Y'all gonna think I am nuts

Rsmith_77

Rsmith_77

Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
4,176
As the title of the post says, y'all gonna think I am nuts
But over on the traditional forums they have these...box pass arounds
Full of knives

If you win, they send you the box, you pick whatever knives you like, then replace them with a knife of equal or greater value. Hold your own giveaway and send the box onto the next person

Well I won a box
And in this box they had this really cool, wood scaled bantam. I am not sure what the wood is, olive maybe? Anyways I have never had a bantam but they've been on my radar. So it was one of the knives I choose to keep

Now comes the part y'all gonna think I am crazy form. What do I replace it with that is equal or greater value..

What I decided on ....was my silver farmer
I thought I was gonna love that thing, but I just never carried it. Too bulky and noticeable for my pocket and the saw, well I just don't use it much, heck I was trying to find excuses or reasons to use it. But it also made opening the blade difficult. I bite my nails and I just don't keep them long enough to squeeze past the saw blade into the blade nail nicks.

So I chose to let it go, and move it on to the next person.
 
Psst, hey smith, I got a memo for ya.

You'r gonna love the bantam. I mean, really, really love the bantam. Its one of the nicest SAK's to have in a pocket. Light, handy, and able to cut, open bottles, cans, flat screws, Phillips screws, and light prying.

As much as I love the alox SAK's, the Wenger SI and pioneer are old friends of long decades standing, the farmer, the pioneer X, are just too much in a pocket of a suburban or urban person. I don't even own any SAK with a saw on it anymore, just didn't find it that useful to carry. One use in several years was not enough to justify.

The bantam punches way over its weight class. Its a SAK for the real world. The wood handles are just gravy on the taters! A bantam and classic make a great team.
 
jackknife said:
Psst, hey smith, I got a memo for ya.

You'r gonna love the bantam. I mean, really, really love the bantam. Its one of the nicest SAK's to have in a pocket. Light, handy, and able to cut, open bottles, cans, flat screws, Phillips screws, and light prying.

As much as I love the alox SAK's, the Wenger SI and pioneer are old friends of long decades standing, the farmer, the pioneer X, are just too much in a pocket of a suburban or urban person. I don't even own any SAK with a saw on it anymore, just didn't find it that useful to carry. One use in several years was not enough to justify.

The bantam punches way over its weight class. Its a SAK for the real world. The wood handles are just gravy on the taters! A bantam and classic make a great team.
Click to expand...
Well I hope I don't disappoint ya
But this particular one has had the keyring removed

So it's Allllll smooth
 
Rsmith_77 said:
As the title of the post says, y'all gonna think I am nuts
Click to expand...
Well, you’re here, so like, fait accompli. 🤪

Anyway, knives are about what you like. Somebody will appreciate and use that Farmer, and now you’ve got a knife that you will appreciate and use. And yeah, I agree, the Bantam is a cool little knife.
 
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You’re not crazy. Believe me when I tell you that at some point I have owned almost any of the currently available SAK’s in the 84 and 91mm frame. I only kept a few, the others were either sold or returned.

I love a nice SAK as much as the next guy. But what I’ve found is that must tools on many of their models, are just pointless for my urban life. Apart from a blade, all I would need is perhaps a cap lifter, just because it’s easy. And a little driver and small scissors at most. I have no use for a wood saw or tiny magnifying glass etc. etc.

Guess which SAK’s I no longer have any interest in? All 3+ layer SAK’s or something like a Camper. Guess which SAK’s I do find useful for my life? It’s the simple models; the Classic, the Bantam and even blade-only models like the Excelsior or Secretary.

Personal experience and most of all age, taught me this. I’m in my mid-40’s now and I can see now that I was wrong at 25 or even 30, wanting all those fancy SAK’s that were pointless back then as well.

You’ve made the right choice!
 
I have the Bantam, Farmer, Tinker, and for a brief while, the Camper. And I always have a Classic on the key ring.
The bantam is sooooo easy to slip into your pocket, so I get it. I think up to 2 layers thick is comfy to carry. I carried the Camper for a month, and it was thick, but not too bad. Even though the Farmer is 3 layer, it's alox, so it's actually just as thick as the 2 layer cellidor. Anyway, I made a belt pouch for my SAKs, for if I ever got sick of pocket carry.

Anyway, I prefer to carry the Bantam or Tinker, but if I had to keep one, it'd be the Farmer, simply because it's good for woods work and will last a lifetime.

Dogstar
Cheapskate Club #1
small-Cheapskate-Logo.png
 
As a former outdoorsman (still an occasional woods walker) Farmers have been in good standing with me for quite some time. These days I don't have much use day to day for a saw in my pocket so my Farmer doesn't get out as much. The bantam on the other hand is a practical urban EDC... so use-wise it sounds like ya did good.:thumbsup:
 
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Jrgn said:
You’re not crazy. Believe me when I tell you that at some point I have owned almost any of the currently available SAK’s in the 84 and 91mm frame. I only kept a few, the others were either sold or returned.

I love a nice SAK as much as the next guy. But what I’ve found is that must tools on many of their models, are just pointless for my urban life. Apart from a blade, all I would need is perhaps a cap lifter, just because it’s easy. And a little driver and small scissors at most. I have no use for a wood saw or tiny magnifying glass etc. etc.

Guess which SAK’s I no longer have any interest in? All 3+ layer SAK’s or something like a Camper. Guess which SAK’s I do find useful for my life? It’s the simple models; the Classic, the Bantam and even blade-only models like the Excelsior or Secretary.

Personal experience and most of all age, taught me this. I’m in my mid-40’s now and I can see now that I was wrong at 25 or even 30, wanting all those fancy SAK’s that were pointless back then as well.

You’ve made the right choice!
Click to expand...

What you've just described is the journey I made with not just SAK's, but all knives, guns, cars, etc...

What we think we know in our 20's and what we think we know in our 30's, is way, way different than what we know in our 50's, let alone in our 60's. Life changes, we learn, and have a growing base of experience to draw on while making choices. We learn we don't really need wood chisels, fish scalers, saws, magnifying glasses and other stuff on an EDC pocket knife. The older I got, the less I wanted to be burdened by stuff I didn't need on a daily basis. Now, most my needs can be met with a bantam and a classic team.

I think its natural to downsize as you age.
 
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Jrgn said:
Guess which SAK’s I no longer have any interest in? All 3+ layer SAK’s or something like a Camper. Guess which SAK’s I do find useful for my life? It’s the simple models; the Classic, the Bantam and even blade-only models like the Excelsior or Secretary.
Click to expand...
Well I just turned 45 myself
And yeah that excelsior has caught my eye
 
jackknife said:
What you've just described is the journey I made with not just SAK's, but all knives, guns, cars, etc...

What we think we know in our 20's and what we think we know in our 30's, is way, way different than what we know in our 50's, let alone in our 60's. Life changes, we learn, and have a growing base of experience to draw on while making choices. We learn we don't really need wood chisels, fish scalers, saws, magnifying glasses and other stuff on an EDC pocket knife. The older I got, the less I wanted to be burdened by stuff I didn't need on a daily basis. Now, most my needs can be met with a bantam and a classic team.

I think its natural to downsize as you age.
Click to expand...
There’s a lot of truth in your words!
 
Lol my biggest issue
I find myself edc'ing a leatherman skeletool on a daily basis for work

Now on days where I am not working, the pioneer or SI makes a fine fine only knife. This could probably be expanded to include my bantam and my recruit.

But for some reason pairing a sak with a leatherman just doesn't do it for me

So I keep trying to pair my skeletool with some carbon steel pocket knife with tons of soul

I know, I'm weird
And talk about first world problems eh?
 
jackknife said:
What you've just described is the journey I made with not just SAK's, but all knives, guns, cars, etc...
Click to expand...
And in my case, housing. My kids are grown and out on their own, so despite OWNING a four bedroom house sitting on 10 acres in the country, my wife and I moved to a 2 bedroom apartment in town. That has led to us downsizing and letting go of things we once needed…and some things we thought we did.
 
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