- Joined
- Apr 26, 2013
- Messages
- 771
Hey all,
Sorry in advance for what's turned out to be a bit of an essay here... but here we go!
Life's been pretty... "interesting" for the past few years, and for a variety of reasons, I've been both broadly working on downsizing my overall material footprint/owning less stuff, and also freeing up some cash in the process, for other priorities. I've gone through this process already in other categories of "stuff" (tools, sporting equipment, entertainment/luxury items, etc.), and beyond the intended purposes of needing less space for stuff, and liquidating capital, it's also turned out to be a pretty rewarding process, for me, in some ways, to take a hard look at my propensity to collect stuff that I'm interested in/fond of, and do some soul-searching around deriving more enjoyment from less stuff.
However — the tradeoff being far more deliberate intention/scrutiny applied to exactly what the selected/remaining stuff is. Essentially, focusing on approaching my relationship to material items in a more minimalist/less maximalist fashion.
In the knife/blade-specific arena, like probably most here, I've got a bunch of overlap and redundancy in my knife collection, despite that collection being reasonably small (a few 3-4" folders, and probably eight or nine fixed-blades, mostly biased around the 4-5" range, and the 9-10" range, and a couple of small axes/hatchets). For practical purposes, I've found my strong preference, for my uses (camping, bonfire-making, hiking, general utility, and of course fondling) to be a sturdy, ergonomic fixed-blade with around a 4.5" blade, and a shortish (~14") axe/hatchet. Most of the other stuff gets hauled out for recreational purposes — I mean, heck, it's fun whacking away at wood with a big knife — but in terms of functional utility, when I have to choose something to use, those preferences are where I usually land.
A few years back, I wound up stumbling on a great deal on a Winkler 'combat axe', with a hammer-poll, and fell in love with it. My other small axe is a GB "Outdoor Axe", and while I think it's a really great little piece of kit, and a bit lighter than the Winkler, I very much bonded with the Winkler, and find it to be a really versatile, comfortable, predictable tool, as well as being easy to maintain, and easy to love. And there's definitely something to be said for the knowledge that it's probably as functionally indestructable as a tool can be. And it's got this intangible quality to it, maybe beyond simple ergonomics, that just makes it feel great to use. As a sum of its elements, it just comes together perfectly.
Soooo... given my fondness for the Winkler axe, and my contemplation of downsizing my knife collection, I've been actively wondering if replacing my assortment of pretty-nice knives with a single Winkler knife (very likely his Belt Knife) would be a prudent, reasonable choice?
For context (and I'll refrain from specifics here, as I have zero intention of generating any discussion about selling any specific items via this post — to the extent that I'll respectfully decline to answer any specific inquiries about which items I'm talking about), some of the knives in my current collection come from makers like Survive, Carothers, Becker, and a couple of smaller custom makers here on the forum. Getting rid of them would sting a bit, no doubt, as I really appreciate each and every one of them for what they are. However, my mindset, at present, is that in the end, I'd probably be very well served by just one knife (provided it was the right knife), in the right size, to go with that Winkler axe... which naturally leads me to wonder if the Winkler Belt Knife might be that 'right' knife — the one fixed-blade that I can bond with, and be satisfied with, for a variety of uses, for the foreseeable future. If I'm only going to have one, I'd like it to be the one — a functional heirloom, so to speak. I do already have a couple of blades that probably meet the criteria on durability/quality alone, but which (and we're getting into intangibles here, for sure) don't really feel like that knife, for one reason or another.
Any ideas, thoughts, critiques, admonitions, etc. on this topic, from the experienced and insightful bunch of folks around here, would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks in advance!
As a separate (and maybe easier to respond to!) inquiry: does anyone around here know if there are any vendors in Canada who sell the Wasp-patterned micarta Winklers? There's a shop in Vancouver, not too far from me, that's got the black micarta ones and maple ones, but nothing in the waspy varietal. Thanks!
Sorry in advance for what's turned out to be a bit of an essay here... but here we go!
Life's been pretty... "interesting" for the past few years, and for a variety of reasons, I've been both broadly working on downsizing my overall material footprint/owning less stuff, and also freeing up some cash in the process, for other priorities. I've gone through this process already in other categories of "stuff" (tools, sporting equipment, entertainment/luxury items, etc.), and beyond the intended purposes of needing less space for stuff, and liquidating capital, it's also turned out to be a pretty rewarding process, for me, in some ways, to take a hard look at my propensity to collect stuff that I'm interested in/fond of, and do some soul-searching around deriving more enjoyment from less stuff.
However — the tradeoff being far more deliberate intention/scrutiny applied to exactly what the selected/remaining stuff is. Essentially, focusing on approaching my relationship to material items in a more minimalist/less maximalist fashion.
In the knife/blade-specific arena, like probably most here, I've got a bunch of overlap and redundancy in my knife collection, despite that collection being reasonably small (a few 3-4" folders, and probably eight or nine fixed-blades, mostly biased around the 4-5" range, and the 9-10" range, and a couple of small axes/hatchets). For practical purposes, I've found my strong preference, for my uses (camping, bonfire-making, hiking, general utility, and of course fondling) to be a sturdy, ergonomic fixed-blade with around a 4.5" blade, and a shortish (~14") axe/hatchet. Most of the other stuff gets hauled out for recreational purposes — I mean, heck, it's fun whacking away at wood with a big knife — but in terms of functional utility, when I have to choose something to use, those preferences are where I usually land.
A few years back, I wound up stumbling on a great deal on a Winkler 'combat axe', with a hammer-poll, and fell in love with it. My other small axe is a GB "Outdoor Axe", and while I think it's a really great little piece of kit, and a bit lighter than the Winkler, I very much bonded with the Winkler, and find it to be a really versatile, comfortable, predictable tool, as well as being easy to maintain, and easy to love. And there's definitely something to be said for the knowledge that it's probably as functionally indestructable as a tool can be. And it's got this intangible quality to it, maybe beyond simple ergonomics, that just makes it feel great to use. As a sum of its elements, it just comes together perfectly.
Soooo... given my fondness for the Winkler axe, and my contemplation of downsizing my knife collection, I've been actively wondering if replacing my assortment of pretty-nice knives with a single Winkler knife (very likely his Belt Knife) would be a prudent, reasonable choice?
For context (and I'll refrain from specifics here, as I have zero intention of generating any discussion about selling any specific items via this post — to the extent that I'll respectfully decline to answer any specific inquiries about which items I'm talking about), some of the knives in my current collection come from makers like Survive, Carothers, Becker, and a couple of smaller custom makers here on the forum. Getting rid of them would sting a bit, no doubt, as I really appreciate each and every one of them for what they are. However, my mindset, at present, is that in the end, I'd probably be very well served by just one knife (provided it was the right knife), in the right size, to go with that Winkler axe... which naturally leads me to wonder if the Winkler Belt Knife might be that 'right' knife — the one fixed-blade that I can bond with, and be satisfied with, for a variety of uses, for the foreseeable future. If I'm only going to have one, I'd like it to be the one — a functional heirloom, so to speak. I do already have a couple of blades that probably meet the criteria on durability/quality alone, but which (and we're getting into intangibles here, for sure) don't really feel like that knife, for one reason or another.
Any ideas, thoughts, critiques, admonitions, etc. on this topic, from the experienced and insightful bunch of folks around here, would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks in advance!
As a separate (and maybe easier to respond to!) inquiry: does anyone around here know if there are any vendors in Canada who sell the Wasp-patterned micarta Winklers? There's a shop in Vancouver, not too far from me, that's got the black micarta ones and maple ones, but nothing in the waspy varietal. Thanks!