Most ergonomic hard use small traditional folder?

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Practicoolio

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May 29, 2019
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I don't know much about knives at all so I humbly ask you to recommend small to medium (ie roughly the size range of the Victorinox knives) traditional folding knives with excellent feel in hand. Secure whether your hands might be freezing, wet, or gloved, no matter what reasonable task you might be doing.

Secondly I ask if there are such knives which are meant for moderately unreasonable tasks. Cold steel does a lot of promo videos demonstrating their products standing up to outright abuse. I have had occasion to use a knife in that manner, and I have found that I can be reasonably confident of some cheap modern knives. Are their traditional knives which can be used to pry and have very sturdy tips?
Overall it seems to me that knives designed more than a century ago are practical and handsome. But frankly the ones I've handled are inferior in this respect to knives designed in the information age.
The Opinel No8 I received yesterday is reasonably ergonomic, every Buck model I've seen (if those are considered traditional) has been rugged as well. But those are medium to large folders.
Am I ignorant, have I misjudged performance, or is it a recent trend that perhaps old timers were simply too hard and too careful with their gear to prioritize?
 
I think you’re asking if there are any smallish traditional knives whose blades are suitable for prying tasks.

The short answer is “no.” As a young boy 50-ish years ago I was told—repeatedly, and in no uncertain terms—that one does not use a knife to pry or turn screws.

If you’d like a traditional slipjoint of rugged construction that can perform tasks other than cutting you’d be hard-pressed to do better than a Victorinox alox Pioneer or one of its kin.
 
Well here's the deal. There's this weird thing called progress. It's like a time machine that only goes one way.

Folks decades ago looked at their traditional knives from old Barlows to locking blades like Buck 110s and found them lacking.

As a result modern folders evolved to be secure in the hand and strong enough for hard use. It's no question a bit of the chicken and the egg kind of deal where as folders became more durable the users kept demanding more of them.

There are nice modern slip joint knives but inevitably as you pry and twist with a non locking knife you'll have a bad day.

And the old timey trappers etc? They would use a fixed knife or an ax etc. for "hard use".
 
There are some very sturdy traditional knives... But traditional knives are made to cut... not pry or hammer or screw things in.
You'll be hard-pressed to find any Cold Steel type of videos with traditional knives. And ergonomics are kind of a personal judgement.
If I wanted to grab a sturdy and ergonomic folder from my collection, I wouldn't have to look much further than a liner lock GEC #73. :thumbsup: :cool: :thumbsup:
If I want to pry or hammer or screw something in, I'll grab my tool box. My traditional knife will slice all day long, my hammer will hammer all day long, and my pry bar will never snap under a load. Right tools for the job. :thumbsup: :cool: :thumbsup:
 
If you like Bucks, there are smaller versions available. However, when you mention "...which can be used to pry..." it eliminates virtually all traditional folding knife blades including Bucks. The best bang for your buck knife that can withstand a pretty decent beating and has multiple blades for various tasks (including a flat tip and punch blade) is the traditional camp/scout knife or a Victorinox equivalent of the same or similar configuration (Pioneer for example). I also recommend these because they are very affordable, easy to acquire and can be found in a wide variety of colors and styles.
 
JohnDF said:
Progress has virtually eliminated the need for a knife all-together. Moving on...
Click to expand...
While giving so many choices of knives to carry. There are all sorts of great modern traditional knives. I have a Northwoods Hawthorne Jack in my pocket with the burlap scales. I wouldn't have that without progress.

The OP's sticking point is wanting a traditional knife that will suit what new school users are doing (and to tell the truth for some of these tasks even a non-traditional knife is the wrong choice).

For me I have a modern folding locking knife in the other pocket. So I get to pick which and because of the light plastic scales my pockets won't even sag from the extra cutlery.
 
If you think you may need to abuse a knife, by all means carry a modern frame lock or such. The pinned nickel silver bolsters of traditional knives get loose very quickly if you pry or twist, but they are superb slicing/cutting tools. I need to cut things way more often than I need to pry, so I carry primarily traditional knives. But, an ever present alox Cadet with its caplifter/screwdriver tool works well for light prying.
 
Danke42 said:
...great modern traditional knives...
Click to expand...

Balderdash, that is entirely nonsensical. There may be modern designs for slipjoints, lockbacks, and balisongs, but a modern traditional?

47962181971_ca87624281_z.jpg
 
Praying and traditionals don’t go together. Even the 110 shouldn’t be prying with a thin pressed in pivot.
Checklist for prying and twisting with a knife :
Does it have secure lock up no lock rock or slip?
Does it have a sturdy good sized pivot?
Does it have external stop pins?
Is the tip and stock substantial?
There’s more but if it checks no in multiple or any id say it’s a no go and I’m pretty sure there’s no traditionals that could checks most of these.
Anyways a scout knife might be your best bet
 
The Grohmann mini Russell pretty much fits the bill but is a little bigger than you're looking for.


A TL-29 pattern electricians knife would do well too, that large robust driver / scraper is great for all the non knife things you may do with with the blade of a " hard use folder ".
 
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Ok if you MUST pry with a slipjoint, this is the pattern I'd suggest. I do use the screwdriver for LIGHT prying, such as helping wiggle stubborn window screens out. Do NOT grip the handle and pry something hard,it will loosen the pivot and cause a loose blade. With an tl29 type screwdriver I grip the blade with my thumb and 2 fingers and push/pull. Anything harder than what I can manage with thumb and 2 fingers I go get a dedicated prybar. It also locks,but most with brass that can shear under heavy pressure. Most of the locks exhibit different degrees of lockup. The Klein above has noticable up and down movement when locked,the Case almost none. The spring is stout on them so it's not like they flop around. Models by Rough Rider and Marbles aren't expensive, and on here I've read good things about them. I dont have an electrician model by Rough Rider but I have several other patterns and they're good quality. I would NEVER pry with anything with a sharp edge,with the exception of a moulding/trim bar I have that has edges on the prying ends that are sharp enough to use as a scraper. But that's a specialty tool.
Edit to add: only the screwdriver locks
 
I’ve used knives in a pinch for things they were not intended. Some pretty fair advice already but maybe one of the small micro-tools would work better for all those “what if” scenarios, then you could keep your cutting edges sharp.

As far as holding onto when cold and wet??? There’s a few stockman and trapper patterns I’ve seen that look like they have a pretty textured grip. I think Case made some with the Carhartt logo. If I remember correctly they looked like they had a really good grip, maybe even rubber?

Since you mentioned SAK’s, the Evo-grip would probably fit the bill to do a lot of tasks besides cutting and be easier to hold on to.

Let us know what you run across to fill you needs.
 
I imagine the g10 scaled marbles tl29 is grippy,most g10 is if it isn't polished. @Henry Beige posted a orange g10 one in another thread. I'll drop a mention,he can give a good opinion of the Rough Rider one and the g10 Marbles :thumbsup:
 
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