What's in my boot

That's my right boot; a little grubby for sure, but these boots have seen a lot of use and the scars they carry, the mud, dust and wear, all tell a story of where we've been together.

They're by 5.11 Tactical and are called A.T.A.C 8" Arid, we've been together since 2017 and I think there's a year or so left in them. But this post isn't about the boots, it's about what's in them...and I don't mean my foot.

No matter where I go, I have a knife with me - even when I'm at work. The knife changes depending on where I am of course, and sometimes I have more than one, when I'm hunting or camping for instance. When I'm not at work I usually have thse boots on because I'm often working at home or wandering about in the wilderness and, no matter what, my boot knife comes with.

This knife is by Kershaw and, whilst there's more expensive options, I wanted to go for a balance between quality and cost; that's because the knife lives in my boot and could be easily lost; knives I carry in other ways are never a compromise. I've had this one since I got the boots, purchased specifically to fit in the boot knife-pocket and it's been used so many times since I can't count them. Like the boots, it's a little banged up, but it's still effective.

As you can see above, it's a folder with a slide-retainer designed to hold it in place in a pocket or boot pouch. It's lived in my boot since I got it and has never worked loose.

It has a quick-deploy mechanism so if clipped into the pocket of shorts or trousers can be pulled out and the blade deploys which means it's ready to work. That little hook at the top of the knife (top photo above) catches on the pocket lip and flicks the blade open so it's ready to use. It can also be removed from the pocket without deploying the blade of course.

It can be opened easily with one hand using the thumb-catch which you can see a little forward of the hook in the same photo. It's very easy to deploy and after all the use mine has had it opens very smoothly.

It's not a big knife, you can see it above against a ruler in millimetres. The blade is about 70mm and opened the knife has an overall length of 185mm. It fits nicely in the hand and is perfect for many applications. I keep this knife razor sharp and, if careless, it would cut skin incredibly easily. I've never done it of course, but I've come close - usually through stupidity and incorrect usage.

Generally this knife is used for small jobs as it doesn't have the size or strength for anything too strenuous. I've trimmed things, cut string, fishing line, fabric, electrical wire, duct tape, bandages, whittled wood and even skinned a few tihngs with it when I've needed too, although it's not designed for that particularly. There's so many uses for a knife like this and I've often found new and interesting uses to put it to as need arises including personal security situations should they present themselves.

Because it lives in my boot it's never clean, you can see some build up of general dirt and dust and suede fabric dust from the boot itself in the images above, its scuffed and damaged from used also. It's a utilitarian knife, not a show-pony, so I don't mind that it looks used. It's earned all of those marks the hard way.

This knife has given me five years of service and there's years in it still. Every so often I give it a good clean, sprinkle a little graphite powder on the moving parts and hone the edge a little more then slip it back into my boot. Whether I use it for cutting a thread from a shirt, stripping paracord to make fishing line, slicing chunks off a sausage I've just cooked on the fire, removing a splinter or any other need I have for it...I know it'll be waiting right there, in my boot.