Cutlery lust

[Canardly]

Mmm in shark infested waters here. Decent beginners camping knife (not one of those swiss things)?

[andygates]

All purpose little sheath jobbie?  The Frost Mora is cheap, sharp, all-round good.  It's the sort of thing I'd buy a box of to give to scouts, if they let me near scouts.

Frosts Mora Bushcraft Training Knife - High Carbon Clipper  - Greenman Bushcraft

[Kim]

I keep wondering why my life doesn't seem as incomplete as it really ought to given my general lack of stabby implements?  I'm obviously not doing the right kind of camping, as the swiss thing I've had since I was about 14 has always proven to be perfectly adequate for the sort of things I generally find myself needing a knife for (cutting cord, hacking through bike locks, felling very small trees, minor foot surgery, stripping wire, that sort of thing), plus the much more frequently useful screwdriver and tin-opener functions.  While I'd quite like a more optimal multitool (I often pine for pliers, wire cutters and a posidrive bit), and I'm sure I'm going to lose a ton of YACF points for it, I can't shake the feeling that if it's good enough for MacGyver, it's good enough for me.

[Canardly]

All purpose little sheath jobbie?  The Frost Mora is cheap, sharp, all-round good.  It's the sort of thing I'd buy a box of to give to scouts, if they let me near scouts.

Frosts Mora Bushcraft Training Knife - High Carbon Clipper  - Greenman Bushcraft

Just the job.. thanks duly bookmarked. The only reason I mention swiss things is don't want to be caught by the touroglam spend a fortune on branding thing.

[redshift]

For a fixed blade camping knife, the Mora can't really be beat for price/utility.  Carbon takes a better edge, but needs a little more management to stop it corroding.  Stainless versions are easy-manage, but slightly less good in the edge.  If you want something a little more flash, then Brusletto, Helle and Karesuando are all good.  I don't think there's actually a bad knife on the site Andy linked.

If you're going adventuring in the real wilds then something sturdy like the Fallkniven F1 will do just about everything, and then some.

Folding locker?  Opinel or Buck are admirable.

Folding non-locker?  My personal preference is the Fallkniven U1, but it's expensive.  Chambriard do a 'compact' Le Thiers design which I haven't got around to ordering yet, but I think it's an elegant (and UK legal) pocket folder.  Of course if you want non-locking folder with tools then Victorinox/Wenger or Leatherman are hard to beat.

Kim:  It's not about utility, it's about yumminess...  

Habitually I carry a U1, and usually I have at least my Leatherman Xe6 with me.  I hardly ever go anywhere without tools and a torch.

[Kim]

I hardly ever go anywhere without tools and a torch.

Last time I did that the door lock malfunctioned and I was locked out.  Without tools.  In the dark.

Never again.


Yummy knives don't really do it for me.  Shocking, I know.

[Canardly]

Ordered the Mora thanks all.

[andygates]

Yay, another Mora clone stalks the Earth.

Utility, it must be said, has been addressed by my Opinel since I were a teenager.  Folding knives aren't that good for whittling, though.  And of course a general-purpose blade is much better for prying once you've pried first-time and snapped the point off.  (ssh, don't tell)

Going all Ray Mears and whittling your own birch-bark canoe and tent-pegs made from boar shins, a rigid knife with a bit of heft is good.  

I do suffer Kim's disease: like a non-wine drinker unable to tell the difference between a £6 bottle and a £30 bottle, I can't really tell the difference between $nice_knife and $very_nice_knife; the artisan mystique does nothing for me (unlike, say, Mercian).  After losing my Leatherman, though, I am reminded of the advice given here: "Buy a knife you can afford to replace when you lose it" -- I still haven't, and probably won't.  Sigh.  One day that malfunctioning cubicle lock will remind me why I bought it in the first place...

[redshift]

Yummy knives don't really do it for me.  Shocking, I know.

I think 'yummy' is a bit of a variable.  I like clean lines, simple mechanisms, good steels, good engineering.  I don't like sparkly spangly scales, overblown Damascus, kerambits, tactical tantos, etc., etc.  Utility is part of it, but not all of it.

With a Mora or even the Karesuando kit I made a couple of years ago, I can cover all the bases I'm ever going to need camping or fishing in the UK.  The Russell White knife I posted the other day is a (significant birthday) present for someone who really does go hunting, and really does need a serious knife.  If I kept it, it would go in a drawer and never be used, whereas its recipient will actually use it in the field, in the manner for which it was designed - that's part of its intrinsic yumminess for me, that it will be used properly.

Andy:  $nice_knife:  you cut your finger, and it bleeds.  $very_nice_knife: you cut your finger, and you don't notice until you start to wonder where all that red stuff came from...   

...Oh, and you're not alone in losing a Leatherman.   

[Kim]

Andy:  $nice_knife:  you cut your finger, and it bleeds.  $very_nice_knife: you cut your finger, and you don't notice until you start to wonder where all that red stuff came from...   

Interestingly, the same sort of thing can be said for chainrings   

[redshift]

Andy:  $nice_knife:  you cut your finger, and it bleeds.  $very_nice_knife: you cut your finger, and you don't notice until you start to wonder where all that red stuff came from...   

Interestingly, the same sort of thing can be said for chainrings   

Ouch.   

[Kim]

Ouch.   

Well no, that's the point.  It was all "Erm, Kim.  Your leg's leaking!"

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'm just wondering if someone can give a clear, concise update of the current UK law on knives? It seems to change from time to time. I'm wondering specifically about a SA knife with locking blades - I seem to remember that locking blades = bad britain ? I didn't have to consider such a thing till know as I bought it when living in India. Thanks.

[Kim]

IIRC it has to be less than three inches and non-locking, for general purpose use, but most things go if carried sensibly for a reasonable purpose (so a non-folding blade in your pannier with camping kit is fine, as is taking a big scary carving knife home from the shops).  A 'legal' knife ceases to be when carried unfolded, or carried with intent to use it as a weapon.

Though this is a culture where letting teenagers babysit or taking photographs in public are criminalised, so by the time someone in authority is questioning your carrying of a knife, you're lucky if they merely confiscate it.

Someone who actually knows what they're talking about will be along in a minute to correct this.

[andrew_s]

3 inches and folding/non-locking is correct.

There was a case of a chap who got done for carrying a dangerous fixed blade -  the one in a Victorinox Swisscard, all of 1", with 1" of handle. He must have seriously failed the attitude test.

[Cudzoziemiec]

So if a folding blade locks it's illegal regardless of the length. Oh well, as it shall be in the bottom of a pannier, rucksack or saddlebag, it's unlikely anyone will know it's there, and if it does questioned, well I am a polite and articulate person. Apparently now middle aged, too! 

[Ham]

All this talk made me realise that my old camping knife hadn't seen the light of day at all for 10 years or thereabouts, not for serious camping in 25 years, so was probably in need of some TLC

How right I was.



Still needs a bit more, but this is after.



Something tells me I couldn't get away with wearing this in plain view on my belt these days.

[SlowCoach]

There was a case of a chap who got done for carrying a dangerous fixed blade -  the one in a Victorinox Swisscard, all of 1", with 1" of handle. He must have seriously failed the attitude test.

If it's the same case that I heard about the knife wielding swiss card bearer was the epitome of respectability (he was someone high up in the Institution of Civil Engineers - President, I think). It happened at the Eurostar terminal in London as he was waiting to board the train - probably something to do with the stiff upper lip interacting with the jobsworth...

[Charlotte]

Oh bugger.  How can I resist much longer?

Tired of wussie little eating utensils? I got you.

Want flat wear that will last you through the apocalypse? This is it.

Want something that you can ram through a zombie skull? Here you go, baby.

And while this is a man-sized spork, the ladies dig 'em too.

This is the last eating utensil you'll ever need.

...AMERICAN KAMI... ...SWAG...

[Polar Bear]

So if a folding blade locks it's illegal regardless of the length. Oh well, as it shall be in the bottom of a pannier, rucksack or saddlebag, it's unlikely anyone will know it's there, and if it does questioned, well I am a polite and articulate person. Apparently now middle aged, too! 

So is this gentleman apparently!   

[Cudzoziemiec]

Did I really describe myself as polite and articulate? Seems inaccurate at the least.

[Ham]

Replacing my slicing knife made me realise that it was probably about time I had the rest of the knives resharpened. Then I thought about something like this Dick Rapid Steel Action Sharpening Set
                   -
                  DL340 |
               Dick Knife Sharpeners |
               Steels and Knife Sharpeners |
               Chefs Knives |
               
            Nisbets Next Day Catering Equipment
             from the people who make my knives and stuff like this Dick Regrinding Machine
                   -
                  DL341 |
               Dick Knife Sharpeners |
               Steels and Knife Sharpeners |
               Chefs Knives |
               
            Nisbets Next Day Catering Equipment
             Of course looking at their website makes it even more confusing Friedr. DICK - Tools for Chefs and Butchers without wasting x minutes of your life looking at a dodgy video about knife sharpening and use Friedr. DICK - RS 75 / RS-150 DUO / SM-111

Does anyone use this sort of gadget on decent knives? Any good?

[rogerzilla]

Worst branding since King Dick spanners (which are apparently very good despite the name).

[redshift]

Does anyone use this sort of gadget on decent knives? Any good?

For preference?  No, and no.

I sharpen and strop using the same kit I use for all my knives and chisels.  This is either water stones or a diamond stone with water lubricant, followed by stropping with a rouge compound on a wood-backed leather strop.

If you have no sharpening-fu, then one of those X-shaped or twin-disc sharpeners will get a knife vaguely sharp, but the edge wear is huge - and the angle isn't necessarily correct.  Use one on a Global Deba and you're cocking the edge up.  A traditional steel as in the later link is better, but you need good technique.  If you look at most butchers they don't use posh knives, they use cheaper 'catering' standard ones with plastic handles, use a steel every few cuts, and then throw the knives away when they wear out.

What kind of knives do you have?

[Ham]

Does anyone use this sort of gadget on decent knives? Any good?

For preference?  No, and no.

I sharpen and strop using the same kit I use for all my knives and chisels.  This is either water stones or a diamond stone with water lubricant, followed by stropping with a rouge compound on a wood-backed leather strop.

If you have no sharpening-fu, then one of those X-shaped or twin-disc sharpeners will get a knife vaguely sharp, but the edge wear is huge - and the angle isn't necessarily correct.  Use one on a Global Deba and you're cocking the edge up.  A traditional steel as in the later link is better, but you need good technique.  If you look at most butchers they don't use posh knives, they use cheaper 'catering' standard ones with plastic handles, use a steel every few cuts, and then throw the knives away when they wear out.

What kind of knives do you have?

Urrrrmmmm.... F. Dick? At least for the last 20 years. The reason I bought a new one was that I had uggered up the end of my slicing knife. Twice. So much so that I couldn't grind it out.

Their knives are exceptional in that the stainless steel is harder than any other, and hold an edge rather more like a high carbon steel knife than normal. You may trust me: my knives are sharp. However, the new knife is noticeably sharper and I'd like to get the others back to that place. Yes, a whetstone would do the job, but the Dick sharpening equipment (fnarw fnarw) looks rather good. Their version of the simple sharpener that I linked to at the very bottom end of their range looks actually quite interesting, but for £70 I'd have to be convinced that it does a better job than I will.

Professional chefs, regardless that they keep a knife honed will regularly sharpen it, too.