Why I hate the Peanut

S

SubSpace

Joined
May 26, 2011
Messages
630
I promise I'm not trolling--

First, a little background. I got my first "real" knife when I was twelve years old. It was a Victorinox Farmer, and I bought it with money I received for my birthday that year. Thus began a love affair with the SAK.

By the time I got to college...I'm not sure what it was...but the Farmer was just too much knife to be carrying around. I was never a big guy, especially at that age, so that Farmer made an imprint on every jeans pocket I ever owned. I bought a Vic Spartan and that got me through college, my wedding, and the early years of my career.

By age twenty-six, I began to realize that I didn't use the majority of what the Spartan offered. I mainly used the small blade. Once in a while I'd use the screwdriver. I'm not a beer or soda drinker, so the caplifter only ever got used when someone needed to borrow it. Not once did I use the can opener. And the corkscrew? Not a wine drinker, either.

Being brand loyal, I searched the Vic counter at a local mom and pop and found the Executive. It was the PERFECT knife for me. Small blade, an even smaller backup blade, scissors (always useful to clip stray threads) and a nail file. I thought the orange peeler blade was a cool conversation piece. Except--

--I never used the orange peeler. It was just weight. And I like to go through life these days as light as possible. I bought a Vic Ambassador, which is really a large Classic. My father owned a Classic and it was always on his keychain, but to me it was too small to be of real use. Until--

I tried a Classic. Small. Useful. Could the larger Ambassador do anything the Classic couldn't? (Don't worry...I'm getting to why I hate the Peanut. Just bear with me a little while longer). Why not? So....I converted to the Classic. I have it in Alox. I have it in Stay-glo. I have it in every color imaginable. And there is always one on my keys. Except--

I'm a knife guy. Since an early age, two objects have always fascinated me: watches and knives. I got this passion from my grandfather who, among other things, built clocks. And I'd always see him use his Case tear-drop Jack for just about anything he needed to do with a knife. Once, I found a Swiss Army Knife still in the package in one of his tool boxes. It had been given to him as a gift from someone. I asked him why he never even opened it and he replied, in that John Wayne voice of his, "All a man needs are two good blades."

Well...after reading this forum and various reviews online, I began to learn of the Peanut. Small, like my Classic. But it fit my grandfather's description of what a man's knife should be. And there is something about the Peanut that defies logic. It's smaller than most SAKs, but the actual cutting surface of the clip blade is about the same. It's sort of like the TARDIS from Doctor Who (a box that is bigger on the inside than outside).

Needless to say, my wife got me a Peanut last Christmas. Chestnut bone. CV. I first used it Christmas morning to unwrap other gifts, and it sliced through ribbons, twine, and string almost as if they weren't even there. Chrome Vanadium. Grandpa's steel. I was hooked.

But I'm a knife guy. I've got drawers full of tacticals (a phase I went through. An expensive phase) and over sixty SAKs of various flavors. I loved the Peanut so much I ordered myself a Swayback Jack. Gorgeous knife, and I'd heard so many good things about it. All of them true.

My SBJ arrived on Monday, and I happily carried it all day. And I carried it Tues morning. And then--

This is why I hate the Peanut.

The Peanut my wife gave me sat on my dresser, next to Grandpa's knife. I picked it up. Held it in my right hand, SBJ in my left. The Swayback is almost twice the weight, yet the cutting surface of the blades are roughly the same. The Swayback feels so good in the hand, but it doesn't quite vanish in my pocket like the Peanut does. After holding the SBJ, and then the Peanut, the Peanut feels that much lighter. And that much more magical in the sense that the same cutting power is in both knives.

I think the Peanut may be "the one" for me. Paired with a Classic on my keys, inspired by Jackknife's tales on this forum and the conventional wisdom of my gradnfather, I'm looking at boxes and boxes of knives that more than likely will never see much use again.

I totally love the SBJ, and plan on keeping it. And maybe occasionally slipping it in my pocket and just loving the fact that I can--

But my mind has warped or something. I can't justify other knives, excess weight, excess bulk, when I know the Peanut will do everything I need, and do it extraordinarily well.

My name is Andrew, and this darn Peanut has ruined me as a consumer of all things sharp.

And that's my story.
 
Good story and I can appreciate your epiphany.

But eventually you'll come back around to the dark side...don't say I didn't warn you...;)
 
Great story; I might have to get a peanut now.
I'll take some of those excess knives off your hands, though. ;)
 
SubSpace said:
I can't justify other knives
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Fortunately, you don't have to. :thumbup:

I appreciate your story, and your transition from SAK to Classic to Peanut to SBJ to Peanut again. I go through my own version of blade schizophrenia on a daily basis. I can barely make it through the day without switching out knives once or twice.


40709a002.jpg
 
Powernoodle--I hadn't used my peanut for food prep of any sort yet, but this morning I decided to cut up an apple with it. I wiped it off shortly afterwards, and now it has rather ugly stains all over the blade. I may have to force a patina now just to get it looking fairly decent! I'm still new to non-stainless knives. I kinda just want it to develop naturally, but right now it's in an awkward stage. Kind of like my teenage years...
 
Thanks for the sharing. I myself have never warmed up to the peanut. I know that it's blades are up to the task of doing anything I might encounter in my everyday life, but the problem is the handle size. There isn't enough handle for my tastes. I find that a knife 3.5-4" just about perfect. I don't dispute the extra weight, but slipjoints are pretty light already compared to other knives that I find the weight a non-issue.

- Christian
 
Please, before we get started here, let's leave any further patina dissertations (forced or otherwise) to the maintenance forum. Thanks...
 
SubSpace said:
... And there is something about the Peanut that defies logic. It's smaller than most SAKs, but the actual cutting surface of the clip blade is about the same. It's sort of like the TARDIS from Doctor Who (a box that is bigger on the inside than outside)...

...This is why I hate the Peanut.

The Peanut my wife gave me sat on my dresser, next to Grandpa's knife. I picked it up. Held it in my right hand, SBJ in my left. The Swayback is almost twice the weight, yet the cutting surface of the blades are roughly the same. The Swayback feels so good in the hand, but it doesn't quite vanish in my pocket like the Peanut does. After holding the SBJ, and then the Peanut, the Peanut feels that much lighter. And that much more magical in the sense that the same cutting power is in both knives...

...I think the Peanut may be "the one" for me...

...But my mind has warped or something. I can't justify other knives, excess weight, excess bulk, when I know the Peanut will do everything I need, and do it extraordinarily well.

My name is Andrew, and this darn Peanut has ruined me as a consumer of all things sharp.

And that's my story.
Click to expand...

Be very careful, Andrew. You've taken a step in a dangerous direction! That of becoming a die hard member of the Faithful, of the order of the almighty peanut.

Yes, it is beguiling in a magical way. How can this tiny, innocent looking little jackknife do what it does? And it has the weird quality of being small in outside dimension, while packing the same length blade as some barlow's and SBJ's. Yes, the peanut is a weird little knife, but that good weirdness does not become apparent until you actually carry and use one. Then the spell acts.

But you have stumbled on a truth I finally got out of my old man one day. I was pestering him with the "why the peanut?" inquiry, and I'll always remember something he told me. He said "Look son, lets say I use my pocket knife for as much as 15 whole minutes a day, which is rare. That means that for 23 hours and 45 minutes a day, the darn thing is just sitting in my pocket. For such a small use item I don't want to have to think about it, or even know it's there until I actually need it. Then I take it out, cut what I have to cut, and drop it back in my pocket until I need it again. As long as it does what I have to do, that's good enough for me. The fact that case makes a nice looking knife helps. I don't want to carry an ugly knife or a folding broadsword!"

Now the old man and I didn't always see eye to eye, but I will admit on most things he was 99.9999% right. Especially on small pocket knives. So in my retirement years I've taken to carrying a Case peanut, like the old man did. I am doing more fishing, woods rambling, shooting, and just plain screwing around than ever before. And like Andrew, I've found the little peanut to be enough knife for what I do in my white dwarf years.

But I do have to admit the peanut has an evil side to it. It stops you from carrying other knives. In the past few months, I've carried only the damascus peanut that Jamie gifted me, and my old keyring standby, the Vic classic. Once in a while I carry my old yella CV 'nut out to the club when we're doing work. It breaks down the White Flier boxes for the cardboard recycle dumpster like a box cutter. I've been just fine, and now I have knives on top of my dresser that don't get used anymore. I may have to do some more giveaways. At this late stage of my life, I just may have found my knife.

Carl.
 
Blues said:
But eventually you'll come back around to the dark side...don't say I didn't warn you...;)
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True, true. I have gotten rid of most of the excess knives over the years, but I am still drawn to them at knife and gun shows.

However, with bear paw sized hands, at least in relation to the Peanut, I only bought one for blade length restriction reasons (sub 2.5" blade). However, as Carl can agree, I would probably get along fine with my Vic classic for most of my daily uses.
 
jackknife said:
"Look son, lets say I use my pocket knife for as much as 15 whole minutes a day, which is rare. That means that for 23 hours and 45 minutes a day, the darn thing is just sitting in my pocket. For such a small use item I don't want to have to think about it, or even know it's there until I actually need it. Then I take it out, cut what I have to cut, and drop it back in my pocket until I need it again. As long as it does what I have to do, that's good enough for me. The fact that case makes a nice looking knife helps. I don't want to carry an ugly knife or a folding broadsword!"
Click to expand...

That is one of the most brilliant bits of wisdom I have read in a long time...
 
I love the peanut very much... but its bit small for me. Its scary sharp and takes wicked edge but I really do like Case Pen Knife in CV... bit more handle length for my saucage fingers. But I agree, Penaut is very dangerous knife. Was my first traditional knife and now I am down the slippery slope.
 
You know, I just it my fist peanut not too long ago and I have been so enamored with it that most of my other knives have taken a back seat. I still always have a SAK on my keys (I drink beer so the Rambler is the knife for me) and a Northwoods stag peanut in the pocket. This morning I clipped a SOG knife to my back pocket and as I was getting out of the car to come to work I took it off and left it in the car. The peanut is all I need.
 
I still like 3 5/8ths. But I have found a two-blader that I may have to slip in my pocket and see if it starts ruling supreme. If it does become special maybe I'll even try to take some pictures of it.

I'm pondering a give-away too. You know, when you get a knife and it just sits there in the box, maybe you should pass it on. Still pondering though.
 
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