A recently lost item in my house allowed me to #relive a bit of my #childhood while indulging in the world of #EDC again.
It’s very easy to get “lost” in the myriad of steel choices, handle material, blade shapes, locking mechanisms. I have tried to buy things I find interesting, but end up using only a few of them. I have discovered that, for folding knives, I’d rather have a few inexpensive ones with different uses than a single knife that is more expensive (and probably built better). But for fixed blade knives, I want to buy from custom designers and small makers.
As for your utility knife, you might have already discovered that knife companies are making fun and interesting folding utility knives now using the same razor blades you get at the hardware store. I just picked up the Knafs Yuti and for about a year I’ve had the CJRB Boxer. The Boxer I think is the best because it does not require a tool to replace the blade.
As for your utility knife, you might have already discovered that knife companies are making fun and interesting folding utility knives now using the same razor blades you get at the hardware store.
That’s what my Stanley was. It was a folding box cutter that looked like an old-fashioned jack knife. And yeah, it had a tool-less design for blade replacement. Okay, I thought it was a Stanley, but after a quick search it was a Sheffield:
It was quite the beast of a knife, worked well, and was quite solid. But, with its disappearance I’m happy to have had the opportunity to buy a pocket knife to replace it. :)
Really I don’t know how many pocketknives I could actually want, I don’t really consider it to be anything more than a tool. There are only a couple of factors I could consider:
Having a few in different places so they are always handy, Possibly having a few different sizes / styles of blades.
But, beyond that I don’t expect to get too far into this.
About fifteen years ago I decided I would buy a Kershaw Leek as a nice, decent pocket knife. Just one, I told myself. Just one.
It’ll be simpler if you budget for the hobby now. You can and should spread it out over several years.
You’ll need a decent pivot oil and some nice Torx drivers. Nano-Oil is great but I’m not up to date on the newest hotness, I bought one tube a long time ago and it’s still going strong. Drivers, Wiha is amazing but expensive. The steps down are usually good enough.
You’ll want to decide if you’re sharpening yourself or paying someone else to do it; a Sharpmaker works well at a reasonable cost, stones are better for big work, paper wheels are a good choice if you have a bench grinder or might want to do recurves.
Maybe expect a trip to the Blade show at some point. And of course at least five more knives. Maybe twenty. I think at my peak I had some thirty, forty knives but eventually gave them away until I’m at around a dozen.
Just looked at the Sharpmaker. That seems like a really nice, simple sharpener. Easier than what I was thinking.
I got into the hobby earlier this year and got a sharpmaker. It is working very well for me at the moment.
It’s a really simple system and pretty foolproof. Gets a solid edge, too, and viable if not ideal for some things outside pocket knives. For simple maintenance on pocket knives, and just pocket knives, it’s a good one stop fix. A bit pricey these days, unfortunately.
If you’re comfortable with your grinder I’d still recommend investigating paper wheels. They’re so versatile.
As someone who sharpens almost entirely on stones and belts, I’m not convinced manual sharpening beyond the Sharpmaker is a worthwhile pursuit for most pocket knife people. Stones are usually more than a pocket knife really needs and difficult to learn. Few people routinely dull pocket knives enough to get properly good.
The armed systems work well but strike me as overkill, particularly on knives with premium steel. If someone is chasing that boutique perfect high finish edge, a pro can do that for a reasonable cost. There are exceptions, of course. Some people make sharpening its own hobby.
Twenty? LOL. Hopefully I don’t get that bad… Although I have to admit, I have ordered a Civivi just to see what the difference is between it and the CJRB (well, that, and the Civivi is a drop point blade).
As for sharpening: I’ll probably do it myself. I just have to get a good sharpener. (I have a grind wheel here, but I don’t think I want to go that route just yet…better to learn with a manual sharpener.)
As for the torx: I have a full set already. I just need to pick up some oil.
