Your favorite penknife

Stemar said:
The trouble is that a locking blade immediately makes it illegal to carry in a public place. Yes, there are exemptions, like "It's boat equipment, and I'm walking to my boat", but "I always carry it because it's so often useful" isn't one of them
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Also since a car is deemed a public place I strongly suspect a boat might also be deemed a public place. In which case you'd need to have a good reason even on a boat.

I know there are well publicised exceptions but I'm pretty sure the police don't have time to harass middle aged yotties so I'm happy to take my chances with Gerber Tools, Stanley Knives etc.
 
dansaskip said:
There is an old saying "jack of all trades, master of none". I think it applies to all those penknives like the Swiss Army knife and similar ilk. Bl**dy useless in my opinion. A knife should just that- one good blade that locks or better a fixed blade. I like my opinal, and my Fisk and I have a home made job seemingly made from a steel ruler (inherited with the boat) which lives in a soft plastic sheaf just inside the companionway.
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I look at the Philips screw head on my Gerber tool and wonder if there is any screw in tbe real world that it would undo without bending, of mashing the screw head or both.

I suppose the idea is it's better than nothing in extremis.
 
i Have victorinox skipper that i have had for years and an opinel and a lovely yellow sharp knife that a mate bought me. Thankfully i have never used any of them in anger, the skipper lives on my mantlepiece and is mainly used for the toothpick, i do love it though. The yellow one is in the jacket pocket ready to go.
 
lustyd said:
Ah but did you put a pin in the pin holder? Did you know it had a pin holder (not certain this was always there)

Hook is to use as a carry handle
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May I ask where the pin holder is please?

I think I have the same model as you and the OP, about 3 or 4 years old.

Just looked all over and cannot find a hole for a pin.

I have a Swiss Army ‘credit card’ thing and it has a pin and tweezers and pen and tiny knife and the pin is useful.
 
Mark-1 said:
I look at the Philips screw head on my Gerber tool and wonder if there is any screw in tbe real world that it would undo without bending, of mashing the screw head or both.

I suppose the idea is it's better than nothing in extremis.
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You spent all that money on a Gerber! For a couple of quid you can get something that does work...
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My late father, born in the 1930s, was of that generation that carried pocket knives by force of habit, even beyond when it became largely illegal. That was fine in small-town NZ, where he lived, but visiting UK/Europe was a bit of a problem. I think he only lost one to the airlines, but because of his pacemaker he could skip the detectors at places like museums and galleries around Europe. He'd then proceed to pull out whatever knife he had on him to prove he'd got it through security. Mad as a box of frogs.
 
Cerebus said:
May I ask where the pin holder is please?
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Just behind the corkscrew. Most don’t know it’s there and for some reason they don’t include the pin usually. Walkers will find this quite useful though!
The eagle eyed will see this is my other copy of the same knife as the other other one currently has no pin for some reason.
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lustyd said:
Just behind the corkscrew. Most don’t know it’s there and for some reason they don’t include the pin usually. Walkers will find this quite useful though!
The eagle eyed will see this is my other copy of the same knife as the other other one currently has no pin for some reason.
View attachment 201792
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Magical.

Thank you.

Hole found and about to order a pin📌
 
My father gave me first penknife on my seventh birthday and though I didn't take it to school with me at that age, when I moved on to secondary education we were expected to carry knives. Pencil sharpeners were verboten!

Later on, in my first week as an undergraduate, we were told "Engineers always carry knives" and so that habit continued.

I started sailing at the age of thirteen and again was told "always have a knife with you when sailing".

Obviously, because of the law changes, these days I am wary about carrying my dangerous weapon but always have my trusty Opinel with me around the house, in the garden or on the water.
 
Love Opinels but can abide the rust. Wouldn't be without my newish Cap'n Curry. I find the marlin is more useful than the blade when sailing, just wish they didnt plaster the name all over it. Anyway great sailing knife.
 
winch2 said:
Love Opinels but can abide the rust. Wouldn't be without my newish Cap'n Curry. I find the marlin is more useful than the blade when sailing, just wish they didnt plaster the name all over it. Anyway great sailing knife.
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I have a very old Captain Curry knife, and like you I find the spike useful. But I find that the blade doesn't keep its edge as well as more modern knives; I think stainless steel has improved since the 1960s. The other thing mine has is a very basic screwdriver blade - not a folding one, just a protrusion on the end of the case. Do modern ones have that?

On one field trip to Svalbard, my Captain Curry knife ended up being 50% of our toolkit after someone (not me!) forgot to ship the toolbox! The screwdriver blade came into its own.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
I have a very old Captain Curry knife, and like you I find the spike useful. But I find that the blade doesn't keep its edge as well as more modern knives; I think stainless steel has improved since the 1960s. The other thing mine has is a very basic screwdriver blade - not a folding one, just a protrusion on the end of the case. Do modern ones have that?....
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The screwdriver has always been a feature of the British Army jack knife, still available but with plain stainless scales. I always thought the large size was to suit the screws used in older rifles. I've got a Curry type knife but not within reach at the moment. I think you're right, and it has a similar screwdriver.


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Stemar said:
The trouble is that a locking blade immediately makes it illegal to carry in a public place. Yes, there are exemptions, like "It's boat equipment, and I'm walking to my boat", but "I always carry it because it's so often useful" isn't one of them
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How often do you get searched?

Apart from airports, a couple of times by the IDF in the occupied territories, once in London during a Black September bombing campaign, and I think once on the Bangkok underground when something (dont remember what, maybe the military coup) was up, I dont think I have been, so it might be an acceptable risk.

I dunno if the Opinel legally counts as "locking" but it does, (though the lock ring is weak) and I would have been carrying it on all those occaisions except the London one, and for that I was carrying a 2pdr anti-tank shot inside a cored out (and consequently heavy. 2pdr seems to be a nominal designation, though I never weighed it) Thermos flask. which they didn't find. The cop that picked it up must have been very strong and rather incurious.
 
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penberth3 said:
The screwdriver has always been a feature of the British Army jack knife, still available but with plain stainless scales. I always thought the large size was to suit the screws used in older rifles. I've got a Curry type knife but not within reach at the moment. I think you're right, and it has a similar screwdriver.


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Are they still available with Marlin Spike and something (like that can opener blade) that would undo shackles? I can't find one for sale.
 
I have a Green River sheath knife (actually 2 because one is all beat up). Simple strong and easy to sharpen. A Gerber thing on the boat and a Gill knife plus spike that I keep on my belt while sailing. My favourite though is a little Buck pocket knife with a 2 1/2” locking blade and a rosewood and brass handle. It’s lovely and I have no idea where it came from.
As for being searched, a couple of years ago I met my daughter for afternoon tea on my birthday. She gave me an ice pick, which I’d asked for. Great present, I use it a lot. Then met Mrs Ender to go to the ballet in Covent Garden. We noticed that security seemed to be heavier than usual with quite thorough bag searches. My wife was even asked to open her umbrella…… but they didn’t find my pick!
When we took our seats the King and Queen were 2 rows behind us. In case anyone’s interested it was Le Corsaire.
 
Mark-1 said:
Where do people stand on serrated blades? In theory I guess they are ideal for rope, I find they snag really badly unless the line is under tension which it never is.

Also has anyone tried safety rescue knives like the seatbelt cutter style? I used to have one on a trapeze harness and, as much as I felt like a hero carrying one, they would be utterly useless at cutting rope, IMO. You need some blade length for some kind of sawing motion.

Opinions?
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I was on a friend’s big steel Dutch barge type thing on the canal in France. 55 feet and 20, maybe 30 tons. Going down in a lock with a midship line round the bollard and the rope got caught. We were listing and hanging on this big polyprop rope, but a serrated blade went through it very nicely, and we dropped down with a bit of a splash. Brilliant. Glad it wasn’t my boat
 
40 years ago you could carry a sheath knife and nothing would be thought or said. Today well,
Don’t times change.

Steveeasy
 
Stemar said:
The trouble is that a locking blade immediately makes it illegal to carry in a public place…
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The secret is to keep it in your pocket. If you sellotape it to your forehead, or walk around in public with opened knife in your hand you stand a good chance of it being confiscated and, no matter how friendly and approachable you might look, there’s a good chance of you being sectioned.
 
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