What are you seasoned guys carrying?

About 12 yrs ago i was in my early 20s and I decided it was time to get a good quality folder and start carrying daily. When I asked about knives on a gun forum i was a part of, I got many recommendations for either the BM Grip, or the Spyderco Delica. To my untrained eye, the Delica was ugly, so I went with the Griptillian. Of course, being a newb, I opted for the partially serrated blade. I carried and abuse the crap out of that knife exclusively for about 8 years. I think I might have had it sharpened once by the guy at my local locksmith, who also sharpens knives (and does a decent but far from good job of it.)

Fast forward to 2016. I realized that i had all the guns i needed to fill every conceivable role from now till the end of time, but was really lacking on knives. I had my USMC Kabar, and my BM Grip but that was all. I was starting to do more outdoorsy and camping type stuff and it was time to get a fixed blade "bushcrafting knife." Tried the ESEE Laser Strike. No go. Ergos were all wonky. Tried the Becker Bk16, and my hand found home. A few years later, it's still my most used fixed blade knife. That's around the time I found BFC, and started reading here to absorb all the knowledge I could.

The more i read the more I wanted more folders. Got a Delica (love it, still have it). Got a Manix 2 in S110v (which I was going to sell, but my wife decided to claim it, and now it's hers). More knives than I can recall at this time have come and gone in the last few years.

Much like shinyedges shinyedges I really like carrying fixed blades, and on the weekends I do, but working in a professional office during the day I have to keep it discreet and classy so I resort to carrying folders. My #1 most carried knife is my Vic. Pioneer. No matter what else I have on me, that is ALWAYS in my pocket. At work I alternate between the BM North Fork (with wood scales), and the Spyderco Chaparral Ti as my additional knives.
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On the weekends you give me a nice light fixed blade, and I'm off to the races! (along with my Pioneer... of course)IMG_8486.jpg

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My taste has definitely gravitated toward nice simple steels in simple light fixed blades, all in leather sheaths. I've tried Kydex. Even good Kydex just doesn't do it for me.
 
I’ve been carrying a knife since my 10th birthday, in 1987. It was all SAKs and slip joints until around 7-8 years ago.

I work in retail mgmt, so my work applications are indoors, dry cutting, cardboard, plastic, zip ties, etc, as opposed to food prep or outdoor applications. Accordingly, I favor folders. I live in Oregon, and am also an avid hiker, so I really value corrosion resistance as the knives do *go* outside, but there’s little actual cutting involved in hiking, so a folder is still ideal for me. On days off, any cutting I do is very light, convenience cutting. On occasion, I have to process recycled materials to fit them into the constantly overflowing bins at our apartments. That’s rare.

I know it’s not popular with everyone, but I also love fidget flipping. A lot. Titanium frame lock flippers aren’t just for the kids. I love them.

So, if I’m not getting ready for a review, I carry a Laconico Keen damn near every day.

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This is about it. The essence of a folding cutting tool for me. Durable, easy to maintain and manipulate, light weight. Performs very well for its intended purpose with the blade shape and stock thickness. No less, no more.




However at work 90% of the time I get by with this, couldn’t live without it!
 
Its been quite a journey for me. When it all started the liner lock was a fairly new design from the lockbacks and slip joints I was familiar with. The only name brands I new were buck and gerber. The older I got my interest and curiosity for better and different knives grew. Ive been through many different phases. First it was large folders. I was convinced nothing under 3.75 blade length was good enough. Then it was blade steels. Only the best would be good enough. Then I needed to always carry two knives, which has stuck ever since.
My current day mindset is this, A small fixed blade around 3 inches in blade length. A locking folder around 3.25- 3.5 inches in blade length. The fixed blade is carried horizontal on my belt at my 10-11 oclock. A folder carried in my right pocket.
 
19-3ben said:
About 12 yrs ago i was in my early 20s and I decided it was time to get a good quality folder and start carrying daily. When I asked about knives on a gun forum i was a part of, I got many recommendations for either the BM Grip, or the Spyderco Delica. To my untrained eye, the Delica was ugly, so I went with the Griptillian. Of course, being a newb, I opted for the partially serrated blade. I carried and abuse the crap out of that knife exclusively for about 8 years. I think I might have had it sharpened once by the guy at my local locksmith, who also sharpens knives (and does a decent but far from good job of it.)

Fast forward to 2016. I realized that i had all the guns i needed to fill every conceivable role from now till the end of time, but was really lacking on knives. I had my USMC Kabar, and my BM Grip but that was all. I was starting to do more outdoorsy and camping type stuff and it was time to get a fixed blade "bushcrafting knife." Tried the ESEE Laser Strike. No go. Ergos were all wonky. Tried the Becker Bk16, and my hand found home. A few years later, it's still my most used fixed blade knife. That's around the time I found BFC, and started reading here to absorb all the knowledge I could.

The more i read the more I wanted more folders. Got a Delica (love it, still have it). Got a Manix 2 in S110v (which I was going to sell, but my wife decided to claim it, and now it's hers). More knives than I can recall at this time have come and gone in the last few years.

Much like shinyedges shinyedges I really like carrying fixed blades, and on the weekends I do, but working in a professional office during the day I have to keep it discreet and classy so I resort to carrying folders. My #1 most carried knife is my Vic. Pioneer. No matter what else I have on me, that is ALWAYS in my pocket. At work I alternate between the BM North Fork (with wood scales), and the Spyderco Chaparral Ti as my additional knives.
View attachment 1054090
On the weekends you give me a nice light fixed blade, and I'm off to the races! (along with my Pioneer... of course)View attachment 1054091

View attachment 1054092

My taste has definitely gravitated toward nice simple steels in simple light fixed blades, all in leather sheaths. I've tried Kydex. Even good Kydex just doesn't do it for me.
Click to expand...
Nice progression you have had, and of course I love the fixed blades you have. Very good taste sir.
 
Cvrobinson said:
Thanks
One of my favorites
This old (1961) Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett
Fitted with new 5000 yr old bog oak scales
From one of my most valued BF friends
View attachment 1054100
Click to expand...
Your friend couldn't have gifted that bog oak to a better guy. Turned out fantastic by the way.
 
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My dad always carried a pen knife, and me and my brothers usually had a traditional folder growing up, with some SAK's that we got on Christmas's. When I went to work full time at eighteen it was a big a deal to buy a Buck 110 and carry it every day. I was with a logging crew in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, and had the boss stop at the local store in Montgomery so I could run in and get the one I'd been looking at for weeks. When I got back to the truck he said, "Now, my only advice to you is that you use that knife". Which I did, for quite a long time.
About fifteen years ago I switched to modern folders, and mostly bought CRKTs. Employees got them for performance or time in, and for the last ten years operating my own tree company most every employee got a knife. My first two really good knives were fixed blades I bought to hike and camp with, a Winkler Woodsman and a Bakr-Bilt Stag Model 1. By now I've gotten into much better folders, and along with carrying a small fixed blade everyday ( like 115Italian 115Italian ) , I usually have either a PM2 or a Manix in my pocket, too ( like @91bravo ).
 
Started with traditional knives, of course they weren't called that then; just pocket knives. They took care of all of my knife tasks from day to day stuff to hiking, camping, hunting, and fishing. I caught the knife bug before joining BF by about 10 years as I always liked a good knife. That is when my brother in law introduced me to Randall knives and customs. Did that.... the customs/handmades were all fixed blades. Never really got comfortable carrying a fixed blade day to day. But I have a pretty good selection of small fixed blades that would work nicely if I choose to do so with most of the smaller ones appearing in the last 10 years.

I went from traditionals to moderns and back and forth as I like both. The lowly SAK changed my knife world for the most part about 30 years ago. I would carry a modern off and on and most recently both the SAK and modern. Moderns go the whole gambit from simple lock backs to AO's to flippers. This may be changing again now, I think, and my knife carrying choices are in flux. So called "deployment" speed is not an issue for me.

Trying to downsize to a Vic Small Tinker SAK or a Peanut. Assuming that I'm comfortable with that change, I might get a small modern (sub 3" blade) down the road. I know that either of these knives will do 95% of what I do with a pocket knife and I carry a fixed blade roaming the woods along with the folders. The change in the woods has been that I might actually use a fixed blade more often with my downsized folders. For the most part, the woods fixed blade has been more man jewelry or for emergencies. Also carrying at least a shoulder bag for "stuff" and I can carry say a Vic One Handed Trekker or folding saw in the bag if I want a saw blade with me.

Another change was a migration to machetes in the last 10 years for chopping and using. But I still love a big fixed blade. I just have to control my impulses to get another one as I seldom use them for anything.

So, if I take "today" as the reference point, I have pretty much gone full circle with knives.... practical traditional knives to modern folders to practical traditional knives again. We'll see how it goes. That is about all I can say in terms of choices.
 
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22-rimfire said:
Started with traditional knives, of course they weren't called that then; just pocket knives.
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I carried slip-joint pocket knives for 20 years, then I went tactical with a Buck 112 on my belt. I reluctantly accepted pocket clips and used them for about another 20 years. Right now I have a Case Copperlock in my pocket. I plan to carry a fixed blade when I'm old enough that people will think that I'm just some crazy old phart and leave me alone.
 
Started as a kid with a copy of a Victorinox Hunstman. I always thought it was a cheap clunky piece of garbage. I had no use for half the tools and the ones I did try to use performed poorly. Even though today I've had the chance to use real Victorinox and Wenger swiss army knives and will recognize them as good knives I still think of them as cheap childs knives.

Sometime around age 10 my mom bought me a Sabre brand lockback from a local hardware store. It was a Buck 112 copy. Loved that knife and still prefer lock backs to this day.

I had several more various cheaper knives as a kid. Local farm supply sold Imperial Ireland in a counter top display and I had several throughout the years. Along with a few hand me down worn out Boker and Schrade slip joints.

My first "good" knife was a buck 110 I bought around age 16 with grass cutting money. By that time I was a die hard heavily addicted squirrel hunter. Couldn't begin to imagine the miles that thing rode on my hip out in the woods or the number of squirrel and the occasional rabbit it processed. Suprising enough as much as I loved the Buck it was always in my eyes at that point in time a hunting knife.

Carried a Case 3 blade stockman for a while because that's what most of the older guys I worked with carried.

Went through a Leatherman phase and for a couple years carried a Leatherman Wave exclusively.

From about age 20-25 I was constantly bouncing back and forth between modern and traditional folders.

First modern folder was a Sog Flash II.

Then I carried a Case large sodbuster for a while.

Then a Case medium stockman again.

Kershaw Leek for a short period loved the knife but the tip was always a concern.

Gerber Fast Draw because the tip and blade profile was stronger.

Back to a Case stockman (I've probably owned and carried a half dozen of these at different times)

I bought myself a Benchmade 550 for my 26th birthday and carried it everyday for the next two years or so.

Bought a Buck 112 drop point in 5160 and about a month later a 1992 vintage 112. Been carrying these since with a strong preference for the older knife.

I guess I've come full circle.
 
I like fixed blades, but they're just too much of a hassle to carry, except for specific purposes.

I started about 60 years ago with an Ulster slip joint, probably in 1095.

Then I didn't carry at all for many years.

What changed things for me was a Gerber E-Z Out, probably in the early '90s -- my first pocket knife with a clip and one-handed opening.

Then I found Cold Steel and it's "amazing" Aus 8.

Then I found Bladeforums, and I went through lots of knives of all types and steels.

Now, for quite a few years, I've settled on a Benchmade Rukus 610, first with S30V and then upgraded to Vanax SC steel.
 
Well, I'm 72 years old and have owned/carried a knife since I was 4 years old, so I guess I'm seasoned.
I'm partial to newer designs and materials than the old traditionals. I have folders from several manufacturers but most of the time I carry either my old Spyderco Native or a Swamp Rat Rat Trap. These are my favorites.
 
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