Your Educated (or not) Opinion?

afishhunter

afishhunter

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2014
Messages
14,321
What do you think is the most popular traditional multi-blade pattern for EDC?

I've read somewhere recently that the Trapper is the most collected pattern, but "collectable" and "user" are not necessarally the same thing.

While I don't own a trapper (or moose), yet, I've found the stockman, canoe/sunfish, camp/scout, and Barlow to have useful blade combinations for EDC.

Obviously, there is no "right" or "wrong" answer, else we'd all be carrying the same thing.
 
I can't speak for others, but a stockman pattern wins hands down for me. Nice selection of blades, and with a long clip main blade is useful for just about anything.
 
I've wondered about this several times myself. I think the contenders would have to be trapper, stockman, medium jack ( ~3.5" clip or spear main with pen on the same end), and pen knife.

My semi-educated guess though would have to be the scout pattern. Victorinox makes more knives than almost every other slipjoint maker combined. I would say it's a fair bet that the knives they make get carried more than any other.

Out of the others I would guess stockman, for similar reasons. I know that the stockman was Schrade's most popular pattern, and Schrade sold enough knives that I'd say it's a fair bet that their numbers would probably hold true across the industry.

Like I said, I've been curious about this in the past and I'm interested in hearing other people's takes on it. I've also wondered what blade profile is the most popular for use. I know that the spear has to be because of Victorinex, but outside of SAKs I'd think it'd probably be a clip.
 
Cory Hess said:
I've wondered about this several times myself. I think the contenders would have to be trapper, stockman, medium jack ( ~3.5" clip or spear main with pen on the same end), and pen knife.

My semi-educated guess though would have to be the scout pattern. Victorinox makes more knives than almost every other slipjoint maker combined. I would say it's a fair bet that the knives they make get carried more than any other.

Out of the others I would guess stockman, for similar reasons. I know that the stockman was Schrade's most popular pattern, and Schrade sold enough knives that I'd say it's a fair bet that their numbers would probably hold true across the industry.

Like I said, I've been curious about this in the past and I'm interested in hearing other people's takes on it. I've also wondered what blade profile is the most popular for use. I know that the spear has to be because of Victorinex, but outside of SAKs I'd think it'd probably be a clip.
Click to expand...

I think Cory may be on the right track with this. I used to buy knives to give out from a lady at the local gun show back in Maryland. Her stuff was all TSA confiscations, and in each big box dshe had, 95% of the knives were SAK's of some sort. Mostly the small 58mm ones like the classics, ramblers, managers. Mostly classic's. She had so many of the classics in the boxes she bought by the pound, that she'd sell the classics for 3 dollars, or if you bought 5 or more, 2 dollars each. Most were in great shape with the factory edges still on them.

I know things have changed a lot, but when I was a kid, the overwhelming choice of pocket knife was the stereo typical small two blade jack or pen in the 2 7/8 to 3 1/4 range. But that was the 1950's. By the late 1960's the most popular knife in America was the Buck 110.

I think it all depends on the era.
 
I do believe a scout, specifically SAK, would win as Corey said. But I think second place would be stockman. Given the choice between stockman and jack for the rest of my life, I'd choose stockman.



Connor
 
In terms of patterns, I would think a stockman is by far the most popular. I personally don't care for the pattern, but to each their own! I favor the canoe, pen, and congress myself!
I know you didn't ask, but I image that SAK is the most popular brand by a huge margin followed by Case and then Buck.
 
SAK first, then barlow. When I was a kid (70+ years ago) everybody carried a barlow. It's still my favorite pattern even though I carry a SAK Tinker most of the time.

Rich
 
For the average Joe, I would think it's probably a SAK Classic. For knife guys, I'd have to say a stockman.
 
Add one more vote for SAK, then stockman. It just so happens I have more of those than any other, except for Opinel and Mora. All that said, the one I carry the most, for the last three or four months at least, is The RR Improved muskrat.
 
Stockman pattern for a pocketknife and a Buck 110 (or clone) for a heavy duty, workman's knife. OH
 
I carried a stockman daily for years.
Still often do.
 
I agree with Jackknife on the era and also the location. When I got into deer hunting in the mid 80's and being a green kid, I pulled out a huge fixed blade at deer camp and was the butt end of all kinds of Rambo jokes. All the older men seemed to use Buck 110's, and Bucklites and case trappers and Case stockmen, or old Timer stockman. This was in the Ozark Mountains and looking back, they were all probably bought at Wal-Mart because they were cheap and readily available. These guys thought nothing about completely working up a deer from the field to the freezer with only a pocket knife and when they weren't hunting or fishing, most of their jobs were factory, farming, logging and sometimes they did all three, and their deer knife was just the same pocket knife.
Now, you read on the forums and someone suggests a hunting knife and you get all kinds of comments from people who probably never have hunted and the comments are usually along the lines of "you can't process game with a traditional pocket knife".....has to be fixed blade only.
Where I live, I don' t think too much has changed from the above mentioned knives with the guys my age.(40 plus) But in non-hunting situations, add in a sak of some sort, probably a classic on the keychain. Younger guys, especially under 30, I don't really see many traditional knives.
 
jec88 said:
I agree with Jackknife on the era and also the location. When I got into deer hunting in the mid 80's and being a green kid, I pulled out a huge fixed blade at deer camp and was the butt end of all kinds of Rambo jokes. All the older men seemed to use Buck 110's, and Bucklites and case trappers and Case stockmen, or old Timer stockman. This was in the Ozark Mountains and looking back, they were all probably bought at Wal-Mart because they were cheap and readily available. These guys thought nothing about completely working up a deer from the field to the freezer with only a pocket knife and when they weren't hunting or fishing, most of their jobs were factory, farming, logging and sometimes they did all three, and their deer knife was just the same pocket knife.
Now, you read on the forums and someone suggests a hunting knife and you get all kinds of comments from people who probably never have hunted and the comments are usually along the lines of "you can't process game with a traditional pocket knife".....has to be fixed blade only.
Where I live, I don' t think too much has changed from the above mentioned knives with the guys my age.(40 plus) But in non-hunting situations, add in a sak of some sort, probably a classic on the keychain. Younger guys, especially under 30, I don't really see many traditional knives.
Click to expand...

I started my nephew/God Son out "right" with knives. His first knife was an Opinel #7, at age 7. At age 8, he got an Ulster BSA, and a Buck 389 canoe. He likes that he and I have the same knives in our pockets.
 
In my neck of the woods, a lot of guys/gals carry a stockman but many carry two knives with single blades, which I guess would qualify as carrying multiple blades. Most days lately I carry a GEC # 72LB and a Buck #55.
 
When Schrade was still Schrade, on their website site they touted the 34ot medium stockman as the best-selling pocketknife in the world. (I suspect they weren't counting the Victorinox Classic.)

-- Mark
 
I've always preferred the stockman because of the variety of blades it offers, but in rural America the yellow comp Case trapper is nearly ubiquitous. The farmer's choice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top