Today, we're going to be talking
about traditional folders.
I'm curious over the next several years
to see, is there a resurgence of these.
Okay, so let's walk through a couple of them.
What have you brought out for us, Austin?
(loud guitar music)
What is up guys?
Today, at Blade HQ,
we have another Knife Banter for you.
I am Ben.
I'm Austin.
And today, we're going to be talking
about traditional folders.
But, first,
what did we do last time, Austin?
Last time, well,
last week you guys were at SHOT Show.
That's true we left you behind, huh?
I know, it was a bummer. But the week before that...
The week before that we chose a new knife,
or the fans chose a new knife.
The fans chose a new knife for me.
And overwhelming results, about half
of you voted for my new knife.
And it is...
(gunshots)
(exciting dubstep music)
(sniffs)
Ooh boy, that escalated quickly.
I mean that really got out of hand fast.
Benchmade 940. Nice.
In the BK version. Had to be.
It had to be, it did. Had to be.
And you guys, you voted for it.
I wanted it, lets be honest, I did.
Yeah, you've had your eye on it forever.
I have and so I'm stoked.
I've gotta get rid of that purple backspacer.
It's grown on me. Has it?
I didn't like mine at first either
but it's really grown on me.
I've gotta figure something out,
I'll let you know how the mods go.
I'll start those next week.
And the other thing guys, from SHOT show,
we had a giveaway with CRKT.
We gave away a CRKT Homefront. That's right.
And this is the brand new mechanism from CRKT.
Who won it, Austin?
It was Zonny Nguyen.
So, your comment will be posted somewhere on the screen
and we'll get that knife sent out to you.
And this is a take down knife so
it has field strip technology, you can take it apart.
And we'll talk about that in just a minute
Cause it goes along with our topic for today,
today's topic is why buy a traditional folder
or why carry a traditional folder.
Now, first of all, I think it would be helpful
to define what a traditional folder is.
A traditional pocketknife. Sure, yeah.
Well, what is it, Austin?
We kinda bantered this around forever.
Yeah, we talked a lot about this because
it's, I mean, it can be a lot of things, right?
But lets just, we'll start with some of these.
So, these are actual grandfather's knives.
These are knives that people from our company,
their grandparents had carried around.
This is our photographer's grandfather's knife.
Yeah this is Jenny, it's her grandfather's knife.
Clearly been used and sharpened.
Beautifully sharpened!
Absolutely, yeah, so I think a couple things
that go into being a traditional pocket knife
are that it has no locks, typically.
- [Ben] Typically, yeah.
- [Austin] Typically no locks, typically a two-hand
opening mechanism, a nail nick or something like that.
Bolsters are usually a good indication.
Affordable, yeah. Yup.
Simplicity, I think, is the other piece.
Where it doesn't have a ton of bells and whistles.
You cannot take these apart, what you get is what you get.
This is, in fact, I think it's my dad's Cub Scout knife
and it's an old Camillus knife.
It has a couple, it has a can opener, it's all slip-joint.
A lot of them don't have a lock, like you said,
but I would call this, this is probably a $30 knife
back in the day, $25, $30. Sure,
and I mean, they all typically have a distinct style,
usually at least one bolster, sometimes two,
wood, or bone, or something in the middle.
Pressed pins together, so it's a pretty typical style.
It's going to be pocket carry only.
That's one thing that we did not allow, clips,
to come in with a traditional pocket knife video.
Simply because, for the most part,
these are all carried in pocket,
or they're carried in a sleeve,
or they're carried in a bag.
There is no clip on these, I think that's an interesting,
so, lets walk through a couple of them.
What have you brought out for us, Austin?
So I went really traditional with the first option here.
This is a Case, it's a Mini Trapper
and it's got, it's your regular Trapper style.
It's got the two blades, of course the one being a spey,
the big one here, and then the other one
just being a regular clip point.
So you personally, you always carry a knife with a clip.
You always carry kind of a modern pocket knife.
For the most part, yeah.
Why would somebody want to carry one of these?
That's a good question.
I think that there's a couple of reasons.
I think that in the modern age,
one of the biggest reasons is nostalgia.
I think everyone has access to these pocket knives,
you can get them anywhere, but especially at Blade HQ.
(ding)
You can get affordable ones, you can get expensive ones,
but there's flippers, there's thumb studs, there's clips,
but there's something that just,
there's something in the roots
of these old knives that is really attractive.
I would completely agree with that.
They're beautifully made.
I think there's something to be said
about your old school materials versus new school materials.
This is aluminum, it's 30V, it's got a fancy lock on it.
I can take the thing apart and make a mess.
This...
- [Austin] Never coming apart.
I can oil the pivot.
That's right. And I can sharpen it.
Yup, and that's about it. And that's about it.
They're beautifully made.
So, another one you pulled out,
Opinel, why'd you pull this one?
This is pretty traditional as well.
It's also one of the most affordable knives you can get.
Which is, in my mind, a qualification,
but it's a friction folder,
it technically has a lock on the bolster.
- [Ben] It technically does have a lock, yeah.
- [Austin] But it doesn't always have to be actuated.
You can choose to use it or not.
And it just carries in the pocket, no clip of course.
Super-light. Hey, could we have a race?
Maybe?
Okay, stick that in your pocket.
Stick that in your pocket, you ready?
Yes, lets do it.
Okay. Okay.
Hands up?
Okay, draw!
No! (laughter)
He dropped it!
How dare you, sir?
It's over. You dropped it!
Well, I mean that proves a point there.
There it goes. (laughter)
So, okay, in that regard why would you want to carry a,
is it just its look, its feel?
Yeah, like I said, it's nostalgia.
I think a good point that you made
is that it's non-threatening.
Non-threatening.
Yeah, look at this Homefront from CRKT.
It's black, it's got huge jimping on that.
It's a big knife, big blade.
When you open it too, there's a sound.
It makes a sound and there's...
There's speed to it, right?
You pull it out and it's just, it's there.
Whereas if you're pulling out a more traditional knife
you have to pull it out of your pocket
and then fiddle with it for a sec and get it out.
Yeah, so let's say I'm at a concert,
a classical music concert, cleaning my fingernails.
If I pull this thing out and clean my fingernails.
And I mean, to be fair,
that was also styled after a bayonet.
Yeah, that's true, but even if I pull out this 940
and start cleaning my fingernails, it's gonna make a scene.
Whereas these guys, nobody bats an eye.
Yeah, and I think everyone grew up with their dad
having one of these in their pockets
so it's more accepted, I would say.
Yeah, I agree, I agree.
What else do we have out on the table here, Austin?
So this is an Al Mar, I believe it is the Hawk.
It is indeed the Hawk.
It's got black micarta handles, it is a lockback,
which we said sometimes, or most times doesn't have a lock.
But yeah, just a beautiful little,
- [Ben] That is a beautiful piece.
- [Austin] But yeah beautiful little nail nick folder there.
- [Ben] Good fit and finish.
- [Austin] Oh yeah, Al Mar makes a great knife.
For sure, they do, high quality.
I'm excited about the Kershaw Al Mars coming out this year.
Oh, those will be good!, those will be way good.
This and this one and this Gerber here,
I think they're cousins, first cousins.
- [Austin] Sure, they're very similar, I would agree.
- [Ben] Tinier, smaller blades.
- [Austin] Yeah.
- [Ben] This is your favorite on the table,
is that what you said?
- [Austin] Probably, I mean, favorite affordable one.
Yeah, the Gerber, it really surprised me.
It's USA made, it's got zinc handles
so its got a nice heft to it.
Just, the way it opens,
- [Ben] With a bronze Cerakote, right?
- [Austin] Yeah, bronze Cerakote, it's super-smooth.
I like the little Gerber touch to the back.
- [Ben] Yeah, that's nice.
USA made too, right?
- [Austin] Yeah, USA made,
and I was really impressed with how smooth this knife is,
and it's super affordable, 42.95.
42.95, I like this one.
And in fact, this one also kinda
goes away from the simplicity a little bit.
You can take it apart and you've got
your very good torque wrench screws there.
Yeah, it's a nice mix. It's a nice mix,
in-pocket carry, beautiful piece.
I look at this and I think, that's hot.
Yeah I agree, I'm not gonna lie,
I'm considering getting one.
Are you? Yeah.
You're such a knife-nut. I know.
I've mentioned it before,
and I'm dying to get a traditional knife.
I don't have any in the pocket knives.
I think it's a good option, it's got a good heft to it.
It's got heft, yeah for sure.
That's a nice one.
Okay, what else have we got here, Austin?
You picked them today.
Yeah, so we've got this Otter brand here.
It's, I always forget the name.
- [Ben] Mercator?
- [Austin] Yeah, Mercator, nice inlay.
Yeah, we have three colors of these,
brass, bronze, and black and then
they have stainless and carbon steels.
- [Ben] Okay, why'd you pick this one?
- [Austin] You wanna know why I picked it?
It is super slim, look at how
thin the profile on that thing is.
- [Ben] Holy smokes.
- [Austin] Yeah, it is super thin, super slim.
- [Ben] 940 comparison.
- [Austin] Yeah, the handles are probably
the same length, same height, but width?
It's probably half as wide.
Yeah so, pin construction.
- [Ben] You get no frills.
- [Austin] Yeah, it has a lock.
- [Ben] It has a lock!
- [Austin] Yeah, I meant to ask you earlier,
so what do you think this is for,
the little hoop on the end there?
The hoop on the end, now on my little Cub Scout knife,
Cub Scout belts used to have a little, I don't know,
key chain loop on em where you could clip it in.
So I think that's why
they stuck them on the Cub Scout knife.
This, I think you're looking at hook it on a carabiner,
put a lanyard on it.
- [Austin] Part of me was wondering if this is
a lock as well because it does cover the blade with that.
- [Ben] Ooh that actually does!
- [Austin] So I was wondering
if that was a locking mechanism as well.
- [Ben] I think that's a dual function in my mind.
I simply don't know.
Or an unintentional design that actually works.
Possibly yeah, there you go.
I think you could throw a lanyard on there.
Yeah, do whatever you want with it.
So would you carry any of these knives?
You know, I have carried this one a few days,
and I think my complaint is I go to reach for my pocket.
And you go to drop it on the ground.
No!
Happens to all of us.
Happens to the best.
No, I go and reach for the outside
of my pocket and my knife is inside.
Oh it's not there. And I carry,
I carry a bunch of junk in my pockets.
Here, should we pocket dump real quick?
Let's do it!
I feel like this is my main complaint,
it's I have something in every pocket for the most part.
Yeah, that's my right pocket.
So I got a multi-tool, I got a pen, I got my car keys.
And by the time you stick the
pocket knife in there it's lost.
How are you ever gonna find it?
It's like, "Where's Waldo" in my pocket.
So, I haven't been stoked on it, personally.
You carried around an Opinel for a while,
if I remember right, a little bit.
For just a minute.
And then you have a Fox,
I think a Fox Knives Anso design maybe.
Yeah but it has a pocket clip.
Oh it has a clip, I thought it was a pocket knife.
If you carry one of these traditional folders
leave us a comment below and let us know why you carry it.
How do you carry it?
Do you carry it in your pocket?
Do you carry it in your backpack?
Cause for me, I carried this a little bit,
and I got to the point where I was like nah, ahh nah.
Not for me. Fair enough.
So, I'm definitely excited to try it.
Are you?
I think I'm gonna buy one and I'm gonna try it.
You're gonna buy that Gerber.
I like the Otter too, but it's just a little big.
I think that would take up a good
amount of real estate in the pocket.
The other thing about the Otter, those pins stick out.
Sure, a little bit.
Which, I like the flush pins, I don't like that proud.
That Case is a beautiful knife.
It is, it's gorgeous.
Okay, what's the last one on the table, last series I guess?
It's the most modern, the most appealing to the hipsters,
as Ben would like to say. No!
We sat here and we said, why is there,
there's kind of a resurgence of in-pocket knives right now.
What's driving that?
I don't think it's hipsters but I think
there's a new generation of knife-enthusiasts
that aren't necessarily looking for a Homefront.
They're not necessarily looking for a big folder.
They probably work in an office like we do,
and they're looking for something simple that they can,
that's non-aggressive.
And there's a lot of great in-pocket folders,
modern ones being made.
There's obviously the ADVs here,
these big old Pocket Butchers.
- [Ben] These guys are awesome!
- [Austin] Yeah, I love ADV, man,
he makes a great knife, and then this is the bigger one.
- [Ben] These are brand new I think.
I don't even think they're up.
- [Austin] They're not yet.
- [Ben] Right now.
But they will be by the time this video goes up.
This one is a lockback.
- [Austin] Yeah, it comes with a lockback.
It's slightly bigger than the slip joint one here.
- [Ben] Should we show them next to each other?
- [Austin] Absolutely.
- [Ben] Beautiful pieces, though
and they have a gentlemanly feel.
Where, this does not feel like a gentleman's knife to me.
I mean, you could argue it,
but this I think you could pull out at a cocktail party
and people will be like, huh.
- [Austin] Yeah, it's definitely got
old school styling cues.
And especially with the wood inlay, the bone inlay.
These are very classing looking knives.
- [Ben] They really are.
- [Austin] And they're beautiful
but they have the really modern sheepsfoot blade.
These almost remind of a custom shotgun or something.
Yeah sure, with all the decorative etching and stuff.
Yeah, I could totally see that.
Beautiful pieces.
The carbon fiber I believe is a Blade HQ exclusive.
It is, nope, totally right.
Pocket Butcher.
You know, I like the new take on these too.
I mean, you hold them next to this Al Mar,
- [Austin] It's daunting.
- [Ben] It's definitely daunting and I think you're, again,
losing a little bit of that
non-aggressive feel with this guy.
- [Austin] Sometimes knives are invisible to people,
like an old knife like this.
And this is certainly not invisible.
- [Ben] It's definitely not invisible.
I think you could take this Al Mar in
just about anywhere no problem
but I think this Pocket Butcher is getting
in the range of, uh what is that.
Yeah, it's definitely noticeable.
Definitely noticeable.
Yeah, but it's super cool.
I, like I said, I'm excited to get one and try it.
I think, I don't know,
just the nostalgia for me is the factor.
My dad always carried around a pocketknife
and my grandpa, I didn't know,
always carried around a pocketknife, just in the pocket.
I think it's worth mentioning
the simplicity one more time.
I mean, you look at this Homefront.
This Homefront, you can take the thing apart.
- [Austin] You don't think of knives and technology
a lot together but this an advanced technology knife.
You can take it apart.
- [Ben] You can field strip this knife
into three pieces in literally eight seconds.
You can put the thing back together in,
what, 10 seconds maybe.
- [Austin] Something like that.
- [Ben] Let's see if I can do it right here.
And then you put the thing together.
- [Austin] That's cool, cool feature!
Yeah, it is really cool.
Nice to have if you're working in gunk, whatever.
These don't have any of that.
Is that a disadvantage or an advantage?
Boy, that's a good question.
I think in ways it's a disadvantage
but only in the same way that having a
friction folder or a slip joint is a disadvantage.
It's not really a disadvantage.
For the most part, we're not really hard using our knives.
I don't know the last time I got my knife muddy,
you know? It's true.
I've never needed to really field-strip
and clean my knife.
So for me, probably not a big disadvantage.
But there are definitely places that you're gonna wish
you had a modular knife and wish that
you could have cleaned it more easily.
Yeah, I agree.
I think what you're saying is each knife
almost has a purpose, so if I'm going to a nice dinner
maybe it's a Case, and this is the case for making,
for having multiple knives in your knife drawer,
because each one is gonna serve a different purpose.
And I think these guys are your every day carry,
they're your pocket knives that
you'll use in more formal occasions,
or just, if you're not a heavy user.
I think that there's definitely a place for em.
I'm curious over the next couple of years to see,
is there a resurgence of these
and especially kind of in the hipster crowd.
I read a great article on Knifenews
and he said that he's looking forward to
2017 being the year of the in-pocket knife.
I think that was Tony's from EverydayCommentary
that published the article in Knifenews.
But I agree, I'm curious to see.
So there it is, guys!
One last thing I wanted to tell you,
we did make some Blade HQ hats.
Yes!
And you can see them featured
in that great movie, Ben Throws Money.
(dubstep music)
Ben makes it rain.
We should probably make a separate video
just for that as well.
We probably should.
You're gonna see it in the intro.
Anyway guys, thank you for watching.
If you have comments on traditional folders
feel free to leave them in the comments.
We always appreciate the banter that happens down there.
We'll have another Knife Banter for you next week.
We'll also have a couple fun things,
we've got a Cold Steel interview coming up
with Lynn Thompson, the Lynn Thompson.
Lynn C Thompson?
Yes! Amazing.
Indeed, C for Cold Steel.
C for Cold Steel!
We'll catch you again next week guys.
Thanks! See you guys.
That was a long one.
I don't know how long it was, but it was long.
It's old.
- [Cameraman] Almost out of battery.
Yes! Wow.