A Knife For Pen People!

[redisburning]

Ive gone through a few Emersons but these days it's either the Benchmade 755 or Strider SJ75.

 

I can't really think of a pen that goes well with either of them.

[shudaizi]

Whereas for me if I need to go large I won't even look at a folder. It'll be fixed all the way. Horses for courses. For smaller blades I have often thought of getting something from Michael Morris. Just never got around to it.

 

 

Michael's friction folders are rugged simplicity; glad I picked one up, though I must confess mine gets used mostly as a bottle opener these days. :-)

 

My daily carry is a slip joint, a GEC #15, Huckleberry Boy's Knife "Crown Lifter" version with ebony scales. In the humid summer months I switch to a CR Mnandi, however. Fixed blade hiking / camping knives are a Pasi Hurttila puukko and a custom handforged Kephart style from Matthew Lesniewski (ML Knives). I long ago relegated my "tacticals" to second-string duty (opening packaging in the garage) -- just too "mall ninja" to be seen in public with.

 

ETA: I never considered trying to match my cutlery to my pens, though I guess an elegant style of slip joint probably is the closest match in terms of continuing to use something often seen by many to be "old fashioned".

Edited October 18, 2014 by shudaizi

[krz]

A small razor sharp congress pocket knife in my watch pocket handles 90% of anything I need to cut. A #64 Queen Canoe with D2 steel takes care the rest. I like the classic patterns.

 

I suppose I may need something more formidable when the zombie apocalypse drops.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Bo Bo Olsen,

 

I've toyed with getting Opinel as they are very cheap and if you get the carbon steel blades you can force some interesting patina patterns on it. The ones we have here are the basic models. I like the Slimline handle.. shape but the whole thing looks a bit flimsy. Same with Lagouille. There are some beautiful examples out there.

 

As a one simple knife for everyday, non-woodsy, stuff I've always wanted a Case Sod Buster (I'm a simple chap really) but the shipping is a killer. Of course when I hit the trail or I'm going pig hunting I'm taking a fixed blade.

 

 

When I was young I was more into high tec than now.

What are you going to do with the blade....a drop point hunter, is not a moose knife, and so on.

 

 

I like the Slimline handle.. shape but the whole thing looks a bit flimsy.

I didn't know Opinel made a slimline....and wouldn't want one. I wanted a knife I can do work with....not that I do much....but one never knows.....one that does not give blisters.

Any of my other pocket knives would, should I need to cut difficult things for a short time, but not for most of an hour.

It is something one needs for harder work, some thing that could be in a tool box.

Yes the blade is thin, not up to a stabbing it through body armor pocket knife. No were as robust as my old Buck Ranger...which is just as good IMO as any SOG type knives out side of not having any saw teeth.

 

"""Same with Lagouille.""""

The Lagouille is not robust....it is one of the better knives, if one is not prying up paint can lids or off to wrestle a bear. One does have to take the old fashioned care with it and close it with both hands not letting it snap shut. It is not a lock blade, so don't go waving the blade around and knocking it into things that can make it close unexpectedly.

The cow horn handle has a good round to it. It has been the working knife of the French peasants, for: 180 years.

""""The ancestor of the laguiole is most likely the Arabo-Hispanic clasp knife of Andalusian Spain, the navaja.^[1][2][3] Migrations of men, particularly shepherds and cattle herders, between Catalan Spain and southern France in summer and winter introduced the navaja to Aveyron.^[2] The Arabo-Hispanic design of the navaja was merged with that of local folding knives represented by older patterns such as the Capuchadou; the result became the laguiole. The laguiole was first designed in 1829 by Jean-Pierre Calmels. His concept of the knife became the pattern for this style, with the forged "bee" symbol emerging as a distinctive trademark."""""wiki.

They make a very, very nice carbon blade....the stainless blade is ok for them that don't use a knife often, so don't keep it up.

 

A knife style that lasts so long has to have it's advantages....I have Swiss army knives with a corkscrew, so didn't get one on my Laguiole, in I really like the way lays in my grip. It walks and talks well.

It is I admit something I had to grow into....it wasn't a Bowie, didn't have a gut hook....very old fashioned. "Classic". Actually sort of dressy if you got the pocket for it.

 

If well cared for grandfathers give it to their grandkids....had to, peasant's never had much money. They were not rich enough to buy cheap.

 

xxxxxxxxxxx

9. A sheepsfoot knife has a straight edge and a straight dull back that curves towards the edge at the end. It gives the most control, because the dull back edge is made to be held by fingers. Sheepsfoot knives are good for whittling and trimming sheep's hooves.

Good for scoring a line, too.

10. A Wharncliffe blade is similar in profile to a sheep's foot but the curve of the back edge starts closer to the handle and is more gradual. Its blade is much thicker than a knife of comparable size.

 

This is not all this blade does well, better in the garden, and a couple other tasks than a sheepfoot. (Sheepfoot because it is flatness fits a pocket knife easier because of it's flattness, though a blade that's a bit high is not a deal breaker with a pocket knife.)...I do not have a pocket knife with this blade. It's too bad I didn't know about this blade when I was young. I know have no need for either of those two blades.

It is a blade to investigate, to see if it fits your needs.

 

One must have a number of pocket knives, and have an idea what one wants to do with each blade on them.Your thin Sunday....Gent's knife, needs one....and perhaps a pen blade. I've a couple of one blade pocket knives. The Aluminum slabbed Case is very light. A nice Buck 501.

 

I had two small small Swiss Army knives, one had a pen blade along with the basic bottle and can opening blades, the other had a file and fingernail cleaner.

I went out harvesting apples (juice apples that are knocked out of the tree, instead of climbing up ladders to hand pick.) this weekend with that Opinel in my pocket. The son of the part time farmer, had a cheap pocket knife....and DULL!!!!.

My wife is taking the kid the other Swiss pocket knife with the penblade. A boy needs two blades; both sharp. Kids don't need nail files.

I told him of the 4 holds of sharpening. 7-8 degrees for shaving hair (pen knife blade), 10, 15 for general work, and 22 for when long cutting time is needed. This is the same thing for your Kitchen knives. 22 degrees is fine for a chopping knife. 7-8 degrees for your tomato knife. I'd favor 10 degrees over 15 for smaller kitchen knives.

 

I'd gotten by for 57 years with only one way to sharpen a knife. Then on Youtube, 5-6 other ways.

 

 

When I got too old to go around the world, I got rid of my 7" Marine K-bar (A cheaper wartime copy of the Marble) and Buck General....124....both Bowies with no weaknesses. I do suggest the AF K-bar and it's 5" blade for more general work. The blade is more nimble. Throws better.

 

I now only have left is three Finnish pouch knives for 'hunting' and a folding Buck skinner, that I'm not going to be able to use as planned. The market always caught me wrong. So my little hunting trailer across The Pond didn't work out.

Edited October 19, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[mrchan]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys use your knives for? Having lived an urban-ish life I have never ever come close to a situation where I needed a knife, bar opening some boxes..I mean it looks cool and sharp and stuff but..I'd love to know what you guys use it for? Especially those who travel with knives, what do you use it for?

[Cryptos]

Cutting things.

[risingsun]

I use my knife every time I get a pen in the mail... Reason enough to own a nice folder, in my opinion.

[jar]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys use your knives for? Having lived an urban-ish life I have never ever come close to a situation where I needed a knife, bar opening some boxes..I mean it looks cool and sharp and stuff but..I'd love to know what you guys use it for? Especially those who travel with knives, what do you use it for?

 

I think part of it is I'm from an era when the idea of any boy over about 6 and many girls would always have a knife with them. At recess we played mumbleypeg, whittled, used it to cut branches to make a bow, a fire, a tent peg, carve a horse or cow or pig, sharpen pencils ... They were ubiquitous. I would no more have gone to school without a knife in my pocket than without pants or pencils or books. Around 10 we moved from a folding pocket knife to a fixed blade, usually a Case or Marbles.

 

http://www.fototime.com/6DE5CB9C80A0AB7/medium800.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/DE005CD69B46810/medium800.jpg

[maksim]

Look at benchmade knives. Quite elegant.

[Cryptos]

Ah, mumbleypeg. That transports me across the decades.

[Redbarchettayyz]

Opening boxes and packages, cutting rope and ties, that sort of stuff.

[LamyOne]

 

.......Around 10 we moved from a folding pocket knife to a fixed blade, usually a Case or Marbles.

 

I had a Case pocket knife as a boy... I wish I knew what became of it.... I don't recall it ever being tossed out... it has to somewhere..........

 

- Chris

[redisburning]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys use your knives for? Having lived an urban-ish life I have never ever come close to a situation where I needed a knife, bar opening some boxes..I mean it looks cool and sharp and stuff but..I'd love to know what you guys use it for? Especially those who travel with knives, what do you use it for?

 

I use mine all the time at work.

 

Am I supposed to rip open my skittles with my hands like a barbarian?!

 

Let's see on Friday I opened up a sample we might include in a product, too. And there are the occasional box, or having to cut paper cleanly, emergency food prep (not easy with a MPR lmao).

[Elyptic]

For me, a good knife is a tool, plain and simple. I use it daily to open boxes, cut zip ties, make minor repairs / adjustments to things, trim my fingernails, etc... Around me, they are quite common. More common even than a writing implement.

 

The other day someone asked to borrow my knife and thought it odd I had a pen on me, but the knife was a given.

[penrivers]

 

I had a Case pocket knife as a boy... I wish I knew what became of it.... I don't recall it ever being tossed out... it has to somewhere..........

 

- Chris

That's a good one , the case, and the boker little tree, they get sharps as hells.

[Baric]

Ah, mumbleypeg. That transports me across the decades.

For us non-Brits, what the heck is mumbleypeg?

[mrchan]

wow looks like a lot of people her have loads of boxes to cut haha! Enjoy your knives anyway. Perhaps one day I shall see the utility of it on a regular basis.

[Cryptos]

Mumbley-peg

 

 

Enjoy!

[Bo Bo Olson]

There was a time I had an old Barlow knife (thick handled one blade, with 1/3-1/4th the front of the handle in metal) Tom Sawyer type knife, back then they were scarce, being so old fashioned. Dammed good mumgletypeg knife, best I'd had. Beat the Remington boy scout knives all hollow....better balance. Thunked in better.

 

The main rule of mumbletypeg is you lose if you stick the other in the foot/toe. One could go a whole summer with out any one you knew getting stuck....well some one on the next block.

 

Yep, stuck one....& got stuck once in the toe in 5-6 years of playing....should wear shoes but often didn't.

Real shameful to stick some one in the foot. Didn't go in deep in it was a flip toss, not an over head throw. Coming in you didn't throw as hard as stretching.

We did have common sense of course. The game had been played for over a hundred years back when I learned it. The Barlow is that old, other pocket knives too.

 

Do they still play? Or has the law and custom changed so no kid knows, nor has a pocket knife to play with? You can't have a pocket knife boy, or the lawyers will get ya.

Once it was the Boogieman.

 

Second rule is to have good solid, rock free ground to play on.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[jar]

For us non-Brits, what the heck is mumbleypeg?

 

A main playground exercise with a brazillion variations that can be played equally by boys and girls. One variation that I remember involved running as fast as you could past the old 55 gallon drum where they burned the trash everyday and trying to throw your knife in the ground between the can and a stick about an arms length from the can and within a circle drawn in the dirt. Outside the circle didn't count. We also played "horse" and "hangman" and other variations.