- Joined
- Aug 15, 2020
- Messages
- 85
Same here.....If I cut things, it's the single blade clipped to my pocket, all other tasks that can't be done with a hammer or pliers go directly to the SAK Spartan.....
Lessons of the Swiss army knife
- Thread starter ShaiHulud
- Start date
I am truly learning the value of a slipjoint under 3 inches, hell, even the little pen blade on this vintage imperial which is smaller than the pen knife on swiss army classic get decent use. I was stuck for a long time trying to figure out which direction I wanted to take knife ownership, it wasn't enough to just own a little of everything.
A while back it hit me hard and any quality over 4 knives I started to fuss and fret, because that meant, guaranteed, 2 of them would just sit there. People have all these knives but they can only use one at a time. It's only a shame outside of swiss army knife, the forever unaccessible gec and the fluctuating quality of case, there's not too many options in slipjoint knives because everyone wants a Dinosaur destroyer 6000, thicker than the side profile of a pan fried breakfast ham, need suspenders to pocket with a space titanium knife lock these days.
I use to think 4-5 ounces was a great weight for a folding knife, now it's darn heavy
I think it takes a certain mindset to go SAK. No, you don;t have to go elusively SAK, but as I aged, I found a new, very pragmatic mindset taking over. As you get old, you loose patience with stuff you either don't need, and is in the way, or just cluttering up your landscape. As an old guy, I know that every morning I wake up, my expiration date is a notch closer. So I don't have patience for things that don't work well, or I just don't need anymore for a wide variety of reasons. That goes not just for knives, but tools, clothing, motor vehicles, everything. The big tackle box got sold off at the yard sale and a much much smaller one is used now. Old tools and fishing gear I haven't used in years was got rid of.
I don't like weighing myself down with stuff that I don't need. That includes knives big time. Why should I carry two knives on me, one a large lock blade, the other a SAK that has a wide range of uses besides cutting. A Victorinox pioneer can do what the Buck 110 or Spyderco delica can, but not vise versa. The lock blade can't help with a roadside repair, or open a battery compartment. But the SAK pioneer can a lot, plus open packages, cut a piece of twine or rope, break down a box for the recycle bin, put up a shelf, or any other cutting job at hand. It can also do a number on cleaning fish caught that day. Being alox and simpler construction, it rinses our easy.
No, the SAK blade won't lock, but people were using pocket knives a very long time before Buck came out with the 110, and very few lost a finger. BUT...I do know first hand about a young man who worked at Watkins-Johnson in Gaithersburg Maryland where I was employed, who amputated his right index finger at the first joint when his Buck knife lock failed. He was using the knife for something he shouldn't have, and when told by the sheet metal shop forman to Knock it off, he said "Its a Buck knife, it'll take it." Well it didn't, and he cut off his own finger when the lock failed. He was fired of course for disobeying the shop Forman and violating shop safety rules.
No, it's not exclusive, but why would I carry something that has but one single use, vs something else that will do the same job but much more? As far as it being a pain to "dig out the blade using two hands and the nail nick" I guess I'll endeavor to persevere the hardship of having to take an extra second to open my pocket knife. Life is hard sometimes, but so far, in spite of being an old fart, I've yet to encounter any situation where I had to quick draw my pocket knife. I see a lock on a blade as being totally not needed. Somehow, I've existed for many years now with a small SAK as my main real everyday knife. So far, all my fingers are still there, and the frustration of having to use two hands and a nail nick has not been a problem.
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There are many people here with collections in the thousands ($) with hundreds of pieces, Imagine if one of these champs wakes up one morning with an ocean of regreat because they learned they don't need all this? Some have a couple of big chests to keep all their fileros, and you bet you're correct in assuming most don't get used, they buy for looks, safe queens shelf queens, queens queens. "I don't need it, I want it". One particularly liberating of not downright scary realization i had not too long ago was "you can't take it with you" and some day surviving family will be fighting over your stuff like hyenas, there is wisdom with being done with wanting anything else, to have a couple sharp small blades and know you don't need that one knife you've been waiting for to be released
Or a good scare!
Some years ago, when I was in the throes of my downsizing, I woke up one morning with chest pains and pain running down both arms, at 5 in the morning. I thought "Oh Shite, this is it!!!" and my overwhelming thought was, I hadn't told my wife I loved her yet that day. I woke her up and told her I loved her, and she asked what was wrong. I told her and. before I could pull my pants on, she'd had the car running and the garage door up and was yelling "Lets go, lets go!" She drove me to the ER at the local hospital that is all of maybe 15 minutes from the house.
That day I learned a Toyota Camry with the 2.5 liter engine really will do 100 miles per hour. I recall yelling at her if she kills me before I get to the ER, I will haunt her. She slowed down to 80.
Ends up a false alarm. I had been on a mountain bike the day before, the first time on any kind of bicycle in 20 years, and a nerve center between the shoulder blades was aggravated from leaning forward for hours, and was causing the pain. But it was an eye opener and a deep thought provoking incident for this senior citizen. Deeply thought provoking!!!
When you think "this is it" nothing matters at all but those you love. No knife collection, gun collection, car collection, NOTHING, but your loved ones matter and what you say to them when you think it's the end. Or when the doctor meets with you and the wife for test results, and you hear the cancer verdict and you may loose the person you've shared your life with for a half a century, had kids and grandkids with, nothing mattes. Knife collection??? Hell toss it all in the nearest dumpster if it gives you more time with your loved one.
I only regret that it took me most of a life to realize that inanimate objects don't mean squat when the chips are down! Sell it all off and go take a month long road trip with the person you love, and see the sights. It'll be the best money you ever spend!
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Amen to that --- Glad to hear it was a false alarm and a teachable moment wrapped up into one bundle. All we have is hope for the next moment, and reflection of moments past. It wasn't until I rediscovered knives I bought brand new in boxes that I completely forgot I bought that i had to downsize all and fast. I regret building back up several collections since then before kicking myself in the baboon red's one last time
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2020
- Messages
- 85
Well you guys have ruined my search for the perfect Buck 110 magnacut green micarta handled auto now.... Lol...
Sage advice though. Thanks gents.
Sage advice though. Thanks gents.
The hunt for the grail knife, or any knife you desire for that matter stimulates the pleasure response centers in the brain. Our brains like to be bathed in dopamine. I’m sure you’ve all had the experience where it’s exciting finding the knife, purchasing the knife, waiting for it to arrive in the mail and finally opening that box. But within a day or two, that excitement goes away. We would be better off buying knives, getting them in the mail, open and close the knife a couple times and then sending it back. Even if you had to pay return shipping, probably would be cheaper in the end.
Because you're getting acclimated.
When I went from a Buck stockman to the Case peanut my old man carried, I felt a sense of uneasiness as I went about my day. But I kept to it, and before long, I was so used to it, it became the new normal. When I downsized from the Case peanut tot he SAK classic, the first time I walked out of the house with just the classic, I felt the same uneasiness. But I got used to it. I kept asking myself what am I going to need a knife for aa I went about my life in modern suburbia? The answer was nothing, baring fantasies of course. I wasn't hunting, I wasn't engaged in any warfare, I wasn't 007 on a mission, just a white bearded retired machinist enjoying a lot of free time for fishing, and day trips around this part of Texas with the wife and dog.
Now, if I drop my old Wenger SI in my pocket, it feels like a stone. I'm fully acclimated for the keyring size penknife.
I carry the Spartan or recruit because I see the value in blade options and the tools they offer, and to be honest it doesn't really way too much but the locking swiss army knives are larger than most modern folders and heavier than a lot of fixed blades, and I have zero interest in them, a Spartan/tinker and classic duo is 110% knife, both weighing less than every cell phone out there I feel 100 cooled on all bases
The spartan/tinker combo with a classic is a killer combo!!!
Between the two of them, they cover a hell of a lotto bases.
I found myself in old habits paroozong the newly released sections of dlt multiple times a day. Even lately been looking at the case knives, I have a small jack and peanut coming and I find myself at the larger single blade pocket knives and I have discovered that the swiss army knife completely spoiled me. Why would I carry a single blade folding knife when a Spartan or tinker not only covers the blade requirement but also have tools that I can use and have used daily? I use to feel bitter that Victorinox discontinued their single blade folding knives, even felt sore for missing out on the day packers, but it just keeps kicking me in the arse, "tinker, spartan, recruit", single blade knives has never seemed more useless to me now.
I never understood people's needs to flick open a knife or the relentless research into making knives as fast, as one handed, as convenient as possible. I heard all the scenarios for why and I'm still not convinced.
Because you recognize it as advertising bull hockey! The advertised need plays on image and Hollywood hype, going all the way back to the James Dean era. Pushed for the cool factor.
As a guy with a beard and 4 kids, scissors on a knife are a necessity. Probably my most used tool. Anytime I would choose a knife without, Id regret it. So having anything with a classic as a combo is perfect. Sometimes I’ll carry my classic or rambler with a small Case knife. I have a nice bone handled half witler that I love. The blades are the same size as a peanut, but the handle is just a tad longer. But that is only out of nostalgia because I can do everything with just the Classic.
Yesterday I had my Compact only on me. I noticed the wood handles on my NAA pistol needed tightened. None of the tools on the Compact could get down to the recessed screw to tighten the handle. But, if I would’ve had my Classic, I could’ve tightened them no problem. For me at least, it’s rare that a larger blade is needed, but it’s very common that smaller tools are needed….
Yesterday I had my Compact only on me. I noticed the wood handles on my NAA pistol needed tightened. None of the tools on the Compact could get down to the recessed screw to tighten the handle. But, if I would’ve had my Classic, I could’ve tightened them no problem. For me at least, it’s rare that a larger blade is needed, but it’s very common that smaller tools are needed….
On a bowhunt for deer, a buddy challenged me to field dress a deer with my Swiss Champ (a gift from my mother). I gutted, skinned and quartered it just because. It would never be my first choice (not fun to clean afterwards), but it made me appreciate it even more.
How many times did you need to re-sharpen? That’s impressive.
I didn’t have to sharpen it. I used the shorter blade for making hide incisions and gutting, then the longer blade for skinning and quartering. To be clear, it was a TX whitetail doe, but still a pretty good work out.
An intensivist I worked with told me wasn’t impressed because he field dressed a blackbuck antelope with a #15 blade on an impromptu morning hunt when he forgot his hunting knife.
"You don't really know the value of a thing until it's gone."
You don't realize how useful and handy a multitool is until you're caught without one when you need it. I EDC a SAK most days, but sometimes I forget to put it in my pocket before I leave home. It's a terrible feeling to reach for it only to realize it's not there.
You don't realize how useful and handy a multitool is until you're caught without one when you need it. I EDC a SAK most days, but sometimes I forget to put it in my pocket before I leave home. It's a terrible feeling to reach for it only to realize it's not there.
During my last ditch effort to convince myself that a dedicated folding knife was the better option over the swiss army knife I ran into a couple of instances where the scissors on the swiss army classic and the tweezers would have really saved my keister, but all I had was the cryo with a lousy point. So I rectified the situation by carrying the classic in my bag in case I needed the tools the following day; the classic ended up being the one thing I grabbed when I needed a knife as well --- twas then when I conceded defeat
When one is confronted by repeated evidence that item A is more capable than Item B, then it only makes sense to concede to the logic of the evidence of actual life's experience. In the end, all we can really go by, is our experiences in life. If brand X car gives you lots of trouble, but three of your friends drive brand Y, and have nothing but excellent service, then it stands to reason that brand Y is a better buy.
Experience, it's the best teacher.