Yes, a pocket knife is my earliest memory of edc. I got my first real pocket knife with a tackle box when I was 5. Before that I played with toy knives. After that a pocket knife was in my pocket throughout my childhood and into adulthood. Never carried a lighter. In recent years I've carried strike anywhere matches in a Marbles match safe, but I've gotten out of the habit more recently. I do see their usefulness though. I just don't use them often enough to want them taking up pocket space most days.
What I've learned is that it would be ridiculous of me to carry an expensive knife because all it's ever used for is opening up boxes. I might as well just carry a box cutter.
Those expensive knives that seem all the range on the forums have never even tempted me. I’ll take my lowly SAK over one of them any day of the week. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I have a picture that shows me wittling on a stick the date put me at 5 . My parents grew up in the Appalachian mountains during the depression . I was taught to build a fire early, I can remember being 11 or 12 camping being given a single strike any where match and going to make the fire. If you came back for a second match you got a lecture on being able to get a fire going with one match could save your life. It possible did . The original fire starters I carried was strike any where matches moving to a bic many years ago and a few years ago I switched to clipper lighter
Sounds like good memories and a good upbringing. Our modern day society would benefit greatly from having more parents like yours Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
A Victorinox SAK of some kind is easily the most useful EDC I have. I like the 111mm best for daily carry but the 91mm alox are also very handy. I love flashlights but months can go by in between usage. I carry a couple in my go bag but seldom need them.
Gerber Prybrid might be an option for you. No clip but they’re cheap and look like they would be pretty handy.
Leatherman style CS hanging from a belt loop so that it is always at the ready. I found that I have a lot more use for real scissors than pliers from my S-A-M-S-U-N-G S9+ via T-A-P-A-T-A-L-K
I've known a few people that do just that. They use the ever lovin dog poo out of it, then just change blades when dull. I wonder if they aren't the smart ones????
Surly the answer will differ to the environment/where you live etc. If you live in certain places in the world where the sun doesn't set, maybe a flashlight wouldn't be important/used much anyhow? Depends what you are into too, for example, if you are good with your hands at fixing things like I am then I'd say a full sized MT like my Swisstool cause it's sure got me out of some jams. Obviously I'd need a form of light to see what I'm doing at some times of the day too though.
I think it would be a tie, between my small SAK and my Fenix E01. I'd go with the SAK. I grew up watching my dad deal with an amazing array of stuff with a small pocket knife, a Sear's 4-way keychain and a P-38 in his wallet. Its amazing how much stuff can be jury rigged ir you can just get into it with a screw driver. For many years I carried a Case peanut and Sear's keychain screw driver and my old army P-38 and got by just fine. The peanut was replaced with a small SAK of some sort, either the classic, waiter, or small tinker. The tinker was eventually trimmed out for my love of minimalism, and I got by for years with my little classic in a keyring leather sheath so it was not really attached to my keys. I think I use the classic every single day for something. Things I've actually fixed with the SD tip includes a Sear's Kenmore clothes drier, Minnicota electric trolling motor out at the far end of a ling a winding lake, a rented Honda motor scooter on vacation in Key West. On that same trip, while out in a rented boat fishing, the reel was gunned up, and the SD tip took off the side plate, and with a corner of bandana and some gas from the outboard, debunked the reel, and put the side plate back on. The scissors has snipped burrs from our dogs fur that were too deep and tangled to get out. The tweezers has got stickers our from down between the dogs paw pads. And that sharp little blade has cut a million miles of the jute twine my wife and I use in the garden, opened a few tons of mail, cut opened a ton of plastic packaging and sliced up some nice Jarlsburg cheese out someplace. Yeah, my SAK classic is my most used item. I wish I could go back in time to find the young me, and tell myself not to waste time on all those 'other' knives that came and went in my over obsessive knife nut days. The little classic does 99% of what I need in a urban/suburban lifestyle, and for when I'm out in the woods, my Buck 102 woodsman does the rest.
any durable clicky pen and a reusable water bottle ( Nalgene widemouth 32 oz and Zebra 701) . I have been been tough on both and used both daily for atleast the last 7 years since i got into the hobby.
Without a doubt, a pocket knife is the most useful tool I carry. My Fieldmaster SAK takes the prize, but I often rotate to other knives, just because it's fun. Many years ago, at a previous job, my Gerber 600 multi tool was the most useful; it was worth its weight in gold. These days, however, I find multi tools to be too large/bulky for what I would use them for.
Compared to before 2014 (the year i "woke up" in regards to EDC and the whole thing) I kept the obvious three (keys, wallet, phone) but added a mini SAK, AAA flashlight, and a zipper pull-whistle along a pack of handkerchiefs - plus a multitude of modules, kits, pouches, bags in various levels/sizes to cope with the daily and hopefully-never things life may throw at me. The most impressive thing with EDC is to have overwhelming options in terms of tools & gadgets, how useful they came and come - and blending this with the minimalism trend - how much even small tools can do (120 lumen from an AAA flashlight - incredible during a power outage inside a building, or the capabilities of a SAK classic for small cutting/slicing and repair tasks). The other impressive thing is how much one can spend (and has spent) on all this "crap" (as my wife usually says - until she needs something from my EDC/extended EDC ).
Great Question! I was a Boy Scout, so carrying pocketknives and stuff in my pockets has been my way of life for better than forty years. My most used, always carried, item is a WE branded titanium bolt action pen. I don't leave home without it. I am required to check off inventory reports daily, use it fifty times a day at work yet write very little. That said, there are others items that I have found through my years here and elsewhere that deserve honorable mention. Leatherman tool. I keep one in the car and if I go to do almost any type of work requiring tools, I keep one in my pocket. So much easier to grab the Leatherman than trudge back into the garage to find the pair of plyers I didn't realize I might need...or the wire cutters, or another sized screwdriver or to strip a wire because I don't like to do that with my good knife. Another edc item I always carry, yet hardly ever use is a Zippo, if I'm honest It's empty more often than it is full. Still, there is just something so perfectly comforting about carrying one of my Zippo lighters. The original fidget device. I don't smoke but I am a closet pyromaniac. Grizz
@kikaida just to fill in on what @jcombs is suggesting; I’ve had the Prybrid for a couple of weeks now. I got it to use for work around the house. I usually carry a knife or MT in my “home work” pants, but has often felt I was missing a light, pocket friendly tool I could abuse for scraping, bending and prying. A knife is a knife, and even using a cheap Mora for such tasks give me a bad feeling. It doesn’t replace the knife, just a complementary tool to save my knife and keep it sharp for when I actually need a knife. I’m satisfied with the prybrid so far, it does what I wanted it to do. Sometimes I wish the pry tip would extend a bit further from the grip, but that would in turn make it less pocket friendly, so all in all they landed on a pretty good compromise. A pocket clip would be a very welcome addition, but for my use case it’s far from crucial. I got mine on sale, but even at regular prices I consider this tool to be good value. It is a big tool though. I could not justify carrying something like this as my regular office type EDC. For opening the occasional cardboard box I would rather go for something smaller. The little brother, Prybrid X (or something?), might be a better choice. That type of blade doesn’t really appeal to me personally, so I would probably just pay a bit more and get one of the titanium box cutters e.g. the one from Big idea design.
Ever since the Leatherman Skeletool came out, I can't be without it. I keep so much junk if my front left pocket (car keys, wallet, money clip, flashlight), I use left pocket clip carry to keep it out of the way- it fits the bill. I once "lost it" and after a few days, I had to order another. Found the first one up on a shelf above a job I was doing. I've flown for travel (carry on only) and mailed it ahead to my destination. My favorite use that I remember? I was driving across the Florida Everglades, windows down, a HUUUUUUGE dragon fly hits the b-pillar and lands next to me on the floor flopping and buzzing around. Grab skeletool with left hand, open it up and use the pliers to grab that sucker and fling it out the window without slowing down. Everyday I'm researching better tools, and I can't beat it yet.
I have been "everyday carrying" in some form or another since I was a kid. And its been pretty comprehensive the whole way (not too many 7 year olds I know that wear a watch, and carry a knife and flashlight). I've added things over the years, and since discovering these forums I have done a fair bit of upgrading. But for the most part, they haven't brought anything new to the table for me. EXCEPT, the carabiner. My keys, while always a part of my edc, used to just kinda be there by default. But the 'biner allowed me to incorporate my keys into my carry in a much more meaningful way. I don't think I could ever go back to just throwing them into a pocket, and hating every minute of it. Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
