Amish-Friendly Spyderco?

[Evil D]

What I wanna know is what those Quakers carry....

[Stuart Ackerman]

Yeah Tom, quite right...

It was the idea of being kind to one's fellow man that clicked with me...

Imagine... :D
"Sir, I am aware that thou art a thief broken into my house for financial gain...I would do thee no harm, BUT, there is a Greener 12 Gauge loaded with triple ought buckshot, pointed at thy midriff..."

[JNewell]

What I wanna know is what those Quakers carry....

Butterknives? :D

[The Deacon]

What I wanna know is what those Quakers carry....

Guns? *

* For those not old enough to understand that reference

[JNewell]

Whatever else is true, and showing my age, pretty sure they wouldn't use one of these.

[JD Spydo]

What I wanna know is what those Quakers carry....

The Quakers I met when I stayed in west Pennsylvannia were living very similar to the Amish in west Penn and West NY state. Depending on what part of the country you are in they vary a lot in their lifestyle. We have some of them here in Kansas City who live right in town and they live pretty much like the rest of us do. But in upstate New York and Pennsylvannia I can't tell much difference between them and the Amish.

The ones I met are really nice people just like the Amish we have here in Missouri. Our former President Richard Milhous Nixon was a Quaker>> well at least he was raised one anyway>> I think he veered away from it as he got older.

I've heard that some of the old hard core Mormons out in Utah also live similar to the Amish.

Again I bet the Amish probably make a lot of their own knives. I'm sure they have a blacksmith in every Amish community because of the horse and buggy stuff they use.

WE have many other primitive type people here in Missouri in the Ozark Mountains. The Amish aren't the only ones here that live primitive.

[Train]

Well, I do not know much about Amish way of life at all. But from what I have heard, I would probably expect them to consider marketing-driven branding, super-steels, flashy new designs, everything we hold dear just a vanity. Well, even stainless steel in knives is essentially nothing but an excuse for being lazy and vain, for it offers no particular functionality as such! On another hand, these days you probably have to go out of your way or pay extra to find a knife in your local store that is not stainless steel - so also not the right thing to do!
So, summing this up: I guess there is nothing in particular in Spyderco that goes against Amish beliefs, but on another hand I do not really expect them going online and studying Spyderco products line-up to find the best fit.

[dewildeman]

I go through an Amish community at least once a year and will be there this weekend. I've never noticed any pocket clips on any of the gents. I usually stop a hardware store that is owned by an Amish family so I'll check if they carry any knives. A couple of years ago I bought a titanium hammer there, the clerk said a lot of the Amish carpenters that do roofing like them. If I had to guess, I'd say they would have a Barlow style knife or a Case knife.

[chuck_roxas45]

Do the Amish have Spyderco Forums? It's what got me spyderbitten. :D

[Ned]

Maybe this would be okay? :p



No, its not really a Spyderco but it does have a hole!

[FDE]

Trademark infringement? ^^

[JD Spydo]

I go through an Amish community at least once a year and will be there this weekend. I've never noticed any pocket clips on any of the gents. I usually stop a hardware store that is owned by an Amish family so I'll check if they carry any knives. A couple of years ago I bought a titanium hammer there, the clerk said a lot of the Amish carpenters that do roofing like them. If I had to guess, I'd say they would have a Barlow style knife or a Case knife.

That's what I would be willing to bet that they would more than likely have the folders or fixed blades you see at your local hardware stores i.e. Buck, Case, Ka-bar>> because they do tend to go to local hardware stores a lot. I'm still convinced that many of their local Amish blacksmiths more than likely make their own knives.

There is one caviat to all this that most of us are overlooking. The newer generations of the Amish are not doing things like their grand-dads and grandmas did in the past. Just watch the Discovery Channel Show called "AMISH MAFIA" sometime. Those guys and gals in that show seem to compromise all the traditional beliefs of generations past. I don't know if there is any truth to that show at all because it does have a "WWE" pro-wrestling type of drama to it and those characters in that show may indeed be fictional for all I really know,

But still I'm seeing a lot more compromising in that community that I've never before witnessed in the past. A lot of the younger Amish seem to be jumping ship in favor of modern living lately. I do doubt if any of their beliefs would prohibit them from owning or using a Spyder.

[Evil D]

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned is the tactical aspect of most knives these days. Would they carry something like a Para 2, or would they carry a Case or Victorinox? If it's something that resembles a weapon as opposed to a tool, I think that would be a no go.

Similar thread on BF a couple years back has some info
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/print ... 9010&pp=20

[Evil D]

Here's a real interesting thread about an Amish guy who makes knives in a machine shop powered by horses. I had pictured in my mind files and leaf springs being easy choices for steel. I would expect them to make and use more fixed blades than folders.

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/inde ... 03578.html

[JNewell]

Fascinating. Remember that mills were powered by wind, water and steam long before anyone used electricity! I don't know the specifics of Amish observant practice, but I'm sure wind and water power are fine, and I'd guess steam is, umm, kosher, as well.

[Evil D]

Fascinating. Remember that mills were powered by wind, water and steam long before anyone used electricity! I don't know the specifics of Amish observant practice, but I'm sure wind and water power are fine, and I'd guess steam is, umm, kosher, as well.

It said in one of those that he doesn't have a stream nearby to use water as a power source. Personally I'd get a kick out of owning a knife like that just because of the simple machines used to make it.

Then again, it doesn't get much more simple than hand forging.

[JNewell]

It said in one of those that he doesn't have a stream nearby to use water as a power source. Personally I'd get a kick out of owning a knife like that just because of the simple machines used to make it.

Then again, it doesn't get much more simple than hand forging.

No. Someone - Jim Ankerson, I think - posted a link to a Nova video on forging the Japanese katana. It was fascinating and very impressive.

I think it was [video]https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... va%2Fancie nt%2Fsecrets-samurai-sword.html&ei=Ds-kU_72MMWayATxxoDYAw&usg=AFQjCNGTaRVJGwSG_YtP4Y36tzQa95siFQ&sig2=bRy1N65cGpNyk8-F0pL9Gw&bvm=bv.69411363,d.aWw[/video].

[Evil D]

No. Someone - Jim Ankerson, I think - posted a link to a Nova video on forging the Japanese katana. It was fascinating and very impressive.

I think it was [video]https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... va%2Fancie nt%2Fsecrets-samurai-sword.html&ei=Ds-kU_72MMWayATxxoDYAw&usg=AFQjCNGTaRVJGwSG_YtP4Y36tzQa95siFQ&sig2=bRy1N65cGpNyk8-F0pL9Gw&bvm=bv.69411363,d.aWw[/video].

I just meant hammering out the shape as opposed to using machines to do stock removal

[dewildeman]

I stopped in at the hardware store and found the display case. It had 3-4 different Leatherman tools, a Smith and Wesson, a bunch of Barlow's for $8 and another bunch of no name 3 blade Stockmen for $5.95. There was a Schrade in a blister pack hanging by the case. I later stopped at a sporting goods store (bicycles and archery). In a display counter they had a selection of Buck knives, mostly fixed blades. I asked the clerk, who was Amish, what knives they carried. "I'll tell what I carry, a Gerber." He pulled out what looked like a Gator. He said a lot of them don't carry any knife at all and if they do it's usually a clasp knife.