Spyderco Forums

Recognizing that some forum members may have parents in their golden years, like mine, I wonder what kind of brand and style they grew up with and prefer over our modern day choices.

Ever since I can remember, my mother who is 78, has always carried a hand crafted German made slip style knife in her purse. It was acquired by her father in Germany somewhere around 1926. It's highly engraved with gold inlay and fits in a fine leather slipcase. A gentleman's folder for sure; it looks like the kind the knife that was matched to a fine pocket watch. I recall my mother using it to trim loose threads, cut ribbons and wrapping paper.

My father, in his 80's, favors a small sheeps foot (2" blade) with bolsters and buffalo horn scales he bought from Sears back in the 50s. Seems like Sears was the gold standard for tools to many Americans then, at least it was to him. Sometimes he rotates with a SAK "Compact". He could care less about flippers, auto-assists, deployment speed, etc.

So what do your parents favor?

My grandfather always prefered a Barlow or Hawkbill slipjoint, where my father liked brass linerlocking Schrade Old Timer Toothpick patterns.

grandfather carried a large Buck backlock. dad carried swissarmy knives, but has now carried spydercos for the past 2 years, cant see him every getting rid of the chaparral

My dad had one those Schrade backlocks and always a small Swiss army. My grandfather had old timer on him always.

My mom is tool-averse and never carried a knife. My dad made up for it and carries lots of models, typically a larger Spyderco or Benchmade model plus a little knife like a Victorinox Classic on his keys.

Mom carries a Bug on her keys and a Kershaw Chive in her purse that I bought her about 10 years ago.

My father only carried one around with him...

He also chopped my hand off with it.

hiredgun wrote:My father only carried one around with him...

He also chopped my hand off with it.

I guess we all have conflict with our dads at some point :)

I recently asked my dad if he would like a knife, thinking I'd gift him a less used Spyderco, and he said yes if it has a screwdriver so I made it a SAK.

My Dad always carried a Case Trapper, Moose or large Stockman razor sharp.

hiredgun wrote:My father only carried one around with him...

He also chopped my hand off with it.

LOL, is that supposed to be Sal with the Spyderco Light Saber? "Eric...[heavy breathing]...I AM your FATHER"

I can't remember exactly, but the last one I recall dad carrying before he died was one he sent me to the store to buy for him. :) It had one blade with a bottle opener at the rear of the blade. I gave it to my younger bro to remember him by. He was quite impressed when I told him about it. Made me happy. I'm glad my dad used pocketknives. I'm sure that's why I love them. Had one since I was 9.

When I was in grade school, my dad always carried a black-handled Case Sod Buster. He was a journeyman lineman and used his knife daily for various tasks on the job. I recall that he eventually wore the blade down until it was nothing more than a glorified ice pick. I still remember the huge hole this knife created in the pocket of his jeans. When I was a teenager, my dad switched from Case and carried a Swiss Army Centurion (with a locking main blade). As you may have guessed, he eventually sharpened the main blade on this knife until it too resembled a toothpick. :rolleyes: He really seemed to love that knife. Over the years, Dad used that knife to cut everything from fishing line to pizza. My brother now has the knife and keeps it set aside for the next generation.

My grandfather (born in 1910) was a knifeknut and carried a wide variety of traditionals, and Case figured prominently in his EDC rotation. My father is 74 and also a knifeknut. When I was young he had a few from Case, a Henckels sodbuster, and one of the very early Buck 110 models. Now he has a lot of modern folders - Chris Reeve, William Henry, Spyderco, BM, etc.

He has given me a few nice Spyderco models - CF S90V Millie, Super Blue Caly 3.5, ZDP Caly 3, and CTS-204P Para to name a few.

When it comes to knives, my mother is like my wife - she just rolls her eyes at us.

Both my parents (and my brother, uncle and three cousins) carry Spydies I've gifted them! :D

I'm not 100% but I believe he carried the buck 110. If not that specific model, it was something extremely similar. I guess subconsciously I wanted to be like him on some level which contributed to my edc tendencies. Any one of my spydies would blow his knife out of the water and that makes me smile.

Edit: He, meaning my father.

My dad is 55 years old. I'm 26.

My dads first "EDC" knife was an early Spyderco Native with GIN-1 steel and a combo edge. It could have been the Native 1? He carried it well passed its prime, the serations were pretty much gone and it even had a broken tip. He carried it until about 3 years ago and then it all changed...

I asked my dad about his knife because I always knew he carried the knife with the "hole" in it. He told me to buy a Spyderco, "they are the best" .... I started to search on the internet and went out about bought a Delica 4 with a combo edge in black DLC. I severely overpaid for it at a local knife shop and shortly after purchasing it I realized I didn't care for serrations. It kind of bothered me so I knew I had to try a new knife out, so I got a Delica 4 with a straight edge.... then I wanted to try something else, and yata-yata-yata now I have experienced over 50 Spydercos.

Heres where my dad wins.... I let him borrow random Spydercos knives at a whim for him to try out. I've gotten him into Delica FFGs, Endura FFGs, Stretches, Dragonflies, Tencaious, and recently a Manix. He truely beats the crap out of his knives, so once he uses a knife it usually becomes his. He's lost a few of his knives, most recently the Dragonfly 2 G10.... He doesn't lose them out of disprespect, he simply uses the knife as a tool during home renovations and sometimes when your working hard you just forget where you put your tools! Usually I try to sharpen his knives when he stops by, lube them up but in all honestly sometimes they are just messed up beyond repair. How does a guy get a lockback full of glue?

He really likes my Domino but I aint giving that one up! I love my Domino.

Dad carried a Case stockman, then evolved to where he would only carry Congress pattern knives with "Solingen" German steel, Boker, German Eye, etc...Even back in the 70's there were steel snobs :rolleyes:

A case slip joint

Mom: Victorinox Classic everyday on her keychain
Dad: two Victorinox Climber - one always in his car, the otherwhen he's out in the wood which is quite often
funny fact: he never(!) used any of its tools exept the blade...

Don't know the exact model or such but my Dad had a small penknife that said Tree Brand on it so I presume it was a Boker.