Knife Chat: Slicing to the meat of all things sharp

[MacWa77ace]

Happy belated National Knife Day. [who knew]

[flybynight]

Pretty neat. I like it


https://youtu.be/j5s24Lo5Xdo?si=eJrODdmfownjhZiA

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

That was pretty neat. I was wondering how he'd affix the pommel to the handle and I got my answer not too long afterwards.

I had figured he'd either weld it on or just epoxy it on there.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

This video popped up in my recommendations the other day and it got me wondering if the guy faked it.

The guy is restoring a Victorinox Swiss Army knife (I forget the model. The Spartan, I think ?) and a lot of the comments are calling shenanigans on it.

Dude usually does pretty good work on his restorations, but this one leaves me a bit soured on his channel. He claims a viewer sent it in and that he'd get the viewer to explain to him how the knife got in that condition, but doesn't go beyond that. It's been about a week since the video went live, but there hasn't been a response yet.

Y'all watch the video and tell me if he's faked the damage to the knife or if a stainless steel knife like that can be rusted that badly.


https://youtu.be/T98g1DK9CGA?si=QS6CU0ak7LmQI2Yy

[majorhavoc]

That same video came up on my feed as well.  I thought the exact same thing when I saw the thumbnail, Chimpov. That bright orange rust looked brand new to me and likely intentionally induced.  So I called shenanigans and refused to watch it.

I do find knife restoration videos strangely satisfying, but it frustrates me when they're faked.

[Rednex]

I had it pop up on my youtube too.

I see a lot of them with piles of mud on it saying its rusted so bad, or the forced new rust saying its been gone for 100 years.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

The sad thing is the guy usually does legit restorations, but my guess is views aren't high enough for his liking or he got duped by a viewer.

Which is sad seeing as how I was actually considering having him check out a knife I've got that I'd like to have restored. The collector value is gone (the scales are badly damaged, the blade's got a bend to it), but it's still a decent blade and worth restoring.

[Lodewijk]

Re-looking traditional slipjoints because I actually found one I have a use for. My grandfather's old Schrade Walden 825 fits in my bottle bag kit, and I actually like it, so I put it there.

Right now I carry a SAK at all times, and use it for most things. 95% of the time I also carry either a neck knife (Tops MSK) or, if I can't tolerate that in a cluster headache cycle, a RAT folder in D2 (which more or less mimics the MSK).

I'm really struggling to see how a Stockman or a Trapper is any kind of step up. Neither one is exceptionally comfortable in the hand for extended carving, Case's slipjoint lockup can be pretty iffy in my experience, and at best they're heavier / less useful than my Camper or Forester (which are set up for firestarting).

The only one that seems like it's even a sidegrade is a locking sodbuster on a suspension clip in lieu of the RAT (like a Mudbug or something). But at that point... why bother?

I feel like I'm missing something.

[majorhavoc]

I'm really struggling to see how a Stockman or a Trapper is any kind of step up. Neither one is exceptionally comfortable in the hand for extended carving, Case's slipjoint lockup can be pretty iffy in my experience, and at best they're heavier / less useful than my Camper or Forester (which are set up for firestarting).

The only one that seems like it's even a sidegrade is a locking sodbuster on a suspension clip in lieu of the RAT (like a Mudbug or something). But at that point... why bother?

If this isn't the voice of a true knife nerd, I don't know what is.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I mostly carry locking knives, but I do own a couple slip joints.

Last one I bought was a Case Sodbuster and that was only because it was an impulse buy. I was actually at the shop I bought it from to pick up a gun I'd ordered and they had a big display of Case knives.

Only one that was within my budget was the Sodbuster and it was like 35 bucks. Everything else was like 70 bucks and upwards.

[Lodewijk]

I'm really struggling to see how a Stockman or a Trapper is any kind of step up. Neither one is exceptionally comfortable in the hand for extended carving, Case's slipjoint lockup can be pretty iffy in my experience, and at best they're heavier / less useful than my Camper or Forester (which are set up for firestarting).

The only one that seems like it's even a sidegrade is a locking sodbuster on a suspension clip in lieu of the RAT (like a Mudbug or something). But at that point... why bother?

If this isn't the voice of a true knife nerd, I don't know what is.

oh my god what have I become

bushcraftusa did this to me, I don't even like knives I just use them in the woods

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

While browsing Knife Center's site, I believe I may have found the fugliest knife I've ever seen.

https://www.knifecenter.com/item/RMKFBSBZBK/richmade-knives-custom-fat-bastard-flipper-knife-aeb-l-flamed-suspension-bridge-duplex-grind-cleaver-blade-zombified-black-titanium-handles

[Lodewijk]

Wh... what the hell am I even looking at?

A thousand bucks. Made in Colorado?

I hate this state sometimes because that absolutely would fly here.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Wh... what the hell am I even looking at?

A thousand bucks. Made in Colorado?

I hate this state sometimes because that absolutely would fly here.

I want to know what the thought process of the designer was and what the hell kind of drugs he was on when he came up with this thing.

I honestly wouldn't pay 10 bucks for that thing let alone a grand. It seriously looks like something you'd find in a display case at a gas station.

[Rednex]

Well this came out the CIVIVI Knives Elementum Liner Lock Flipper Knife 2.97" Nitro-V Satin Wharncliffe Blade.

The knife I been looking for, now to convince my self to buy it.

https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CIVC18062AF1/civivi-knives-elementum-liner-lock-flipper-knife-nitro-v-satin-wharncliffe-blade-black-g10-handles

[Lodewijk]

So my knife autism has led me into old USA-made Schrades. I always wrote Schrade off as a dead company's name slapped on Chineseum, but I had been ignoring all the stuff that dead company made.

Sooooo I have a Schrade Walden trapper and a USA-made Uncle Henry LB7 coming in this week and the bill was less than half of what it'd cost to buy a Buck 110 and a Case CV trapper new. Cleanup projects for sure but that's half the fun.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Well this came out the CIVIVI Knives Elementum Liner Lock Flipper Knife 2.97" Nitro-V Satin Wharncliffe Blade.

The knife I been looking for, now to convince my self to buy it.

https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CIVC18062AF1/civivi-knives-elementum-liner-lock-flipper-knife-nitro-v-satin-wharncliffe-blade-black-g10-handles

I've been looking at that one as well, Rednex.

I'm thinking of either getting the one with black G10 scales or the one with the black canvas micarta scales.

I'd love to get the Damascus one, but that's a bit more than I'd like to spend right now.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

So my knife autism has led me into old USA-made Schrades. I always wrote Schrade off as a dead company's name slapped on Chineseum, but I had been ignoring all the stuff that dead company made.

Sooooo I have a Schrade Walden trapper and a USA-made Uncle Henry LB7 coming in this week and the bill was less than half of what it'd cost to buy a Buck 110 and a Case CV trapper new. Cleanup projects for sure but that's half the fun.

Occasionally I'll find old knives at some of the local antique stores, but a lot of them are priced way higher than they should be. Like I could buy a brand new Civivi or CRKT for less than what some of these places want for an old Schrade or similar knife.

[majorhavoc]

So my knife autism has led me into old USA-made Schrades. I always wrote Schrade off as a dead company's name slapped on Chineseum, but I had been ignoring all the stuff that dead company made.

Sooooo I have a Schrade Walden trapper and a USA-made Uncle Henry LB7 coming in this week and the bill was less than half of what it'd cost to buy a Buck 110 and a Case CV trapper new. Cleanup projects for sure but that's half the fun.

Occasionally I'll find old knives at some of the local antique stores, but a lot of them are priced way higher than they should be. Like I could buy a brand new Civivi or CRKT for less than what some of these places want for an old Schrade or similar knife.

I assumed that maybe Lodewijk was getting vintage knives on eBay.  Back in a former life, I was really into woodworking with traditional hand tools.  If you were serious using a western hand plane for instance, you didn't bother with the crap sold by most companies today; you looked for a Stanley Sweetheart or a Sargent from the 1920s or 1930s, which are much higher quality than anything made today (with the exception of a Lie Nielsen or a Veritas, but that's a whole other deep dive).   I used to pour over eBay listings to find good deals on rusty old specimens and then painstakingly rehabilitate them.  Which, as Lodewijk says, is half the fun.  

 

[Lodewijk]

Yeah they're old. Schrade Walden was last used as a tang stamp in the 1970s.

The LB7 is newer but it's old enough to have a serial number. Probably older than I am.