But.... do you use it?

[Van-Wild]

I'm out in the van again with the lad. He's chillin with a packet of Crisps and a book on kids adventure stories (those ones where he has to choose an option and the story works from there on....)

I've just read a lengthy post about woodlore knives. Seems the price of such knives is a contentious subject and it's one which I won't reignite here. I've got an SWC bushcraft knife. Long before Steve teamed up with Ray, so it can be called a clone. In comparison to a genuine woodlore, it's identical in every way (at least to my eye when I've laid it side by side with a few genuine woodlores).

The history of my knife is it was given to me by my wife in 2006 for my birthday. It originally came with birch scales, brass bolts and lanyard eye. Over the years the scales have changed twice. First to an antler set when the birch ones failed. He antler ones went very quickly because I hated the look and it didn't feel right in my hand. The third and still in use scales are English yew.

My knife isn't pretty. The scales are marked, show signs of some water absorption and are faded with wear from my palm. The spine is marked by using the knife to strike against flint during a survival course. It's got a natural patina from age. The sheath which is a woodlore genuine article (brought in 2007) has been reasonably well looked after but there's some dents in it where I've laid on it. The mouth of it has some tiny cuts from returning the knife to it one handed. I carry my knife every time I'm out in the forest and hills. It gets used. Frequently. I only give the edge a touch up when nessercary and I don't spend hours lavishing it with various grades of Japanese water stone and camellia oil. If it's not on my hip, it'll be in my rucksack, or in a drawer or on a table in the house somewhere or in the door pocket in the van.

I think it cost about £100 when I got it and knowing what I know about my knife now, when the time comes to replace it, I'd pay way more than £100 for the same knife.

Do you have a high end knife and do you use it?

*I don't want this thread to degenerate into bickering about the whys and wherefores of woodlore or any other brand pricing, I'm just interested to know if you use your knife for the purpose it was designed for......


Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[Paul_B]

I use a knife for what I want to use it for. I have no idea if that's what it's meant for but whichever one I have with me it serves needs. I have a few knives and I take whichever one I can find that'll serve my needs.

I guess this kind of answers your questions but I doubt I am strictly using it for what it it's designed for.

 

[Stew]

Some I use, some I don't. I like them for what they are as well as for what they can be used for.

 

[Broch]

I have old, precious, knives that I use on gentle tasks just whittling in the garden and such but I have ugly tools that I use working in the woods. I make my own knives out of stock to suit what I want to use them for (I heat treat in a kiln so can be quite accurate about the end hardness/toughness/brittleness). I treat scales as replaceable items on a knife and, although I like a nice piece of wood or horn on a knife, I don't get too worried about it. My current workhorse has scorched birch scales; a look I quite like

So, would I spend £100 plus on a knife - probably not; would I use such a knife working in the wood - probably not.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate and lust after nicely made knives, but I couldn't justify one the way I use them.

 

[Tengu]

Mph.

My pet knife did cost over £100...its my laminated Japanese one. I have had it, what? Ten years I think.

And yes I do use it. Not very often though, but aside a craft knife or a kitchen knife I have little use for one in everyday life.

I have several knives, of varying values, but I was given them, or got them in trade, or cheaply from the car boot. I dont seem to use them.

But if I needed to I would. Not one is a drawer queen. I dont like that type of knife.

A used item with a history would be more desirable in a museum context.

 

[Woody girl]

My two main knives cost £10, and £20 . They get used all the time. I also have an opinel I don't use because I don't like it. And a small Jack Pyke folder that is always with me. I think that cost £10 too about 10 yrs ago. No draw queens for me either! I do aspire to a rather nice knife for sale in my local shooting and fishing store. It's £80... but I'd be a bit scared to use it in case I broke it!! ( Though I'm sure it's made to be used. )

 

[SCOMAN]

I bought a modern Woodlore Knife last year after doing the Fundamental course with Woodlore. It's a lovely knife and I enjoy using it. I like the more modern material and I do get an enjoyment out of using it.

 

[Janne]

My main users are Mora with a scalloped edge and orange highlights.
Have several of those. Use outside, on cars, when I work on house, woodcrafting. Brilliant stuff.
I have mid range knives from Fällkniven which I used only a couple of times but did not like the feel of ( too thick, too heavy, handle not comfy)
I also have two fancy Fällkniven knives which I do not intendent to use.

I still own some ’average’ cost knives I have had for decades, used lots, but do not use anymore.
For no reason.

 

[snappingturtle]

I have two UK legal EDC's at £120 and £70, they get used a lot, same with my home grown custom knives which would cost a lot if commissioned and made for others, some old ones that get easy use, and my cabinet queens like a F-S dagger an SA80 bayonet, I have that problem of making my own which then means you make for the joy of it or because I think for me there is the perfect knife, I have just not made it yet! so there is a lot of attempts to pass on! I think once you find the kind of knife that works for you, go get the highest end knife you can afford in that style and be done with it, what I think you end up with is most likely two or three knifes that cost a bomb but go to your grave with you.

 

[santaman2000]

I don’t own any “high end” knives but I do have one that gets no use. It’s a Muela Bowie that I bought solely for the look and a love of Spanish steel. Besides it I have several that only get occasional use: a Nepalese Khukri, and a few issued knives that have too much sentimental value to risk.

Oh wait! I do have one high end knife. A collector type from Case. The Grizzly. No, I don’t use it often. Just occasionally on deer hunting trips.

 

[woodsorrel]

Yes, I use my "fancy" knives. I learned my knife skills using the Fallkniven F1. It is a forgiving knife that saved me from myself when I abused it. As my knife skills improved, I graduated to a more expensive (note I did not say better) knife. Part of it is vanity, another is the pleasure it gives me to carry a fine-crafted tool.

In recent years I've carried a Bark River Aurora, with spalted maple burl handle (below). I carry it on all my outings. But I actually use it only once or twice a month to collect plant material for crafts or food.

I often joke about people keeping "drawer queens" and not using their knives. In fact, I published an article for last April Fools about it:

Famous Knife Maker Caught Selling Aluminum Knives:
https://www.natureoutside.com/famous-knife-maker-caught-selling-aluminum-knives/


In truth, I don't think much about whether others use their fancy knives are not. I choose to forget the price the moment a knife arrives and enjoy using it outdoors. To each his or her own.

- Woodsorrel

 

[sunndog]

I probably own the worst condition woodlore in the country LOL
Yes it definitely gets used

 

[Man of Tanith]

I probably own the worst condition woodlore in the country LOL
Yes it definitely gets used

this being the internet

pics or it didnt happen

 

[Stew]

Thing is, this sort of thing happens with lots of kit but knives seem to get picked on more than others.

I have excess of other stuff that doesn't get used so much now and I k ow other people in the same boat.
Climbing gear, caving gear, surfboards, rucksacks, tents, even cars for some. Clothes is a good one too!

 

[SaraR]

I don't see any difference between having several hobby/craft/utility knives and having several kitchen knives and most people don't seem to have an issue with people having several knives there, in fact a knife block with knives that most don't even know what they're for seemed to be an essential kitchen item a few years back.

I've got a variety of knives. Some I got purely for utility purposes, like Mora knives for use in the garden, shed, around the house etc and a UK legal folding knife for field work and camping. They might not get used every day but when they are the best tool for the job I'm sure glad I've got them.

Then I've got others that I'm more sentimentally attached to, like my Marttiini fish knife (birthday present when I was 12 or so) that only gets used occasionally when there's fish to process, or my Otter UK legal EDC folding knife that does get a lot of use. I got the otter knife because I needed an EDC for work but I love otters so was willing to pay more just for that. Plus it looks less aggressive than most EDCs available so more my style.

Don't feel bad about having more than one knife, but do use it, even if it's only occasionally! Having perfectly functional tools with no intention of ever using them seems such a shame to me. But if they bring you joy, what's the harm?

 

[sunndog]

this being the internet

pics or it didnt happen

I'll take a couple later mate...collectors should brace themselves now cos I lost it in the snow for weeks a few years ago

 

[Paul_B]

I have a kitchen knife block and they all get used except the carving knife as I don't do roasts. Prefer to use the carving knife inherited from my grandad/gran. Every different type of kitchen gets used for the designed purpose by me.

My partner less so. She'll use a filleting knife for cutting vegetables a small paring knife as a screwdriver and three main kitchen knife to force something open when she can't be bothered looking for something better to use. The knives she brought when she moved in tended to have bent it snapped ends.

She's definitely not one for drawer queen knives. I suspect my opinel that I took the tip off in easy use was because she weakened it doing something not designed for with it. We kept it in the top cupboard with the scissors and a rather bloodthirsty pizza cutter wheel that I've cut myself on too many times.

As for outside use knives, the most expensive I own was bought for £25 in the same Norwegian town they were made in. Hardly a drawer queen.

 

[sunndog]

this being the internet

pics or it didnt happen

Just remembered this. Let's see if I can manage posting pics now photobucket has finally booted me out

Definitely used lol and despite it's looks kept fully sharp

 

[Erbswurst]

If I go for camping in southern France I let my Hilleberg Nallo2 at home and take a cheap Decathlon Arpenaz 2 with me.

I don't need the rain protected entrance there and I don't want to destroy the light Hilleberg ground sheed on the stony sites in southern France.

The rest of my equipment I simply use, because I bought it to use it.

Wouldn't I intend to use it, I wouldn't buy it.

I had and used several expensive knives over the years and gave them all away during a youth exchange with Novosibirsk.

Nowadays I mainly use Victorinox Climber or Compact, Opinel No7 and No8 Carbone.

A Full tang knife I bought a few years ago for round about 10 € I carry around but usually don't use it.
Perhaps I will throw it out of my rucksack.

Would I go to lonely forests in Skandinavia, North America or Russia I probably would take a Fjellkniven F1 with me but in central European countries my small knives are really strong and good enough.
A bigger knife would be heavier in the rucksack.

 

[sunndog]

Oh and also, I paid I think £195 (correct me if I'm wrong) for this back in 2002 and it's on its second life since I managed to find it again so I reckon I'm getting my money's worth out of it