My EDC knife depends on the day and what I’m doing. My go-to is a Victorinox Recruit. It’s quite small at 8.5 cm closed but that’s fine – I don’t like bulky anything in my pockets and this knife is quite unobtrusive. It’s also small enough that I can get away with carrying it work where knives are generally frowned upon.
If I’m working around the house or the yard on the weekend I carry an original Leatherman PST. The one I have is engraved “Georgia Pacific Wauna Safety Award 2001.” I have no idea where I got it since nobody I know has ever worked for GP that I’m aware of. Probably got it at a garage sale or some such. I like it so much I have another OG PST that I carry in my messenger bag. That one is virtually unused and thus looks brand new. The PST is small and light enough that it doesn’t feel overly awkward sitting in my pocket (not as nice as the little Victorinox, though). I have a nylon sheath from my Scoutmaster days that I sometimes use with the PST. I also have a Leatherman Wave that lives in my car.
If I’m camping I carry both the PST and a Kershaw Wildcat Ridge that I’ve had since I was 13, in 1994. I know something like the Wave, with all the tools as well as the big blade in one unit would make more sense but old habits die hard. In my bag lives a Buck 110 that’s there mostly out of habit – a backup knife for the backup knife isn’t the worst idea I’ve ever had (and I always taught my scouts to carry a backup knife, preferably a multi-tool, in their bag as well).
If I’m in the boat or otherwise wearing a life vest I have a Kershaw Amphibian attached to the left chest of my life vest. Much handier than a belt or pocket knife, and much less likely to go in the drink when navigating rapids. In an emergency the quick access functionality is a plus as well.
In the kitchen we have a set of J. A. Henckels International in a knife block, this one I think.. We picked it up at Costco years ago when we were too poor to afford anything else and it’s served us so well I’ve not felt any pressure to get anything of higher quality – I’m too average of a cook to need anything better to be honest. For cheese I have this funky knife that my mom got through QVC or some catalog or something: the Miracle Blade Rock & Chop. She decided she didnt like it and gave it to me. I thought it was the stupidest thing in my kitchen until I used it to slice cheese one day. My opinion was instantly recalibrated. I neither rock nor chop with it, but for slicing cheddar or similar block cheeses I’ve yet to find anything that works better.
How about preferred sharpening methods? I just use an ultra-cheap stone to sharpen my kitchen knives, which are also inexpensive. I put a towel on a kitchen counter or table and the stone on the towel, then I run the knife edgewise across the stone, pushing with the edge away from me and pulling with the edge toward me and incorporating a longitudinal movement to work the entire length of the edge. I figure that moving the edge so that it “bites” into the stone replicates the conditions in which the knife is used, although I suspect it probably doesn’t matter. So, maybe seven or eight swipes consecutively in one direction and then the other, and then two or three more swipes in both directions to finish the job.
Let’s see, i have two knife blocks in the kitchen. They hold several Wusthoff and Henkels knives in paring, steak, chef, and sandoku formats. There are three slightly different global paring knives. Two ceramic knives, one with a black blade that’s fake Damascus, but that’s a really good ceramic knife. A big old meat cleaver. An ancient “Sabatier” paring knife from my mil. A kinda crappy “chef’s choice” paring knife. An “all American, 1776” boning knife. A crappy “sabatier” that’s a little larger than the paring knives, in maybe a steak knife shape. (Maybe i should get rid of those last two). A really nice kasumi knife that has real Damascus steel sandwiching a hard center steel. A giant old non-stainless knife from my dad, that’s great for cutting a pizza with one cut. A cheap-but-adequate stainless utility knife that came with it’s own plastic sheath, that’s perfect for taking to the office to cut a cake or pie.
Except for the two mentioned, i use them all. The Japanese Damascus-class knife i only use for meat, and the sandoku and ceramic knives i only use for vegetables. Oh, and a serrated bread knife.
I also have a lot of pocket knives, of varying quality, mostly small to very small. I even have some “knives as jewelry”
Like this
That i keep in my key ring. They are good for tearing down boxes and picking my teeth. Some of my pen knives were my grandfather’s, and one belonged to my great aunt. I also have a very nice Tina grafting knife, and some specialized blades for wood carving.
I have a 240 grit Apex Edge Sharpener, a 400 grit, and a 600 grit finishing stone. They’re all small stones fit into handles, designed for people like me who prefer to move a small sharpening stone against a stationary blade rather than moving the blade against a large stationary stone. The 240 really only gets used when I’m bringing a new knife up towards usable sharpness. The 400 gets most of the work, maintaining my blades, with a touch of the 600 finisher mostly on the two big butcher knives. As I mentioned before, I lubricate my stones with water (running tap, kitchen sink) rather than oil, as some prefer.
Some of my pen knives were my grandfather’s, and one belonged to my great aunt. I also have a very nice Tina grafting knife, and some specialized blades for wood carving.