Have an old black Sodbuster Jr that is never left behind. Had to "adjust" how far the blade tip was exposed after nearly loosing it due to a hole it had cut into pocket. Not the finest steel but a true friend. Along with a Buck 110 ( had it for nearly 30 yrs ) they are my friends with plenty of memories and scars, not just a knife. Sure sure leathermen, Gerber multi tools etc are also on belt on occasion, but just useful tools. The two Bowie style I have on the wall were made by my dad from after the war while he worked at Westinghouse in Pa. He used them fishing and going for abalone. A knife you could use as a crowbar, flexible but held an edge... Never did tell me what project he got the steel from.... Stainless for sure and luckily he made two, one will go to each of my sons. When ever we in a group and a knife is need, heads turn my way... Never without a knife or small tactical flashlight... Was in a theater and power failed. Waited for a minute to see if anyone else had a flashlight.... Nope... Lit it up with mine... Small applause and hopefully some converts...
Latest bit of excitement.... Crabbing off the dock and had my Sodbuster jr drop into 25 ft of water. I watched it glint in the sun as it sank. Best friend for better than 16 yrs (sob). Gave me to ponder how I could get it back. Well it seems that I had a strong (very) magnet to get the steel case spent casings out of the brass pile, hmmm. Went to range and picked it up and tied a line to it and went fishing. Lucky it was at tide ebb and lo and behold got it back first cast! Feeling good.... But wait had some time and went to see what else I could snag. Bolts, knives, rebar etc... Then a gal said someone lost a trap a few hours ago right over there. Sure enough after a dozen tries I pull up a pretty trap. They had just bought it and lost it on first casting, knots came loose. I think I'll go magnetic fishing again soon!
I am confessing and blaming all of you for my knife addiction When i came to this site i had a small pocket knife in my purse and one in each car and a set of nice kitchen knives. took me 30 min once a month to sharpen. Now i have many more and last week it took me 2 hours to sharpen everything and another half hour to put them all back where they belonged. Knife maintenance is taking over my life! I blame you guys! And i know how to get my kitchen knives sharp but i just cant get and keep an edge like that on my pocket knives or the bigger ones i keep in the cars. Of course they aren't as high quality either so maybe that is the problem.
First of all, you're welcome. Do not sharpen once a month. Light touch up before they get dull will save you a lot of time. And if they are really dull, take a file to them to at least start the edge. Then clean up the edge with regular sharpening. Many of my clients and students are widows. So I periodically offer to sharpen their knives. They bring then in large quantities and many are duller than butter knives. Since I am sharpening by hand, I always ask if they mind if I use a file first before I sharpen. An hour or two sharpening job can be shortened to about 5-10 minutes. When I touch up to keep my edges sharp, it takes but a minute. I touch up whenever I notice any part of the edge is no longer perfect. I few passes on a honing steel and a few strops and we are shaving evenly again.
Ontario Rat 1, Benchmade Griptillian, Byrd Meadowlark G10 plain edge, Spyderco tenacious full serrated, Spyderco Matriarch, and I can go on. For the ickies, the Matriarch gets the nod, all the others fall in when I decide which one to carry on a given day. Variety it the spice of life...
Carry a Schrade Old Timer have had it for 30 years come to think of it I am now the same as my knife --an "Old Timer" In light of the things going on have been caring my pistol more often
I carry a moderately priced 511 folder edc. The rest of the herd has been thinned to custom full tangs. I'm lucky in that I have a knife maker friend that cranks them out prolifically.
Carried 2-3 knives daily since the 4th grade. Most never understood my collection. More than a few boys in elementary school carried pocket knives.
I have given knives to friends, however some are so unaccustomed to having a knife that when the time comes they forget it's there, they are not in the habit or practice of using it. It is almost a disservice to give knives to these people, they might cut them selves and throw the knife away.
I was probably the only kid in grade school/jr high/high school that carried a knife. Still do, all of the kids I grew up with still don’t. Might say something about those folks and their preparedness.
Gerber for a truck knife. In my pocket or gear, a variety of Spyderco models: Endura, Manix, and Delica.
Custom bowie in vehicle. I can run it. I have a benchmade tanto bladed auto opener on a pocket clip. Another quick, good blade but a tad short for an old Scottish(ish) style like mine. As a slasher, I'm not a fan of the tanto. It's an armor breaking poker first. What ya got is what ya got.
