I was raised to believe there are a few things every working man needs.
- A good truck.
- A good hat.
- A good book.
- A good shotgun
- A good knife.
- A good goal.
- And a good sense of value to others, before value to just you.
The seven goods I like to call them.
I think they help… not guarantee, but help… set up a young man… to aspire to be a good man, and a man of use, to those around him.
I believe in the seven goods.
Today’s purchase recommendation of the day, revolves around good #5.
I’ve carried a good pocket knife with me for decades. Briefly in the boy scouts, than occasionally in the military, and relatively constantly in civilian life. It’s a daily carry and essential to me in my work and personal life. And I lump multi-tools in with knives.
Anyhow I’ve had a Spyderco knife for years, followed by a Kershaw Clash knife for years. They are both splendid working man’s knives. For me (even though it is out of fashion these days) an old fashioned tip-down, half drop point, half serrated, blacked out blade, remains the height of functionality and usefulness. Open mail, open boxes, strip wires, get out of a stuck seat-belt, removing tie-wraps, even as a prybar in a pinch.
KERSHAW CLASH Get yours here!
I’ll do a list later of my top 5 KERSHAW knives, but click here to browse them yourself.
There is a reason why the Kershaw Clash is one of the best selling pocket knives of all time. It’s not titanium, it’s not on ball bearings, it’s not the metallurgy composition of the moment, it doesn’t have a rad pocket clip, but what it is… is easily one of the best pocket knives ever made.
And no Kershaw is not paying me to say this (Hey Kershaw… Call Me! 🙂 )
In a day where pocket knives are undergoing something of a resurgence, and in large part because of social media, and streaming and youtube knife communities, knives today are being made as sought after collectibles arguably even more so than functional pieces. Knife prices are skyrocketing, as more and more companies, just like car companies, are gearing a segment of their market to those with more money than sense. So pockets knives these days can run hundreds to thousands of dollars.
I personally think once you go over the $150 mark, for a pocket knife, you are paying for the wrapping paper, rather than the product. But each to their own.
As far as a pocket knife for hard use, after many years of hard use, I’ve found no pocket knife related job that a $30 Kershaw can’t do.
But a man does not live by utility alone.
Sometimes you get a thing, because it calls to you, and everything else being reasonable, the cost, the fit, the functionality… you answer the call.
There is no other knife I NEED besides the Kershaw
But I recently found a knife i wanted. Because it was a thing of beauty.
And it is not the HINDERER or THE CHAVEZ or the ABSTRUSE.
I’d no more pay hundreds for those knives, than I would pay hundreds of thousands for a car. Even should I have the disposable income to spend hundreds on knives or hundreds of thousands on a car, it always, being a working man, occurs to me, how you keep money, is by keeping value foremost in your mind regardless how much money you have.
According to articles, some of the people who aren’t just rich, but stay rich, are frugal purchasers. Every purchase has to sustain or keep its value. Very few of the people who maintain wealth through generations, buy without an eye to value.
So, when there is a Kershaw Clash in the universe, paying 10 times what the Kershaw Clash costs for a knife that is not ten times better, and may not functionally be better at all… does not compute.
That $150 limit, kicks in for me. And that limit amount is different for everyone. That price point where acceptable bumps up against a waste of money.
Chinese Knives, as China more and more embraces the benefits of capitalism in a socialist country, and as more and more of American production is off-shored , the quality and status of Chinese Knives has risen, to the point where they are making desirable quality knives at a great price point.
So it wasn’t the multi-hundred dollar Hinderer or Chavez or ZT knives that called to me with a combination of beauty and aesthetics that are beyond the Kershaw Clash, but also at an acceptable value point.
It was a company from China called Two Sun. And it was a specific knife.
The Knife below:
I think the pictures say it all.
And the price on that work of art? Not $700. You can get one today, delivered for around $70.
TWO SUN makes a lot of knives. In my opinion the TS 102 is the finest looking one they make, and the one that called to me.
Get yours HERE!
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Heroic Times 