Big single blade folding hunters? Which ones?

MTHall720

MTHall720

Joined
Sep 21, 2010
Messages
2,957
I have been looking for seriously big blade, (4inches or more) hunters. So far I really like the looks of some from the 80's and 90's and even older. I am especially interested in Queen Cutlery and Case but have not seen many for sale. I haven't seen any here recently and just missed one on a auction site.

So my question is are these rare?? Are there other ones with same dimensions which are more readily found? I also like the Uncle Henry as well.

Thanks my friends.
 
case makes a hunter, single and double blade. The single blade is exactly 4 inches and has a pretty utilitarian blade. I personally am partial to GEC, i know Fez loves his 73, and his bigger 23, you could check out the 23 or the 42. they are gorgeous and built like tanks.
 
If I'm understanding what you want, no, GEC doesn't make a like pattern (they copy the old Remington trapper). As for alternates, Old Timers were popular and great knives in this pattern. Additionally, Western, Camillus and KaBar made them as well, and I think Buck did too.
 
The GEC #23 is close to 4" in a trapper pattern. Fine knife. The ones I would look at are the Queen or S/M Mountain Man, old Schrade USA's, and Buck 110's. I bought a old Parker with a 4" blade. Pretty nice knife.
 
If you like stainless steel with a little bling, this Rough Rider #522 is 5-3/8" closed, and terrific for the money.

bigun.jpg~original
 
Picked up this Queen Q78 two bladed folding hunter off the bay. I only paid $20 for it because they were selling it for a friend and didn't know what Q78 meant. I did!

 
Thanks everyone. I am looking forward to expanding my search now with other possibilities besides my original two.
 
The first big folding hunter I had was bought for me by my dad way back in about 1971 when I was about 14. I used it and carried it constantly as and EDC and I didn't even know what EDC meant. It was a Kabar and had very strong springs. I have unfortunately misplaced it at this time, and I do hope it shows back up. I currently own 3 stag Case folding hunters and a couple of wood handled ones. My favorite of these was made about 67 and has pretty strong springs and a pinned shield. But all of them are pretty decent and relatively well made.

I love the old 2 blade big folding hunter style, and the old Kabar I had was used heavily but remained in fine shape. And a couple of my Case's have dressed and skinned, and processed a lot of deer, squirrels, and rabbits, etc. I eventually went to single lockblades for a lot of my work and carry but the old 2 blade folding hunter still holes a soft spot in my heart, and there is hardly a memory from my youth that didn't include the big Kabar.
 
If you buy one of the older Case folding hunters, in my opinion the better made ones, have the lanyard hole. Some of mine do and some don't. I carried one for years Kabar, but also a Case later, and while I do have a nice sheath for that model, I almost always carried it in my front pocket of my jeans with a leather string doubled and knotted hanging out of my pocket. Then all I had to do was grab the knotted end and pull at the same time making the knife fly around my hand and land in proper place to open the blade, plus the string kept the knife standing up in the pocket better.

Later on I carried a Puma Game Warden lock blade the same way, and also several Buck 110's but I always had to drill hole in them, and that was often a real pain getting the hole in just the right place, but well worth the effort for because I much preferred to keep the knife in my pocket, and it was a lot faster to deploy from there, also.
 
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I like big folders/hunters and have at least 6 or 7 of them Sorry, I need to take some pictures one of these days.
I like the Buck 110 & 112. Several Schrades U.S.A Uncle Henry & Old timers, LB5, LB7, LB8 and 60T & 70T also a SC705. I also have one large Case Hammerhead hunter. One Queen Mountain Man and one GEC 72. These are all of a lock back design. I have a GEC #42 on order and will have it early next week.

I have picked up a few Schrades and a Case Hammerhead on the Traditional for sale forum and a few on the bay. If you watch there are some great deals out there on these hunter folders.

Good luck, Tom
 
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Western made a good folding hunter. I have one that I really like, very nice carbon steel blades. FES and I have the same one, and I'm sure you'll stumble across a photo of his (gets used a lot!). :)
 
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I would say the 110 *was* the classic folding hunter.

I would personally stick to earlier "2 dot" and "3 dot" vintage ones on the used market. That's when their reputation was made.

Lotta hits on this search....

site:bladeforums.com buck blade play
 
23 from GEC is big. They just offered the Bullnose lockbacks, there are a few single blade 23s floating around. The Mountain Man from Queen is almost as big. The Dan Burke daddy barlow from Queen is big. You should be able to find a Camillus 9 daddy barlow on the auction sites. Case daddy barlows are out there, recent ones anyway.
 
Woodrow F Call said:
IMO, the Buck 110 is the classic folding hunter.
Click to expand...

I used to see a lot of that big double bladed hunter CASE as well as a few others made and used back in the 60s and though the mid 70s. Around here anyway, the 110 rapidly replaced all of them in short order at the hunting camp and at work.

Not saying the 110 is better than the other folding hunter patterns, but it did seem to just wash them all away in no time at all. I thought the 110 was too pointy for a hunting knife when it came time to skin/gut/clean, and never liked a folder of any sort for large game cleaning because it is too hard to get pieces of meat, hair and blood out of them. Never slowed down any my friends. That seemed like the National Knife of Texas for about 10 - 15 years running.

Robert



Robert
 
midnight flyer said:
I used to see a lot of that big double bladed hunter CASE as well as a few others made and used back in the 60s and though the mid 70s. Around here anyway, the 110 rapidly replaced all of them in short order at the hunting camp and at work.

Not saying the 110 is better than the other folding hunter patterns, but it did seem to just wash them all away in no time at all. I thought the 110 was too pointy for a hunting knife when it came time to skin/gut/clean, and never liked a folder of any sort for large game cleaning because it is too hard to get pieces of meat, hair and blood out of them. Never slowed down any my friends. That seemed like the National Knife of Texas for about 10 - 15 years running.

Robert



Robert
Click to expand...
The large 2-blade is what I think of as a "folding hunter," to be true to the pattern name. Buck's use of the same term is a bit confusing, since it was an already established traditional pattern when they decided to call their decidedly unique lockback a folding hunter.
 
midnight flyer said:
I used to see a lot of that big double bladed hunter CASE as well as a few others made and used back in the 60s and though the mid 70s. Around here anyway, the 110 rapidly replaced all of them in short order at the hunting camp and at work.

Not saying the 110 is better than the other folding hunter patterns, but it did seem to just wash them all away in no time at all. I thought the 110 was too pointy for a hunting knife when it came time to skin/gut/clean, and never liked a folder of any sort for large game cleaning because it is too hard to get pieces of meat, hair and blood out of them. Never slowed down any my friends. That seemed like the National Knife of Texas for about 10 - 15 years running.

Robert



Robert
Click to expand...
The large 2-blade is what I think of as a "folding hunter," to be true to the pattern name. Buck's use of the same term is a bit confusing, since it was an already established traditional pattern when they decided to call their decidedly unique lockback a folding hunter.
 
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