When did you realize that carrying a slipjoint was important.

K

kidwholaughs

Joined
Jan 17, 2004
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1,189
Hey guys,

I have always like pocket knives. Unlike in the States, children were expected to learn how to properly sharpen pencils with their friction folders in kindergarten. As a result, I developed an appreciation for everything sharp early on. Sometimes it is those non knife moments that makes you appreciate having a slipjoint all the more.

The consicious moment that I decided to carry a slipjoint was the summer of my fifth or six grade. A friend of my mother had decided to take me and her daughter to wind around the Blue Ridge Mtns. We had picked up a watermelon in Boone NC, where we had been for a few days visiting the Twisty(sp?) RailRoad. Some where towards the direction Pigeon Forge TN to go see Dollywood, we had checked in to a motel and decided to open up the watermelon.

Lo and behold, not a knife was to be found. Finally out of desperation, a nail file was produced. It was throughly washed and scrubed. To make a long story short, it was a waste of a perfectly good watermelon.:)

From THAT point on, I made an consicious effort to always have a slipjoint with me.

What was your consicious moment when you decided to no get caught off guard without a slipjoint.

God Bless
 
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I never realized that carrying a slipjoint per se was important, but I did finally see the value in carrying a pocketknife a year or two after graduating college. I've always liked knives, but I never carried one when I was younger. Once I started carrying a pocketknife I wondered how I ever got by without one. There are several times a day, several tasks a day where I use my pocketknife. That sharp edge in my pocket makes everyday tasks easier.
 
Hi,

Having grown up on a farm, I always thought if you had your pants on, you had a pocket knife and a pliers. And if you didn't have a knife and pliers on you, you should go back inside and put your pants on!:D

dalee
 
I think about the time I became concious of what was going on around me. Being a little kid and seeing all the men flk in the family taking out small pocket knives and doing things, fixing things, made me very aware at an early age a male person was supposed to have a knife in a pocket. Pup sees adults, and copies behavior.
 
I agree with Jackknife:

My father grew up on a mill built by his father, and my mother grew up on her family's farm. Everyone around me--parents, relatives, their friends--carried a slipjoint (you were a little odd if you didn't own/carry a knife). Those impressions are of my earliest, so it wasn't a realization as much as learning the way life was supposed to be. I will say that some of the "proudest" moments when I was little were of choosing just the right slipjoints for my father as Christmas presents; he was extraordinarily tough on knives so I got to do that more than a couple of times.
 
Grandpa carried a knife so I wanted a knife. Gave me my first one (I'm guessing) when I was six or seven. Never been without one since.

Of course Mrs.Bernhardt took my Kamp-King away once for my opening it at my desk in 5th grade for some chore or other. Was given back the next day as I recall. A different time to be sure.
 
I'm another one that grew up on a farm,by the time I was 5 or 6,one of my chores was to feed hay to the cows and you needed a knife to cut the strings.There were always things to be cut,bags,strings holding bags shut,you name it,having a knife on you was a given.:D
 
I realized that carrying a slipjoint was important when I took note of the surprise and alarm exhibited by the sheeple at the college I was attending every time I produced my Benchmade or Spyderco. I've always loved traditional folders, but never realized how important it was to EDC one until then. I also still EDC my more modern pieces, though.
 
When I started fishing in my early teens. It wasn't so much a slip joint being important, but a knife in general. And that knife was a Buck 119. Since then I always had to have some kind of knife on me. They ranged from Mora to a Buck 442, Schrade Beast USA. Anything that Wal-mart was selling at the time I managed to get my hands on by saving money and having someone old enough by it for me.
 
I grew up around knives and guns, lots of knives and guns. I basically learned how to read off of Guns & Ammo, Shooting Times, American Rifleman, The Sportsman's Guide Catalog, several other mail order military surplus catalogs I can't remember, and the Smokey Mountain Knife Works Catalog. In fact, when I took my first DRP (Degrees of Reading Power) test in elementary school my 'advanced reading' gave me the necessary vocab to (basically) max out the test :) I liked all sorts of guns and knives. I remember the various Case knives in the SMKW catalog especially vividly. My first pocket knife was an SAK clone. I got a locking folder shortly after. I always figured that the not-locking knife was more friendly to carry (just in case it ended up somewhere it shouldn't have) and it was also easier for my small fingers to use (I hated manipulating the lock button).
 
I never thought of it as important...it was normal, everyone carried them. It was a gift from your father that you received that signaled that you were now considered responsible.
 
When as a boy watching my Father and Grandfather use their stockmans when something needed cut and the kitchen was a good ways off.
 
After only carrying tacticals with pocket clips, I bought a slippy, and when I had it in there with my loose change, keys, and other pocketry item I remembered my grand dad who passed away 11 yrs ago, who has always been my hero, other than my dad. I felt a connection with him since him and my dad were slip joint guys. Thats when I decided to always carry a slipjoint. I thought it was only going to be one, but has turned to many.:o
 
It was a couple of years ago, right after I bought a Sebenza. I stumbled on to this forum, bought a couple of Case's, SAK's, and others. The Sebbie has been in the safe ever since. Sort of coincided with turning 60 and being able to afford a CRK, then realizing I didn't need it.
 
I am suprised by the number of people who grew up on farms. It must have been a jolly of a child hood. I was born in an university with a book in one hand and a pen in the other. My parents did not carry knives. My only trace to liking pocket knives was that my grand father was a tradesmen. To his knowledge, he was a 6th generation sliversmith, it may have went back further in the family. He passed on to me a passion for love for metal and it's beauty. I am pretty sure he loved knives.

God Bless
 
I went from a Spyderco Caly 3 to an Opinel #8. Quite a jump in terms of the type of knife I think. The slipjoint was the perfect balance between a friction folder and a lockback, and it allows me to carry more than one blade at a time, which I've really come to like and, to tell you the truth, would have trouble going back.
 
I remember watching my dad pull out his Old Timer stockman to do whatever needed doing. Even something as simple as opening up the mail.

This was his.
DPP_012.jpg


My wife gave me a SAK Huntsman for the first Christmas after we where married.
DPP_006.jpg


But I bit my nails so I carried it but did not use it much. Well I stopped bighting my nails a while back because I wanted to be able to use slipjoints. I have been struggling with the nail bighting, but my thumb nail is still long enough to open them.

Bill
 
Like a lot of others, I never made a conscious decision to carry a knife. When and where I grew up, guys carried knives. Since this was before Buck made the lockback common and popular, we carried slipjoints.
 
Men folk carried them so it was a given. Needed one for scout adventures and you never knew when you would be ship wrecked like the Swiss Family Robisons. Even in the midwest......
We could have them at school they couldn't be switch blades, they stayed in your pocket and they had to be folders. One kid brought a bayonet and had it in his desk and got four licks for it. You could hear them whack clear down the end of the hall. Those were the days weren't they.....
300Bucks
 
Being I somehow ground out something knife shaped when I was like 7 years old (seriously) and my dad came home from work and said Boy what in the hell were you doin?. I'd have to agree with jacknife as long as I can conciously remember there was a need for a knife. Since it has obviously gone through the passion and obsession stages.I don't really ever think about being without one though it bothers me on airlines to have to fly without one.
Ken
 
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