Saving the SAK!

J

jackknife

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
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We love our SA's, thats why we're hear. The little red handled wonder that is not just a knife, but a small bundle of solutions to the little problems that life throws in our path at times. A screw driver, bottle opener, awl, whatever, a simple tool is sometimes enough to get going again. Lord knows I've come back from outings that a small repair was made in the field, or out on the water with a SAK, thus saving the day.

BUT...that little three letter word...what about the times that you may need to cut something, and you just know tis gonna bugger up the blade? Dirty cardboard outer shell, layers of packing tape with all kinds of grit stuck to the adhesive. And your beloved SAK will be butter knife dull when its done and over. The dirty deeds knife comes into play.

For years, I've augmented my SAK of the day at times with a dirty deeds knife. cardboard, fish guts, sand, whatever. I've used a Opinel number 5 as a semi disposable knife. The Christy knife, with its two screw take apart construction, is often used as my dirty deeds knife. Some of the smaller utility knife handles like the ScrewPop that hold a regular utility knife blade work well. Small and light is good. Its the extra little tool to save our SAK's the horror of sawing through something we don't want to use a 'good ' knife on. Who could get attached to a Gerber EAB?

Anyone else carry a dirty deeds knife? Something that if it gets killed in the line of duty, its easy and cheap to replace?
 
Since getting my first DEMO knife from my Uncle Bob, in 1960 or 1961, when he was home on leave before his next and last duty station in Germany, I have always paired my SAK (or Scout/Demo/Engineers knife) with other knives.
For several decades starting in 8th grade, a Buck 110, and a stockman or Barlow and a canoe plus the SAK/Scout/Demo/Engineers knife were the minimum I carried every day. Yes, that includes to school and church. In my day, the school system expected the boys to have at least one pocket knife on them, starting 2nd grade, no later than 3rd grade. They also figured at least 8 out of 10 girls had a paring knife or a small fillet knife, or a pocket knife in her purse, starting the same time. It wasn't until our grand kids were in school that knives became a no-no at school, the school yards became fenced, metal detectors at all entrances, Student ID cards required (and a bus pass for a single bus route if they rode the school but to and from school) and armed security guards at the school became common.

TBH, I often forgot the SAK/Scout/Demo/Engineers knife when a task that was best for a spear point blade came up. I carried them primarily for the tools ... (punch/awl/reamer and can opener being my most used blades, followed by the screwdriver/cap lifter for opening a can of paint or stain, and other light prying.)
On days I knew I needed a specialized knife, such as a Marlin Spike, I would add that to my carry.

During the years I was a contract mobil fabrication welder, I had a Stanley box cutter in my tool pouch. (I also had a Stanley in my overalls pocket when my job after school was unboxing frozen gobblers, breaking down the cardboard boxes and putting the boxes into the incinerator, when I worked at SWIFT.) (Swift Poultry, not Swift Trucking)

When Stanley came out with the tool-less blade replacement, I got one of those, and never looked back.
I always had a Stanley available when welding, doing remodeling, painting, glazing, electrical, demolition, concrete, gardening, making fences and retaining walls, worked in a auto repair shop or body shop, drove an expedited box truck around the country, and managing a convenience store and/or liquor store for opening cases to stock the shelves. (I was a jack of all trades, master of none, before I retired.)

For cardboard, carpet, linoleum, scoring drywall, opening bags of concrete/sand/sod/fertilizer, etc. I always favored using a utility/box knife rather than one of my "good" knives.
"Use the proper tool for the job" was driven through my thick skull at a young age ... before I received my first pocket knife (a two blade Colonial or Imperial Barlow, if memory serves, for my 5th birthday, in 1960.
 
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Usually, dirty deeds are done (well) by the Classic. Most of them are well within the Classic's capabilities.

On a SAK with a pen blade, that handles the dirty deeds, because the big one gets saved for food. It doesn't work so well the other way around. Also, there is a smaller moment arm on the small blade, which is less stress on the pivot.
 
I don't carry a dirty deeds knife with me because it would be yet another thing I have to carry and I don't have a frequent need for it. But I do keep additional tools (leatherman, etc) in the vehicle and of course at home I have box cutter type utility knives and a bunch of others if I have to do a lot of nasty cutting.
I do use the awl on my 91mm to cut the tape on packages to prevent the goo from getting on the main or small blades.
 
I've actually been thinking about grabbing one of those fancy utility knife blade holders to take care of stuff I might not want to use a regular knife on. It's nice having the choice to either touch up the edge, or just replace the entire blade.
 
Honestly, I just use the knife in my pocket but for what you might call odd jobs. If it dulls it gets stropped.
If it’s past stropping it gets honed. If the bevel is really gone or damaged it’ll get sharpened.
I’ve cut a hell of a lot of compost bags, potato sacks, feed bags, cardboard boxes, shrink wrap, pond liners, hoses, baler twine, duct tape, and even lead.

What am I saving it for?

I can understand choosing a more appropriate tool if one is available, only sensible, and in certain circumstances only realistic option. No matter how sharp I get my pen knife I’m not shaving with it. Nor am I ever going assemble flatpack with the can opener, I can buy a Phillips screwdriver for a fiver. And if I ever have a mountain of cardboard to deal with card of 10 snap-off box cutters is £4.99.
 
El Jay said:
Case 3 bladed medium CV Stockman. I've been inspired by Jackknife's Tales to not use it for everything.
Click to expand...

I have to admit, in the days before I became an obsessed knife nut, and the 301 Buck stockman was my EDC, my only EDC except for the old Wenger SI that always was 'around', I used the spay blade as my go-to-hell dirty deeds blade. I keep the sheep foot fairly sharp with a toothy carborundum stone edge, and the main clip blade was very sharp for clean slicing and dicing.

It took me all of 25 years to wear out that knife to being retired to the sock drawer and later to my grandson Ryan's family knife collection.
 
I generally don’t carry two knives unless I have a belt knife on in the woods camping or hunting. But I will say I did use one specific blade for those dirty deeds over the years. When I needed to scrape something or cut through something with a surface under it I would use the sheepsfoot blade on my 34OT. I remember one time trimming a piece of outdoor type carpet for a tree stand platform on concrete. Dulled the blade like a rounded off rock but a stone fixed that pretty fast.

When I packed my small Tinker around I’d use the main blade for virtually anything imaginable. I seemed to want to save the small blade for really intricate and detailed cutting tasks so I kept that one razor sharp.
 
I use all any any of my SAKs designated for use/EDC to get whatever done. Dirty deeds or not. Mostly Marlboros and Mods. Put some real hurt on my 111mm gardening mod doing some flooring demo and installation in December. Wood saw is pretty spent doing detail cuts in PVC flooring. I’ll either rebuild with a new saw or just build a whole new duplicate knife/mod. I go through OEM Marlboro Troubleshooters pretty regularly. I’m probably roughest with the pliers, which sometimes get accidentally hammered while holding a brad or nail or rivet. And they go into the dirt or gravel or between pavers to pull weeds. I currently use the 4th and 5th Troubleshooters and will give #4 to a friend or nephew soon. SAK steel is easy to sharpen or touch up or reprofile. I don’t really worry about what I cut with it. Dirty, sticky or not.

That said, I do keep some beaters pulled from the for parts bins for any gross uses or abuses in or around the house. Mostly for cleaning and scraping, but also if I need to do abusive levels of prying, hammering or whatever.
 
These days I normally only carry a 58mm Rambler. I m getting older and more careful. Although it’s sometimes surprising what can be done with that little knife, if the task is to much for it I regard it as a perfect opportunity for some other poor bugger to do it.
I can still supervise and offer unwanted advice. The young need work and lessons in patience.

If your wondering I’m only 57 I just came to wisdom early :)
 
I generally wear a Leatherman Wave (original or Plus) or Curl on my belt in addition to my EDC SAK. I usually turn to the Leatherman’s blade for dirty work because it’s stronger, it locks, and it has more material to lose from resharpening. Also, it’s much easier to replace a Leatherman blade than a SAK blade.
 
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willisoften said:
These days I normally only carry a 58mm Rambler. I m getting older and more careful. Although it’s sometimes surprising what can be done with that little knife, if the task is to much for it I regard it as a perfect opportunity for some other poor bugger to do it.
I can still supervise and offer unwanted advice. The young need work and lessons in patience.

If your wondering I’m only 57 I just came to wisdom early :)
Click to expand...

Its a shame we can only like a post once! I'd give this one a 10, if only that it hits close to home as a genuine white bearded old fart that seems to have developed a very similar outlook. :thumbsup:;)
 
I carry a 58mm rambler daily. It takes care of most of my basic cutting & pocket tool needs. However as a farmer & rancher, I often need a "dirty deeds" knife that has easy access. So I typically am carrying a one hand knife such as a Buck Slim Pro, Spyderco, Kershaw etc. as my dirty work knife. I'm 63 and am a "white bearded old fart" who is still learning...
 
J jackknife I actually do it all with the SAK that´s carried at the time. I like to sharpen the owl for heavy duty cardbord/package opening, and the pen blade get a lot of use for smaller tasks. And I quite enjoy sharpening and caring for my daily carry, so i am not that worried. And I have to admit, I have more than one SAK to switch between ;)
 
I usually carry a 3" locking folder for bigger, tougher jobs than I'd want to subject my SAK to. This is my work combo most days - the big blade gets all the dirty chores while the SAK is used for smaller, more refined cutting duties ;)
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With regards to carrying a second folding knife.
I always wonder what people mean by heavy cutting?
Especially when the talk is about locks when I was young locking knives meant Opinel which had a safety ring because there wasn’t a spring. Or Buck if you had a lot of money or even an Italian stiletto if you were young and foolish.
Heavy cutting meant fixed blades or Sandvik bush saws. Chopping was for axes.
Battoning was for troops in jungles with machetes. What changed?
 
The pen blade on my SAK Tinker *is* my dirty deeds knife. A sak is cheap enough that I wouldn't cry over replacing it if I had to. It's almost always covered in tape and cardboard residue with some grit imbedded in there. The pen blade comes sharp pretty fast even after abuse. This leaves the larger blade clean and sharp for food use.
 
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