Re-reading my past scribbles is always interesting to me, not because I am obsessed with my own written word, but rather because bloggers, by virtue of being given a platform to be highly opinionated, tend to ignore uncomfortable realities when it’s much easier to outright declare this is the best knife or this is the best option.
The reality is far more nuanced. I started off being obsessed with Spyderco; I shan’t go into details as to why I loved the little fuckers so much, but ultimately, I was a collector/aficionado first, and user of knives second. Then I moved to the frozen wasteland that is Canada and began wrecking havoc on various trees (God bless you Ontario Raider Bowie). I should mention that I had good reason to go to war with the blasted invaders before the eco warriors add me to some sort of list.
Then I moved with the girl to the UK. I was forced against my will to cater to my inner lover of slipjoints and less scary bladed options… and now?
This is five minutes from my house.
I have my own little piece of heaven in Portugal and two things happened.
- I slacked off big time on MTJS, as a consequence, I don’t obsess over having an EDC rotation, I just use what I want even if that means I use the same tool for 3 months straight.
- Because I am in a less extreme environment, both in terms of legality and natural surroundings, I focus almost exclusively on practicality without much thought towards the perception of performance.
I realized what should have been obvious from the start. My opinions are so biased to my own needs and wants that frankly, I recommend you take everything I write with a bucket of salt.
It’s so subjective because we all have different prerequisites. I wager that if I lived in Texas, I would have different biases. Likewise if I worked on a farm.
Since moving to Portugal, I have had 2 steadfast friends: what I consider to be the best multi-tool ever created – the Leatherman Rebar, and my trusted sidekick, the yet to be reviewed and still totally beaten up – the Fallkniven F1. It’s a bloody travesty that I have yet to review that blade. I am truly, truly sorry.
The best boring tools for a normal everyday quasi-boring life.
We are all well aware that the majority of opinions are worthless, subjectively, even my own. The bulk of bloggers are little more than shills trying to convince you to drop some franklins on titanium clad garbage, but realistically, this is an interesting (albeit, obvious) conversation to have with all of you. Your environment will dictate more or less the bulk of your biases.
I am unsure about how to proceed with my scribbles.
Ultimately, I am always going to be a loud mouth and will keep ranting and raving at everything I damn well please, at the same time I do frequently feel a certain degree of duty to be as honest about MTJS, its biases, and why I scribble what I scribble.
Ontario SP10 Marine Raider Bowie – Amazon / Blade HQ
As for the direction the blog will take, frankly, I miss many of you. BDC, Bob Ocean, Broadwing, OldOutdoorsGuy, Danjo, Dan and so many more. I won’t ever really change and ultimately I do feel a degree of contempt towards the blade and outdoor industry (I was going to write community, but let’s not kid ourselves – it’s a fucking industry). I don’t want to play ball, but I do want to shit on all the bad products out there and continue to scribble opinions as if they are gospel to a following of millions.
I think, as long as we keep in mind that a knife is nothing more than a sharpened slab of steel, that survival is about perseverance – not gimmicks, and finally that common sense can’t be bought on Amazon, we will be alright.
Naturally, you should also agree with everything I say. ;)
I won’t make any promises about regular updates, but I am “back” for all intents and purposes. It’s important (I think) for an independent voice to exist in this void, even if it’s really really bad at maintaining a schedule.
Like the expression goes, opinions are like as—es. Everyone has one.
I will address the Leatherman Rebar and what I do.
Years ago, before Leatherman tools came into being, there were the Swiss Victorinox knives with multi-tools. I had a discussion with Ron Hood, now long deceased. He wanted a pocket knife tool with a wood saw. I wanted a pocket tool with a pair of scissors. So, I looked at all the models and discovered that the low end model with both features was the Huntsman.
Scissors function. In the real world, a torn toe nail or a torn finger nail, a splinter or dirty finger nails or ingrown toe nails can put you out of commission. Your will to live, your survival skills may very well not be effective. So all the Leatherman tools I have will have a scissors.
I used to rehabilitate and gift leatherman tools. Now the used prices are too high. I have about 10 units. If and when shtf, they will be very valuable trading goods for services. If shtf does not occur, I will give them away before I die.
I love the leathermans but I agree the prices can be a bit absurd, at the same time- I then think about how much a Spydie will cost for a tool that effectively only features a single function and then I compare the price with multitools. I feel a smidgen less guilty! ;) Have you handled the Victorinox plier based/SwissTool offerings?
Leatherman prices – too high now. I used to buy USED waves before they became popular. I have used Leathermen with fewer tools, but always with a scissors for traveling as you have to leave your luggage open for potential thieves working as US security agents.
Victorinox tool with pliers. Have not tried. Literally have dozens of restored Huntsmen/Champions with sheaths. Potential trading goods.
If I estimated, I have given away over 100 restored Leathermen and Victorinox knives as gifts to relatives, friends, and even my auto mechanic. A girl friend gave a Letherman to her handyman in Nice, France when she sold her place. I gave a Leatherman and a Buck 110 to the kid across the street when he made Eagle Scout with his mom’s permission. People remember you.
I keep hearing about the luggage handlers stealing stuff from suitcases- its pretty freaky- I will be flying from Canada to Portugal with 200’ish knives from my collection. Really hope it doesn’t happen to me!
As for Leathermans and pricing- yeah, I hear you. That said, the tooling required to make one multitool is quite extensive compared to a basic folding knife- its why the Chinese haven’t been able to take a bite out of the market from Gerber, Leatherman and Victorinox. On a similar note, its the same reason why lego’s are very rarely counterfeited- its just too difficult to knock off and maintain profit margins.
Would you please stop referring to her as “the girl”? That may be a term of endearment between the two of you, but it’s demeaning. She’s a woman. I had to call out one of my fellow female execs last month when she kept referring to her assistants as “my girls.” Unless she refers to you in her posts as “my boy,” please let it go.
I asked the girl and the girl said she didn’t care so I shall continue to refer to the girl as the girl.
Frozen wasteland of Canada? I guess you didn’t live through a Toronto or Montreal summer, I just replaced my air conditioner.
Haha, actually used to live in Toronto- I use that term in jest (purely out of affection..mostly). That said, I would take the Toronto heat everyday if I could skip the winters.
I’m glad you’re back. An independent voice is needed and I appreciate yours and Elise.
I wish I could be more consistent, my procrastination (in all fairness, I do have a regular life on top of this stuff) is proving to be hard to overcome. :(
I will do my best, scouts honor.
I have mostly inexpensive knives (Kershaws,,CRKTs, and a Cold Steel Canadian Belt Knife) though I do have some more pricey Spydercos I’ve gotten from donations to Knife Rights, and a camping knife I bought years ago from the maker for $75 (IIRC). Don’t know what the steel is (I have the reciept for it, but it’s stashed away in a box in storage, and that info might be on there), but I can say it has no rust on it after 40+ years and some humid climates.
To be honest mate, these days its hard to find a knife that truly fails at its primary purpose. Just last week I picked up a set of 3 integral kitchen knives as a set for little more than $10- steel feels like 8cr13MoV to me and its handling itself damn well.
Just goes to show how far we have come, no? If it has zero surface rust and its 40 years old, I would wager its 400X series steel, probably 440C or 440B. $75 that long ago was no small sum. I would be really interested to know what you have!
This was a fantastic and honest article, just like all of the others I have read. I fell into the titanium SUPER MOST-BESTEST, NEWEST BLADE STEEL fad. I now look back and wonder why since the trade off on edge retention vs cost is astronomical in my opinion. It all just seems to be another level of marketing that I fell for. After heavy using most of the PM steels, I can say that I usually prefer the softer steels since they are easier to maintain and less prone to chipping. Kudos on your honesty, the knife industry needs more people like you.
Yeah, I also fell pretty hard for super steels and to be honest, I do still love them- if for no other reason that the specialness of it all. On a practical level, I just grab what I want these days. As long as the fit and finish is solid, I pretty much ignore the steel.
Nice to hear from you again. I have to agree with your comment, what you carry is dictated by your environment. As a farmer I really miss my Kershaw A100 multitool, long story but I got arrested.
Hope the girl and yourself are enjoying life in Portugal.
Damn Keith, if I lost my Kershaw A100 I would be miserable haha, definitely a grail multitool for a lot of people.
Portugal is pleasant, cost of living is significantly better than in the UK and before that Canada as well as the quality of life. I have zero complaints beyond the bureaucracy you would expect from a latin country. ;)
Balisong is correct. Such is why I carried 5 knives and my late wife carried 3 in Afghanistan more than 40 years ago.
Interesting, did you carry all 5 knives at the same time? and if so, how? I imagine the weight must have been significant!
I’ve done a few EDC posts recently, including one on my Kershaw: https://blog.kentforliberty.com/2019/02/gear-post-kershaw-1030-deer-hunter.html
The 1030 is such a gorgeous tool, I seem to remember there was a folding equivalent too. Very cool slice of history- I am glad you still have and use it.
knife guys are worse than gun people. At least with a gun, your life MIGHT actually be riding on the gun’s performance, whereas that’s complete bs about any knife, except maybe in the Arctic or the Amazon. Anyone who really counts on a knife in really remote areas knows to take two of them, regardless of the design or the make, and that’s if you count a machete as being a “knife”.
Yeah, its pretty exhausting to deal with all of it to be honest, since MTJS has been around, I have responded to 99% of comments (even if I am super late). With 6000+ comments and counting, it can be a bit of a mindfuck with some of the stuff that people drop. Especially if you mention forged knives or super steels. Hide for cover.
Hey there lad, I appreciate the mention of faith, but honestly, I admire your chutzpah at stepping up to the plate with an old beat up hickory bat and taking a swing at one or two at the puffy li’l wannabe camp and survival knives that seem to pervade our once invincible knife market. Man, it seems that, if it doesn’t have Chinese symbols on the hilt, then it isn’t worth the advertising, eh??
Myself, I still carry a few of my Swedish under $30-ish full tang el cheapo plastic sheathed Moras and my old fallback for a hard weekend in the wayback woods, my “Knifaxe”, the Schrade SCHF37 with the reworked cutting edge, the flattened and sharp-on-both-edges spine which will kick a ferro rod spark 5″ and still be glowing when it gets there. [Of course I did have to make new sheaths for each of them, seein’ as how I am supposed to be a leather worker and such.]
Most of the trash we have entering this country today is not climbing over a wall or swimming the Rio to get here, it is being shipped in by those who have jumped on the “Use American ‘Technology’ to bury them in second rate junk stuff” bandwagon! some of my most treasured items for the outdoors are those which I either inherited from my Grand dad and my Dad or I bought back in the 50’s and 60’s when you could still buy a good quality knife or piece of outdoors equipment for less than what the cheap grade SEA junk is selling for today. I gotta tell ya, Tom, we surely shot ourselves in the foot when we decided to shed ourselves of all that pesky industrial leadership crap we had hanging around our necks …….
Now about that swamp I asked you to invest in for my reclaimed vacation paradise spot, ……….
But didn’t you know that those Chinese symbols on the hilt increase the stealthiness and combative strength of the blade? Something something bushido. Haha.
I am surprised that people can still be excited with a million new models coming out every week. Crazy. I wish I had steel from the 50’s and 60’s, the aesthetics and material choices back then were so unapologetic. Such a shame that we have forgotten all of that.
I know it’s just your opinion, but I always enjoy reading your knife reviews. I initially found your blog while researching bug out bags, but now I keep coming back because of knife reviews. I have decided to buy and decided against buying quite a few knives because of your reviews, I don’t regret any of them.
I will definitely do reviews once in a while, I have hundreds of blades that I have owned for many years that have yet to be reviewed for one reason or another.
I am just indifferent to chasing the latest slab of steel for no other reason than it being new. Thats all. ;)
Review biases.
When my former paratrooper mentor was 72 years old, he wanted two re-profiled Glock knives. He would hang one on his bugout bag and one on his girlfriend’s bag.
I objected that his girlfriend did not have his skill level, that her bugging out with a pack with be less than a few days, and there was a cheaper solution, given her skill level. Simply buy a 7 inch Ontario Old Hickory butcher knife and put it in a ka-bar leather sheath made in Mexico. total price was about $27. She needed a camp knife, not a combat knife.
Now, my mentor is 82 years old and coming off knee surgery for over a year.
We have our biases. We should appreciate that our environments/skills/applications will change.
I am wearing work out shorts today. Endura 4. When I wear long pants, Spyderco Police model. Before shtf, the Spyderco models are plain blade for the applications. After shtf, I shift to fully serrated or combo serrated. Situations change.
When I travel and my protective Homeland Security will examine my unlocked luggage, an inexpensive Kershaw (why? It took me three months to get my laptop back that was ‘run through the scanner’ at LAX).
TSA really are something aye? 3 months..ridiculous. Why serrated posts SHTF? I really love the Spyderedge but maintenance in an enviroment which may be quite mobile will be harder no?
Good questions:
Why serrated posts SHTF?
Answer – if you have ever been cut by a serrated blade, you will learn that you cannot be sewn up. Before shtf, given my lifestyle (retired), I am unlikely to run into a situation requiring a knife fight. After shtf, my lifestyle will be less predictable. I have the skill set training that might have to be used after shtf.
. . . maintenance in an enviroment which may be quite mobile will be harder no?
Not at all. Only a tomato knife is a two sided serrated blade knife. All the others are serrated on one side and smooth on the backside.
Normally, all that has to be done is to run the flat and now slightly not smooth side lightly against a sharpening stone – and the knife is restored. You can also use a cement sidewalk, a smooth rock. Now, most times you won’t bother working with the serrated side. Assume for purposes of discussion, you want to do so:
1. use a small piece of rolled up sand paper;
2. use a narrow diameter file – if you want to be fancy, get a tapered file;
3. if you have power and a simple, like Harbor Freight 1 inch belt sander, use the edge of the belt sander sand paper. You turn the serrated side of the blade and run the edge along each serration.
I know all the survival books/videos get hyper and identify a sharpener as a must bugout tool. In the real world, you are not going to be on the road for months with a need to sharpen a knife that you always kept sharpened.
Over the years, I bought a few knives off eBay and restored, with many being used Spyderco Enduras with partially serrated blades. Most had never been cleaned because the owner did not know how to clean a folder. Virtually all of them had the serrated blade in fine condition. All I would do is run the plain side on a 1 inch Harbor Freight belt sander and then, although not necessary do 1-2 passes on each serration on the edge of the belt. Then lightly oil, bag and put away from moisture sources.
Makes perfect sense, thanks for your thorough explanation. I have to admit, I am one of those people who is obsessive when it comes to surviving but I wager this is more of a want rather than a need, and as you said, in a real SHTF situation it would become a secondary concern at most. I’ll give this more thought and scribble an article about it in the future. Cheers mate!
Addressing the Fallkniven F1 –
I am sure that someone has made the following effort more recently – find a fixed blade knife, designed as a survival knife, that will slip into a suit pocket.
The Fallkniven F1, encased within its ugly factory sheath, meets this requirement.
I haven’t been in the blue jeans crowd for many years or walk around in military fatigues with a dangling belt knife.
The F1 will fit into a front suit pocket without printing.
I tried, without success, to accomplish the same with the Esee 4 and the upgraded version of the Ontario 499.
Some time ago, I saw a video knocking the F1 for having an undersized grip or handle. Ok. The complainer was shooting his video in the middle of the day in the middle of the summer. Well, the F1 was designed as a survival knife for the Swedish Air Force. Most people wear gloves in cold climes. Most places in the world are under a comfortable 70 degrees at midnight – and I wear gloves when it is cold, day or night.
The F1 really is a gem, I also love the WM1- very pleasant EDC. I have the ESEE 4 and yeah- its definitely not as discreet. Its interesting how covert potential is rarely discussed in a survival knife. Especially since you will likely have to blend in, in this day and age.
As Ken Warner, editor of “The Practical Book of Knives” stated, “$3 or $4 will still buy a knife fully equal to the knives nineteenth-century mountain men carried to live in wild country and fight Indians.” Fortunately, for me this is not a contest, Having been, a time or to, in places where paper currency was only useful for tinder, price doesn’t usually determine what knife I pick. I am lucky in that regard. For day to day, come what may, Tops Knives, Idaho are my first choice. They are semi-custom, they design, then they buy a set number of blades which are then turned over to their in-house magicians and out pops knives that work great, yes, 1095, but with a proprietary coating. I almost always cut myself when breaking in a new knife to the rotation. This has only happened once with Tops and it was totally my fault. Second, and only because there has to be a second, I have a one-of-kind, Pat Crawford defensive tool he made for me. I spent well north of the above mentioned $3~$4, but this is a knife I hope I will never have to use. If I have to exchange this knife for my life in an extreme situation I will consider it money well spent. Look forward to hearing more about your life and times, so…comes the Rising. -30-
I love Tops Knives- I have the Lite Trekker and its a superb blade. One day I will bring it into the rotation and do a proper review. As for the Crawford- you lucky man. I always wanted a skeleton Raider from him. Super cool blades.
Nice to have you back, every time I visit Portugal I fantasise about buying a smallholding in the hills, one of those pickups with the wooden banisters stuck too it, and attempting to live like a local.
I have to agree the knife industry and it’s mouthpieces are getting tiresome. I do enjoy Advanced Knife Bro on YouTube though, he’s looked at life and seen the joke!
No reason why that dream can’t become a reality- the prices up north especially are super reasonable. The wine is also excellent if you needed more convincing… ;)
I’ve always enjoyed your musings , while I’m in lockstep with no man , I find your writings deserving of a read.
Chris
Cheers Chris, much obliged to you.