Your Favorite Traditionals and Why

[black mamba]

As knife owners and users we all have our favorites. Many of us are blessed with MANY knives and therefore have several if not many favorites. Think about your favorite knives and why they are your faves. What makes them special to you? When I began to think about this I realized that I had a lot of favorites and completely different reasons for some of them being on "the list." You may vote for up to three reasons, and please give examples in your posts.

 

[black mamba]

I already voted for my three most common reasons for my many favorites. I am definitely a Walk & Talk fanboy. If a knife has an especially smooth or crisp action with the perfect snap then I'm all in. Pure pleasure just opening and closing the knife without even using it. I've also always been a sucker for gorgeous covers. Doesn't matter whether they are natural or man-made, if they have the "wow factor" then I'm smitten. And lastly but maybe the most important is a meaningful gift. The Porch is such a great and giving place, and some of the knives I've received from other members are among my most treasured and often carried.

Please jump in with your responses!

 

[afishhunter]

My favorite patterns are the large stockman, Scout/Camp/"Demo" knife (and SAK's with scissors, of course), moose, Canoe, (2 blade) Barlow, and large 2 blade jacks.
I also prefer carbon steel blades ... tho most of my accumulation have various grades of stainless blades.
size, action, edge, ergos, was a gift or a great price, and favorite steel, are my excuses. However, I would also add "Versatility" to the excuses of why any particular knife is a "favorite".

 

[Ironbut]

I've been carrying a knife every day for about 70 years now, and I've picked up a few of them over the years.
As far as what makes a knife a favorite, (For me anyway), is:
1. Perfect size. It doesn't matter if it's a fixed blade, a stockman in my pocket, or a Buck folder on my belt; I like the medium size.
2. Right up there, tied for first, is great ergonomics. They're tools, after all, and they have to be comfortable for me to use.
3. Next is steel. While I love carbon blades with great patina, the last 10 years or so, I've gravitated to stainless blades, in more modern steels.

 

[MattWRog]

Size, covers and steel is what I picked. Always looking for the Goldilocks. Only option I would’ve picked not listed is blade configuration. In general single blades, drop or clip point are my favorite with a few exceptions.

 

[Invoice]

First of all it's the covers. Followed by the pattern. Which I have yet to find the perfect one. Large stockman, Barlows and Gunstocks are in the lead. But I always carry a 110. The steel really doesn't matter that much. If it takes an edge that's good enough.

You know, I just love all my knives.

 

[mac0731]

1. Perfect size - some knives come to me, and IMMEDIATELY put into the rotation. I describe it as feeling friendly in the hand. Some knives and patterns I buy more for cover or collection end up surprising me here and in the pocket because I can't help myself. They call to be used.

2. Wonderful action - almost as important. I marked this as second because I do have knives with wonderful action that don't get carried in favor of ones with equal or even slightly inferior that have that friendly feeling. But this can certainly also make or break a favorite for me.

3. Gorgeous covers - this ones a little bit of a wildcard. I might decide to buy a knife strictly because I like the cover option. But it takes a lot more than pretty covers to hit a favorite spot.

Edit: adding some pictures of a few favorites for interest.

 

[PenisMightier]

I am a sentimental person, so something that is sentimental or a meaningful gift was choice for the vote. Having said that, a lot of those other factors do play in.

My favorites are below.

The Imperial Ireland fish knife was one my dad let me keep after finding it in one of his old tackle boxes. The snap on covers had melted old plastic lures on them so I took those off and carried it that way as my only knife for a looong time. Th old Buck my dad carried in the Navy and got hand engraved in port of call in Cochin India. Lastly is the mini-milk as I call it. Not a gift really but sentimental because I made it from a Russel Green River knife blank and handled it myself, made a pocket sheath myself for it, and have used it to prep a lot of meals for my family.

 

[Old Engineer]

Wow Jeff : This really gets a guy to thinking . I , like many of us , have a bunch of knives and I never even started accumulating them until about 2003 . That was after I retired and my kids started gifting me Knives of their choices . Every one of them are made of Unobtainium and are favorites of a sort .
I eventually started buying them myself at Antique stores & etc .
When I discovered GEC in 2015 I bought a couple Northfield 77 Barlows . They are now my benchmark for a Barlow and are 2 of my favorites .

I eventually found this older Taylors Eye Witness which is as solid as any knife that I have . 2 very usable blades , good worm groove jigging on bone handles , and is the one that I go to for some tough work .

I like Stag a lot . I had a couple Stags before 2015 but in 2015 I discovered the Northfield 73's in Stag . Thanks to @paulhillborn . They both have some pretty good Stag and the 73 is a pretty good user as well .

When I need to use a Pruner , I will use this old one and if I want to use a Lambfoot , I will carry this old TEW which is the first one that I ever had . Both of them are old and well built and will get the job done .

I sometimes will buy a knife just because the visual appearance blows me away . These 2 did that .

All of the above knives are just some of my favorites . For today at least and that is subject to change without notice .
I have filled out your voting .

Harry

 

[guy g]

My favorite size is the 3 1/2 +- stockman.. Case 18 , Buck 303 size. I have a Rough Ryder and a 6504 Western that are also in my rotation albeit a bit smaller.

 

[mrknife]

I must admit, i wanted to select every one, since the only thing missing from my collection is a favorite steel, (sorry bill its not 1095 sadly, love it and have many pieces in it but not my favorite). then and again 154 cm is the steel that my pending custom will be in, so some day. Like many here, I too have accumulated a whole bunch, some I will never use but only take out and admire occasionally. But yes, all of the listed reasons are why I added them to my collection. Some patterns dominate my collection and they are the most abundant because they fit most of those reasons.

 

[calm]

Mini toothpick, I like the Buck one, long enough blade, slim and slicy

 

[Modoc ED]

I like a knife that is eye catching, has very good walk & talk, and is useful for whatever cutting task might come along. A stockman knife meets all those categories for me and in particular a Sowbelly Stockman. A three blade version is best for me but a single blade will do just fine too.





Here's one that's pure "eye candy" - worthy of Chicken Eyeing and Coon Fingering 24-7-365




When it comes to useful, a Trapper isn't too far behind.




Truth is I like them all but truth be told that Crimson Sowbelly tops the list.

 

[GaiusJulius]

I voted size, action, and covers. There are many knives that nail one of these, some that get two, but if they nail all three, that’s rare enough to make it into the “favorites” group. And if it was a gift or commemoration on top of that, or has some other human connection to make it special….. THE favorite, surely.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I like small knives and most of my favorite knives are small, some are objectively small and some subjectively small but small in some way nonetheless.


Being small or relatively small is what first drew me to them, and other factors like their aesthetic their covers their ergonomics and their functionality led to them becoming favorites.


My favorite Buck model is the 305 because of it's size, and blade configuration.

These 3 are my favorites for their covers, W&T, and their very consistently ground edges.
The '89 sambar stag example in the middle was also the most expensive hardest to acquire of all my 305's, aside from having gorgeous covers acquiring it felt the most like an achievement.


The Case 08 half whittler is my favorite Case model for it's size mostly, but I also like the aesthetic.
This is my favorite 08 as a user, for it's CV blades.

In some ways I like this one better, the bolsters and covers are rounded more which I prefer.
It is also a special knife because Case themselves contributed it to a special giveaway that I won here on the porch.


All of my favorites run the gamut of reasons of why they're favorites.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

I’ve gotten addicted to the one hand operation, perfect size and beauty of the Russlock.

 

[J Buck]

I have tried many different traditional slip joint pocket knives over the years, trying to find "The One". The sweet spot for me is right at around 3 1/4" or so give or take. My favorite is the Case 08 pattern Medium Jack. I only own 2 in that configuration. Case 22087 in black delrin and an old Schrade 'Old Timer' 0T33. Limited choice's in the Case brand and I missed out on the Red Bone release a while back. I also favor my Buck 303 Stockman, but don't really need the 3rd blade. I prefer a clip and pen blade. SAK's fall in because I like the thin blades. So many choices.......

 

[Old Hunter]

Maybe it's familiarity, but the Stockman pattern has always appealed to me ergonomically and functionally; thus has long been my preferred pocketknife pattern. I have carried the Premium Stockman size, the Stockman pattern Penknives, and everything in between (3-1/4", 3-3/8", 3-1/2", 3-5/8"); hands down I prefer the 3-1/2" "Medium Stockman (my perfect size). I settled on that size about 20 years ago and while I carry quite a few different patterns and sizes, I always gravitate back to either a Case 18 pattern or a Schrade USA 897UH/98OT. Both of those patterns also feature rounded bolsters - I like them best for LFP carry. As to blade steel I'm pretty ambivalent; I like stainless just fine and I like carbon just fine - if Case and Schrade USA decided it would cut, and built it into their knives, I have never been able to prove otherwise. OH

 

[Steven65]

So many favourites but the big 75 pattern Case Stockman's really have a special place.........

 

[Rookie82]

Nice idea for a thread. There are some knives that would fall into nearly all of those categories for me. I voted for 1. Meaningful Gift. 2. Gorgeous Covers. 3. Extremely Rare.

My main collection focuses on the Tuna Valley brand, which began when my grandfather gave me an original 1906 Tuna Valley knife, made in Germany and imported by Case & Sons. It is sentimental because it was his, and has gorgeous mother of pearl handles, and is very very rare. Less than 10 are known to still exist. When he first acquired it, nobody knew anything about it. It took decades before the history of that brand came to light.

Another couple Tuna Valley knives I showed here, the beautiful covers on the blue tinged mammoth ivory. And the rarity of the GEC made cotton samplers from 2012.