Hey, it’s one of my favorite threads of the year!
I always look forward to this!
For the past few decades, I've been something of a knife-floozie, finding many, many special knives, which have regularly occupied my pocket for a few weeks, or a few months. I have loved them all, and enjoy pocketing them again from time to time. However, it's been many decades since a knife went in my pocket anywhere near as regularly as my Hartshead Barlow. It's well-made I think, and a pattern I like, but I have lots of well-made knives, and lots of Lambsfoot knives. I struggle to understand what it is about this knife, which has won both my heart and pocket, but it has. I carry it almost everyday, and on the odd occasions I don't, I miss it. When I use another knife, I wish I was using my Hartshead Barlow. How long this state will last I don't know, but there's no doubt it has eclipsed all the other knives in my collection in terms of being carried and used, I have over 1500 photos of it!
However, while it was my KOTY in 2019, it cannot be my KOTY 2020, because it isn't a knife which I got this year.
Because of the crazy situation this year, I've acquired far fewer knives than usual in 2020, but an honourable mention, I think, must go to Charlie
@waynorth 's Black Jack, which I feel is an exceptionally fine and well-made piece of cutlery
However, while I enjoy carrying it, it has certainly not been carried anywhere near as much as my Hartshead Barlow.
So folks, this year, I don't have a qualifying Traditional Knife of the Year
But I'm looking forward to seeing yours
Jack, I would’ve thought your Bradford Guardian 3 might’ve gotten the nod this year. Sure, it’s no HHB
, but I feel like we’ve seen an awful lot of it in your posts this year. Just sayin’.
My knife of the year for 2020 is a toss up between two knives (don’t worry, Jack, I’ll pick just one in the end
), but first, a few honorable mentions.
Scout’s Scout is probably the most special knife that I got this year. I knew I wanted one of these #15’s with the SCOUT shield to be “her” knife (i.e., the knife I’d have with me when she was born, and would subsequently carry on special occasions and milestones in her life), and I really wanted one in Nifebrite acrylic to match Eleanor’s knife (a Nifebrite #71 Bull Nose). Of course, that was easier said than done. These hadn’t been made in several years, and the SCOUT shield #15’s are desirable and hard to come by.
I posted a few times in the WTB section, and reached out to some Porch friends looking for leads.
JohnDF
was one of those friends, and he ended up sending me his own Nifebrite #15 Scout. I would’ve been more than happy to pay a premium price for one of these, but John wouldn’t let me pay him anything for it!
So thank you again, John!
And to those of you who I also reached out to, thank you for humoring me. More than one of you extended an offer of a #15 Scout with different covers, in case I didn’t find the one I was looking for, and I greatly appreciate the help!
The only reason I’m not making this my knife of the year is that I feel like I haven’t carried it often enough for it to qualify. I had it in my pocket for a couple weeks in the spring (Scout ended up coming about a week late, and I didn’t want to have to rush to the hospital and not have it on me, so I kept it with me for a quite a while around her due date), and I’ve carried it a few times since, but not enough for this thread.
Here it is with Eleanor’s Bull Nose (unlike Scout’s Scout, that knife was not planned; it really was just the knife I happened to have in my pocket that day).
My second honorable mention is this Tidioute #23 in Woodland Micarta. I put this knife to work this summer, carrying it exclusively for several weeks. It might’ve been close to a month. While I do really like this knife, the reason it spent so much time in my pocket was because I wanted to see how I felt about carrying this large pattern (4.5” closed) regularly, and I picked the least “fancy” one to use and abuse for a bit. I like some of the other cover options from this run more than this Micarta, so I don’t think it could be my knife of the year.
Now for the two finalists. First is the 2020 BladeForums Viper Swayback. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t really expect to like this knife that much. I’ve purchased the annual forum knife every year since I’ve been active here on the Porch (I think 2015 was my first). I’ve kept the ones I like, but I’ve also let a couple go when they weren’t my cup of tea. I was afraid that this one might end up being one of the latter (even though I was excited that my design/mock-up for the blade etch ended up being used), but man, this thing really surprised me! I love the horn, the fit and finish are great, and the blade is thin and slicey. Plus, I’m a sucker for a lanyard hole!
My second finalist is this Alber’s Cutlery Co. in Bocote. This was from Eric’s initial test run of 15 knives, which makes it extra special. This knife is beautifully made, with a fit and finish on par with some of my better GEC knives. I feel like it could be a bit thinner behind the edge, but I haven’t had to sharpen it yet as the edge Eric put on it is excellent, and the CPM154 holds that edge well.
So now I have to choose. I honestly thought I was going to go with the Albers when I started writing this post. I like that’s it’s handmade by one man using traditional methods, and while I don’t think the Viper is a bad looking knife, I don’t particularly like the look of the Torx screws or that large pivot screw on the bolster. And I have carried the Albers often…
…but not as often as I’ve carried this year’s forum knife. I don’t usually carry more than one pocket knife, but since I got this years BF knife, I’ve been pairing it up with a more traditional knife 9 days out of 10. It’s seen a lot of pocket time. So, given the criteria for the thread, I guess I’d have to say that my 2020 knife of the year is the
BladeForums 2020 Viper Swayback. (And, personally, that’s quite a surprise!
)
However the upside to getting on my hard pants is that it means my knives get some pocket time and no other knife has gotten more time than my Dwight Divine junior scout which I acquired in late January. It is my 2020 hard pants carry of the year 
