Undecided on the Pocket Pal!!!

captain spaulding · **on:** July 06, 2012, 01:13:20 AM

Just got one of these to use for whittling. Figured I would give the Pocket Pal a try. Now before I get into this I must say I have NOT even used the knife yet. These are just first impressions. The knife as a whole is the size I figured it to be. The blades on the other hand are a bit smaller than I was expecting. The main blade is actually a decent size considering the whole package, but the small blade is what got me. It just looks like someone assembled it with the wrong blade, but I assure you this is not the case. Here are a few shots of the Pocket Pal compared to a Spartan.

Main Blade

Small Blade

Now this is the one that made me realize how small the "small" blade really is. Here it is next to a Classic

I'm undecided about it, but will whittle with it and see how it goes. I also wanted to mention the poor snap for the small blade and horrible sharpening from the factory.

Marius · **Reply #1 on:** July 06, 2012, 01:30:43 AM

I only have a vintage one in red alox scales but the blades look similar to this one (not Pocket Pal exactly but similar). Thin and, especially the small one, very small. Looks a bit too fragile to me for wood carving but now this depends on how delicate the work is to be.

Did you consider a Settler?

captain spaulding · **Reply #2 on:** July 06, 2012, 01:34:29 AM

Quote from: Marius on July 06, 2012, 01:30:43 AM

I only have a vintage one in red alox scales but the blades look similar to this one (not Pocket Pal exactly but similar). Thin and, especially the small one, very small. Looks a bit too fragile to me for wood carving but now this depends on how delicate the work is to be.

Did you consider a Settler?

I assume the Settler would be a perfect fit, but I was already ordering a Vic Alox Slim 8GB USB Drive and the Pockel Pal was cheap so I decided to go for it.

magentus · **Reply #3 on:** July 06, 2012, 09:20:59 AM

the Pockel Pal was cheap so I decided to go for it.

That's probably the reason right there! Is it meant as a budget model?

I hate it when somethings not as good as you wanted it to be.

Hope you get at least some use out of it, but those blades look very small.

Farmman · **Reply #4 on:** July 06, 2012, 11:01:48 AM

Picked up a Excelsior (same as a pp but with key ring) on one of my trawls through the second had shops near me. Yes the second blade is very small but for the price (second hand a stunning £2) I quite like the knife as a fit in the pocket opening boxes thing.

kitbeard · **Reply #5 on:** July 16, 2012, 09:42:45 PM

To me, the Pocket Pal suffers from being a Swiss Army Knife that seems the odd one out - having no bottle openers, tin openers, saws, awls, etc. I wasn't sure about them for a long time but I've come round to appreciating them, and currently have the red collidor and an alox version. They're good, pretty well made pen knives and I've found the small, secondary blade to be useful for opening packages. Not really a multitool/SAK but a decent enough EDC knife - and I thnk very suitable for UK carry.

Reinier · **Reply #6 on:** July 16, 2012, 09:48:29 PM

A similar model in 75mm also exists, go figure

Gareth · **Reply #7 on:** July 16, 2012, 10:46:08 PM

Just so happens I was carrying my Excelsior today, I have to admit that I very rarely use the small blade but I'm a big fan of the slim and compact overall shape. Just disappears into a pocket but the main blade is still plenty big enough for most quick cutting jobs.

Small blade on a bigger handle can also be very useful for fine control in detail work.

captain spaulding · **Reply #8 on:** July 16, 2012, 11:01:40 PM

Quote from: Gareth on July 16, 2012, 10:46:08 PM

Small blade on a bigger handle can also be very useful for fine control in detail work.

I absolutely agree. I honestly use the small blade much more than the large blade on SAK's like the Spartan.

MirrorEdge · **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2012, 12:41:00 PM

Quote from: Reinier on July 16, 2012, 09:48:29 PM

A similar model in 75mm also exists, go figure

What is that ??

Reinier · **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2012, 01:16:25 PM

The one in my icon

JAfromMn · **Reply #11 on:** July 17, 2012, 05:08:38 PM

I got a pocket pal for my wife she loves it.

It goes to work with her everyday.

I also got her a purple dragon fly on her key's but the pocket pal is the knife she uses.

It's going on year 2 and i think it's got about 20 left.

I'm going to pick her up a nicer alox secretary when it's in the budget for now the P P is working just fine.

Hello Lurker! Remove this ad and much more by logging in.