As useful as the classic blade is, in essence it's a small light duty pen knife, it flexes some, the tension that keeps it open isn't at strong. The blade found on nearly every other model is a preference. Overall theyre just stronger, better cutting capabilities and feel durable for the long haul, I find the classic a valuable supplement to another model, not a replacement
A year and four months.
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You're right that larger models have stronger blades. But the blade on the Classic cuts better simply because it's a thinner blade.
You're right on all points of course, the larger SAK's are stronger and better cutting. Just like a full size service pistol is a better all around tool than a smaller caliber pocket pistol. But...it all depends on what you need. What I have found out in my later years is...that little penknife is all I need in my lifestyle as a mostly urban/susburban dweller going about my business in that surrounding. Putting all ego and fantasy use aside, this old curmudgeon just doesn't need much knife going about my modern suburban life, picking up the dry cleaning, going for a walk with the dog, fetching a carry out pizza for the wife and I to have while watching the TV at night.
Some people find they need a full size 5,000 pound SUV to feel good, while others find a compact car like a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla just fine. All depends on your lifestyle and uses. I have a bigger SAK, the old Wenger SI, but it only gets carried a bit now and then. Mostly all I need is the 58mm. Just like I get by very well with a Toyota Corolla for my needs, to include a trip from Georgetown Texas to Mission Viejo California a couple times a year to visit with the daughter's family. I'm not a hunter so I don't need a hunting knife. I'm not traveling the wilderness anymore, so I don't need a bushcraft or survival knife. I do some gardening, but I have my Victorinox florist/garden knife for that on the pocket of my apron, along with pruning shears. I do a great deal of fishing in my retirement, but the little 58mm blade is just fine for monofilament fishing line. The little scissors are great for trimming off a knot with new hook on the line.
But most of all for this senior citizen with some arthritic fingers, the 58mm blade is just fine for slicing through all those plastic packages that are hard for a senior to open. Everything comes cocooned in plastic these days, and I find it so much easier to just take my little classic and slit the damm stuff and go on from there. Even sitting a bench in the town square by the old courthouse, the little classic gets no attention. In fact, it's so small, I doubt most people around even see it as it's mostly concealed in my hand for the art of stealth cutting that I practice in public. The classic has more than enough blade for this old codger to open the packages of snacks while sitting on the river bank waiting for bite, or a park bench in the town square.
It's all about who you are, where you are, and what you do. I got by for years with a little Case peanut for my pocket knife. I had no more use for the larger heavier Buck stockman I used to carry in my 20's and 30's. Just like I have no more real use for 4 and 5 layer SAK's in my life, while the 58mm does what I need in my later years. And the smaller items save enough weight and space that there's room left over for the stuff I now need to carry in those pockets. Some pain meds for the arthritis, eye drops for the dry eye that popped up in my 70's, pipe and pouch of tobacco for the quiet times on the river bank, a Bic lighter for said pipe, keyring with house and car keys, small AAA pocket flashlight for when it gets dark every night, small 5 shot revolver in side pocket for times that some young punk thinks this old fart will be an easy mark, note pad and pencil because at this age we need to make notes because we can't remember Jack S--t, and Jack is on vacation in Vegas. Wallet with essential ID, money, cards etc, bandana for whatever, small bag of mini milk bone dog snacks for the furry child that goes with us everywhere. Most of all, the RONCO pocket defibrillator in case of serious vapor lock.
There's just a lot of stuff that is more important than a larger knife that I don't really need. I'll save space where I can.
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These are words of wisdom. Our experiences in different parts of the world, are the same. At middle age it all became clear to me. All of the larger SAK's were sold or given away.
At home I have my tool box with full size tools and a Stanley 199 for heavy duty cutting. While away from home, there's the Classic.
At work it deals with bags of coffee beans, lunch packagings and boxes of copier paper that need to be opened.
It are these kinds of mundane tasks that I need a pocket knife for.
I've never encountered wild that needed to be skinned while out and about so I have no use for a large 'sports' knife. But to cut the shrink wrap from items in the supermarket like Coke cans, a small bit of sharp steel does come in handy.
The little Classic is just a small pocket knife with tool capabilities. It's not going to be of much help should I ever be dropped in the middle of the Amazon jungle. But until then my little Classic does
just fine.
My Classic and Fällkniven pocket stone, a wallet with some cash and essential cards, a few coins and some paper and a pencil are basically all I need to live my life in the urban jungle.
One thing that disheartened me the most about modern folders. Too darn thick, I'm sorry but a folding knife thats .19 and 13 0z thick belongs In a comedy museum. Slipjoints are among the last folding knives traditionally made with a thinner blade stock
Story packed with Experience, I don't carry a fix blade and never liked the feeling of it on my belt, it fought me while I drove and due to PC, it caused issued nevermind it being legal here in CA. Ultimately it just wouldnt have seen much use, I would go out of my way to use them so I didn't feel bad about owning a bunch of knives that just sat around --- I've spent thousands on fixed blades over the years and I wish I had that money back, married and 36 we could really use it.
I went ahead and bought a few small blades from different companies, a case peanut, congress, some slimmer swiss armies like waiter and recruit mostly all under 2.5. Inches. I find that I often reach for the classic over my Huntsman, but I keep the Huntsman in my backpack --- better to have it and not need it and all that jazz
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If it doesn't bother you then it's ok I guess.
Me, I try to stuff all my daily needs in my pockets; wallet with cards and paper money, keys, some change/coins, phone and my little SAK and Fällkniven pocket stone.
I also carry a small pencil and some paper to write. The little pen blade on the SAK is perfect for sharpening a pencil. And with a pencil I never have the problem of leaking ink or a pen that doesn't want to release ink.
There are tools on the Huntsman I don't feel ill ever use, and the annoyance of a thicker swiss army knife laying horizontally in my pocket is real so I don't think it will be going in there any time soon, neither in a cargo pants pocket that neighbors the knee cap, too much painful flopping when I walk, no--- I think the Huntsman and models alike need to be in a leather sheath/pouch
That's been my experience as well with not just the larger SAK's, but folders in general. Anything much more than 2 3/4 to 3 inches closed is starting to get awkward in a pocket. Even my old Wenger SI gets carried in a belt sheath behind the right hip.
It's been decades since I carried a pen for just those reasons. The pencil always works, and has the side benefit that the graphite scraped off the point it one of the finest dry lubricants there is. Drop it in the keyway of a lock, or rub it on to fishing reel parts and you get silky smooth operation. It goes though the washer and dryer with no problems, and will write in anything.
I may or may not sell it on ebay, likely just buy a sheath for it and toss it in the backpack
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Well, about zombies...
On February 24th, 2024, we were heading to the woods. Stopped at Zehrs first (a huge grocery store) on the way out of town.
Was looking around, and heard over the intercom, "Security, meat department, zombie. Security, meat department, zombie."
Now sure, it was probably just their code word for a member of the hordes of junkies we have around here that steal everything that isn't tied down, but you never know.
So yeah, zombies.
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And I always have a Victorinox Swisschamp in my backpack in addition to whatever other knives I am carrying, so I am also set for other things. Used it to cut down the signage around the polling station when I was working the election one year. Less scary looking than some of my other knives.
Oh, the little SAK that fits on your keychain can now be taken on domestic flights in Canada too, so that's a bonus.
Oh, the little SAK that fits on your keychain can now be taken on domestic flights in Canada too, so that's a bonus.
Likely a listless junkieWell, about zombies...
On February 24th, 2024, we were heading to the woods. Stopped at Zehrs first (a huge grocery store) on the way out of town.
Was looking around, and heard over the intercom, "Security, meat department, zombie. Security, meat department, zombie."
Now sure, it was probably just their code word for a member of the hordes of junkies we have around here that steal everything that isn't tied down, but you never know.
So yeah, zombies.
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Probably...but better safe than eaten.
My biggest gripe on modern folding knives, apart from all the costly aesthetics they put on them to jack up the price is how darn this and heavy they've all gotten, at a certain point you have to realize that a folding knife with a thickness of 0.15 and up won't really cut well because they either have to thicken the blade behind the edge or at the spine and both of which diminish the knife's cutting ability--- but hey you can chop a log with it, the term they fly with is "hard-use", you can use a swiss army knife hard. there's a difference between used hard and hard use, same thing with heavy use and used heavily, the slipjoints of the early 1900s were used heavily, but they weren't abused, they didn't see knives as axes, Hammers, chisels and pry bars as they do now and make knives to reflect this, now that, that right there, is ridiculous
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You've hit on the reason for your biggest gripe, the excuse to jack up the price for a knife that is over hyped, over worshiped, and over priced. The whole so called tactical knife movement took place when knife companies were going under because of modern life and decreased reason to carry much knife. So, an artificial market was created to cater to armchair warriors and keyboard commandos, for a knife of fantasy. The fantasy of taking out sentries, prying open tank hatches, and doing daring deeds and saving the day in the office cubicle Walter Mitty world with your amazing knife.
In an interview some years ago, Jeff Randall of EESE knives made the statement that 98% of the knife market was BS. The truest statement ever made by a knife manufacturer. Does anyone really believe that the modern knife nut uses, let alone needs more knife than a settler up the Missouri River in the 1850's, or a freight wagon driver hauling it over Raton Pass in the 1870's, or a young trail hand pushing a heard of cattle up the trail from Texas to the rail heads in Kansas? Yeah, those reams of copy paper are tough. In Harold Petersons book, "American Knives" he looks hard at the history of knives in American. According to old records from factories and shippers and trading posts, the most common knife shipped west from the 1850's to the 1880's, was the Barlow knife mad by the John Russell company, later merged to the Dexter-Russell knife company. This was in his book, and if you can locate a copy, it's fascinating reading. Hollywood and the modern knife companies have sold one hell of a bill of goods off on the public.
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I agree, it's all kind of crazy with these tactical knives. I'm always interested in what an average guy living in an urban area in the 1940's or 1950's actually carried before there were 'tactical knives'. That's kind of my reference for what I carry.
In the US it was probably some two or three bladed small slip joint. And in Europe some local variation on a pen knife or just a small SAK.
I'm pretty sure they all were not much larger 80mm closed or so.
In the US it was probably some two or three bladed small slip joint. And in Europe some local variation on a pen knife or just a small SAK.
I'm pretty sure they all were not much larger 80mm closed or so.
Daedric Panther
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and that’s the thing. I don’t need “more knife” than a ww2 soldier or a pioneering moving west. I probably have more use for a knife than your average office commando in an accounting firm but again. I’m not fighting off ninjas. I’m opening boxes of parts, scraping gaskets, cutting the occasional serpentine belt, cutting tire patches, that kind of stuff. All those things could be handled by a SAK or a slip joint.
The more I read and get honest with myself the more I realize how unimportant a lock is on a knife. If I want a knife that absolutely positively won’t fold it seems like there’s a simple solution. Fixed blade. Im known to have a schrade sharpfinger on my belt when I’m riding further than just around town. Everyone’s always going on about the best locking system, my $20 sharpfinger wont fold. Spine wack, take a hammer to it whatever, it won’t fold. It’s a piece of steel with two handle scales riveted on. I don’t see why we obsess over the “best lock” if there’s an easy solution.
The more I read and get honest with myself the more I realize how unimportant a lock is on a knife. If I want a knife that absolutely positively won’t fold it seems like there’s a simple solution. Fixed blade. Im known to have a schrade sharpfinger on my belt when I’m riding further than just around town. Everyone’s always going on about the best locking system, my $20 sharpfinger wont fold. Spine wack, take a hammer to it whatever, it won’t fold. It’s a piece of steel with two handle scales riveted on. I don’t see why we obsess over the “best lock” if there’s an easy solution.
I firmly believe that almost all folding pocket knives are not designed for 'hard use'. It's a knife you carry in your pocket to cut a sandwich while away from home. Or deal with packaging. Locks are false safety. Forget 'hard use' and any foldable knife wether a slip joint or friction folder, is safe to use.