I’m 58 yrs. old and I’ve packed a pocket knife since I was six.
Over the years, I owned and lost, worn out, or misplaced or had stolen Barlows, Tree Brand, Old Timers and others….some good, some bad.
One thing all those old knives had in common was good blade steel and a good edge could be maintained even with occasional abuse.
Today, however, most of the over-the-counter knives have stainless steel blades….Schrader, Kershaw, ad nauseum….and IMO, they all suck! They’re brittle (make poor screwdrivers), they won’t hold an edge, and, for what they are, they are over-priced.
The proliferation of SS knives kind of crept up on me and I became accustomed to their crapiness until my Dad died a couple of years ago and I ended up with an old Tree Brand of his I’d given him 20 some yrs. ago on a birthday or something. Now that old knife….worn from many sharpenings….is a KNIFE! (And Tree Brand was not even one of the good ones!).
I carry Dad’s knife now, along with a folding belt knife that’s 40 yrs. old and keeps an edge…..
And to get a good utility knife to pack around one shouldn’t have to resort to a custom knife maker to laminate up a collectors item for 2 or 300 bucks!
So what’s this with SS anyway? Even gun barrels made of it! (Whatever happened to keeping your gun OILED for cryin’ out loud!).
Thanks for letting me rant!
Replies
I miss a really good old Case I had..I understand your plight. I can tell you why SS gun barrels are the rage, less copper fouling and more stable at higher temps.
BUT...one of my favorite chisels, was made by winchester arms..a sweet 3/8" LONG socket , bevel sided beauty...guess what? GUN BARREL steel..circa 1840.
I'd love some of that stuff for tooling around.
I think some of the best Japanese cutlery is still high carbon steel..I'd post the name of my chefs knives but I can't do the characters ..*..( last time I set my keyboard to anothe language, it was cryllic for months..don't do that)
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Yup, I really bought this place, wanna shoot me? Please?
In the 30's, before my time, Dad and his runnin' partner worked a couple of years peeling Doug fir piling (quite a unique and plentiful resource where I grew up).
They peeled by hand, using "spuds" that were made by a blacksmith out of old truck springs. I still have his "winter" spud (slight curve), and "spring" spud (pronounced curve) and they've been invaluable for what log peeling I do.
Now, a few years ago, I dug up an old oct. bbl'd .22 with my roto-tiller. It's rusted and just a novelty, but your chisel gives me ideas.....
Have you tried e-bay for older Kbar, Gerber, Buck, Uncle Henry, etc?
"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.... and just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way."
Actually, I have two Buck folding hunters...one that I carry (that I bought new in about 1965 for less than $8) and a spare that I found on a log in the Three Sisters Wilderness. And I have a couple of Kbars I was issued in the Navy...but they ain't pocket knives.
Every Gerber I ever had ended up broken.
Uncle Henrys were good.
I have a couple of Bucks that I like and my wife has a folding Kbar that's almost exactly like my folding Buck. Gave it to her for Christmas in 1981. When I sharpen them her Kbar seems to be the hardest of the bunch."But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.... and just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way."
Damn I was hiking in the Three Sisters Wilderness and I set my Buck knife on a log went to get something came back it was gone.
Give me the date, within 2 years and the location, within a mile....and I'll return it to you! :-)
I cannot tell you exactly the time because I was on a mission but there was this log I sat on and these trees and this deer with pointed things on his head, aawwww come on Wormdrive!!! You know it's mine!
I carried Bucks' forever. 6 or 7 years ago I was fishing up on the Green in Utah and found a Puma,(German). Dont know how long it had been there, but its stainless and keeps and edge so well, every time I pull it out to trim up the tip on my cue, someone sez "damn that thing must be sharp". I sharpen it every year or so..Can't leave the house without it.
Wandering Death Valley more than a few yrs ago I came upon a Buck in a wash. Stayed with me until I abused it and broke a blade. Sent it back to the factory for repair. They returned the empty box to me. Some SOB Postal employee cut a small hole in one corner and stole a broken knife.
My father bought me a replacement. He died awhile back. Buck's still with me. It won't take an edge like my laminated Japanese chisels, but it's a lot more durable.
At a trade show in Pittsburgh I happened on a guy hawking ceramic sharpening stones. He asked for a volunteer knife. Wasn't his best day when he got mine. He couldn't get it any sharper. Shaving was no problem when he got it. Pretty sure he didn't sell any ceramics. I use water stones and finish with a 5000. Real fast. Nobody there selling them that day.
Once had a contest with a neurosurgeon's nurses over who could sharpen sharpest. Reason they did their own sharpening was distrust of hospital tools, from experience. They had a nifty electric vibrating stone. At the end, we couldn't tell any difference, their way or mine.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
The reason most knives today are made with SS blades is that 95% of people who buy a knife don't know how to sharpen it, and never do. Carbon steel knives need to be touched up on a whetstone frequently or they get dull fairly quickly. SS blades will never take as fine an edge as carbon steel, but what edge they will take will last longer.
So, knives now have SS blades to compensate for incompetence and laziness on the part of knife owners.
Duh....
My best chef's knife came from my grandmother's kitchen. I figure it was probably made in the 30s or 40s. High carbon steel, takes an edge like a razor with almost no work, and a few flicks on the quarto will put it back in shape in less than the time it takes to think about it.
I carried an unbranded K-bar for years. It was a model stamped 'rigging knife' and came with a small spike and a fairly large sheep's foot blade. Chrome-moly-steel tools, a solid brass case, and riveted leather scales. It sharpened up well and sat nice in my back pocket with the spike hooked over the fabric of the pocket itself to hold it in place and keep it accessible. I lost it one fall by loaning it to a customer while I was installing some windows for her; forgot to ask for it back at the end of the day and she forgot too. When I noticed it missing, I called but she couldn't remember where she'd left it.
She found the thing a few days before Christmas, lying out in the backyard on the edge of her barbeque pit, and called. This was years before A2BX split, so she took the call and on Christmas morning I opened a small, heavy package to find my old knife inside, not even rusted and still sharp.
It's sitting on my dresser now, honourably retired after well over 20 years in favour of a survival tool with eleventy-seven gizmos buried in the handles of a pair of folding pliers. I like that tool; it's a Victorinox 'Swiss Tool' and beats the pants off any Leatherman or even Gerber I ever saw.
But when I get the urge to do some fancy knottin' and splicin', the old rigging knife comes back out....
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
"...I've packed a pocket knife since I was six."
Same here. I just don't feel right without a pocket knife in my pocket.
I mostly like Buck brand knives. But I have several lying around.
I keep one specific one im my pocket most of the time. DW got it for me, and occasionally checks to make sure I still have it.
She's pulled it out of the washing machine and given it back to me more than once.
(-:
I was in the car with the wifey listing to NPR. They were running tapes of Lydon Johnson when he was president. He must have taped every conversation he had. LBJ was on the phone with his tailor, complaining about the fit of his suits. His biggest complaint was that whenever he crossed his legs, his knife would slip out of his pocket, and he needed deeper pockets to prevent that.
"Why on earth would the president need to carry a blade?" DW asked. Like others here said, because once you get used to it, not having it does not feel right.
154 cm and its Hitachi equivalent ats 34 are used in most high end custom and production knives for the reason that they take and hold extremely sharp and strong edges. what you guys are complaining about is 440 stainless.
I've spoken before here about a 19 yr-old on my crew who is an employer's dream.
Sad thing is, he's never had a pocket knife. I gave him one out of my stash of oldies, but he can't get in the habit of carrying it.
I'd rather have a pocket knife than a damned cell phone!
it crazy, back in high school, everybody had a pocket knife, all the trucks had shotguns in the rear window. today if you have a one inch blade, fingernail picker they want to put you under the jail. Hell you need a knife today just to get into your peanut butter crackers in the morning.
You used to be able to buy factory-second knives at the factory store of Utica Cutlery in Utica N.Y. It was a real factory-second store, in the factory, with the sounds of stamping and pressing machinery in the not so background.
Anyway they used to have a box with hundreds of knives in it and in 1969 they were $1.00 each. I bought two (carbon steel) and carried one of them in my pocket for almost thirty years. That blade would take an edge. Any sharp corners that thing had originally were worn to perfection after all that time. I lost it, I don't know where, and wouldn't you know it, don't know where the other (1969) knife was put for safe keeping.
About a month after I lost it, I serendipitously found a Swiss Army Knife. It's not nearly as soulful or as good a blade but, you know, once you get used to having all those functions in one package, it would be hard for me to go back.
Does anybody know if Utica Cutlery still exists? Do they still have a factory store?
I don't pack a knife every day now, but cherish a few.
Please bear with me:
As a boy, I always carried my carbon 2-blade bone-scaled Barlow. Still have it, even though I lost it one summer and found it the next.
I'm partial to carbon steel: dad carved up the roast paper thin with a long thin german one, with cheap wood scales. Dad gave it a couple licks each time; it is worn now and has been retired for a more refined one that has no soul whatever.
I still use a carbon Opinel (French-made twist lock, 5" blade) that takes an amazing edge. Bought it in Paris when I was 18. This is the knife I take camping, hiking, hunting. Probably my favorite of all time.
Have a Buck Skinner SS that has never skinned a thing and is a pig to sharpen. Nice elegant compact shape though.
My first Chef's knife was a German Henckels SS that was a POS disappointment from day one. It sharpens poorly, and loses what edge it has quickly.
I now prep food with a 1920s era French carbon, lightly cambered tall blade, 5" long, super sharp, and contrary to what one would expect, it is suited to most kitchen duties. These knives, branded L'Enfer, were hand-made and found in most pre-WW2 French kitchens. I time-travel when I use it.
My L'Enfer comes from a lot that spent 80 years forgotten in a warehouse until I purchased it new for $6 from Lee Valley Tools. You can see the grindstone pattern on the beautiful multi-hued blade. With hand-riveted wood scales it is very comfortable, and safe with it's integral safety tang, wood also. Each is one of a kind. Couple licks with a diamond hone and watch out!
Like Dinosaur, I have a Victorinox multi-tool that has ss blades, lots of features, very well designed and finished, a joy to use, somewhat heavy. Very stout pliers, not a toy. Too new to pass comment on the quality of the blades, but I do know the serrated one slices industrial hoist slings in a flash. A very nice gift that skis with me in the backcountry.
For paddling whitewater, I use a Japanese rescue knife, folding SS serrated drop-point blade, yellow plastic scales, very very sharp. Does a fine job on salami and apples too.
Finally, a favorite pocket knife - kept on my desk - is my grandad's very elegant ss Henckels. I believe it was purchased just before WW2 as it is stamped Germany. Beautiful fine cross-hatched finish with an incised border on the ss scales; includes a corkscrew and a reamer. I admired that knife as a child, and was given it by grandad's son-in-law a few years ago. I am very grateful to this uncle for parting with it. Now if he'll only give me grandad's side-by-side .410 and all will be well.
:-)
First rule I was told for my first knife was that it was NOT a screwdriver!
Have you considered carrying one of the great new multi-tools? I'd be screwed if I just had a knife in my pocket now! I can't live without the folding pair of pliers that hide inside of my keychain.
I almost lost it at Shea Stadium this weekend for the first time, but a small explanation of precedence bored the security guard enough to let me go inside and keep it.
Edited 5/15/2005 12:38 am ET by Chuck
I had a nice lockblade knife I got a Sears for somehting like $4.99. It dropped out of my packet when I was doing landscaping and the truck ran it over--just skewed the scales a little from squishing the rivets, but it still works--I still have it somewhere. But other knives rusted in my pocket from sweat, so I've resorted to a stainless lockblade.
Like a number of you I have carried a pocket knife since my grand father gave me one as little guy. I Loaned that one too a friend who broke the blade. So I guess I have been looking for a spiritual replacement for it ever since. Today I have 2-3 dozen knifes of all kinds but my daily carrier is a Spyderco. When I need it for work the thumb hole single handed opening is important. It gets a lot of looks when someone needs a knife, and I take it out of my back pocket and open it all in a single motion.
Yeah, I hear you. In general SS makes lousy blades, and often the grade of steel used in modern knives won't take an edge worth s***, or hold it for longer than 30 seconds, even with some of the supposedly better brands.
An interesting tidbit, though: Many years ago, when I was a bachelor, I purchased a set of moderately priced kitchen knives at one of those mall housewares stores. I immediately found out the blades were as dull as butterknives and set out to sharpen them. But I nearly as soon discovered that the (stainless) steel wouldn't take an edge but would curl over once you got to it down to a decent point.
Having a gas range at the time (and no wife to complain), I got some newspaper and a squirt can of oil and proceded to temper the blades. I'd heat the blade in the burner until it was starting to turn red, then stroke it across oil-soaked newspaper while squirting more oil on top. (Lots of smoke.)
I made the mistake of doing one of the knives this way before the first sharpening, and had to go back and anneal it some so it was soft enough to thin the edge, but otherwise it went pretty much as planned. The blades took a fine edge and have needed only occasional sharpening since. They were more brittle, and one knife became so badly chipped (about 10 years later) that it had to be tossed, but we're still using the rest 30 years later.
I've considered trying this on a pocketknife, but virtually all of them now have plastic handles, so that's not an option.
I used to have one of the first Barlows made.
Got it from a neighbor when I was about ten. It was already over half a century old by then.
I got a job in Atlanta as an apprentice mechanic at a crane yard.
One of the guys "borrowed" my knife and intentionally broke the blade off, just to piss me off and see what I would do.
This world has some awfully rank arseholes....
Had I known then what I know now, I would have 1) Kicked his sorry arse from one side of the yard to the other, and 2) brazed the blade back on. But I was still just a kid, got dissapointed, put the knife away in the dresser, and eventually lost it in a move.
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I have a couple of old english "butter" knives that have been sharpened to a razor edge. Those things will cut better than any new kitchen knife I have ever had or can find. Take an incredible edge, and keep it for a long time. I think they have actual ivory handles. The handles are broken, and part of one is missing. Stained badly. Etc. One day, I intend to put wooden handles on them. I'll reshape the blade on at least one of them, into a utility knife, and they will have a place of honor in the kitchen.
I'll attach a pic.
The knife in the middle has a very thin blade thoughout. Like a musical reed, it is.
There is something stamped into all three.
I can make out the top one easily. It says, Under a stamped crown... "Alpha" "Harrison Bros & Howson" "Sheffield, England"
The other two seem to be identical stampings to one another, but different from the top one. All I can make out on those two is the possible word "Taylor".
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For a pocketknife, I have carried a cheapo pocketknife for years now. It's not like I have a great amount of use for one. I also carry a leatherman about 50 percent of the time.
Stainless, all. But I can get them pretty sharp, (Sharp enough to shave the hair off my arm.), and they don't rust, etc, so they are adequate.
A person with no sense of humor about themselves, has no sense at all.
My Leatherman Wave is the best hand tool (and pocket knife) I've ever had- Probably use it 15 times a day, always right there handy on my belt-
I like the Wave. Used to tote around the original Leatherman. Only thing I don't like about the Wave is that it is wider, it doesn't discreetly disappear on a belt like the Leatherman does, and it is heavier. The later causes me to have to remember to loop my belt into the last belt loop when I unfasten the belt. Failing this the weight of the Wave from unthreads the belt and drops on the ground. Never had that issue with the lighter original Leatherman. On the other hand the blades on the Wave, both straight which gets most of the use because it can be easily sharpened and the serrated one, are easy to open one handed. The original Leatherman was more involved and pretty much demanded use of both hands. A PITA in time and convenience when I'm busy or hanging on with one hand.The blades seem to be easy to sharpen and stay fairly sharp but not quite as easy or sharp as a carbon steel blade would. Then again this is Florida where rain and sweat are frequently part of the environment. I once had a carbon steel pocket knife and I had to wipe it down and oil it almost daily in the hot and rainy season to keep it from developing rust spots and getting stiff. The SS demands less attention. A hone every week or so and a cleaning, oiling and use of a fine stone every month or two.Over the years SS, at least the better quality stuff used by more reputable makers, has gotten better. Harder, to hold an edge, and less gummy which makes sharpening easier and more effective. Of course you can still find the poorer quality SS in $5 flea market folders.Fortunately the SS used by Leatherman is pretty good. Not the absolute best I have been around, which effectively matches the performance of the best regular steels, but vastly better than the older SS alloys which have sullied the reputation of SS so badly that many cannot countenance any SS blades other than butter knives.