Simplicity.

[sm]

My mom... hollered at me to bring a pair of pliers to fix something.

I am looking at a flat head screw with a pair of pliers in my hand and mom is looking at me and of course asks "why did you bring those, those won't fix that".

I should know better being a guy, when a gal says pliers she means a screwdriver and when a gal asks a guy to get milk at the store, he is supposed to get bread.

Give me time, I am only 53, gimme another 10 years and maybe I can get all this gal language figgered out.

"Well, are you not going to go back in the house and get one of "those" to fix it?"

"No mom, I got lucky reaching under your kitchen cabinet for "these". You have monsters under that cabinet and I ain't going back in and chance getting yanked into the abyss of your cabinet under the kitchen sink"

Laugh if you want.
Go check under your mom's kitchen cabinet and see if you don't get a case of weebie-jeebies!

A dime is too thin, a quarter is too thick, a penny is just right.

I just tightened the screw with a penny , using the pliers to turn.

"You are sooooo smart!" - mom says , doing that proud momma thing momma's do.
"Yeah mom, we guys are dumb as bricks, except when we are as smart as all get out".


FWIW- if a mom asks for Chicken Noodle Soup from the store, they want you to get Beef Consume' so they can make dirty rice.

Just add that to your "mom dictionary"...

 

[Carl Levitian]

hso, you raise a good question.

What is too far out in my opinion?

When I am browsing the magazine rack at Borders, and I pick up one of the knife rags out of curiosity and look at the lastest tactical wonder knife, and I find myself saying "Just what the blue blazes is that supposed to be?" Thats too far out.

Maybe I've reached an age where I'm a severe sceptic of the new wave. Not just knives, guns, cars, etc. A tool ought to look like what it is. And a straitforward one at that. I don't believe that wild serations give any real advantage over a good sharp blade. The only serations I found worked just as well as any other type, are the ones on my Victorinox bread knife. Just a single wavy edge. Not any of those three step ones like on Spyderco and others. At least it works well on a fresh baked loaf of Italian bread. Not to bad to touch up either.

As for recurve blades, I've tried them. Used a kukri for a while to experiment, then abondoned it. Not enough of an advantage to make up for some of the disadvantages.

Over the course of 30 or 40 years or so, I think I've tried just about every variation of the theme out there. Hey, I'm a knife knut, and in my younger day I was just as likely to buy a new knife as the next guy. I even did the balisong thing in the 80's. I saw it, thought it may have an advantage, gave it a try.

But all were cast off by the wayside. In the end, I went back to the simplist tools I could find. In knives I went back to my roots of small slip joint pocket knives and simple fixed blades. In guns I went back to the old revolver and break open shotguns. And I still drive inline engines, no V6's for me. Keep the blown head gaskets.

I suppose I could blame my friend Bill. Alot of my knife taste is his fault. Bill was a knifesmith here in Maryland, and he loved to experiment. I'd drop by his shop and find him out back wacking away on stuff with a new design he forged out. Sometimes he'd make one of whatever the new thing was, and take it out back to the woods in back of his shop. Or he'd have a 2X4 in a vise, chopping away, or even slicing away on hemp rope seeing how some new wonder steel did in relation to the W2 or 5160 he forged. Over a decades long friendship, I think I saw him, or helped him, test out so many types of knives, I got very jaded. Most did not offer much, if any, advantage over a more conventional design.

Over the course of the 30 plus years I knew Bill Moran, I saw too many experiments on too many materials to believe any hype put out by comercial profit motivated publications. Sure, some cultures had their blades, like the kriss, and shotal. But in experiments on old hams coverd in an old blue jeans leg, some of those old styles of blades did not do as well as others. In fact one knife, a kriss forged by Bill with all the quality he put into his regular knives, did very poorly compared to one of his southwestern styled bowies of similar size and weight.

Bill once bought a commerical serated knife with the Spyderco type of serations, and another knife with the older single wavy edge serations. Again, on out of date hams, the single wavy scalloped edge cut deeper with a single stroke, then the multiple step serations. The
spyderco type of combo serations of big and little teeth, clogged up fast with cloth and meat tissue, where the wavy edge did not. On nylon webbing as well, the more simple wavy edge seration did better. In all experiments the knives had identical length blades. If one was not available in a similar lenght, the longer one was cut down to match. Bill went out of his way to make it fair.

Time and time again, in head to head tests, I saw the simple strait cutting edge win out over the exotic and different. Both Bill and I came to the conclusion that with thousands of years of trying to find the most efficiant blade, that with the expetions of a few cultures, most have chosen a strait simple cutting tool. Even the cult worshiped samurai, who made a religion of thier skills with the katana, chose a pretty simple design. Fairly strait, with a gentle curve like a saber. Worked great on most anything. Leather and bamboo armor, human body parts like arms and necks. Simpe edge, just sharp as all heck.

Europe was the crossroads of many cultures for a thousand years. Knives and swords traveled with thier owners, were brought back from far off lands on the silk road. Yet when it all was boiled down, what was chosen by 99% of the people, be they soldiers or shepards, were the strait simple blades. In an age were some people lived, or died, by thier choice of cutting tool, you didn't see alot of weird designs compared to the last 20 years in America.

I do believe that you can't build a better mouse trap. Wild curves in blades, unnessesary complex serations, and lots of hype are the tools to create sales. The have little to do with giving the customer a better knife.

 

[hso]

Wild curves in blades, unnessesary complex serations, and lots of hype are the tools to create sales. The have little to do with giving the customer a better knife.

I agree absolutely. Sounds like we just have a slight difference in what we call "wild" and "unnecessary".

BTW, Steve. I feel for you, but consider what you describe evidence of brain disorders. My mom was very straightforward in her instructions. If she wanted bread, she asked for bread. If she wanted a screw driver, she asked for a screw driver. Gwen's the same way. Michaela too. You might want to have the folks that ask for "A" when they mean "B" checked out by a good witch doctor.

 

[Todd A]

Pre-War Kinfolks number 925




Worked back then in 1939,I would guess that it would still work now.

I don't use it.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Kinfolks

Nice piece.

Good looking tool.

Me? I'd clean up that blade and make sure it had a working edge. I'd treat the handle with whatever was needed to keep it from decomposing or otherwise failing, and then -- as I do with all my tools -- I'd use it. Oh, not EDC, but it would get to go outside, taste a little wood or rope, maybe a package or two.

I hate the thought of a good tool, sitting lonely in a box, unused.

A little introspection: I find I have more stuff than I use, and I find I spend more time "having" stuff than I do "using" stuff. Life is about doing, not having. I guess I need to get out and do a little more life.

 

[Todd A]

My State limits me to a sub-4" blade unless actually hunting or fishing.This one is 5".

So its a drawer queen.

 

[HiWayMan]

Well hells bells...........I'm just a wee young buck at 28, but I've learned my lessons. Simple is good. Simple is the good stuff.

Just married and the new bride surprises me with a new butcher block full of kitchen knives. Respected brand name (in the past anyway). They appear to have full tangs. Won't take an edge to save your life and about the tenth time using the one the blade breaks out of the handle half way back. ...partial tang pieces of crap. She spent obout $30 bucks on the set. The sharpening steel removed copious amounts of metal...that isn't how dad's did it. Old Hickory has come to my rescue. Full tangs I can see, carbon steel I can maintain an edge on....the good stuff. A proper slick that re-aligns the edge and doesn't remove metal.


I keep looking at new pocket knives every time Smokey Mountain comes in the mail. I keep scratching them off the list a few days later. The Old Timer Stockman in my pocket just works....the good stuff.

Needed a new woods knife. Tramontina 12" machete fits the bill for $6. Bought several and reprofiled the blades to get what I wanted. Want a bowie...profile a clip point. A sticker.....profile a spear point. A short cleaver...shorten blade and profile to sheepsfoot. Any configuration I can imagine at $6 a pop. Super simple and it didn't break the bank.

Used to want a super cool tomahawk. Thankful I held off. My rigger's hatchet from a farmer's auction looks about the same though and low and behold does the same things for a whopping 50 cents. Its simple too...just like grandpappy's.

I'm back to H&R/NEF single shot 20 gauges too. The Mossy 500 12 Guage was too heavy to be lugging 5 miles on a bunny hunt. Don't ever remeber getting a running rabbit on the second, third, or fourth shot anyway. Being part of WALRUS (We All Love R Used Shotguns) Team 007 means "One Shot, One Bunny" anyway. Otherwise I'd have to turn in my membership card.


The good stuff.

 

[Tom Krein]

HiWayMan,
You got a full set of knives for $30.00 and expected them to be quality??

.....uh, okay

Tom

 

[HiWayMan]

HiWayMan,
You got a full set of knives for $30.00 and expected them to be quality??

.....uh, okay

Well...she tried.

$30 buys a full block of Old Hickory that is quality. Period.

 

[Tom Krein]

I won't disagree with you on the Old Hickory, but it seems like even they have gone down in quality a bit lately...

Tom

 

[Dravur]

wow, 3 pages of this...

ok, here it is....

Fudds, use whatever old knife that you want. You want simple and no serrations...you got it. No problems with me. I like em. I have a couple Ruanas that are ugly as sin, sharp as heck and bigger than your average shortsword. I have a buck 110 as well. Celebrate Fuddness

Mall ninjas, you can use any new, serrated knife or knife system made by any of the High Speed, Low drag companies that can turn out a knife. You can have anything you want.. carbon fiber, new age steels made from kitten fur... anything that a true ninja would want...

For the rest of us.... use whatever knife you want... simple really. The fudds can have their Bucks, the mall ninjas can have their uber tactical black coated knives and the rest of us can use whatever dang knife we want.

 

[sm]

[strike] Grind Monkey [/strike] Tom Krein wrote:
I won't disagree with you on the Old Hickory, but it seems like even they have gone down in quality a bit lately...

Nope, new Old Hickory's , are not what they used to be.
Nor is Chicago Cutler.
Case CV is not either.
Smith's Arkansas Stones are not even good paper weights.

Curmudgeons & Reprobates , such as I and mine are recommend :

Old versions of Old Hickory, Chicago Cutlery, Dexter, and Case kitchen knives.
You want a real Case pocket knife, find one made before early 80's.
Norton Crystalon, and India stones for traditional.
Pocket Stones, DMT credit card ones, with the Red (fine) being the one most used, and coarse and extra fine being a sometimes user.

New items:

SAK Paring knife, instead of a OH, holler at Tom for which one, and check with him on a kydex sheath...

<spit>
Just callin' em as I see 'em.

 

[garlicguy]

Oh man, You got catalogs in the outhouse?

You got an entire outHOUSE?

All we got around here is an out.

And pine needles.

We're talkin' REAL simplicity here, Carl. Real simplicity.

This hyere is Montana.

 

[Limeyfellow]

Now, as to whether or not we can justify a "throw away society" I'll leave that to the social engineers to meditate on. I just don't understand a mentality that takes something valuable (things do still have value don't they?) and tosses it away because someone is too ignorant, arrogant, or lazy to take care of it.

Which is kind of weird, because for the majority of human existence this is how humanity treated their goods. They just threw away the goods that broke and crafted new ones, bet it blades, arrows, pottery, cairns etc. Thats why we pull so much of this stuff from fire pits and garbage pits.

Its only when things got more complex that tools was kept around for longer and the more complex the tool the more its considered valuable, but the regular everyday stuff, which a knife is, is designed to be used until its worn out.

 

[Mongrel]

Which is kind of weird, because for the majority of human existence this is how humanity treated their goods. They just threw away the goods that broke and crafted new ones, bet it blades, arrows, pottery, cairns etc. Thats why we pull so much of this stuff from fire pits and garbage pits.

Its only when things got more complex that tools was kept around for longer and the more complex the tool the more its considered valuable, but the regular everyday stuff, which a knife is, is designed to be used until its worn out.

Wow...

Did you ever see something so clearly...so simply...just as clear as a proverbial bell and then realize no one else can see it? A simple point, an obvious and genuine observation that can be explained to a child and yet you are alone in it?

Why is the thought of someone discarding something of value because they lack the skills necessary to maintain it not bothersome? Why does it not strike a nerve? On a deeper level, why is there no chill down the spine when we think of such a philosophy carried over from the material to the physical? Do we not see this and abhor it at our core? No apparently not...

This is not a sermon, nor is it a judgement on anyone as it was misconstrued to be by someone up the thread a bit. It's an observation. And if I may be so bold-it's a viable and quite legitimate observation.

The 'casual' discarding of a knife because it is dull is akin to walking away from a car that has run out of fuel in my mind-and that's just pure idiocy.

But, hey maybe it's time I just went back into the dog house and took a nap or two...

 

[Aka Zero]

Simple is a mora.

simple blade, simple grind, simple sheath, and does what a knife does best, cut things.

 

[gpdawg]

i think i have found kindred spirits.