What is your favorite pocket knife?

30-30remchester said:
COOTER, my brain went on vacation as well. Yes, 1/2 in the pattern number does indicate main blade is a clip point. I studied your question about the 31 and 35 patterns. These are old pattern knives. I have books on older models and both models were available spear point master blades with both long and short pull. There was even an easy opener model 35. My books list these spear point bladed models listed from 1920 till 1969.
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A brain vacation can be a wonderful thing. Until somebody get their eye put out.

"...the 31 and 35 patterns. These are old pattern knives."

Yes, and I think that's why you and I like them. There's something about a swell end jack that speaks to me, though I like a stockman best for a working knife. Both are old patterns. If nothing else this thread will prompt me to put the Case 35s and 31s back into the rotation.

An EO 35 would be a sweetie.

Speaking of swell end jacks, here's a nice PAL I got for a song at the BLADE show a couple of years ago. The PAL knives aren't the quality of a contemporary Case, Robeson etc. but I like this one a lot. This one is unlcleaned or messed with as far as I can tell. I have no idea how a relatively inexpensive knife like this can survive in this kind of condition. Check out the chunky spear and long pull on this rascal:

PalCutlery2resized.jpg


Sorry about the drift, fellers. As far as a favorite knife, there are too many! It depends on what I'll be doing on a particular day, and a bit on what mood I'm in. But it's probably gonna be a classic slipjoint or a sheath knife. In 45 years of carrying knives there's nothing I've encountered yet that one of those couldn't handle.
 
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Mine is a Spyderco 8 CR 13 MoV with 4 inch folding locking blade.
 
A USA made Kershaw Cyclone from '06. Hefty and rugged like a Buck 110 but with speed assist and a pocket clip. Like a Leek on steroids.
 
Like many here, I have a plethora of knives. My favorite carry knives are Case XX.

Here is my pocket worn, red bone Canoe, my Mini Trapper with bone and praying Cowboy, and my Stag handled, hammer bolstered Canoe.

Also, my new El Paso #2 Thumb break holster for the 64.

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Swiss Army Knives. I've got three or four of them around here. Not the big "tool box" ones, just a basic pocket knife. My favorite does have a pair small pair of scissors. If I only got one knife on me, that's the one.
 
BrewsterII said:
Like many here, I have a plethora of knives. My favorite carry knives are Case XX.

Here is my pocket worn, red bone Canoe, my Mini Trapper with bone and praying Cowboy, and my Stag handled, hammer bolstered Canoe.

Also, my new El Paso #2 Thumb break holster for the 64.

IMG_0523%5B1%5D-L.jpg
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I have one of those holsters, basket-stamped, for my S&W M-60-4. Also have the original Safariland Model 29 from which I think El Paso may have copied this style. I carried a M-66-3 in it for years on a duty belt, and love it. Mine has the optional green suede lining. (Black, stamped, holster.)

Safariland no longer makes the style, I believe, but the El Paso Model 2 is as good or better. EPS makes great holsters.

Of your knives, the red bone canoe is my favorite. Nice pic. Thanks.
 
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I have quite a few folders, but my favorite, to which I keep coming back after the excitement of carrying a shiny new "toy" wears off, for about the last 20 years has been the old Benchmade version of Emerson's CQC-7, which they made under license for a few years in the mid-90s until Emerson started mass production under his own label. I've owned a couple of the Emersons; the Benchmade is much better quality. As you can see from the picture, it's been much used.

The other folder I really like, but which I usually carry in a belt pouch when I anticipate the need because it's a bit too heavy for a pants pocket, is the Gerber 06 Auto. Of course, it depends on whether autos are legal in your state to carry. I find the big round button and large push safety extremely handy with cold wet hands or gloves to operate, fairly common conditions here in the Pacific Northwest for half the year.
 

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My Spyderco Delica is my daily carry knife. I have a few made in the '90s with the plastic clip. I like them better as it gives the fingers a much better purchase when opening as opposed to the thin metal ones. Also have a few "Tactical" knives. A couple of Applegate/Fairbairn ones and a Ken Onion Speedsafe model.
But my favorite is one I've had since the late '70s. Bought it at a gun show when I was about 13. It's a Buck 305 folder. Shortly after I got it I broke the tip off. I'm sure Buck would have replaced it but I left it as is. Makes a handy screwdriver, and it was used numerous times to fix stuff, including cars that broke down on the road.:cool:
Don't carry it much anymore, but it has a special place in my collection.
Jim
 
My favorite pocket knives are Victorinox Swiss Army Knives and I now have a good few to choose from. I currently carry an Explorer but have in the past carried a Huntsman and Ranger, the Ranger being the biggest I'd carry in my left front pocket.

Bigger SAKs like the Handyman and SwissChamp do need to be carried in pouches. I think the ideal pocket SAK is one of the four layer knives.

My right front pocket normally houses a Spyderco Paramilitary II.
 
I notice not many folks seem to carry leatherman tools in their pockets. Interestingly I have never been interested in them until a friend of mine showed me his Super Tool and suggested I try finding secondhand ones at the local Cash Converter or Cash Crusader stores given the cost of new ones.

It took me a couple of months to get around to dropping into these stores while doing my rounds at retail stores that I service. When I did I wasn't sorry! I picked up a LNIB SwissChamp for ZAR99/$8!!! Encouraged I continued looking in other stores and found 3 more SAKs at ZAR19/+-$1.50 each, an Ecoline Spartan & Climber and a Tinker!

I eventually turned up a Leatherman Super Tool and PSTII for under $14 each. While newer Leatherman tools require pouches the PSTII with its decent selection of tools wouldn't make a bad pocket knife I think.



 
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Stirling said:
I notice not many folks seem to carry leatherman tools in their pockets.
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I do, but I don't really consider them pocket knives, but multitools. I know it's probably just splitting hairs but that's how I think of them.

I have a Leatherman Juice CS4 that I used to keep in my pocket all the time but I often go places where knives are illegal so I recently replaced it with a Leatherman Style PS that I keep on my keychain. Since I carry one of my Delicas when I can carry a knife the lack of a blade on the PS isn't a big deal. I also have a larger bladeless Leatherman Fuse that I keep in my backpack if I need something bigger/stronger than the PS.
 
I do not carry a multi tool in my pocket but a Leatherman Wave has been on my belt daily since 1999. An early PST model was on my belt before that. The Wave served me in my business for all those years. Daily it came out of the sheath. I wore out 5 sheaths. While on the volunteer fire department it was in constant use. It help rescue 3 children in a burning car. It was as loose as could be. I loved that tool and it was promised to my eldest grandson. Then I took my wife on a Carnival Cruise and the baggage handlers x-rayed my bag, removed it and destroyed it. It was NOT on their banned list. Nothing can ever replace it. It was not like I was going away and never coming back. Five days later I returned to the very same port. It could have been stored in a drawer and returned on my return. Damned liberals. Like I was going to sink the ship with a pair of folding plyers. Decades of memories are now gone. I now have a new Wave but I am getting too old to give it the character and experience of my old "jaws of life" as my young grandkids called it. It survive car wrecks, fires, a sunk boat, a decade of elk guiding, over a decade of firefighting, and constant use on constructions sites, but could not survive a 5 day trip on a cruise ship.
 
I always have a ESEE ASULA neck knife when i'm wearing underwear...early morning walks around the ranch. When im horseback far off the ranch i carry a tool logic knife survival tool which has a flashlight, whistle and a fire-starter. In town at night i ts a 3"'buck 286.
 
I used to have a spring assisted S&W tactical folder until the folding mechanism flew apart one day. Now I just carry my little NRA folder. It's small, sharp and serves it's purpose.
 
I usually carried a Case stockman but I bought this Boker at a estate sale last year. The Case has been retired. The Boker just feels right in my hand. I think it was made back in the 30's because of the Tree Brand logo on the handle. The Buck is my "tactical" knife.:)
 

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Some awesome knives on here! Thanks to all who posted.
 
NOOOOOOOOO, I can't take it any longer!!!!!!!!

"Tactical" describes an action. No matter how much marketing departments abuse the term, an object cannot be tactical!!
 
30-30remchester said:
Antique folders are things of the past. I never bought into the medal handled blades with belt clips, though I have to admit they are far more useful and handier. They just do not have any panache or character. I carry many antique bone handled folders. Lately I have been carrying a Case 2 bladed, bone handled, carbon steel bladed knife with double cut swedges and a long pull main blade. It was made between 1905 and 1920.
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I agree and commiserate, sir. I also do not know or I guess understand is the word, how guys carry some of those big old things in their pocket. In my time, in my younger days I should say, men and boys carried a knife in their pocket, maybe about to about 5 inches or so, usually a little smaller. Then, if something heavier duty was anticipated, a belt or sheaf knife, almost unlimited in length. As has been noted earlier, I will admit, possibly time has passed me by, but it served me well, and also my son, who coincidentally just turned 30 years old. The good thing is, he has two sons coming up, and maybe he will teach them what I taught him. It makes me happy to think that anyhow.
 
A Wenger Swiss Army Traveler has gone everywhere I have for the last 30+ years. More recently a Spyderco Delica or Cold Steel Code 4 has been clipped in the opposite pocket.
 
For a folder I have a good old Spyderco Tenacious. Great knife, great value.

For a pocket-able fixed blade I like my Cold Steel Pro Guard. It's a Fred Perin style knife with a "finger hole" on the blade. Great retention.

Of course, I have a soft spot for S&W branded knives too. I have a Border Guard 4 tanto that is more or less just a collectible since I like the brand.
 
Daily carry: Original CRKT M4
Multi purpose: Leatherman Rebar which I keep in my bike toolkit
Classic: 1970's Gerber brass frame Sportsman II lock-back
 
I carry a Swiss Army Knife and a Douk Douk.

The Swiss Army knife was actually sent to me from Switzerland. I believe it is ths officer's model by Victorinox. It has camo handle scales of a vaguely woodland pattern. I got it, a carton of French cigarettes, and a big box of chocolates in trade for my worn old boots. Guy had a shoe fetish. Shrug.

The Douk Douk I had to order from France, during one of the periods when they were not readily had in the States. I first saw them sold by Cold Steel in the early 1990s. Simple carbon steel, can be folded out as a knife or like a razor, blued metal handle with a witch doctor image on it. They used to sell to French colonial markets. In Algeria they gained a reputation for slitting throats.

There is no lock on the blade, but you can smash it down with a hammer or stone in a pinch if you had to. Way back when, before tactical folders, before even the Buck 110, these Douk Douk knives and Mercator Kat 9s were carried by those who needed a thin and functional knife.
 
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