My Everyday Carry

A pocketknife story and a knife review of sorts

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

I’ve been carrying a pocketknife every single day of my adult life and for much of my boyhood since I was about 16. “It’s what men do,” so-said my late father who I never knew to be without his trusty pocketknife.

When I was a small boy and Dad would come home from work, he’d place his knife on top of his dresser along with his wallet, car-keys, and a money clip with a few bills folded into the clip. But I didn’t care about anything except the pocketknife. I remember pulling a chair up to the dresser so that I could climb up and get a closer look: A small, three-bladed beauty with a brown woodgrain handle featuring a small silver emblem with the engraved words, “Old Timer.” I would look, but never touch. I knew better.

I fell in love with Dad’s pocketknife. In fact, it was the first knife I ever owned, given to me when I was a little older and Dad acquired a new knife, a higher-end W.R. Case-brand model. I later acquired Dad’s Case knife. Then at around my 9th or 10th birthday, I was presented a Boy Scout sheath knife. It was my first brand-new out-of-the-box blade which I literally stabbed myself in the foot with the one time I irresponsibly played with a knife (I was around 10-years-old). Not to suggest I never again toyed with knives. I did. But I was much older, in my early twenties, trained to handle all types of knives and other weapons (in the Marines), and yet my actions were still foolish and I did occasionally cut myself.

I’ve owned many knives since I was boy, but I won’t get into the brands, models, or design purposes. I’ll only discuss my two primary pocketknives because they have been my everyday carries. For at least the past 20 years, my “daily” carry knives have alternated between a somewhat sizable Kershaw Clash and a Gerber LST Ultralight: Both of them folding lock-blades.

THE KERSHAW CLASH

The Kershaw, which clips comfortably to the inside of my right front pants pocket is a fairly large (though not too large) utility knife: a little over four inches closed, seven inches with the blade extended. This is the knife I carry most of the time when I’m casually dressed – jeans, khakis, or shorts (this is after all, the South).

Unfortunately, the Kershaw Clash, which retailed for around $60 has been discontinued. Fortunately, I own two Kershaw Clashes.

THE GERBER LST ULTRALIGHT

My much smaller Gerber LST is a flat, very thin knife: 3.5 inches closed, and a hair over six inches with the blade extended. This is the knife I always carry when I am wearing dress pants (trousers) or a suit. It makes no visible “print” and don’t feel it at all unless I put my right hand in my right pocket to retrieve the knife or a piece of hard candy. LOL.

The Gerber LST retails for between $20 and $25.

A MARK OF MANHOOD

Both the Kershaw and the Gerber are extremely durable and razor sharp, and I’ve rarely needed to hone the edge of either. The Gerber in fact was (is) so inexpensive and such a sterling value based on the quality, I purchased a second Gerber LST as a backup and put in a desk-drawer where it remained for years.

Friends and family members know – and have always known – I always have a knife. If a box needs to be opened, a shopping tag removed, or a piece of rope or string needs to be cut, everybody defaults to: “Tom’s got a knife,” or “Tom, may I see your knife for a minute?” Having that knife as an always available tool or even as the simplest of a first-stage weapon is an inherited responsibility. Dad taught me that. It’s sort of a passed-on mark or a badge of manhood. Consequently I have given knives as gifts over the years to worthy (and I don’t use that word lightly) men, including my two nephews.

KNIVES IN SPECIAL OPERATIONS

Recently, I carried both of my Gerber LSTs with me over a period of several nights and weeks while participating in a series of special operations with the MIDLANDS GANG TASK FORCE, led by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, the City of Columbia Police Department, and other participating law-enforcement agencies. Not that I as a mission-observer would have needed a knife (though I did use one of the knives to cut open a box or two during a search of one of the suspect cars). But I carried them so that I would later be able to give one to both of my nephews knowing that each knife accompanied me during the countergang missions and raids. Yes, I do “think” like that.

A few days after Christmas of this year, I realized that my nephews each had one of my Gerber LSTs but that I no longer had a flat, thin knife to carry when wearing a business suit. I still had the larger Kershaw and several other knives, but the Gerber LST, which I no longer had, was my only dress-trouser blade.

GERBER STILL THE BEST

Without my knife I felt underdressed; certainly underequipped.

So I ordered a new Gerber: Believing it would not be the same quality as my previous Gerber LSTs. Nothing is ever the same or as good. Right? Wrong. I received my new Gerber LST in the mail today and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the action was just as smooth, and the overall weapon as clean and durable as others I have owned. Wow! Gerber still builds the best knives, point to pommel, and the weapon now in my right pocket is no exception.

By the way, Dad, who we lost in 1999, would not have cared much for the Kershaw Clash (too big and heavy), but he would have loved to have owned one of the lightweight Gerbers. Dad was as unpretentious as he was a man who embraced tradition.

 

– W. Thomas Smith Jr. is a formerly deployed U.S. Marine infantry leader and a New York Times bestselling editor. Visit him online at http://uswriter.com.