Carl Levitian
member
tracismith, that's one of the things that keeps drawing me back to simple single blade knives. Simplicity. It has a beauty of it's own.
That word, simplicity, has become the mantra of me and my better half in recent years. Revolvers, lever action rifles, and single bladed knives when I do carry a folding knife these days. I still like a small sak around for the tools that come in handy now and then, but the sodbuster, Opinel, Douk-Douk, Mercator K55, or Eka Big Swede, will do most anything one has to do with a knife in day to day real world life.
I wonder if multible blades on pocket knives are mostly an American thing? I remember when I was in Europe, and on weekends when I didn't have CQ duty or other commitments, I got to travel around and camp out in the country side. In France, the working folks carried a Opinel or laguiole style of knife. In Germany, when it wasn't some sort of small basic model sak, it was a simple single blade knife. A stag handle Puma or Robert Klass, or even a Frederich Herder sodbuster type of knife. A few nice bone handled Boker automatics here and there.
I took a few weeks leave once, and toured northern Spain on a Vespa motorscooter, traveling back roads. Camping out, I shared a campsite a few times with some Basque herdsmen. Interesting bunch, could put away red wine by large quantities. They all had simple single blade knives, 3 1/2 to 5 inches in blade. A few navaja type of knives, with the curving blade made to fit the curving piece of staghorn that was the handle with the spring pinned on the outside of the horn, Okapi style. They also had a penny knife that was sort of like a sodbuster but with no spring, and was a friction folder. Just a blade, copper pivot pin peened over, and a slotted wood handle.
The stockman, trapper, congress, and such seem to be U.S. market stuff.
Anyways, simple is good. The sodbuster is a classic design that goes back to working class roots in eastern europe, where it as a knife for farmers and day laborers.
That word, simplicity, has become the mantra of me and my better half in recent years. Revolvers, lever action rifles, and single bladed knives when I do carry a folding knife these days. I still like a small sak around for the tools that come in handy now and then, but the sodbuster, Opinel, Douk-Douk, Mercator K55, or Eka Big Swede, will do most anything one has to do with a knife in day to day real world life.
I wonder if multible blades on pocket knives are mostly an American thing? I remember when I was in Europe, and on weekends when I didn't have CQ duty or other commitments, I got to travel around and camp out in the country side. In France, the working folks carried a Opinel or laguiole style of knife. In Germany, when it wasn't some sort of small basic model sak, it was a simple single blade knife. A stag handle Puma or Robert Klass, or even a Frederich Herder sodbuster type of knife. A few nice bone handled Boker automatics here and there.
I took a few weeks leave once, and toured northern Spain on a Vespa motorscooter, traveling back roads. Camping out, I shared a campsite a few times with some Basque herdsmen. Interesting bunch, could put away red wine by large quantities. They all had simple single blade knives, 3 1/2 to 5 inches in blade. A few navaja type of knives, with the curving blade made to fit the curving piece of staghorn that was the handle with the spring pinned on the outside of the horn, Okapi style. They also had a penny knife that was sort of like a sodbuster but with no spring, and was a friction folder. Just a blade, copper pivot pin peened over, and a slotted wood handle.
The stockman, trapper, congress, and such seem to be U.S. market stuff.
Anyways, simple is good. The sodbuster is a classic design that goes back to working class roots in eastern europe, where it as a knife for farmers and day laborers.