When do slipjoints/traditionals excel

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fluKeKe

Joined
Aug 28, 2011
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Alright guys like most people I got into knives with the new framelocks and flippers. I recently got a buck 382 and I have a buck 110 on the way.

In what situations do you guys find that slipjoints/traditional knives excel. It could be cutting wise or just a normal life situation. Basically why do you choose this style of knife over others.
 
The warmth of a knife steeped in tradition that you could ever or will ever receive from a linerlock, framelock or flipper.....................
 
Ya tradition for sure but to me they show craftmanship,pride in ones work something that is definatlly lacking in todays knives.
 
For the most part they are more comfortable in hand. Most handle designs are shaped to fit your hand and a lot of them place your index finger comfortably right on the handle near the choil of the blade. The blades are usually thin with great profiles designed to cut with little resistance. If you get one with well treated carbon steel it is stupidly easy to keep sharp on simple stones. They tend to be much more pocket friendly and usually lighter.

A lot of the time you can get a great knife under 100 dollars that could all around out perform tactical designs ten fold in the cutting arena. For me, they win every time, unless you get real specifically designed non traditional knives meant to do all the above. Then it comes down to preferring the traditional style. That can come into appreciating hand crafting and natural materials. Pins instead of screws usually.

So for me, although I have tons of tactical knives and non traditional folders that I would never let go, I have come to prefer a traditional for my EDC folder. They do everything I want from a folder and they typically do it better then the tacticals as a whole.

Also, a smooth action slipjoint is really something to enjoy compared to the simple flick it open and click framelock/liner lock.

Then again, I don't have a need for a tactical knife, nor a super heavy duty non traditional folder. I firmly believe this is the role of a good fixed blade. Tradtional or new age.

All IMO :)
 
factory knives dont do it for me,now a custom slipjoint that a craftsman has made on a workbench is a joy to use.
 
bonzodog said:
factory knives dont do it for me,now a custom slipjoint that a craftsman has made on a workbench is a joy to use.
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Why is that? I have both customs and production and I like them both. Just curious about your thoughts. Not knocking your opinion.
 
The more I use knives, the more I notice an inherent advantage in the slicing abilities of thin blades. Geometry of the blade & edge really matters, in terms of how it cuts, and the typically thinner blades in traditional knives really shine in precision slicing.

And traditionals have always offered the choice of multiple blade styles in one pocketable package, which we don't ordinarily see in more modern knives. My favorite pattern is a stockman, largely for this reason. ;)

As mentioned, traditionals have that warmth (character, soul) that just make them feel 'right' in hand. They really are a tool, and completely unpretentious, as opposed to many of the modern, aggressive-looking knives that don't necessarily evoke the same impression, especially among strangers in public places. I've managed to drop a couple of my traditionals in public settings (a Buck 307 stockman, and a Queen Country Cousin), both times from my back pocket while extracting my wallet. In both instances, complete strangers were kind enough to alert me to the fact I'd dropped them, without acting alarmed or intimidated by it. That was a relief, and I'm certain reactions wouldn't have been the same, had I dropped one of my larger Spydercos or something similar.
 
I totally agree with Kevin´s 1st post and David´s post.

What I can add, is that the handle materials feel much warmer than any of theese tacticals. Bone, stag, wood or delrin make it feel absolutely feel confortable to work with. But that´s personally. The natural kept blade, without coating or whatever, make the blade work rightly on the cutting stuff. However, everyone has to choose his own. But if I have the choice between any framelock-tactical-folder-with-hyper-dyper-steel or a jigged-bone-stockman-with-ordinary-carbon-steel I would choose the jigged-bone-stockman-with-ordinary-carbon-steel because of the reasons written above... :)

Kind regards
Andi
 
From a practical perspective, there are so many traditional blade shapes out there that excel at different things. And most of the time, you have at least two of these on a traditional slipjoint. Also, if a lady asks you to cut a stray thread from her dress at a polite dinner party, you won't get any looks pulling out a Case peanut in a nicely jigged bone - and likely you'll get some words of appreciation. Pull out a tacticool looking flipper and you're getting stares. Plus most slipjoints are smaller than modern folders and are more easily pocketable.
 
From what I can tell from your responses it seems most of you have a serious passion for slipjoints. That is something I have not seen from people in other knife categories. Hopefully, I can grow to appreciate them as much as you guys do in the future.
 
fluKeKe said:
From what I can tell from your responses it seems most of you have a serious passion for slipjoints. That is something I have not seen from people in other knife categories. Hopefully, I can grow to appreciate them as much as you guys do in the future.
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Be careful what you wish for... (It's a very slippery (and expensive) slope. Or can be.)
 
Well, Kevin and Elliot told you about that! I can notice, that when you get infected once by the virus, there´s just one healing.... Getting more of theese slippies :D That´s an addiction, but no bad one... My poor wallet

Kind regards
 
One thing that's rarely appreciated is the acceptance of "old style" pocket knives by the general public. I've never had a single person get upset by my pulling out a slipjoint to cut anything from a fingernail to a letter. Often I'll get a response along the lines of "my Dad (or grandfather, or whatever) used to carry a pocket knife too", At that point I can take the conversation to a point where the audiance gains a greater appreciation (if not total acceptance) of someone carrying a blade. In a society where the average person "freaks out" over the sight of someone whittling that's a big first step.

I've carried knives for over 40 years now, and I find my slipjoints get the most use. For day to day stuff they're impossible to beat.
 
For me, slip joints excel at:

1. Having a great blade geometry -- typically on the thin side and full-flat ground (I avoid hollow grinds)
2. Wonderfully simple, comfortable handles that make most modern designs appear overwrought and silly
3. Uncomplicated construction -- fewer parts to worry about breaking or losing tolerances
4. Simple operation
5. Innocuous looking
6. Old world charm

Their downfall is in the use of softer metals such as brass and nickel silver for high-stress areas like the pivot.

But FINALLY, we're seeing companies like Benchmade and Cold Steel update the wonderful old designs with more modern and stronger materials.

That said, I'm still far prefer wood over synthetics for handle scales.

EDIT: I'm in my 30s, if that helps put my opinions in context.
 
Blues said:
Be careful what you wish for... (It's a very slippery (and expensive) slope. Or can be.)
Click to expand...

I was quite smitten with balisongs...in particular flipping them until a bad cut landed me in the ER for stitches on christmas morning. Since then my view on knives has changed a bit and I am still trying to locate a knife style that fits me the most. This being said I was struck with what we like to refer as the "illness" or "Infection" a few months ago. It's to late to save me now. ;)
 
eisman said:
One thing that's rarely appreciated is the acceptance of "old style" pocket knives by the general public. I've never had a single person get upset by my pulling out a slipjoint to cut anything from a fingernail to a letter. Often I'll get a response along the lines of "my Dad (or grandfather, or whatever) used to carry a pocket knife too", At that point I can take the conversation to a point where the audiance gains a greater appreciation (if not total acceptance) of someone carrying a blade. In a society where the average person "freaks out" over the sight of someone whittling that's a big first step.

I've carried knives for over 40 years now, and I find my slipjoints get the most use. For day to day stuff they're impossible to beat.
Click to expand...

That pretty much sums it for me as well.

Aside from the better cutting from the thin fly ground blades, and the warmer more hand friendly feel of nice jigged bone or tropical rosewood, there's the loos of the knife. Somehow, the traditional pocketknives don't get the negative reactions the modern black tactical ones do. In fact, quite the opposite.

I've had people from walks of life that would have freaked out at the sight of some one hand wonder, become very curious about some of my old style pocket knives. A lady librarian in this very liberal MOntgomery County in the Peoples Republik Of Maryland loved my damascus bladed Case Peanut. She wanted to handle it, and ran her fingernail over the steel of the damascus blade, intrigued by the texture. I had the assistant manager of the Tiffany & Company admire the knife, and ask if Case would supply them with that model knife without handles so they could put their own silver scales on them. I had to tell them to take that up with case. An elderly woman at a church function called my bone stag Case a " pretty little knife".

Maybe it's the non threatening way a traditional pocket knife was opened, I've never had a bad reaction of the type I read about on that "other" forum. Maybe it's the almost infinite variety of patterns and materials, plus a history going back well over a hundred years, but society in general seems to accept them much better than a black handle thing with a weird blade shape.

Carl.
 
Carry a slipjoint and a large locking folder together for a week or so. Most likely you will notice very quickly that you are reaching for the slippy 99.9% of the time. They are a joy to use and handle. Take the plunge!
 
I don't have many one hand openers and only a couple of assisted knives. I find that both the one hand openers and the assisted knives elicit negative reactions much more often than traditional knives. My favorite one hand opener (of the ones I own) is a Benchmade 812S mini AFCK that I carried a lot for several years (and it shows the wear from it); it's a very good knife. But, after I got involved in this forum, I began carrying a 194OT that I had come back into possession of. I immediately noticed a difference in how people around me perceived this knife even though the 194OT and the mini AFCK are very similar in blade length and overall length.

As time went by, I moved down from that knife to knives like canoes, the Case Texas Jack, and the mini copperhead. The mini copperhead is my favorite knife to carry every day. The folks that see me use the knife don't get uptight about me using it. Well, I have an order of magnitude, working on the second order of magnitude, more traditionals than modern/tactical knives. I feel more comfortable carrying them and using them.

Ed J
 
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