Why do you carry a Traditional?

I really agree with all of the posts. But for me it really boils down to that it is a thing of beauty and function with a blade so I'm gonna love it. Like women and pizza I'll like some more than others but tend to like them all.
 
Dad taught me at an early age how to patch bike tires, to fix and repair old coaster brake bikes etc. Part of all that was my own tool kit and of course my own pocket knife. He always had one and I did too as long as I can remember. Always carried a traditional knife in my pocket and still do. I also carry my modern folder or folders.

Tools and knives and more tools and more knives.
 
When I was a boy my father was a traveling salesman for Belknap Hardware Co. He travelled small towns in south central Tennessee and in the summertime I got to ride with him when he went from store to store throughout rural Tennessee. The very first thing I did coming into the store was to find the knife display case. This is usually where you would find me. Gazing with undisguised envy
at dozens of pocket knives. One day he brought home a salesman's sample role of Case knives, and even though John Primble was Belknap's signature line, I fell in love with Case knives. That week I opened more pocket knives and cut myself more times than a ten year old boy should legally be allowed. It has been that way ever since. There is something about a well crafted traditionally patterned pocket knife that cannot be matched
 
Great story, Mike! :thumbup::thumbup:
Welcome to the Traditional subforum; lots of incredible people here. :)

- GT
 
Mikecrowder said:
When I was a boy my father was a traveling salesman for Belknap Hardware Co. He travelled small towns in south central Tennessee and in the summertime I got to ride with him when he went from store to store throughout rural Tennessee. The very first thing I did coming into the store was to find the knife display case. This is usually where you would find me. Gazing with undisguised envy
at dozens of pocket knives. One day he brought home a salesman's sample role of Case knives, and even though John Primble was Belknap's signature line, I fell in love with Case knives. That week I opened more pocket knives and cut myself more times than a ten year old boy should legally be allowed. It has been that way ever since. There is something about a well crafted traditionally patterned pocket knife that cannot be matched
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Some of it mirrors my own childhood and I am still cutting my fingers too!
 
This Old Timer is one reason I carry a Traditional. It belonged to my Grandfather. He passed in 1968. My Grandmother
gave me this knife when the family gathered after the funeral service. I was 14 at the time. The 2nd reason I carry a
Traditional is because I get to hang out here with some of the kindest and most generous people I know. Modern is OK,
I do own some Modern knives, but to me Traditional just feels right! :cool:

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My father always had a peanut or small pen knife on him, always an Old Timer. He used it to clean his fingernails before church every Sunday morning, and would pass it to me so I could clean my fingernails. This usually happened in the back of church, with the ushers and other late comers standing there. It was not a big deal.

Over the years, I was always enthralled by knives, swords and sharp weapons. I gradually left behind my Old Timer Cave Bear, and moved on to one handed openers. I bought and traded for a few slipjoints here and there, got some really nice puukkos, but I stayed with the big camp choppers that you needed a porter to carry, same for some of the giant framelocks I carried.

One day I decided to leave the one hand opener in my truck. Then at home. After awhile I decided to trade most of my one handers and choppers and devote myself to high end one hand openers and slipjoints. I've been slowly getting rid of my one hand opener remnants.

I like slipjoints because there are so many patterns available, so many handle materials, so many makers. I can look at a custom slipjoint and see great craftsmanship that I don't see with a custom frame lock. I see great beauty, and usefulness in these knives. I just don't see that in one hand openers. If I actually want to cut something, whether string or food in the kitchen, I have no problem using my slipjoint. The edges aren't too thick, you don't feel like you're using an ibeam to saw through meat or cheese or bread.

Hanging out with real deal woodsman, and having learned from them, I don't really need a folder all the time. A fixed blade works with no issue out in the woods. Match that with a sturdy slipjoint, and common sense which I am blessed to have a smidgen of, and you'll be fine.

I can look at a slipjoint and see a work of art. I look at some of these folding anvils and don't see anything but a tool.
 
I still like some one handers. A Benchmade which matches my birthday, July 10th. A balisong from them. My first micarta Sebenza. Other than those three, I don't think I'm going to get anymore one handers. I'm trying my hardest to not trade for another CRK with a local dealer. I never used the two I had, I always used the slipjoints. Never got into any life or death situations that called for a one hander. They are very useful, but not for me anymore. I do work in Baltimore, not quite in the Wire neighborhoods, but not far enough!
 
I can remember my grandpa cleaning his fingernails sitting on a picnic table under a shade tree. Good memories

silenthunterstudios said:
My father always had a peanut or small pen knife on him, always an Old Timer. He used it to clean his fingernails before church every Sunday morning, and would pass it to me so I could clean my fingernails. This usually happened in the back of church, with the ushers and other late comers standing there. It was not a big deal.

Over the years, I was always enthralled by knives, swords and sharp weapons. I gradually left behind my Old Timer Cave Bear, and moved on to one handed openers. I bought and traded for a few slipjoints here and there, got some really nice puukkos, but I stayed with the big camp choppers that you needed a porter to carry, same for some of the giant framelocks I carried.

One day I decided to leave the one hand opener in my truck. Then at home. After awhile I decided to trade most of my one handers and choppers and devote myself to high end one hand openers and slipjoints. I've been slowly getting rid of my one hand opener remnants.

I like slipjoints because there are so many patterns available, so many handle materials, so many makers. I can look at a custom slipjoint and see great craftsmanship that I don't see with a custom frame lock. I see great beauty, and usefulness in these knives. I just don't see that in one hand openers. If I actually want to cut something, whether string or food in the kitchen, I have no problem using my slipjoint. The edges aren't too thick, you don't feel like you're using an ibeam to saw through meat or cheese or bread.

Hanging out with real deal woodsman, and having learned from them, I don't really need a folder all the time. A fixed blade works with no issue out in the woods. Match that with a sturdy slipjoint, and common sense which I am blessed to have a smidgen of, and you'll be fine.

I can look at a slipjoint and see a work of art. I look at some of these folding anvils and don't see anything but a tool.
Click to expand...
 
I despise clips on knives. Too many reasons to list 😡 So that's one reason I like traditional...
 
I don't like clips, they are uncomfortable when gripping the knife.
I don't "trust" those new fangled liner locks, or locks that require locking the lock.
I don't have any use for a partially serrated blade - or a fully serrated blade, for that matter, unless it is a bread knife.
I don't like the bulky/squared "tactical" styling of most modern knives. Also, my job precludes any knife that could be construed as a "weapon", and has a blade over 3 8/8 inches.
I'm old. A slip joint and/or a Buck 110 type lock back has performed every task I've used a folding knife for.
I'm old. I like the traditional styling.
 
I carry a traditional knife because I dont use it for a weapon. I mostly carry an old timer stockman 34OT. I carry a springfield armory 1911 for my weapon.
 
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I guess my love of traditionals stems from growing up watching my grandpa, father and uncles carrying and using their Case trapper or stockman's in their everyday life. At one point of my young life I was in a Spyderco phase for many years till my sister gifted me a Case 3375 CV and the rest is history. I love traditionals because the history behind my favorite patterns, and feeling that they are a work of art. I enjoy viewing the patina taking hold of the carbon blades, the bone jigged covers becoming pocket worn, and seeing them develop their "character". I love my Tidioute Cuban stockman and my two samples of Cases xx75 in CV.
 
I carry a traditional for a lot of reasons...mainly because they work so well.

I live out in the country, and coon hunt quite a bit, so i am outdoors a lot.

Working around livestock there is always something to use a knife for, and spending a lot of time in the woods there is too.

I carried Trappers and Stockmans almost exclusively as a kid, or one of those big, two blade folding hunters in my back pocket, so that's what I am used to.

Lately I am developing a real fondness for Sodbusters, partly due to arthritis in my hands.

The blade profiles are made for cutting, and that's what I carry a knife for.

I drive a Ford Truck and wear Resistol hats and Justin boots, so it's pretty consistent to pack a traditional I guess. :)
 
I like traditionals mostly for how they work and how they're made.
Carrying them tunes me into an earlier time I feel a nostalgia for, earlier times when folks carried pocket knives...
they remind me of old hardware stores with creaky floors, I loved looking in the knife cases when I was a kid.
I remember the old feed 'n seed stores, saw-dust, guys in overalls carrying these kinds of knives.
I've got some European traditionals that I feel the same for... My Laguiole, or Le Thiers taps me into an earlier time and place
of cutting into a French cheese and some good bread at a cafe with coffee... same with doing long, heavy cutting tasks with a Case Trapper or Stockman.
It's an appreciation, I enjoy my knives very much.
 
I like and carry traditional knives but I also really like modern designs as well. I see beauty and utility in both types.
 
I have always carried pocket knife, but for many years, was a Kershaw from the box store. Then I bought an Emerson, which lead to reading more on knives an a few more from Emerson, Gerber, Benchmade, and Protech, most of which automatics. But then something changed, all great knives, just too aggressive for some settings, so decided to buy a Case Texas Jack for the pocket and leave the large knives stowed.

From there now hooked and sold off many of the tactical knives except for a favorite few to buy more traditional slip joints.

Generally a pocket knife is a right of passage from boy to man that carries along most American men's lives. The traditionals are nostalgic as they are gentlemanly, like the ones your father had and his father before him. It's fun to collect them and change up different knives on different days.

A nice traditional folder is like a nice watch or a nice writing instrument. The world today is both so digital and disposable. There is something to be said for analog craftsmanship, especially from a proud American maker where you have have a personal item that can be passed down generations.
 
I carry a traditional for a few reasons.



The first being that it reminds me of my grandfathers and my dad. All three are farmers (dairy, tobacco, grain, and hogs). All three carried knives as tools. They didn't constantly obssess over the newest steels, opening mechanisms, or handle material. They mostly carried stockmans. They used knives as the tools they were designed to be, and then if they broke they bought a new one.



I also carry it to remind me to slow down. This world is moving way too fast; even for a younger guy like myself. These knives remind me to take time for the important things and not to stress over the two seconds it takes to open a knife with two hands. It also reminds me not trust locking systems, but rather to use a knife wisely and for its intended purpose.



The final reason is because it reminds me of being a man. These knives were carried by the greatest men I have ever known. If it was good enough for them then it is good enough for me. In a world that is rapidly devaluing the importance of manhood I take pride in carrying a well-made tool that has been carried by generations before. While I appreciate the beauty of a modern folder, there is just something about those old knives; it takes me back to a day when men were men! A day when it was essential to be a man's man. I may have been born in more recent years but nothing connects with my spirit like the stories and examples from my dad and grandpas.



We are way too spoiled in modern society. When I carry a traditional knife it reminds me of how hard my forefathers worked. It reminds me not to take what I have for granted and to put my back into it just a little more. I hope that one day I can be like the great men that have gone on before me. Carrying a traditional knife brings me one small step closer to that goal.
 
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