Pocket Knives

If any of you enjoy a pocket knife that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, I would highly recommend Todd Davison

This is his most recent piece that is available.




He usually has a new one for sale every week or so (and can do semi-custom stuff if you contact him). They've jumped up in price about $100 over the past year due to demand, but thankfully I've got 4 of his pieces already in my rotation (plan on handing three of them down to my boys). These are excellent users, and eventually, hopefully heirlooms.

Most of his new stuff is listed on BladeForums, and it's fun to look in and see what he and all of the other knife makers are coming up with.

I love pockets knives and those in the pictures are beautiful.

What I like are French knives: Laguioles, Yataghans, Corsican Vendettas, and Douk Douks. However, I own a whole lot of other knives as well.

Great photos!

DaveS

That is a beautiful knife. I love collecting knives and have about 40 different knives myself.

Those are both beautiful and very classic looking.

Tim

Now that's nice.....Very nice....Thanks for posting the picts........

I've got to get a knife.

While beautiful, I'd much rather have something that I wouldn't feel bad about scuffing up during normal use. That's the kind of knife I would carry around while dressed up, for cutting labels off of high end bottles of liqueur and demanding finer caviar.

$450 for that Come on now...

I am a proud owner of a Tomes folder. The fit and finish is remarkable.$450.00 is cheap,for the work and skill involved in a true hand-made folder. That is a very nice folder.

I think you'd have to be a true collector to buy something like that. It would also have to be a show piece or have a pocket all its own. I'd also be afraid to break it, lose it, or dull it for that matter.



==Tom

ouch said:

I've got to get a knife.

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Not a bad idea. But don't go overboard with acquisitions, accumulation of knowledge, or anything like that.

For $450 I can buy enough Buck knives to last me the rest of life. Plus as stated before, I dont have to worry about losing, breaking, scuffing, dulling, etc.....

Dont get me wrong, it is a very beautiful piece. Just not for this middle class, non-collector shlub.

Give me a good old fashioned (still in production) made in the USA Buck.

and as always, YMMV

rexj said:

I am a proud owner of a Tomes folder. The fit and finish is remarkable.$450.00 is cheap,for the work and skill involved in a true hand-made folder. That is a very nice folder.

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I go to a lot of knife shows here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and there are a TON of guys making handmade folders for the same price, and about $150 less, with much nicer materials, locking blades, ball bearing pivots, etc.

It's a nice knife... but if you look around, there are quite a few fellas making handmade knifes that offer a better value.

For example - for $295 you could get a pretty nice handmade Frank Warner...


For $450 (the cost of the VERY simple knife in the original post in this thread) you could pick up a GORGEOUS Frank Warner with Mammoth Ivory Handles, gorgeous bolsters, etc....








To each their own and all that - but if you look around, there are some really amazing handmade knives that can be had for $450 - or quite a bit less, that simply have a lot more handwork, and more expensive materials (IE: more worthy of a high price) than the Davison above).

I don't know. These things could become a problem for me. I think I'll stick with cutlery for awhile.

Like you said Joel, to each their own. It's all about personal tastes. Davison's work (like you said, simplicity) fits my tastes much more than Warner's. They have an elegant simplicity that I like much more than a lot of other work I've seen. The prices have gone up due to demand, and mine were had closer to $300, save the Ivory scaled model.

Sure, you could find some with damascus and more high end materials than the Ironwoods and Stag that he often uses. But that's what appeals to me. His work has an understated simplicity that appeals to me as a functional knife, not something that I'd be scared to use.

I normally have one of these two in my pocket. The multi-tool is a cheap(free) *** that is handy to have to pop beers and I have actually used the corkscrew to open a bottle of port at a friend's house. The blade however is hardly sharp enough to open packages. Kind of a "well, at least I have this" pocket companion.

The Recon on the other hand goes to work with me and cuts though 3/4" corrugated cardboard, slices pallet straps like nobody's business, and does just about everything else I need it to without a lot of fuss.

And I realise neither is as pretty as that hand-made beauty that started this thread.

This is my idea of a pocket knife.

Holy cow! I cannot imagine dropping $300+ on a pocket knife. They are meant to be abused! What's the point (ha) of having a pocket knife if you can't pry with it, cut open envelopes, use it as a screwdriver, etc...

If I bought a knife that expensive I would frame it instead of worrying about my keys scratching it.

For now, I get by with my father's old "BUCK" knife, made in Switzerland. It's probably older than I am and is totally awesome.

I love the look of that slipjoint!
I'm a one handed opening knife sorta guy.
A custom knife is like everything else in life....
Some prefer to display it or keep it in the safe.

I'm a user so I have something and I use it. If it's a very costly knife I get a certain thrill when I pull it out to cut string, packages, etc,,,, Everything we use a knife in edc use.
All the pics are lovely work.

Tom

Peter Atwood puts together some cool stuff. Expensive and hard to get but cool
LINK