Folders: Slipjoint vs. Tactical

Sean Cochran

Well-Known Member
I know tacticals have pretty much dominated the market for the last few years, and with good reason. They are very useful and have pushed folder technology way forward. For me though they seem somewhat cold. Dont get me wrong, I like them but I feel they have become predictable. Please if you are a tactical maker dont be offended, I really do admire your work.2thumbs And Im looking forward to making my first one. (thanks again T and Dave.)

I dig taking out a knife and, flip, you are ready to work. But I just get the warm fuzzies when I reach into my pocket, pull out that swayback to peel an apple with. Or when I think about how many splinters dad's old case trapper pulled from my hands, or remember watching my grandpa sitting on the porch with his worn out red bone whittling some cedar.

I guess Im old fashioned, I like the tacticals, but I just feel more connected to a slipjoint. Sound crazy? What are your thoughts?
 
Sean,

Its not an either/or situation. Most folks can afford at least one of each unless they're married, then "Bob gave it to me." might work!

In all seriousness, many of life's great pleasures center around rituals, whether its sitting at Grandpa's knee watching him whittle, or walking to the car in the dark and sliding your hand down to make sure your EDC is handy.

Different knives are more appropriate for different tasks or environments too. Nobody I am going to listen to is going to tell me I can't carry both!

Go ahead, have your cake and eat it too!
 
Although I mostly carry Tactical folders. I have always been enamored with the walk and talk of a nice Slippie. Unfortunately The only one I own is an old Schrade First production run large stockman (made in China) as I get older, I seem feel the draw to slippies even more. I have a few folders on the top of my must have list, and most of them are Tactical or Utility Tactical. I plan on getting a Slip Joint one day soon, when I can afford to.
 
I carry 2 slipjoints daily ( Sodbuster Jr & Remington Baby Bullet Trapper ) PLUS a Strider PT CC and wait , not done yet...a small 3" bladed fixed blade...4 knives ? Yeah I need help.. ;)

Cover all my bases , and cause I like each one for a different reason :)
 
Things go in fashions. Interest grows in an area for a while then something else pushes to the front.

I don't know what it's like for you guys over there but in the UK, it even happens with names. We find that the names of our Grandparents generation are considered old fashioned right now but start to be reused again in the youngest generation.

I guess this is a similar symptom.

I do agree with you though Sean. A bit of history is nice.
 
So what about a tactical style slipjoint?:rolleyes: I will have Swayback and Lanny's Clips done for Blade in a tactical fashion. Think there's a market for these?
 

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tacticals...For me though they seem somewhat cold.

For me they are 'frozen.'

I'm not sure of your opening postulate. I think folks like Bob Terzuola would have brought us advancements and the application of newer technology in any shape knife those craftsmen designed.

As the sun sets for the night, what I need is a jackknife. I'm not a survivalist, a mercenary or a SEAL. I need dependable, sharp, durable cutting implements. In fact, I find the decorations of pomp on this trend to be an impediment, not an enhancement.

One of the most useful tools I own is a Graham Brothers SS3. And that knife got its credentials from pig hunters. The Buck 110 has served tradesmen for decades, and that's before the craze. Heck, even Bowie's sandbar knife was a butcher knife more to the form of a gyuto.

I do own an Emerson HD-7 and a Strider SnG. Both well made, and with thick, secure liner locks. I've opened a lot of UPS boxes, but never an enemy sentry.

In fact, I think it's time to look at the needs of the clients in this century, not continue those of the 1970s. And I believe that's why even Emerson himself offers tools like the CQC-16, a product both diverse in the shapes of blade and handle.
 
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Interesting question. They are completely different types of knives and each excel at very different jobs. I agree with the earlier comment that one can have their cake and eat it to.
 
So what about a tactical style slipjoint?:rolleyes: I will have Swayback and Lanny's Clips done for Blade in a tactical fashion. Think there's a market for these?

I hope so Dave, Ive been working on a couple of designs that cross the line, they are splipjoints but like the yours have a tactical "feel" to them.

Sean
 
Sean, may I ask why you are going that direction on your design?
 
Sean, may I ask why you are going that direction on your design?

I work in the oilfields, and all the guys I work with are very hard on knives. When I said a tactical feel, what I mean is using materials normally associated with the tac. knives, g10, micarta etc. Also by using a minimalist style, no bolsters, linerless etc. Im just doing two patterns, Im wanting to see how they hold up in an extreme enviroment. Not to say that a traditional slipjoint wont hold up, these will just be another option. They are also priced lower, due to less work involved and cheaper materials, so maybe a guy wont feel as bad when he bangs one up.
 
If pressed, yes, both slip joints and tacticals are outdated. So is the engine in my bike; the design dates back to 1936. Heck, my blue jeans date back to the 1849 gold rush.

Nostalgia is good, but not absolute. I haven't seen a major trend in cutlery in over a decade. Tacticals hit the early 1990s like a hammer. The best we can do now is improve particle technology.

If anyone is really breaking ground with some fresh thinking it's Jon Graham.
 
If pressed, yes, both slip joints and tacticals are outdated. So is the engine in my bike; the design dates back to 1936. Heck, my blue jeans date back to the 1849 gold rush.

Nostalgia is good, but not absolute. I haven't seen a major trend in cutlery in over a decade. Tacticals hit the early 1990s like a hammer. The best we can do now is improve particle technology.

If anyone is really breaking ground with some fresh thinking it's Jon Graham.

Good looks and functionality never are outdated. Can they be improved on...sure. But sometimes when they are trying to be improved, they loose the features that make them great to begin with. The wheel is a very old design, but still works real well today. Who will make the next "Super Knife"? I don't know. There are a lot of great makers out there with innovative designs and concepts. Believe me, I see most of them. Traditional style slipjoint will be popular till the end of time...no doubt. Others may come and go until the next fad comes blowing in. Hopefully it's not another war that creates it.
 
Good looks and functionality never are outdated. Can they be improved on...sure. But sometimes when they are trying to be improved, they loose the features that make them great to begin with. The wheel is a very old design, but still works real well today. Who will make the next "Super Knife"? I don't know. There are a lot of great makers out there with innovative designs and concepts. Believe me, I see most of them. Traditional style slipjoint will be popular till the end of time...no doubt. Others may come and go until the next fad comes blowing in. Hopefully it's not another war that creates it.

Well put Dave
 
With pocket clips, thumbstuds and flippers, we now have one handed openers (and closers) that can be presented legally faster than illegal switchblades from days of yesteryear. They also have safer locks and often better steels and materials. In addition to a defensive tool, they allow a worker to continue what they are doing, rather than having to free up both hands to open or close a knife. It also helps prevent accidents and loss, because the user can easily close and secure the knife, rather than set it down open.

I call that progress.
 
Look, guys, I don't mean to throw them away or quit making the things you love!:eek:

But time marches on. Hey, HD would still have drum brakes and kick-starters if not for Honda poking them in the rear with new-age technology.

I love my CQC-16, it has ridden with me for a few months now. But it is 154CM, not M-4, or ZDP-189, or even CPM-154CM.

It seems with some models--especially the so called "tacticals"--that once a design seems to fit the bill and make money, then innovation stops dead.

Shouldn't ceramic knives be better by now? Where is an all glass knife? Yikes, the space program provides new science, but cutlery seems to lag.
 
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If you haven't noticed, the space program is going out of business. :rolleyes: A knife is all what you make of it. Want to make a rocketship, go for it. Why is your CQC 154CM, it's cheaper. My newest design has a lazer beam that shoots out for the blade. Is that innovative enough? :eek:
 
You sort of lost me there. There have been a few new trends in the past few years, mainly around materials:

Much more carbon fiber use - price dropped as availability increased
Timascus - patented material and or process
Powdered damascus - damasteel
Zirconium is being used as scale material
Strider is using cobalt to make damascus
Stellite is not uncommon for blade material
Milling equipment and skills - look at the work being done by Great Lakes Waterjet - could not make frames like that ten years ago, not easily anyway
New bearing systems instead of the standard washer systems for the pivots

What are you looking for as a change in the paradigm? Glass and ceramic sure don't qualify as part of making knives is that materials be readily available is sufficient quantites to build product.

Not sure what you're hinting at with John's knives. He uses standard, old school materials; builds mostly fixed blades and a few folders. Please explain that comment.

If pressed, yes, both slip joints and tacticals are outdated. So is the engine in my bike; the design dates back to 1936. Heck, my blue jeans date back to the 1849 gold rush.

Nostalgia is good, but not absolute. I haven't seen a major trend in cutlery in over a decade. Tacticals hit the early 1990s like a hammer. The best we can do now is improve particle technology.

If anyone is really breaking ground with some fresh thinking it's Jon Graham.
 
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