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hands_on_lanzon
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OTF's are fun!
Knives Out
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bbkobabe
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The question, basically why carry a pocket knife caught me off guard... I carried a pocket knife for decades! But I rarely do today. But I always carry one in my bag at school, where scissors are more the thing, just in case! What is the point of a pocket knife these days?
These older Opinel knives with the laminated blades are just amazing. They can be wicked sharp with a little careful work with the diamond hones I have. This one belonged to my father in law, and he left it in a cooler after a picnic. It sat under a pile of rotting food in his garage for a few decades until I found it there. I also use it for picnics, but mainly for wood carving. I use it to rough out these wooden eggs I'm obsessed with carving. And it will slice a tomato as thin as you like. Those newer stainless blade Opies are not nearly as good...
The smaller Buck knife was given to me by my dad when I was still a teenager... A LONG TIME AGO!!! I think I might have still been a Boy Scout then, and I still have the original box with a penny stashed in it for good luck. As you can see, it's an old style 3 blade model, and
it's seen some roug
h us
age and little care. I volunteer on a farm and have it in my pocket there always, mainly used for repairing the irrigation system and cutting the strings off bales of straw. It lives on my dresser, ready for action if I need it.
These older Opinel knives with the laminated blades are just amazing. They can be wicked sharp with a little careful work with the diamond hones I have. This one belonged to my father in law, and he left it in a cooler after a picnic. It sat under a pile of rotting food in his garage for a few decades until I found it there. I also use it for picnics, but mainly for wood carving. I use it to rough out these wooden eggs I'm obsessed with carving. And it will slice a tomato as thin as you like. Those newer stainless blade Opies are not nearly as good...
The smaller Buck knife was given to me by my dad when I was still a teenager... A LONG TIME AGO!!! I think I might have still been a Boy Scout then, and I still have the original box with a penny stashed in it for good luck. As you can see, it's an old style 3 blade model, and
it's seen some roug
h usage and little care. I volunteer on a farm and have it in my pocket there always, mainly used for repairing the irrigation system and cutting the strings off bales of straw. It lives on my dresser, ready for action if I need it.
Since we're here in the General Discussion board, I'm going to talk about my favorite knife in general. I don't have pocket knives (although I used to, and dug having them, even if I don't recall ever using one, even as a lad), but I DO have kitchen knives! Some are unusual enough to warrant inclusion here (some very sleek ceramic ones that are just cool to look at), but one stands so far out that I think everyone should have one: the Mercer Culinary Millennia, 10-Inch Wide Wavy Edge Bread Knife. That's a mouthful, but it looks good, and is unbelievably sharp.
I've had mine for 7 or 8 years and I still can't believe that I've never even thought about resharpening it, whereas my chef's knife gets sharpened all the time. I'm realizing that I may need to get a Mercer chef's knife.
An American company, based in the heart of Long Island (Ronkonkoma), and very reasonably priced: the best kitchen knife you've ever used will set you back a whopping $18.95.
I wanted to doublecheck that I wasn't imagining things, so I went back to Amazon both to swipe the photo above and to check the reviews: 4.8 stars on almost 17,000 reviews: 88% 5 star, and 8% 4 star.
That's pretty outstanding, but AMZ ratings are becoming less reliable as time goes by, so I looked more broadly, and came across this review at Bon Appetit: The Best Bread Knife Costs $19 but Is Worth Its Weight In Gold. I normally embed links rather than pasting the open URLs, but I love this URL so much! https://www.bonappetit.com/story/bread-knife-just-buy-it. THAT's how much they like this knife -- they're using the URL to make their case!
You might say, "I don't cut enough bread to justify a bread-only knife," and maybe so, but I use mine for a lot more than just bread. In fact, these days, I'm neither cooking nor eating much bread that calls for knives (mostly Indian-style flatbreads), so I'm using this knife for onions, sweet potatoes. The Bon Appetit author mentions tomatoes, fluffy sandwiches, cake, and more.
She also observes that some people aren't happy unless they're spending more, so she lists some other knives that people around the Bon Appetit kitchens love that do indeed cost more. I'll certainly acknowledge that some of those other knives look glorious, and I have no doubt that they work great...but I gotta tell ya, I've got individual knives that I've spent upwards of $200 on that are nowhere near this good, certainly nowhere near as durable.
There's a bunch of other cool stuff in the article, including some chat and video about the science of serrated blades (new to me until I started writing this post!), that make it very much worth a speedy read. And you're definitely going to love this knife!
I've had mine for 7 or 8 years and I still can't believe that I've never even thought about resharpening it, whereas my chef's knife gets sharpened all the time. I'm realizing that I may need to get a Mercer chef's knife.
An American company, based in the heart of Long Island (Ronkonkoma), and very reasonably priced: the best kitchen knife you've ever used will set you back a whopping $18.95.I wanted to doublecheck that I wasn't imagining things, so I went back to Amazon both to swipe the photo above and to check the reviews: 4.8 stars on almost 17,000 reviews: 88% 5 star, and 8% 4 star.
That's pretty outstanding, but AMZ ratings are becoming less reliable as time goes by, so I looked more broadly, and came across this review at Bon Appetit: The Best Bread Knife Costs $19 but Is Worth Its Weight In Gold. I normally embed links rather than pasting the open URLs, but I love this URL so much! https://www.bonappetit.com/story/bread-knife-just-buy-it. THAT's how much they like this knife -- they're using the URL to make their case!
You might say, "I don't cut enough bread to justify a bread-only knife," and maybe so, but I use mine for a lot more than just bread. In fact, these days, I'm neither cooking nor eating much bread that calls for knives (mostly Indian-style flatbreads), so I'm using this knife for onions, sweet potatoes. The Bon Appetit author mentions tomatoes, fluffy sandwiches, cake, and more.
She also observes that some people aren't happy unless they're spending more, so she lists some other knives that people around the Bon Appetit kitchens love that do indeed cost more. I'll certainly acknowledge that some of those other knives look glorious, and I have no doubt that they work great...but I gotta tell ya, I've got individual knives that I've spent upwards of $200 on that are nowhere near this good, certainly nowhere near as durable.
There's a bunch of other cool stuff in the article, including some chat and video about the science of serrated blades (new to me until I started writing this post!), that make it very much worth a speedy read. And you're definitely going to love this knife!
There's a lot to be said for a cheap beater that's always ready and always works, for knives and ukuleles both!
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hands_on_lanzon
Well-known member
So I made a crazy spendy knife decision during the pandemic, justified by supporting a tattooer who wasn't able to work and it's utter coolness. It also has a handmade leather sheath! (https://www.donahueknives.com/products)
Also pictured is a much cheaper hand made blade with a emu toe (I think... it might be a baby dragon).
Anyone else watch Forged in Fire? Well, the emu knife would probably not get the Doug Marcaida approval.
Also pictured is a much cheaper hand made blade with a emu toe (I think... it might be a baby dragon).
Anyone else watch Forged in Fire? Well, the emu knife would probably not get the Doug Marcaida approval.
Both for entertainment purposes and its utility, you strike me as someone who needs a butterfly knife. I will confess to having bought one somewhere back in the mists of time, not because I thought I needed one to USE, but because I needed to do THIS (the first few seconds tell the tale).
My favorite comment on the video:
It took me a while to realize this, but I got far enough in my martial arts training to realize that a meaningful percentage of it is just to make the other guy say, "What the f*** was THAT?", and in that instant when he's staring, you move in for the strike.
I'm sure there's more to it than that, but in practice, maybe that's about it. LOLAnd certainly for the butterfly knife, not just pulling it, but swinging out those blades? If you're ever in the same room as this maneuver being performed AT you in a business-like manner, it's right up there with a rattlesnake rattling (which, thanks to St. Patrick, I suppose you won't be experiencing in Ireland
) and the sound of a shotgun racking for bowel-loosening paralysis before the adrenal cortex lights up to send you running.I never drew mine for business purposes. More like a knife-based sleight of hand. Who knows? Maybe if I took it up again it would help my ukulele playing! As long as I keep the blades pointed in the right direction!
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Voran
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Both for entertainment purposes and its utility, you strike me as someone who needs a butterfly knife. I will confess to having bought one somewhere back in the mists of time, not because I thought I needed one to USE, but because I needed to do THIS (the first few seconds tell the tale).
My favorite comment on the video:
View attachment 150726
It took me a while to realize this, but I got far enough in my martial arts training to realize that a meaningful percentage of it is just to make the other guy say, "What the f*** was THAT?", and in that instant when he's staring, you move in for the strike.
And certainly for the butterfly knife, not just pulling it, but swinging out those blades? If you're ever in the same room as this maneuver being performed AT you in a business-like manner, it's right up there with a rattlesnake rattling (which, thanks to St. Patrick, I suppose you won't be experiencing in Ireland
I never drew mine for business purposes. More like a knife-based sleight of hand. Who knows? Maybe if I took it up again it would help my ukulele playing! As long as I keep the blades pointed in the right direction!
Oooooh I want one! Also I LOLed at the term bowel loosening
Pretty sure that ^ knife always makes Wired's best-of list.
I tend to seek out high carbon kitchen knives because I can sharpen them easier.
A couple:
Yes, sharpening serrated knives isn't easy, to say the least. Although like I said, I've used this one for 8-ish years, every day, on stuff way tougher than bread, and I'm thinking I'm easily a couple of years from worrying about what's next.
Of course, I'm not exactly worried! $19 every ten years or so is doable in the current budget!
But yeah, for the non serrated blades, I love carbon too, although I really am finding more ceramic sneaking in these days....
Yeah, I recently had a bread knife "sharpened" by a vendor at the local farmers market. Could not tell any difference, even looking through a jewellers loupe. Last time I do that. But I will be checking out a Mercer.
These are my frequently used knives. I have some more in a drawer right somewhere; they’re the not as practical ones.
The multi-tool used to get a lot more use. I carried one like it while traveling in South America. Pliers are always handy, and the blade came in handy for cutting and peeling fruit, opening packages, etc. Plus several sizes of screwdrivers, very useful. So useful that later, when I lost it while working a job that involved frequent repairing of fence, I bought the exact same knife again. Now it lives in my ukulele case and is mostly for adjusting friction tuners, but also cutting excess string after a string change.
The green knife is what I carry pretty much daily. It’sa no-name assisted open knife that I bought to replace a sweet little Kershaw of similar size and function. The Kershaw was better, but I don’t trust myself not to lose one now, so I went with the cheap option. I use it at work a lot for opening boxes. The one-handed operation is super handy. I use it at home for gardening - pruning plants, harvesting vegetables with tough stems, whittling a point on stakes. This means it would probably be useful when hunting vampires too, but that hasn’t come up yet. Handy for sharpening pencils for kids to do homework in the car on the way to a baseball game. I do use it for cutting tags off of clothing I buy.
Neil_O
Well-known member
I got one of those little serrated Henkles for my wife. She calls it a sandwich knife.
OP
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hands_on_lanzon
Well-known member
Both for entertainment purposes and its utility, you strike me as someone who needs a butterfly knife. I will confess to having bought one somewhere back in the mists of time, not because I thought I needed one to USE, but because I needed to do THIS (the first few seconds tell the tale).
My favorite comment on the video:
View attachment 150726
It took me a while to realize this, but I got far enough in my martial arts training to realize that a meaningful percentage of it is just to make the other guy say, "What the f*** was THAT?", and in that instant when he's staring, you move in for the strike.
And certainly for the butterfly knife, not just pulling it, but swinging out those blades? If you're ever in the same room as this maneuver being performed AT you in a business-like manner, it's right up there with a rattlesnake rattling (which, thanks to St. Patrick, I suppose you won't be experiencing in Ireland
I never drew mine for business purposes. More like a knife-based sleight of hand. Who knows? Maybe if I took it up again it would help my ukulele playing! As long as I keep the blades pointed in the right direction!
I started getting into the balisong (better known as butterfly knife) just a few years ago. A Filipina American musician from San Jose, CA was raising money to go on an excursion to the Philippines to learn about its history and visit one of the last well know makers from what's thought to be the province they originated, Taal, Batangas. The person putting on the excursion was trying to make a film about it called, Way of The Balisong. I don't think that ever went thru, but there's a pretty cool trailer!
After attending the fundraiser event and holding some traditional handmade balisong, I was hooked. I got a couple from the maker in the video and also got some trainers with modern methods from US based companies to learn some flipping. They actually have balisong flipping competitions that are pretty insane! I'm nowhere near their level, but it was fun to start learning to keep the ol' brain active during the pandemic. Unfortunately (but fortunately), I got into the ukulele in 2021 and all balisong practice basically went out the window. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve and these beauties in the collection.
The black one's a bottle opener, of course. Always fun at parties! I'd keep the two live blades away from any gatherings, especially with booze involved.
Yukio
Well-known member
At the boatyard, you are not properly dressed for work if you don't have a pencil behind your ear, a measuring tape, and a folding knife in your pocket.
rreffner
Well-known member
My Lyle pocket knife. It has served me well over the years.
HappyTurtle
Well-known member
EDC - Benchmade Barrage
I have a few others but this one is always with me.
I have a few others but this one is always with me.
I do still love my "hasn't needed sharpening in 10 years of daily use and will still slice right through the cutting board if I'm not paying attention" $19 Mercer...but I also have a set of Kai Komachi carbon stainless steel knives of similar vintage that gives me no end of delight, because they're also comically sharp (have I used them to cut tree branches in a pinch? Yes. Still perfectly sharp after? Also yes), but also SO SHINY!!!!
My favorite is the purple knife, which I most recently used to slice a bunch of bananas from one of the trees in our banana grove (which started as a single 30 inch specimen, and is now 30 or more trees up to 20 feet high, and very much still growing!) as well as separating a tray of native Hawaiian ground cover, Aeae (pronounced "aye-aye", botanical name Bacopa monieri, photo below) before planting.
While I feel guilty about all the abuse I've put it through, it's astounding to me that it's still immaculate, still shiny, and after 10 years with no care besides the occasional sponge bath, still ridiculously sharp.
