It seems like I've had a knife or two on me everyday since I was eight years old. The little guy there is a MiniBuck by Buck Knives. It's hard to tell in the picture, but I've carried that thing for so many years in my pocket that the plastic handle has worn smooth and the "Buck" name is worn down so much you can barely read it. This little lock-back folder is so light you almost forget you have it in your pocket and while the blade edge has been sharpened a few times over the years, it holds it's edge pretty well.
The second knife there is nothing fancy, just a Cabela's XPG with serrated blade that tends to be clipped in my right pocket or on my Maxpedition Jumbo VersiPack man-bag. This is my "cheap sunglasses" knife. Did you ever notice that if you buy expensive sunglasses they tend to get broken, scratched, or lost in a matter of days, but you get those cheap ten-dollar sunglasses and they'll still be hangin' around after the Apocalypse. That's my Cabela's XPG... a good, inexpensive, every-day-carry, belt-clip knife that doesn't make me kick myself for three days after loosing it like when my $120 Benchmade disappeared in the woods while deer hunting.
A third knife in my pocket is a little Leatherman Style which hangs on my keychain and is probably used just as often each day as my keys are. I've lost count of the number of times I've opened a package, cut twine, used the tweezers to pull out a splinter, cut thread with the scissors, tightened a screw, cut down and filed a broken thumb-nail after trying to use my thumb-nail as a pry bar. This diminutive knife and multi-tool owes me nothing and it's as handy as my Ford F-150.
In these progessive days of zero-intelligence... uh... I mean zero-tolerance, my wife carries a purple Buck Transport because purple is less intimidating and it's small enough to be politically correct within the zero-tolerance policies of today's public schools as she is an elementary school teacher.
My daughter has a couple of knives, but she asked for one like dad's a couple of years ago and so I bought her a Buck MiniBuck like mine, except this one has the outline of Idaho on it since the good folks at Buck moved their operations to Idaho from the Republic of Kalifornia to remain competitive with an American-made product that I think Toby Keith would appreciate. Of course she only carries it when she's not in our politically-corrected school system.
See, I'm old enough to remember when kids could carry knives and I was given my first four-bladed, boy scout knife at eight years-old which rests in the gun safe with the Buck finger-grooved Model 110 Folding Hunter I carried on my belt all through high school and into college. It's cut just about everything, field-dressed deer, skinned squirrels and rabbits... and never once went homicidal during Algebra II. I do miss the little two-bladed Schrade pocket knife my uncle had given me, long since lost in the memories of my pre-teen years.
I'd be remiss is I didn't mention our grub knives. I picked up this BuckLite Max a couple of years ago which has scalpel-like sharpness and a rubberized grip for a steady hold when preparing the wild game the good Lord has blessed us with.
You've probably noticed I have a number of Buck knives. There are a lot of knives around here we've accumulated over the years and many have been Buck knives. Buck makes a good knife right here in the good ol' USA which means a lot to us. Another thing about Buck is they are not afraid of their beliefs and John 3:16 is tucked in with the words on their instruction sheets for each of their knives and as Christian, I can appreciate that.
A couple of other grub cuttin' utensils is this beautiful carving set, hand-crafted by my father-in-law for my wife. The photograph doesn't do these two justice as Papa Jim, a retired tool and die machinist who could literally make anything, has given these stainless-steel steak stabbers the mirror-like finish of a chrome bumper on a '57 Chevy convertible. The carefully shaped wood handles have the perfect ergonomics only a true craftsman could produce. They were a gift to my main gal and will be passed on someday to my little gal, a family heirloom no money could ever buy.
There are a lot of different knives around here, but if you want to know what we keep in our pocket or ready at hand... that about cuts it down to size.
I received a Spyderco Cricket as a birthday present from a good friend almost 7 years ago, and I carry it on me every single day without fail, no matter where I go or what I'm wearing. It's a little battered and I broke the tip of the blade of using it as a makeshift screwdriver, but it holds a good edge and has never let me down.
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