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Every Man Needs to Own (and Carry) a Pocketknife

8K views 73 replies 34 participants last post by  dhaller 
#1 ·
http://www.returnofkings.com/154533/every-man-needs-to-own-a-pocket-knife

EVERY MAN NEEDS TO OWN A POCKET KNIFE
CR SMYTH FEBRUARY 13, 2018

Even though a permit is not required to have one, I admit to not carrying a pocket knife until 2015. I had realized that I became part of a generational sea change on this item, which I now view as being much more than just a male accessory choice.

It all started when I was at a Garden Center store looking for a trellis, but when I found one, it was bound to several others by nylon zip-ties. I knew I couldn't saw it free with my keys, so I started to look for some help. I soon saw an old man walking down the aisle and instinctively thought he would have a knife on him, but he didn't, nor did another man I asked.
 
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#31 ·
I always carry two knives, a folder clipped to my pocket and a Ka-Bar TDI Law Enforcement Tanto in the small of my back attached to my belt for left hand draw. I've always carried a pocket knife though, never leave home without it.
 
#34 ·
I've pretty much carried a knife since I was maybe 8 years old - my grandfather gave me my first pocket knife (a little stag horn two-blader). I was *serious* about taking care of that thing - I used to clean and oil it way more than I needed to, kept it sharp, and never lost it (I still have it, 40+ years later).

These days, my EDC is a Benchmade mini-Griptilian. Great little knife (it's Benchmade, so it's going to be good), and since the blade is shorter than 3", I can also carry it in Japan (I spend a lot of time there - and carrying blades over 3" is illegal). I have a little keychain number as well, and I keep an Opinel #8 in my "dad bag" (I have a little kid). The Opinel is a French "picnic knife", and that's absolutely what I use it for - cutting up apples or summer sausage or whatever.

I got a new outdoor fixed-blade knife the other day, a Helle Eggen, which is *amazing*. Love at first sight. Beautiful yet functional knife, like discovering a supermodel who can rebuild a transmission. Good stuff. I'll definitely be getting more Helle knives.

DH
 
#36 ·
My son turned 8 in September. He will be getting his first pocketknife for Christmas. I have already talked to him about it. I may be looking forward to giving it to him more than he's looking forward to getting it.
 
#37 ·
I may be looking forward to giving it to him more than he's looking forward to getting it.
That may be so but there will come a time well after you are gone that the knife will be one of his most prized processions.
 
#39 ·
My son turned 8 in September. He will be getting his first pocketknife for Christmas. I have already talked to him about it. I may be looking forward to giving it to him more than he's looking forward to getting it.
I'm getting my daughter kind of an interesting "first knife" (she actually has a kids-scale santoku knife from Japan, but this will be her first "carry" knife), which is a Norwegian scout's knife; it's kind of a traditional kids knife in Scandinavia (usually at age 5, though).

Triple-laminated steel like all Helle blades, embossed scabbard (they make a boy's version too), big handguard (most Scandinavian blades are guardless, so again, a kid-friendly feature). It's a good knife by any standard.

We're camping backcountry for a week over Thanksgiving holiday, so she'll see me giving my new Helle camp knife a workout, and then we'll be doing a ten day or so backcountry stretch over Christmas break, so she'll get hers then.

https://www.smkw.com/helle-girl-scout-knife

Knife Everyday carry Hunting knife Rectangle Font


DH
 
#46 ·
I'm getting my daughter kind of an interesting "first knife" (she actually has a kids-scale santoku knife from Japan, but this will be her first "carry" knife), which is a Norwegian scout's knife; it's kind of a traditional kids knife in Scandinavia (usually at age 5, though).

Triple-laminated steel like all Helle blades, embossed scabbard (they make a boy's version too), big handguard (most Scandinavian blades are guardless, so again, a kid-friendly feature). It's a good knife by any standard.

We're camping backcountry for a week over Thanksgiving holiday, so she'll see me giving my new Helle camp knife a workout, and then we'll be doing a ten day or so backcountry stretch over Christmas break, so she'll get hers then.

https://www.smkw.com/helle-girl-scout-knife

View attachment 13765

DH
Neat. How old is your daughter? Where do you "backcountry" camp in Georgia?
 
#40 ·
I hope so. I have a German paratrooper's knife my grandfather brought back from WWII. It isn't especially rare or valuable. Heck, they still make them today. But I wouldn't take a million dollars for it.
View attachment 13757
Are you SURE? If it's a real WWII German-issued one, they are seriously sought after by collectors now. Why are they rare now, when they weren't rare or valuable 30 years ago? Because nobody treated them with care and reverence in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s. It's only now that the WWII generation is dying off and their kids are at the peak earning years of their careers, or themselves reaching retirement, that these adult children of The Greatest Generation are willing to spend big bucks for WWII knives.

Bayonets that my Dad bought by the crate full, for $1 each, and used as throwing knives on the trees in the back yard, now sell for $200 if they were in the condition as they were when Dad first unboxed them.

My Dad's friend, a German immigrant who came to the USA as a teenager and who served in the American Army as an artillery crewman during WWII, had one of these paratrooper gravity knives. He used it for 30 years as a regular knife. It got wet with sweat and fruit juice. It got stained, and nicked. It was a tool, not a collector's item. Sometime in the 1990's it got lost. So many stories like that-- and with each loss or destruction of one of them, the surviving knives increase in value.


This knife is being offered for sale for $1800 this week.
The ad says the normal retail price is $2995.
Because it's genuine WWII German-issued.
 
#42 ·
Are you SURE? If it's a real WWII German-issued one, they are seriously sought after by collectors now. Why are they rare now, when they weren't rare or valuable 30 years ago? Because nobody treated them with care and reverence in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s. It's only now that the WWII generation is dying off and their kids are at the peak earning years of their careers, or themselves reaching retirement, that these adult children of The Greatest Generation are willing to spend big bucks for WWII knives.
Yeah, I'm sure. I only checked the value for curiosity's sake a decade or more back. It doesn't really matter to me how much it's worth - the sentimental value to me is invaluable.

But yeah, I'm sure. He gave it to me personally, and once his hitch was up during WWII, I'm not entirely sure he ever left the state. He told me he took it off a dead German soldier. He was field artillery.
 
#41 ·
Same situation for this roughly-made WWII surplus tool-- a folding machete.
The blade partially folds into the handle, leaving some sticking out, but making the folded unit only 11 inches long.



They used to be dirt cheap, and "back in the day" every ex-service member, and man others who were never in the military, had one of these in the garage or tool shed.

Now they're $200 -$300 collector's items.
My friend has one. He still keeps it in his tool room in the basement, but he's got a cheap modern machete to actually work with.
 
#43 ·
You're SURE it's not rare, SURE that it's not valuable?

(The market says it IS valuable.)
 
#44 ·
Maybe you think "value" is a subjective thing. Setting aside how the free market works -- supply and demand and all that. Maybe you're using the word "value" to mean your willingness to part with it for money?
(If so, you should say it has infinite value.)
 
#50 ·
Cohutta might be less populated by backpackers now than it was 20 years ago - fewer people glued to devices then!

If my daughter takes a gap year between high school and college (I think kids should), I'm going to recommend a through-hike of the AT or the Pacific Crest trail. Hopefully I won't be too old and feeble to tag along.

DH
 
#53 · (Edited)
Because of this thread I discovered and bought a Benchmade Mini Griptilian 556 a few days ago. It's light, has a nice textured handle that shouldn't slip if my hand gets bloody, and the AXIS lock mechanism is just what I need for my bad thumbs. I can still bend the first joint in my thumb fine, but have limited lateral movement at the base, which makes opening with the thumb studs difficult.

 
#55 ·
Because of this thread I discovered and bought a Benchmade Mini Griptilian 556 a few days ago.
Benchmade's Griptilian series is a good solid blade. Whenever I'm out camping, I use fixed blade knives, but I always keep a good folder like a Benchmade handy and the folder make for convenient EDC tools.
 
#57 ·
#58 ·
My wife bought me this RUIKE for my birthday. Not a high end knife, but very nice.
It's seen the inside of my pocket frequently lately.

Plant Tree Wood Sports equipment Automotive exterior
 
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#67 ·
Suspenders along with a stout leather belt. Holding up canvas pants.

Nemo
 
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