451 Detonics
Member
My nephew stopped by the other day and while we were talking he said "I wanted to show you my new Spyderco Endura I forgot to change to it this morning".
I said "no biggie, if you have seen one you have seen them all".
He looked at me and said "you're right, they are all the same aren't they."
He walked over to a display of some of my traditionals, a rainbow of scale colors and just as many different textures and look for a few minutes. He picked several up and ran his thumb over the scales, feeling the differences in materials and jigging methods. He picked up my favorite stag stockman and really studied the gnarls and popcorn on it then picked up another stag handled knife and compared them. He did this for several minutes comparing the older jigging pattern with some of the newer ones. The worn bone on a couple Remingtons that had aged to a soft caramel. He looked at the swirls and refractions in the MOP and celluloids.
He turned around and said "I understand why you only have a few tactical knives now and so many of these", waving at the traditionals.
He pointed at the shelf of black, high speed, low drag, pocket clipped knives and said "these don't have anything special about them do they. But the others are all like works of art. Even when they use the same material for the scales they are still different."
Then he asked why I had the tacticals at all and I explained that in an emergency an easy to access knife that opens with one hand can be a lifesaver. He commented that he had never seen me using one and I told him I don't, I carry them strictly for emergency use, for everything else I use a traditional.
We sat and talked knives for about another hour with me explaining scale materials and patterns. I touched up the blade on his Benchmade he had clipped in his pocket on my Spyderco sharpener and stropped it lightly to a hair popping edge.
I said "now that is ready for any emergency and will be as long as you don't let it get dull."
He said "if I use it though won't it get dull again?"
"Not if you use this for the daily cutting chores" I said, handing him a AG Russell canoe in stag.
His birthday is coming up next month...I am thinking he needs a Spyderco sharpening system of his own so he can keep his traditional as sharp as his "emergency" knife.
I am obsessed with traditionals, to me they have character you will not see in cookie cutter tacticals knives. They are all individuals and each has it's own looks, colors, and textures.
I said "no biggie, if you have seen one you have seen them all".
He looked at me and said "you're right, they are all the same aren't they."
He walked over to a display of some of my traditionals, a rainbow of scale colors and just as many different textures and look for a few minutes. He picked several up and ran his thumb over the scales, feeling the differences in materials and jigging methods. He picked up my favorite stag stockman and really studied the gnarls and popcorn on it then picked up another stag handled knife and compared them. He did this for several minutes comparing the older jigging pattern with some of the newer ones. The worn bone on a couple Remingtons that had aged to a soft caramel. He looked at the swirls and refractions in the MOP and celluloids.
He turned around and said "I understand why you only have a few tactical knives now and so many of these", waving at the traditionals.
He pointed at the shelf of black, high speed, low drag, pocket clipped knives and said "these don't have anything special about them do they. But the others are all like works of art. Even when they use the same material for the scales they are still different."
Then he asked why I had the tacticals at all and I explained that in an emergency an easy to access knife that opens with one hand can be a lifesaver. He commented that he had never seen me using one and I told him I don't, I carry them strictly for emergency use, for everything else I use a traditional.
We sat and talked knives for about another hour with me explaining scale materials and patterns. I touched up the blade on his Benchmade he had clipped in his pocket on my Spyderco sharpener and stropped it lightly to a hair popping edge.
I said "now that is ready for any emergency and will be as long as you don't let it get dull."
He said "if I use it though won't it get dull again?"
"Not if you use this for the daily cutting chores" I said, handing him a AG Russell canoe in stag.
His birthday is coming up next month...I am thinking he needs a Spyderco sharpening system of his own so he can keep his traditional as sharp as his "emergency" knife.
I am obsessed with traditionals, to me they have character you will not see in cookie cutter tacticals knives. They are all individuals and each has it's own looks, colors, and textures.
