The Perfect Pocket Knife.

[jackknife]

You get smarter as you get older in terms of what's important (protect your body). Climbing a sheer cliff or very steep mountainside are things I don't want to do. Honestly. I think a could but I protect myself now as you start to realize that you don't heal as fast, rest up as fast (recover), or do what I consider "stupid stuff" just to do it. I do not jump off big logs or rocks.... Too easy to hurt yourself out in the boonies. I still like to wander around in the woods (off trail), but I suspect those days are somewhat numbered. If something happens, nobody will find you for possibly days.

Knife choices may change less as well as you become comfortable with what ya got.

I'll leave you with just one phase that will become more meaningful as you get to old fart age; "Help, I've fallen and can't get up!"

 

[RIP Dequincy Jynxie]

apologies for butting in, but I just stumbled upon the opening post and must compliment the author:

that was quite a wonderful read!

my only quip, and this would be the definitely of quip, is the liberal use of the word "dickens"

I have a hard time imagining someone using a Spyderco Military's to free a stuck hairband from a child's braid, but I'm sure it has probably happened somewhere

bravo!

 

[22-rimfire]

I'll leave you with just one phase that will become more meaningful as you get to old fart age; "Help, I've fallen and can't get up!"

A lot of people laugh at that phrase. But it's a fact/concern as you get older. When does "old fart" age begin? I suspect it is entirely a matter of your health.

I was visiting a national park and there was a black bear near the road. One of the big problems there is people not pulling off the road and totally blocking traffic when bears, elk, or a large buck are spotted near the road. I consider it selfish behavior. People whip out their cell phones and start taking pictures. I once suggested that one particular vehicle pull off the road so other people could possibly see the bear as the cars move forward. I suggested you can just walk a little and spend as much time as you like viewing wildlife. The response I got was "I can't walk." That gave me pause. Well.... I still think they need to pull off the road and not block everyone else's opportunity to see that particular animal....

I cut old farts or the infirm breaks, but I still think they are not the center of the world and need to make allowances for other people.

 

[JohnDF]

One of the big problems there is people not pulling off the road and totally blocking traffic when bears, elk, or a large buck are spotted near the road.

City Folk.

 

[hornetguy]

When does "old fart" age begin? I suspect it is entirely a matter of your health.

I agree with this... but one's mental outlook plays a role as well. I have seen folks my age who look like they are in their 80's... I'm 66... but you are correct. A lot of it can be traced back to health issues. I've been richly blessed with good health, and still wrestle around my 850#+ motorcycle. I am probably at only about 50% on my ability to get down on my knees, crawl around at work, and jump back up. It takes more of a "strategy" to get back up off the floor now.
Old age sort of sneaks up on you, when you're not looking... All of a sudden, you are a curmudgeon, shaking your cane at "whippersnappers" and "punks"....

 

[Old Engineer]

I agree with this... but one's mental outlook plays a role as well. I have seen folks my age who look like they are in their 80's... I'm 66... but you are correct. A lot of it can be traced back to health issues. I've been richly blessed with good health, and still wrestle around my 850#+ motorcycle. I am probably at only about 50% on my ability to get down on my knees, crawl around at work, and jump back up. It takes more of a "strategy" to get back up off the floor now.
Old age sort of sneaks up on you, when you're not looking... All of a sudden, you are a curmudgeon, shaking your cane at "whippersnappers" and "punks"....

When you start thinking about making a harness to wear and attach to your Garage Chain Hoist to get up , that is when you are probably an Old Fart ???

Harry

 

[22-rimfire]

I agree with this... but one's mental outlook plays a role as well. I have seen folks my age who look like they are in their 80's... I'm 66... but you are correct. A lot of it can be traced back to health issues. I've been richly blessed with good health, and still wrestle around my 850#+ motorcycle. I am probably at only about 50% on my ability to get down on my knees, crawl around at work, and jump back up. It takes more of a "strategy" to get back up off the floor now.
Old age sort of sneaks up on you, when you're not looking... All of a sudden, you are a curmudgeon, shaking your cane at "whippersnappers" and "punks"....

I think at some point you just want to stop behavior limited by the 50%. You forgot "cutting like the dickens" and hippies with "whippersnappers and punks", by golly.

 

[hornetguy]

that's "dirty hippies"....

 

[jackknife]

I agree with this... but one's mental outlook plays a role as well. I have seen folks my age who look like they are in their 80's... I'm 66... but you are correct. A lot of it can be traced back to health issues. I've been richly blessed with good health, and still wrestle around my 850#+ motorcycle. I am probably at only about 50% on my ability to get down on my knees, crawl around at work, and jump back up. It takes more of a "strategy" to get back up off the floor now.
Old age sort of sneaks up on you, when you're not looking... All of a sudden, you are a curmudgeon, shaking your cane at "whippersnappers" and "punks"....

Absolutely totally agree with this; Time is a sneaky basted!

I can't remember any one time that I knew I'd got old, but I do recall there was times that it did suddenly strike me that this (whatever this was at the moment) didn't used to be this hard. Like a favorite hiking trail that now seemed to be more uphill than it used to be. Or the same canoe we had for 20 years, seeming to be heavier to lift up and put on top of the car at the end of a day on the water. Or my little Case peanut that I used to handle with deftness, becoming snappy and problematic to handle.

What does come as a fast shock is the day you do realize that all your better days are behind you, and you're now an official old fart. Then you'd best just sit down and have a drink and calm down because it ain't gonna get any better!

Like Teddy Roosevelt said; "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

(And now being an old fart, you can carry a big stick with you! People will just thing its a cane!)

 

[5K Qs]

I agree with this... but one's mental outlook plays a role as well. I have seen folks my age who look like they are in their 80's... I'm 66... but you are correct. A lot of it can be traced back to health issues. I've been richly blessed with good health, and still wrestle around my 850#+ motorcycle. I am probably at only about 50% on my ability to get down on my knees, crawl around at work, and jump back up. It takes more of a "strategy" to get back up off the floor now.
Old age sort of sneaks up on you, when you're not looking... All of a sudden, you are a curmudgeon, shaking your cane at "whippersnappers" and "punks"....

I've got to get me a cane to shake! (I'll be 69 in 2 months.)

I have several branches of various lengths, thicknesses, and species "curing" in the garage, but I need to stop curing and start whittling. I'd better start a search for the perfect whittling knife! (I'm actually pretty pleased with the pen blade on celidor SAKs as a go-to whittling knife.)

- GT

 

[22-rimfire]

I've got to get me a cane to shake! (I'll be 69 in 2 months.)

I have several branches of various lengths, thicknesses, and species "curing" in the garage, but I need to stop curing and start whittling. I'd better start a search for the perfect whittling knife! (I'm actually pretty pleased with the pen blade on celidor SAKs as a go-to whittling knife.)

The wharncliffe blade shape is in my opinion the best whittling shape on a slip joint. I am a SAK guy too. One of these days I'm going to get a Irish Blackthorn cane. Just because... call it forward thinking. I have used a cane a few times when I needed one. I tend to twist my knees as I swivel my body rather than turn my head often and the knees take a hit. One good twist and they hurt for two weeks. On the trail, I use trekking poles. Usually one (vs two) as I often have camera gear with me which occupies a hand. Also good for feeling your way ahead when you're concerned about snakes and not being able to see where you're stepping often.

 

[hornetguy]

The wharncliffe blade shape is in my opinion the best whittling shape on a slip joint. I am a SAK guy too. One of these days I'm going to get a Irish Blackthorn cane. Just because... call it forward thinking. I have used a cane a few times when I needed one. I tend to twist my knees as I swivel my body rather than turn my head often and the knees take a hit. One good twist and they hurt for two weeks. On the trail, I use trekking poles. Usually one (vs two) as I often have camera gear with me which occupies a hand. Also good for feeling your way ahead when you're concerned about snakes and not being able to see where you're stepping often.

.... and for poking those young whippersnappers as they blow by you on the trail.....

 

[Prester John]

I think I need a sword cane.

 

[Henry Beige]

apologies for butting in, but I just stumbled upon the opening post and must compliment the author:

that was quite a wonderful read!

my only quip, and this would be the definitely of quip, is the liberal use of the word "dickens"

I have a hard time imagining someone using a Spyderco Military's to free a stuck hairband from a child's braid, but I'm sure it has probably happened somewhere

bravo!

Welcome to the Porch. You have stumbled across a significant piece of Porch culture. Although the expression is an old one, “cuts like the dickens” was brought into currency here by the OP, who used it first as I recall to describe the wonderful cutting capabilities of the Opinel knife. It is still used by the OP, but by others as well, partly tongue in cheek, partly as homage, and partly because it conveys its meaning concisely and well, in an apt and folksy way.

Think of it as part utility, part ritual.

 

[JB in SC]

There comes a time when a person realizes they've field dressed their last deer, gone on that last quail hunt, waded that last trout stream. Saddens me to think so, but as the reality sinks in it's a little disheartening. The memories make up for the loss, I have so many of a life in the outdoors. There's still a bit left, but not like it was. We let it sneak up on us, but it happens suddenly...

I still enjoy reading about the exploits of famous outdoor writers, one can see that trout slurp the fly, deer walk broadside while drawing the arrow, pointer quivering locked on a covey. It's as real to those of us now as it was the day we first experienced it.

I've carried a knife since I was eight, mine may be easier to pocket and less of a working knife...but it's still a knife.

 

[5K Qs]

Time is a sneaky basted!

I can't remember any one time that I knew I'd got old, but I do recall there was times that it did suddenly strike me that this (whatever this was at the moment) didn't used to be this hard.

One constant reminder of my aging over the years is the time it takes me to walk to (or from) work. I've commuted on foot (or more recently, a combination of on foot and by bus) frequently for 35 years. It's a 3-mile walk, and when I first started doing it (in my mid-30s), the trip took 39 minutes (13 minute miles). But somewhere in my 40s, it was taking me 42 minutes (14 min/mi), then 45 minutes sometime in my 50s (15 min. miles), and for several years now in my mid-to-late 60s, I can't seem to beat 48 minutes. Since the pandemic hit, I've given up bus riding, and have been walking more than ever, and seemed to be stuck on 16 minute miles.

Since Sept. 1, I've been walking 8-9 miles every weekday (and at least 6 miles/day on weekends) and I told myself, "Doggone it! I'm NOT gonna give up to age without a fight!" So for the past 3 weeks, I've been trying to push myself a little harder on my commutes (intentionally swinging my arms while I walk actually makes a difference ), and have had some trips below 47 minutes. And today, with the wind at my back and my springiest shoes, I "walked like the dickens" and made the trip in just under 44 minutes. Felt (temporarily) like I turned the clock back at least 10 years.

- GT

 

[5K Qs]

Welcome to the Porch. You have stumbled across a significant piece of Porch culture. Although the expression is an old one, “cuts like the dickens” was brought into currency here by the OP, who used it first as I recall to describe the wonderful cutting capabilities of the Opinel knife. It is still used by the OP, but by others as well, partly tongue in cheek, partly as homage, and partly because it conveys its meaning concisely and well, in an apt and folksy way.

Think of it as part utility, part ritual.

Very articulately expressed!

- GT

 

[RIP Dequincy Jynxie]

Welcome to the Porch. You have stumbled across a significant piece of Porch culture. Although the expression is an old one, “cuts like the dickens” was brought into currency here by the OP, who used it first as I recall to describe the wonderful cutting capabilities of the Opinel knife. It is still used by the OP, but by others as well, partly tongue in cheek, partly as homage, and partly because it conveys its meaning concisely and well, in an apt and folksy way.

Think of it as part utility, part ritual.

in this case I'll have to have one of the friction folders I'm getting from JK knives engraved with "DICKENS"

thank you for the welcome and context!

I love learning from you folks

I only narrowly escaped the financial abyss of case bose collab knives after discovering them through this forum, but of course it's been totally worth it

 

[jackknife]

in this case I'll have to have one of the friction folders I'm getting from JK knives engraved with "DICKENS"

thank you for the welcome and context!

I love learning from you folks

I only narrowly escaped the financial abyss of case bose collab knives after discovering them through this forum, but of course it's been totally worth it

JK Knives makes friction folders????

I didn't know, I thought he just did fixed blades. Now I have another new knife to 'accumulate'!

 

[screened porch]

What does come as a fast shock is the day you do realize that all your better days are behind you, and you're now an official old fart.

This happened to me at 26, so I've gotten used to it.

I've got to get me a cane to shake! (I'll be 69 in 2 months.)

I'm going to thin out the wild cherry that's threatening the fence, once the sap's well down. I'll dig down and try to find a knob-headed cane or two.

On the trail, I use trekking poles.

A great way to take some stress off the knees and get a little upper body work out of walking. I don't use the wrist loops, though; I'm scared of getting tangled up if I fall. Though lately I'm not using a stick at all. My knees seem less free-spirited and more reliable. Still, I like being venerable enough to feel I can get away with carrying a cane.

One constant reminder of my aging over the years is the time it takes me to walk

My 35-minute loop has become 40 recently. It must be my math.
[Below is the wrong pic, but I might leave it.]

My perfect pocket-knife, practically speaking, would be an alox sak with a sheepfoot secondary, but how many layers? This white one is the slimmest I have with a wood-saw.