Yes, there is indeed seasons, and for whatever reason, the 74mm is my season for a pocketknife now. I'm still living an active life, but the theater of that life has changed. I'm no longer going into the wilderness areas on my own, I'm no longer riding out on deserted county roads on old motorcycles or Italian Vespa motor scooters, and I'm not driving cross country anymore an ld VW bug from decades past. As senior citizens, my wife and I take the tours at the places we go. We liked the tour bus that took us all around Yosemite and Yellowstone, and stopped at the high lights. We drive 2016 and 2019 Toyota's so the odd of having to make a roadside repair is slim to none. If we have a breakdown, we'll call AAA and get a tow to the Toyota dealer.
For the Harry homeowner role, I have a work shop out back with a full compliment of tools, as well as a tool kit in the house so I don't have to run out to the shop for a pliers or wrench. I do find the need for a small screw driver for fishing reels, firearms, small appliances, to be a handy thing to have. While out at Jessica's place in California, I fixed a G.E, toaster, a AA battery powered pencil sharpener, and a sticky bathroom door on the guest bathroom, all with my little executive. The nail file tip handled the little Phillips screws in the toaster's bottom plate, and the larger blade on the executive scraped off a tiny bit of wood on the top outer edge of the door so it doesn't stick anymore. Then I fixed my granddaughters sweater with the tweezers.
It's the season for the old man's knife for me now. It was 50 years ago when I go try first SAK, I picked one that had saw blades, metal files, chisels, scissors, corkscrew, fishscaler, and what seems like a hundred other tools. I didn't carry it long before going down to a 5 layer SAK, then a 3 layer SAK. I figured that I didn't really need all those tools on the big SAK's in a day to day life. Eventually I ended up with a 2 layer SAK as my EDC, combined with a Buck 301 stockman. Eventually, even the stockman was in the sock drawer, and then on to my grandson, Ryan.
At this stage of my life, in and around American suburbia, or even traveling cross county a few times a year, the smaller one and two layer SAK's are all I need. Theres sooooo many two layer models that give sooo much. The small tinker, spartan, Recruit, pioneer, cadet. Even the one layer models like the waiter, bantam, ambassador, and classic, can handle a very very surprising amount of jobs. Thanks to my my wife Karen, I did the great classic experiment of 1994, and came away converted to the classic as a serious tool under the radar.
My dad and Mr. Van both preached pretty much the same thing, but in slightly different terms. That you never know what will happen between the time you walk out the door in the morning, and you return home. But it will be helpful to have a sharp knife in the pocket, and if that knife has a few tools on it, then its gravy for the potatoes.
A SAK fits that bill just fine.
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