EDC Pocket Knives

So, after a bit of a rant yesterday about favoring skills over tools, let's talk the most important tool you can carry: a knife.  I grew up hunting and fishing with my Dad, and when we were out I always had my sheath knife (a Buck knife I think) with me.  But I was never one to carry a pocket knife.  Then I started getting interested in 'preparedness', and found this site, EDC.  The basic tool loadout for EDC was a knife or multi-tool and a light.  Made sense to me!  I had recently purchased a Gerber Paraframe for my oldest son for Christmas.

I really liked the look of this knife, so I bought the Mini version to start my EDC.  As soon as I started carrying this knife, I suddenly found out how much I needed to be carrying a pocket knife!  Granted, a lot of the needs were to open that Death Plastic they package things in nowadays, but it was a need.  Around then I got back into camping too, so obviously lots of needs there.  The mini was the perfect size for me, since I wear slacks for work every day and did not want anything too large and bulky.

Now, I can hear all the Spyderco or Benchmade or Sebenza guys laughing at me and my $12 knife.  Which actually brings me to one of my main points.  You can easily go broke, or if not broke then at least spend an insane amount of money, on any of the tools or kit you need/want.  And I'm not looking down on you if you do.  You definitely get what you pay for, and I'm sure that $200 pocket knife is really, really sharp, will stay that way, and you can drive over the thing with your Hummer and it will just laugh at you.  But I don't have $200 for a knife.  So far, my $12 Paraframe is doing all I ask of it.  What I'm saying is, don't worry if all you can afford is a $12 knife.  It's better than no knife, and if you take care of it it should serve you well.  I plan on upgrading, to something like a $30 (or even $50!) knife this year, but I'm not worried that I'm carrying a $12 knife.

Actually, I worry about it so little I bought another $12 knife, the SOG AC-01 E-clip.  This is my EDC knife right now. It is very light because the handle has no metal frame.  That makes it feel a bit plasticky, but I really like the light weight.  I'll see how it stands up in the field to a little more abuse.  For corporate EDC, both of these knives are serving me very well.

The argument that I will be sorry I didn't spend more for higher quality when these break under duress is a valid argument.  But for me right now, economically, these fit my plan and my budget and so are the right ones for me.  I'm better off having one of these guys on me than no knife at all.