5-Shot
Member
Anyone else like little knives? By little, I mean knives that will fit comfortably into the watch pocket of your pants of choice. I have a simple a simple rule, if I have a watch pocket, it has a knife in it.
What makes a good watch pocket knife? After extensive and careful study(I put a bunch of different knives in my pocket), I have concluded that only knives 3 inches and shorter fit into the watch pocket knife category. Anything longer sticks out and is therefore not safely locked into my pocket and is certain to be lost. Knives have two other relevant dimensions; thickness and what I call depth (don't know the proper term). So far I have not found a knife depth makes any difference to me but I have concluded thinner is better.
I don't get too excited about the quality of steel in 'em either. As long as they can be gotten sharp and will hold that edge for a while I'm pretty happy. These are the knives that open the mustard pack at Krystal, get the tags off that new pair of socks and cut out the relevant section of a particularly good target so you can take it home and brag to the Mrs. They're not going to be asked to fell an oak nor skin an elk. There must be steels below my minimum standard in this category but I haven't run across them yet.
The picture below shows my watch pocket arsenal. That strange device on the left in the first picture was included to provide a sense of scale. I positioned them wrong side up so you won't know immediately what they are, although a knife fanatic will know the first two on the left immediately and probably the one on the right as well. The second picture shows the same lineup stood on edge to show the dramatic difference in thickness of the knives.
As most everyone still with me knows, the second knife on the left is the iconic Case Peanut. This is the knife most people think about when the discussion of this category comes up. It is so revered that there is a thread over on a knife forum about the Cult of the Peanut that rivals the Model 28 thread here. Everyone loves it and so do I. Fit, finish and operation of this little guy are superb and mine with its chrome vanadium steel blade can be made spooky sharp. Is it the best for the job? Let's look at the others.
First on the left is a Buck Lancer. Although I've been a Buck fan forever (I still have four Bucks I bought in the early 70's), I just don't care for the Lancer. It is simply too small to be universally useful, in my opinion. The next knife after the Peanut is a Rough Rider Small Barlow. Rough Rider's are super cheap knives made in China. I bought this one, with absolutely no quality expectations, to experiment with changing grips. What a surprise! These are very nice knives. Since buying this one I've bought several more and all but one was the near equal to Case in fit and finish. Conclusion? The little single blade Barlow just about matches the Peanut in one blade cutting performance and is a lot narrower and easier to carry.
The red knife is another Rough Rider. This one's a Baby Copperhead. It out blades the Peanut (bigger blades) and since it's blades are at opposite ends, the knife can be narrower. It's a little longer than the Peanut but I actually count that as a plus. That little extra length makes it much more comfortable to hold than the three previous knives. I like this knife a lot and it is cheap! I sheepishly admit I prefer it to the Case.
Although I mentioned earlier that the quality of steel in these knives isn't critical, I do like carbon steel (can't help it!). So I kept looking for an affordable carbon steel equivalent to the little Copperhead. One day a poor little beat up Boker Pen knife showed up on the WWW for the lordly sum of $7. I bought it with it's Solingen carbon steel blades and replaced the handles. So far, it is my ideal watch pocket knife. It's just about perfect for the job.
Oh yes. The last knife is a Spyderco Grasshopper. If you want to do some serious whacking with a little knife, this is probably your ticket.
Well, that's my choice. What's yours?
What makes a good watch pocket knife? After extensive and careful study(I put a bunch of different knives in my pocket), I have concluded that only knives 3 inches and shorter fit into the watch pocket knife category. Anything longer sticks out and is therefore not safely locked into my pocket and is certain to be lost. Knives have two other relevant dimensions; thickness and what I call depth (don't know the proper term). So far I have not found a knife depth makes any difference to me but I have concluded thinner is better.
I don't get too excited about the quality of steel in 'em either. As long as they can be gotten sharp and will hold that edge for a while I'm pretty happy. These are the knives that open the mustard pack at Krystal, get the tags off that new pair of socks and cut out the relevant section of a particularly good target so you can take it home and brag to the Mrs. They're not going to be asked to fell an oak nor skin an elk. There must be steels below my minimum standard in this category but I haven't run across them yet.
The picture below shows my watch pocket arsenal. That strange device on the left in the first picture was included to provide a sense of scale. I positioned them wrong side up so you won't know immediately what they are, although a knife fanatic will know the first two on the left immediately and probably the one on the right as well. The second picture shows the same lineup stood on edge to show the dramatic difference in thickness of the knives.
As most everyone still with me knows, the second knife on the left is the iconic Case Peanut. This is the knife most people think about when the discussion of this category comes up. It is so revered that there is a thread over on a knife forum about the Cult of the Peanut that rivals the Model 28 thread here. Everyone loves it and so do I. Fit, finish and operation of this little guy are superb and mine with its chrome vanadium steel blade can be made spooky sharp. Is it the best for the job? Let's look at the others.
First on the left is a Buck Lancer. Although I've been a Buck fan forever (I still have four Bucks I bought in the early 70's), I just don't care for the Lancer. It is simply too small to be universally useful, in my opinion. The next knife after the Peanut is a Rough Rider Small Barlow. Rough Rider's are super cheap knives made in China. I bought this one, with absolutely no quality expectations, to experiment with changing grips. What a surprise! These are very nice knives. Since buying this one I've bought several more and all but one was the near equal to Case in fit and finish. Conclusion? The little single blade Barlow just about matches the Peanut in one blade cutting performance and is a lot narrower and easier to carry.
The red knife is another Rough Rider. This one's a Baby Copperhead. It out blades the Peanut (bigger blades) and since it's blades are at opposite ends, the knife can be narrower. It's a little longer than the Peanut but I actually count that as a plus. That little extra length makes it much more comfortable to hold than the three previous knives. I like this knife a lot and it is cheap! I sheepishly admit I prefer it to the Case.
Although I mentioned earlier that the quality of steel in these knives isn't critical, I do like carbon steel (can't help it!). So I kept looking for an affordable carbon steel equivalent to the little Copperhead. One day a poor little beat up Boker Pen knife showed up on the WWW for the lordly sum of $7. I bought it with it's Solingen carbon steel blades and replaced the handles. So far, it is my ideal watch pocket knife. It's just about perfect for the job.
Oh yes. The last knife is a Spyderco Grasshopper. If you want to do some serious whacking with a little knife, this is probably your ticket.
Well, that's my choice. What's yours?
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