​How many knives?

[Odyssey]

I'm back to square one. The lovely perfect go to knife is gone. I found a camp chef knife on-line last fall, and after showing it to my wife she said "It's perfect!!" I'll need to sift through our site history (it's loooong) to see if I can find it. It was a video of a new knife model. Darned if I can remember where, what it was. Or maybe I'll just restart my knife shopping. There's so much to choose from. I can fully understand how people can collect so many. A whole lot more fun (to me) than stamps, coins, beer bottle empties, milk bottle empties, thimbles...
I thought I heard somewhere that thimbles represent good memory? Or was that good luck? Maybe I should start with thimbles and work my way up.

 

[Guest]

I'm back to square one. The lovely perfect go to knife is gone.

Lost knives is another sad tale, and I’ve only lost two*.

One was a Spyderco salt rescue folder on my PFD lash tab. I have no idea when or where it disappeared; I did have some gear stolen from my boat at a public landing in a moment of inattention and it may have vanished from the lash tab then.

That one could be replaced. I carried my grandfather’s ivory handled sheath knife for years and lost it in the snow. That one cannot be replaced.

*OK, I also have no idea where the half-dozen or so general store Barlow two-blade pocket knives of my childhood got to, though I still have one in my desk drawer.

 

[Odyssey]

Lost treasures. Sad. My lost folder wasn't really a priceless treasure, but it had sentimental value to me, worth more than $$. My eldest son gave it to me. I could tell it was an extremely big deal for him when he gave it to me. It was a father-son moment I also treasured. I'm not entirely sure how I lost it. I was sure I'd safely stashed it away coming home from a canoe trip, the first and last I carried it on. Perhaps it was "lost" along with a multitool I "lost" the same summer. I say "lost", because one evening after work I forgot to lock my van. In the morning some little crap had rifled through it looking for whatever. Among the scattered stuff I noticed my coffee change had been pilfered...and noticed the missing multitool. Had I also stashed my pocket knife treasure there also? F@#*!! That multitool had also been given to me by this same son, in a very big moment, on his final return from a tour of Afghanistan. It wasn't a prize from his time there, but rather a painful but prideful memento of a time in his life, and ours. Personal treasures are hard enough to lose, but when they represent a treasured relationship, they hurt like heck when they're gone. I tell myself that the item may be gone, but the real treasure I'll carry with me forever.
Okay, I just realized I've wandered off topic. Sorry about that.

 

[sweeper]

I'm at 4 right now, a fixed on the belt, a folding on my ditch bag, a mini in the 1st aid kit and a Leatherman in the tool bag there mainly for the other tools in it then the blade. The fixed blade has most likely seen its last trip.

 

[Nermal]

Consciously, I carry two, but it's probably more like four. There should be a small Swiss army blade with scissors in my 1st aid kit and another lockback in my ditch bag. Otherwise, I carry a bushcraft fixed blade on my belt and a Leatherman multitool threaded on my day bag's hipbelt.

I find that wet wood needs to be split to burn and an axe is too heavy for me. I mean I only want the sharp end anyway so the larger fixed blade is perfect for batonning everything up to 4" in diameter.

The multitool gets used sometimes but not others. It, along with the ratcheting multi-bit stubby screwdriver, are essentials to my stash of repair tools as someone already said, you can't hold a nut and drive the screw with the same tool.

I found that once I was used to a big blade, I didn't find it awkward for normal jobs. Investing in a good one with excellent steel is the only way. While not sharp enough to shave, I can slice paper without effort.

 

[Guest]

I like knives. I used to take a lot of knives that I never used. I don't fish or hunt when tripping. I go real lite and single trip,so now I carry a tiny Swiss army and an ultra lite AG Russel pocket folder with an ATS 34 blade. I rarely use the folder,but just can't go without it.
Turtle

 

[Hanz]

I think I "win" although I'm not sure it's something to be proud of.

On/in my PFD, an ESEE Izula 2.6" fixed blade and a Leatherman Wave Multitool

On my belt I have a 4" fixed blade Koster Bushcraft in a dangler sheath. In a pocket I keep a "Farmer" Swiss Army Knife.

I also brought a Bob Dustrude Folding Buck Saw and a Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe.

TrippingKnives by Hansen.Dougie, on Flickr

I realize there's an awful lot of duplication and extra weight. I every day carry the SAK Farmer so if I didn't trip with it you would probably find me walking in circles muttering to myself. At least more than usual. Also, the awl on the SAK throws sparks a lot better than the spine of the 3V steel Koster Bushcraft. I keep the Wave in my PFD but I know it's there if I need it for camp chores. The Bushcraft is a sturdy 4" fixed blade that's very comfortable in the hand and I find it to be a good general purpose heavy duty knife.

Now that I think about it there's a Leatherman Micro in the First Aid Kit.

I may adjust my choices as I trip more and gain experience - then again, I feel comfortable having too much. Don't worry, if I ever trip with you I won't ask you to carry my stuff.

 

[Canotrouge]

I don't know if you win, but you are sure to sink... lol

 

[Bob B.]

I often take a hatchet, or now my small forest axe. I have a general purpose drop point knife fixed blade on my belt. I have had that knife for about 30 years. I have a fillet knife in with my fish tackle. I have a leather man either on my belt or in my pack and and a smaller one in my life jacket.

​Bob.

 

[Philtrum]

Just out of intellectual curiosity: How much of the interest in knives has to do with testosterone?

 

[Bob B.]

Philtrum,

I cannot speak to the others, but my belt knife is very handy. I use it all the time, from gutting/skinning deer, to splitting firewood kindling, it always at my side when I am in the timber. My old fillet knife ( I have had since I was 16 years old) has give up the ghost after thousands of fish filleted and hundreds of deer butchered. To me it is a necessary tool. The leatherman knives are more for the tools for fixing/tightening loose or broke stuff when on the trail. My kit is on the heavy side, especially with a wood canvas canoe, so if I can shave pounds I will - but knives have their place as a tool for me. The ax is a luxury and I could get by with a hatchet ... or nothing, but I really enjoy a nice camp/cook fire, especially if base camping while in the back country.

Bob.

 

[Guest]

Nothing wrong with a touch of testosterone now and then (as I fondle my Bark River convex grind).

 

[Rippy]

Just out of intellectual curiosity: How much of the interest in knives has to do with testosterone?

I sure hope that's it. The world could use more manly men.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Just out of intellectual curiosity: How much of the interest in knives has to do with testosterone?

None, or the contrary, and I offer myself as empirical proof.

I probably have little testosterone left but have bought most of my knives in the past four years, two so far this week. And I bought my first gun when I was 68.

So the moral of the story is: Even though I can no longer f*ck you, I can f*ck you up better than ever.

 

[oldie moldy]

Well Glenn, Over on that thread about fixed blade knives you listed the need for a knife for people and bears. Now the "Moral of the Story" above. If you're just indulging some kind of fantasy, never to be acted on, that great. But remember: when you start showing lethal iron you are stepping on an escalator you probably don't want to be on. There are some very, very serious people out there, with a history you know nothing about, threaten one and you might well find yourself shot full of holes, with just enough time to think "Ooops!"

Rob

 

[Philtrum]

I probably have little testosterone left but have bought most of my knives in the past four years, two so far this week. And I bought my first gun when I was 68.

So the moral of the story is: Even though I can no longer f*ck you, I can f*ck you up better than ever.

The moral of the story as I read it appears to be that there's a lot of fear and insecurity around.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Goodness, I was just trying to make a self-deprecating, off-color, joking pun related to the mention of testosterone. I'm sorry I failed so miserably.

However, it is 100% factual that I have not been attacked by a bear or zombie since I bought four knives and a shotgun (with the advice of some members of this forum) in 2011.

If you want a serious answer about testosterone, I think it's obvious that men are much more drawn to guns and knives than women.

 

[oldie moldy]

Thanks Glenn, You had me worried, I think it's probably a deficiency of the medium we use. Had we been standing beside you the joke likely would have come through.

Rob

 

[Robin]

Goodness, I was just trying to make a self-deprecating, off-color, joking pun related to the mention of testosterone. I'm sorry I failed so miserably.
.

Not at all, I thought it was pretty funny, good one.

 

[memaquay]

I laughed too, must have been my testosterone. I know some women who like knives and guns and stuff, but most would rather be playing with their Barbies. I'm cool with that as long as no one is judging me for my manly ways. There's a lot of that going on in Canada, if you are an old fashion kind of guy who likes guns and knives, hunting and fishing, drinking and farting, then you obviously have a higher percentage of neanderthal in you than the average guy from the city who puts gel in his hair and uses cover-up makeup when he gets a pimple.

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my knife. Yesterday i was very happy when the 18.5 inch barrel arrived in the mail for my Mossy 500 12 guage. Now I finally have the ultimate bear gun for canoe tripping! Grunt grunt, snort snort, fart fart!