Why do you carry a Traditional?

All the talk of tradition and beauty is so true. Keep it coming, it is heartspeak.

But, to make a quick point this morning...

I carry a traditional because it is the best tool for the job. It's non-threatening gestalt is a real asset while carrying a pocket knife always. Thin blades tending to carbon steel like alloys are slicers easy to keep very sharp. A bigger traditional covers most all heavier cutting.

They just make the best "pocket knives".
 
Because I always had one in my working bag if not in my pocket (really needed it). now that I am retired I can have more sexy knives than will be less prone to "borrowing" (another way of saying stealing). I always was a knife amateur in the 2 meanings of the French word : the one wo likes it and the one who doesn't know much about it.
 
Simply put, as a child I idolized my granddaddy. He always carried "working knives". Buck 110's, Case stockman, Buck fixed blades, old Boker, old Shrade, etc. He used his knives for work, hunting, fishing, and in his later years around the house for opening packages and mail. Up until the day he died he was my favorite human being. I was lucky enough to receive an old 1982 Buck 110, same as my birth year, when he passed. I received many other knives but this one meant the most as it was the first knife I was allowed to use when fishing at the age of 7-8. I used this knife for all kinds of little tasks throughout the years and always wanted it for my own. I knew I could buy a vintage Buck 100 easily but this one had my granddaddy's DNA engrained in it and told many stories of good and bad times. Ever since that cheap 110 I have been obsessed with the older lock backs and slip joints. I will never forget the lessons my granddaddy taught me with his knives and all the useful, handy man tasks I picked up along the way.
 
In the post above Rick is on the right track. I don't own any "Black" guns, don't have that mentality.
And they cut well.
Ken.
 
I dont have a really great story for carrying a traditional knives like some of the fine posts here. No one in my family is a regular knife carrier. My dad had an old lock back when I was a kid and I did idolize that knife when I was a youngin. For me, I always have really liked knives. When I was a kid I used a carried a variety of knives including SAK copies as well as Buck and a few other knives (mostly junk by my standards now). Later in life (early twenties I guess) I started getting back into knives and was mostly into more clipped knives as they were what was readily available in the area around me. I collected modern folders for quite some time and came to bladeforums because of my love for those knives. Fast forward a few years and I came across this very forum and it is here where my love for traditionals were born. I really liked the feel of this forum and a lot of the members here remind me of a better time and place. Some of the stories from Carl and such really strike a cord for me. Overtime, my love for traditionals grew and grew and it is the only knife I really put in my pocket these days. I still have a few modern folders that I picked up years ago but my draw for those is a thing of the past.
 
When I was a kid , many years ago , every boy had a knive to play splits during school recess . So carrying a a traditional folder was just the thing to do back then. I carry one or more every day now because that is my taste in knives and just because I can. I also find that there is always something that needs to be cut or scraped or dug out.

Harry
 
Thalestin said:
I dont have a really great story for carrying a traditional knives... No one in my family is a regular knife carrier. ...For me, I always have really liked knives. ...Fast forward a few years and I came across this very forum and it is here where my love for traditionals were born. I really liked the feel of this forum and a lot of the members here remind me of a better time and place. Some of the stories from Carl and such really strike a cord for me. Overtime, my love for traditionals grew and grew and it is the only knife I really put in my pocket these days.
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I think that's a pretty great story. Maybe because it's not unlike my own and probably quite a few others around here.
Thanks for sharing,
-James-
 
While I am just getting into the beauty that is patina and stag, I have always loved the looks and variations of traditionals. My grandfather collected knives, and when he died of cancer I received two knives from him, a Westmark(?) trapper and a case russlock in yellowbone. I generally carry a fixed blade swamp warden in my back pocket, a modern folder in the front. I've started carrying a traditional in my other front pocket, just because it can disappear, waiting to be used. I can pull it out even on campus and usually nobody cares. I carry a fixed blade because I need a sharpened crowbar more often than not. I carry a modern folder because if I get into a self defense situation I'll need it. I carry a traditional because I want a knife.
Beyond that, stag makes me think of my only true favorite place, the woods, hunting, deer camp with black coffee listening to my grandfather tell me how proud he is of me.
 
It's the anti-tactical. The "tactical" theme is like a runaway train-pretty sick of it. My first knives were all traditional slip-joints or lock-backs. I like it that way. Not saying I don't like modern blades (I really do), but a lot of them have turned into sharpened pry bars that can't cut nearly as well. They're the best at doing the job a knife is meant to do-CUTTING!
 
Brett
Of the charts beautiful pair!!!!! The stag is exceptional and the palm is a grail:thumbup::thumbup:!!
 
Why do I carry a Traditional ? They get the Job Done. No dancing girls, bells or whistles..... fold it up and do it again next time.
 
I was in the clinic and took out a cheap sanrenmu knife that had a liner lock. I had flicked it open and the doctor asked if it was a switchblade. I replied no but he said thats still a gravity knife, you can get arrested if they catch you with it. I switched to a boker slimline and hes since called it a "grandpa knife". A traditional is more sheeple friendly i guess. They do flop around in my scrubs knee pocket tho
 
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I find the traditionals to have a lot more character and personality than a "tactical" folder. And I like the blade selection of a multi blade knife.
 
D.B Cooper said:
I find the traditionals to have a lot more character and personality than a "tactical" folder. And I like the blade selection of a multi blade knife.
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Couldn't agree more, I still like single blades, but the character is off the charts IMO. I do enjoy the multi blades from time to time though. Here is my #15 making lanyards for early goose season opener tomorrow!

 
Ix-Nay on the "sheeple" comments, please. Traditional is an insult-free zone. That's part of why we come here.
 
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