[MatthewVanitas]

Buddy of mine is following the American Dream. Buddy and wife came up from a very poor background, and now own a dozen houses in Central CA. They're about to quit their jobs, liquidate a couple properties, and buy a successful RV Park in the Dakotas from a retiring couple.

Their kids will be helping run the business, including the attached store/petrollery/restaurant, so I picked up a Gerber lockback in a pawnshop (in great shape w/ leather case, $10), and sent it out to the kid. Kinda like this one, but a little sleeker:

http://www.bvbranchknives.com/other/image15b.jpg

However, now I'm thinking that the old lockbacks are pretty obsolete for actual work. I hefted my SuperKnife, and reflected that such might be better for a 15yr old who's opening boxes at the store, doing minor repairs, etc. Has a pocket clip, one-handed open and close, replaceable blades, etc.

http://superknife.com/images/new/superknife.jpg


Did I mess up by picking a "classic" but obsolete option rather than a more practical modern option? I suppose I could get him a SuperKnife later on down the road, but don't want to seem like I'm just dumping random gear on their kid. I give their kids small gifts from time-to-time, since I have no nephews/nieces, but I don't want to overdo it.

Ideas?

-MV

[ugaarguy]

The Gerber will certainly see hard use in its shop keep duties, but I think that's the right choice. Young man will be up in the Dakotas, plenty to do outdoors when he isn't helping to keep shop. When he dulls that Gerber he'll learn to resharpen it. No doubt that sharpening skill he learns and earns on the little folder will benefit him on other knives - thinking hunting knives, fillet knives, camp knives, and what not with the outdoors activities up there. I don't think there's a thing wrong with a classic brass & wood handled pocketknife. Then again I've been known to carry a 5" bbl M&P on my hip when bumming thru the desert sage in SW Idaho. I think that old .38 6 shooter is just fine too. So maybe I think older than I am :confused:

[hso]

a "classic" but obsolete option

Before sm shows up and boxes your ears for being a young whipper-snapper I'll just say this, no.

How is a quality lockback with good steel ever obsolete? The kid should appreciate that you thought enough of him to give him something he can carry the rest of his life instead of a disposable soul-less implement. As long as he knows what a knife is for and how to sharpen, which he can do on the bottom of a ceramic mug in a pinch, he'll always have a sharp knife on him. The moment he runs out of blades for the Super Knife is the moment he has a usless paperweight in his hands.

[mp510]

I have a Sheffield knife that is very similar in function to a Super Knife. I use it a whole lot less often than my regular knifes. I think the traditional lockback will work just fine for him.

[Sistema1927]

Obsolete?

No more so than the 1911. Those small Gerber folders are nice knives. Trust me, the kid will cherish the Gerber long after the "Super-Knife" is nothing more than a memory.

[Brian Williams]

That Gerber is a great call.

[Skofnung]

The moment he runs out of blades for the Super Knife is the moment he has a usless paperweight in his hands.

If you get the chance, teach that boy how to keep that knife sharp and he will remember and respect you for it. It is a skill that only a small percentage of folks have aquired.

There are lots of people out there with useless paperweights in their pockets.

[borrowedtime69]

if i were that teen, I would be very please with the choice you made. i would rather be given a knife thats more traditional than the Superknife. dont get me wrong, the super one is a great knife, but for a personal gift i like tradition. I'll give you a thumbs up from a former teen and a gerber afficanoto. :) -Eric

[Wedge]

You gave him the right knife.

[Max Power]

I love the classics like buck 110's and bolt action rifles.

[sm]

Post # 3 is really really good. :p

[lawson]

superknives are good for hard use and all, in a situation where sharpening would need to be done very often.

for day to day knife chores, my go-to knife is a Case Trapper, or a Case Electrician's Knife.

old fashioned? maybe, but some things don't need to be updated.

[MatthewVanitas]

In retrospect, SuperKnife wasn't the best comparison.

I should said, Gerber vs. Spyderco, or similar.

Good blade and handle, but with one-handed opening and pocket clip.

As a relative youngun, I can't really conceive of a time when something so fundamental as a pocket clip or thumbstud was exotic.

-MV

[wooderson]

I don't much care for those folding razor knives (though I own a half-dozen of them scattered every which way). No better at box opening than a lockback, and not good for cutting shingles or sheetrock or anything else.

[Striker]

Matthew,

You done good and I predict you will continue to sleep well at night as a result. :D

[TMM]

No! you definately made a good decision. i think the superknife has rather limited uses, especially with the fragile blade. the only thing better you could have gotten him for multiple tasks is a leatherman.

you did well.

~tmm

[traveler106]

I think the Gerber was a good choice. I've had a newer model Gerber lockback, with a thumb stud and a synthetic handle, for a couple years, now. I carry it with me and use it just about every day, I sharpen it when it gets dull, and it's still as good as new.

Granted, it is nice to have a thumb stud for one-handed opening, but you don't need a thumb stud for that. Just hang on to the blade and snap your wrist. That's what I used to do with my older Gerbers. People used to think I had a switchblade when I did that.

I've been carrying Gerbers since I was in high school. The only reason I've had to buy more than one is because I lost a couple.

He can buy himself a box cutter for pretty cheap if that's all he wants to do. The Gerber is a good choice for someone who wants a tool as versatile as a pocket knife.

[skangakku]

Definitely the right knife. An old classic like that is far more personal than some high-tech looking utility tool. Far better to have given him a personal item which he'll carry all the time (I still have the one my gramps gave me) but can also use at work, than an impersonal tool which will live on a shelf in the storeroom. A good lockback will be the envy of his mates, has thousands of uses, and is far more likely to be on his person the one time in a thousand when not having a knife means injury or death (trapped in a car wreck, caught in a snare, etc). The teen years are a dangerous time, particularly as youngsters push their boundaries in preparation for manhood and having that knife could save him or someone else.
I give all my nephews pocketknives (often in the face of stern parental disapproval) but I think of it as just doing my bit to keep them that little bit safer.
You've done the right thing.

[Cosmoline]

Superknife? Meh. It's a glorified box cutter. Give a real knife.