Everything simpler?

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cbach8tw

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I write this with a little difficulty trying to put my thoughts into words....lately I have been pondering about getting back to basics or simpler things...., going back to simpler times, simpler homes, simpler tools, but mostly simpler knives when camping or going out for your out door adventures. I love good quality knives, some more expensive and technologically advanced, etc, but I keep coming back to how effective and useful the basic ones like Opinel, Mora, Old Hickory, and others are when it comes to getting the jobs done.

So I would love for this thread to be about your thoughts on simpler things, be they the times, homes, camping, tools, knives, lifestyles, etc. I think we can all enjoy the simpler things in life, not to mention a chance to slow down a bit this year, before it gets too far ahead. Was it Horace Kephart or some other adventurer who advocated get ting back to basics?
 
My main carry is still a modern folder and I will continue to buy the newest stuff. That said, I also do carry a traditional or a modern traditional like a Benchmade Proper. And at home I find I’m inclined to use nothing more than my Buck Vanguard or a Sodbuster. So I do get what you are saying.
 
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I don't know if I am really all about the simple things, or if I am just a dinosaur, kind of old-fashioned. I have a few modern folders, one is a Kershaw Shallot with the composite ZDP-189 blade, but the most impressive steel in any of the rest of them is 440c. I prefer carbon steels over stainless, and was quite pleased to find I could get a Buck 110 in 5160, so I did. Followed it up with a 5160 Model 101. EDC is usually a fixed blade, mostly 1095, occasionally I will step up to 440C. For bigger fixed blades I have 1 in D2, 2 in ATS-34, a couple in 440C, the rest are carbon steels. The new super-steels and boutique alloys don't interest me. Partly because I can't afford most of them, but mostly because they just don't interest me.

After living 35 years in a decent-sized city, we moved to the country, tho we still drive in to work every day, a 70+ mile round-trip. I carry a 1911 in .45(as it should be), own a 12ga pump, and a bolt action .22 with a single five round magazine(each shot has to count). I have a chainsaw, but prefer an axe, or a tomahawk for the smaller stuff. I mow an acre with a push-mower. I catch my fish from the bank(tho I might get a kayak later this year). I have built some of the most technically sophisticated electronic assemblies on the planet(no brag, just fact), but prefer to get my music by dragging a rock through a ditch(records, LPs, vinyl) rather than by simply pushing a button to turn on the 5-disc CD changer.

Looking at it, nope. I'm not about simple, I am just a dinosaur.
 
"Simpler" to me just means carrying a 3" cross-draw rig with a nice Busse or Bradford blade.
There is nothing quicker or easier to draw. My hot-shot clipped folders are seldom used.
 
I use a fixed blade every chance I get. Better than a folder in every way except discretion. Zero moving parts.

For folders I decided to see if I could live with the only folder type I know without a spring. I bought a few friction folders, from a tiny Ohta FK5 to a large Lionsteel-made Occam. I like them and they got jobs done, but I’m so used to a lock or a backspring it wasn’t comfortable. I don’t know if I’ll get used to them or not. I suppose one should only go so simple and not farther, just for the sake of it.
 
I like simple. 1095 fixed blade iwb 4 oclock. Traditional in coin pocket. I rotate folders as see fit. I like camping in a tent amd using bolt action rifles for hunting. All this and i do have to say technology is the way of the future. Wether i like it or not
 
Usually if you think something is simple you're just not looking at it closely enough to see how complex it really is under the surface. :D But, simplicity is often the result of economy, and through examining complexity we develop understanding, which is used to pare away that which is unnecessary to arrive at simplicity. ;)

perfection-is-achieved-not-when-there-is-nothing-more-to-add-but-when-there-is-nothing-left-to-take-away-338848.jpg
 
Usually if you think something is simple you're just not looking at it closely enough to see how complex it really is under the surface. :D But, simplicity is often the result of economy, and through examining complexity we develop understanding, which is used to pare away that which is unnecessary to arrive at simplicity. ;)

perfection-is-achieved-not-when-there-is-nothing-more-to-add-but-when-there-is-nothing-left-to-take-away-338848.jpg
Yep:D
 
I honestly think more knives nowadays are pretty simple. But there are certain companies that use proprietary materials or hardware and I never understand why.
 
Thursday:
Make kids lunches
Take kids to school
Go to bank
Go to work
Make dr appointment on lunch break
Go back to work
Pick kids up from school
Make dinner
Go over homework with kids
Finish tomorrow morning's spreadsheet
Watch Ellen with the wife
Sharpen a knife
Do the dishes
Put Frontline on the dogs
Feed the dogs
Start a load of laundry
Watch some nonsense on tv
Move laundry to dryer
More tv nonsense
Fold laundry
Go to bed

Saturday:
Load camping gear into car
Drive to lake
Unload camping gear
Pop up tents
Go fishing
Gather wood
Make fire
Hot dogs for dinner(or fish if you're lucky)
Roast marshmallows with kids
Tell ghost stories
Catch fireflies
Have a drink with the wife after kids go to bed
Look at the stars

Kind of a no brainer. I know which day I'd prefer to have.
 
I like that quote. I guess I am thinking that less is more. I saw a long time ago an episode of a life below Zero, those living in the Arctic circle, a lady was using an Old Hickory butcher knife to cut off a section of meat off a caribou she had shot before a major freezing storm came in, she was racing against time to get it done since that was the only supply of meat she could get to last through a rough winter. And the show Alone ( only watched a few segments) got me thinking it was essential to know how to use their equipment. Sure their was better equipment out there, but they use what they had. I know the show was for entertainment not reality. A lot of simple tools could be used to make a living.

Another thought, some people have tried to keep up with the Joneses, their lifestyles examples of living above their means, paycheck to paycheck, just one away from having it all crash down around them. We should not live above our means, or really at our means, but actually try to live below our means, being satisfied with what we have, not what we always want.
 
I've actually lived for many years at a time under fairly primitive "simpler " conditions . Vastly overrated and often much more complex , harder , more painful and skill intensive than more modern methods .

And the older I get , the less appealing it becomes . (As a way of life , not a camping vacation .)
 
I definitely want to simplify, but it isn't easy to do in these times we live in! There is 'the tyranny of urgency'. We have so many things we 'need' to do, some important, some not - that we frequently miss the truly important things in life.

Knives do not make my life simpler, except by relieving stress sometimes, when I'm whittling or sharpening or doing things I enjoy that are relaxing. I like so many different types of knives, styles, brands, blade shapes that knives make my life more complicated until I'm able to sort through them all, use them and figure out which ones are the 'keepers'.
 
going back to simpler times, simpler homes, simpler tools, but mostly simpler knives when camping or going out for your out door adventures.

Seems to me that when most people say 'simpler times' what they mean is 'early 20th century'.

With that understanding: I have three chickens, we keep them for eggs and eat them when they are spent. They scratch for a large amount of their feed, and we throw kitchen scraps in a compost heap in the chicken run. I make all of our bread, generally sourdough, 2-3 times a week. I (we) hunt for most of our meat; two weeks of big game hunting generally fills our freezer for the year (plus supplemental ducks, squirrels, rabbits, etc.). I built my own duck hunting boat. I load my own ammunition. I often fix my own things and often build the things I can't fix. We heat with wood. I buck with a chainsaw but split with a maul and/or wedges. We grow our own vegetables as much as we can. We cure our own hams, make our own sausages, and butcher our deer. Our normal shopping list looks like something from pre-depression Alabama: "Honey, on you way home pick up some coffee, bacon, sugar, and flour please.".

A lot of people would say those are things from a simpler time but, you know what? I live in the 10th largest city in the United States, simpler would be ordering whatever I want from the internet. Need eggs? Order them. Need steaks? Just a website away. Need bacon? Have it delivered. Want bread? There's like 4 different artisanal bread places within 30 miles, all of them sell in our local super market, most can be delivered. Vegetables? Farmers markets occur daily around here, and the super market is always stocked, and of course there's a delivery option. Need wood? Have it delivered pre-seasoned and pre-split. Need wood stacked? Find some day labor through Nextdoor.com. Coffee? Someone in a manbun will be happy to sell you a pound of some organic single origin locally roasted fair trade artisanal GMO free beans.

That being said, knives ARE simple tools. They've got a sharp edge or two and you use it to separate things. A hugely overbuilt tank of a folder is still just a knife, despite the amount of manufacturing that went into it.

However, as I get older, I'm generally drawn to 'easy' as opposed to 'simple'. Easy to sharpen, easy to fix, easy to maintain (YMMV on what that means), easy to use, and easy to carry. Most days I'm carrying a CRKT Swindle (I like flippers), or a traditional in one form or another (I'm partial to trappers).
 
Funny you mentioned Kephardt. Ethan Becker and KaBar copied one of his knives and recently put it into production.

My contribution to keep it simple. I only cook in cast iron pans and only with olive oil.
 
Self sufficiency is one thing. Living a simple life is quite another.

Retirement helps to simplify one’s life. No longer being time-managed is refreshing. Being financially secure means more choices are available. Having the love of your life by your side offers contentment, and wonder at your good fortune.

A lucky few ever make it to Walden Pond. If I ever do I’ll want to pack in an SAK, Leatherman, Shirogorov F3, custom Kephart, 10” Chef’s Knife, a hatchet and an axe, a Silky, and a Sharpmaker.

See ya!
 
How would i get such great info from you guys with out technology. We wouldnt have the knives we have. Atleast half of them of them if not more would be gone. Research wouldn't be available to everyone. Gettong to the camping/hunting spot would take longer. As time is precious we still need the tech. It can open alot of doors for us. It can also make us simple minded and forget that nothing can be as simple as it once was.
 
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