 Grinling Whittler or my little 30 year old Buck 303. All knives have their strengths and weaknesses. Granddad did everything with an Imperial or Colonial Barlow depending on what he had found cheaper to replace his previous Barlow after he wore it out.
 
It's all a matter of preference. A majority of folks get by just fine without any sort of knife. I don't know how they do it, but they do.

I like single blade slipjoints ~ 3 3/4" closed. It strikes the perfect balance between ease of carry and comfort of use for me. Something like the GEC #73.

 
I find the stockman pattern the most useful. Usually a medium size Case or Old Timer. I really like the choice of blades.

If I'm wearing nice clothes, I'll choose a small stockman.

That said, I've got a few peanuts I'm partial to as well.
 
I think two blades is enough and don't want the weight or thickness of more, or for the blades to be thinner to accommodate more than two. With two blades, I use the smaller for utility (opening boxes, whittling, day-to-day tasks), and keep the larger continually sharp and clean (no adhesive residue or tree gum). A one-blade knife is just as suitable but more discipline must be exercised to keep it sharp in spite of the variety of uses.

I prefer the spear point and its flat grind (as on a Canoe) over the hollow-ground clip point of a Whittler, Peanut, or Trapper, but the pen blade is the one I use the most frequently and for the widest variety of purposes. The pen blade can open boxes, whittle a feather stick, cut a branch off, slice fruit, cut a cluster of grapes off the vine, open an envelope, sharpen a pencil, dissect a seed, whittle a spoon or fork from a twig, jimmy a simple lock, turn a screw, clear out a brass cartridge, clean a primer pocket, trim a plastic nose off a tube of glue or caulk. Why I can't think of much anything a pen knife can't do other than easily fell a wrist-thick tree or limb a downed tree. I suppose owing to its short length it's not the best for cutting your steak. Those purposes are better served by an ax or hatchet and a fixed blade that is washed with the dishes. The pen blade would leave you wanting for self-defense purposes, or to skin a buck or dress a hog, but for many of us, those are once-in-a-lifetime uses. There is no small or medium sized folder that wouldn't leave us equally wanting for any of those purposes for which a pen blade is not quite suitable.

So I'd have to say the pen blade is the most useful traditional blade for day to day use. The reason the Peanut works is because it is so equipped, and even offers a surplus of an additional clip point blade. Therefore, it's really more knife than most people will use.
 
Hard to beat a Swiss Army or Scout knife for usefulness and utility. As for one with blades only, my vote goes to the Stockman.
 
My Case single blade peanut. In Damascus. People have told me to put it up, or in a display case, don't carry it, but they fall in love with the little knife. Out here on the east coast, small knives like the peanut might get a stare, but not a stampede like the other big knives in my pocket. Nothing at work, although there is an OPM rule that any pen knives with a blade under 2.5" are allowed. It changes from building to building, agency to agency. Is it worth your job to carry at work? Not to me. Outside of work, I might have any number of slipjoints on me, sometimes as many as 5, that peanut is the best. I am afraid of breaking the blade, so it doesn't get every job, but use the right tool. Zulu pattern, barlows, dogleg jacks, Lanny's Clips. That's what I mainly carry. Working outside or just goofing off outside on my fathers property or on the trail. Admittedly, usually opening a knife package.
 
I think the slip joint I use most is my Buck 301 stockman. My Marbles scout/camp knife would run a close second.
 
The Vic Farmer or Pioneer is hard to beat. But the Remington R-4 is equally awesome. Gotta love the spear and coping blade, plus all of the extra tool goodies.

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I am probably not a good example because my day-to-day usage is pretty minimal.

I would have to say my Victorinox Alox Cadet, since it has other useful tools but is flat and light and so just disappears in my pocket until needed.

For a pure knife without other tools, I like a 3-blade Stockman pattern for the variety of blade shapes, assuming you have cutting tasks that benefit from the different shapes.
 
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