Did a loved one or friend get you interested in a certain brand?

[silenthunterstudios]

I would have to say that Buck would be my families brand of choice. Growing up everyone had and used a Buck 110 when hunting season rolled around. Two of my uncles carry the 303 stockman knives and always compare them when we are at trout camp. My Grandfather carried a Buck single blade 704 that my mom gifted him when I was little. He used it a lot ended up breaking the blade, Buck of course fixed it with their awesome warranty.

A few 102 Woodsman fixed blades end up on the hip of my family members. My brother is a bit of a goofball and carries five fixed blades on him when we are at bear camp, ranging from the big 119 down to the little 102.... There is something wrong with that kid.

The two mainstays for my Dad was a Buck 422, one of the original Bucklites and a 119 he used for quartering deer. I have so many memories of those two knives opening deer up and getting them ready for the freezer.

What actually got me started into knife collecting though was a Case toothpick knife in the Caribbean blue bone. To me that's still one of the nicest dyes Case has ever used. My Mom gifted it to my Dad one year for his birthday. From the moment she picked it out of the display case at our local hardware store I was in love with whole idea of knife collecting. I worked that weekend as hard as I could to earn a Case knife of my own. My first Case was a camo caliber lockback, it didn't matter that it paled in comparison to my Dad's toothpick knife, it was the sheer fact that I had a Case knife. Fast forward a few years and I continued to collect only Case knives never paying attention to many other brands. When I turned thirteen I started my first job as a farmhand at a local produce farm and my parents wanted to reward me for starting my working career. The reward was a beautiful Queen cutlery folding hunter from a local sporting goods store, to this day the quality of that Queen has not been surpassed by any other Queen made knife. While at the store, the man behind the counter brought up this new up and coming company called Great Eastern Cutlery.

He told the story of the Primitive bone knives and how they discovered the old cattle graveyard and utilized the old bone for knife handles, but I wanted nothing to do with it. This new company hadn't done anything to gain my collecting attention like Case and Queen had with their years upon years of cutlery experience... Hey, I was young. The story and brand had caught the interest of my Mom who suggested I check them out, as a Case man, I declined. A couple years went by before I actually caught on and took my Mom's advice.

To this day I've rarely bought any knife that didn't pass through the doors of the Great Eastern factory. I've been to eight Rendezvous if I remember correctly and have the ability to call the people there my friends. The knives they produce are top of the line in my books, but the people who make them are even better! If you ever get the chance, stop in and take a tour, it's worth the time!

I'm a young guy so I've grown in the knife world along side GEC and I've enjoyed using their knives throughout the years with a lot of pleasant memories to count on. It helps that the Factory is just a river away from trout camp!

Sorry to ramble, I've enjoyed this thread immensely!

I need to make it to one of the Rendezvous. Ryan Daniels got me started on GEC knives and then brought me back to Queens when they acquired the company. I got to meet Ken, and Ryan and his wife have always taken care of me at shows. I still need to get a scout camp knife from their Tuna Valley line.

 

[Buzzbait]

Was that because you/they were/are close to the old company, local/regional heritage?

Yes. We're all in Upstate New York. My wife and I even lived about a 20-Mile drive from Camillus at one point. We both grew carrying Camillus knives.

I still feel gut punched every time I think about Camillus Knives shutting down.

 

[hms]

I took a year of auto shop in high school in Williamsburg Va. The teachers name was Dean Case. He was from Connecticut and claimed to be a member of the Case knife family, and as such could get all the Case knives he wanted for the asking. He always carried a Case knife, but he was far more interested in cars and racing.
He got me curious enough to splurge on my first Case knife, a medium jack which I still have.

 

[r redden]

My grandfather was a Barlow man. No particular maker he just loved that pattern. The first knife he ever gave me was a Colonial Barlow I have shown here before that Glennbad rehandled for me in stag. I still have an infinity for Barlows and they take up a good portion of my collection.

Charlie I have a Robeson Daddy Barlow like yours this picture with an Ulster Barlow for size comparison.

 

[puukkoman]

When I was a boy, my Dad was a gun trader and we went hither and yon in search of anything that would fire a metallic cartridge and turn a profit at resale.

We went to gun shows, pawn shops, hardware stores, trade days, etc.

I started acquiring pocketknives, any brand, any pattern and ended up as a young adult with a cigar box full of mostly unused knives.

On one particular trip to a fishing tackle and hunting store outside Decatur, Alabama, Dad was buying a group of Smith & Wesson "Victory Models" which were war surplus revolvers, rechambered for .38 Special cartridges, nickel plated and new grips added. I was exploring the store, which had more merchandise than one could actually look at.

The owner had terrible emphysema, could barely talk and was in the process of "selling out".

Along one counter was a series of wooden bins, about 12" x 10" x 10" deep and each held a mass of different patterned pocketknives. There were six or eight of those bins that had dozens of mint Robeson Strawberry Bone handled pocketknives.

Dad picked out a few patterns he thought he could sell at a gun show and bought a half dozen of each.

I appropriated a couple of those, a Daddy Barlow and an 088 two blade Congress for myself.

Fast forward to 1988, when I discovered that box of old knives had value and I started to, once again, collect knives. Those two Strawberry Bone Robesons became the nucleus of my Robeson knife collection.

Still have the 088 Congress.

Always will.

Cool story, thanks for sharing it with us. :thumbup:
And, I especially like your Robesons, those strawberry bone knives are some of my all-time favorites. I have a daddy barlow very much like yours, that I carry quite a bit.

 

[silenthunterstudios]

Yes. We're all in Upstate New York. My wife and I even lived about a 20-Mile drive from Camillus at one point. We both grew carrying Camillus knives.

I still feel gut punched every time I think about Camillus Knives shutting down.

I was hoping that the company that bought Camillus would use the old factory to make their USA made knives, but they're contracted out I believe.

 

[Halfneck]

Case knives always hold a special place in my heart. My Grandfather loved his Case knives, he had other brands but he always seemed to have a Case in his pocket. As a poor kid in the 70s I couldn't afford the Case knives. Mostly carried either a Schrade middleman stockman or a Sears brand lockback. Holding one of my Case knives in-hand brings back good memories of Poppa teaching me to fish.

 

[Rookie82]

My grandfather was the sales manager at Queen in the 70's and early 80's. Once he left there he became a knife dealer, and took me to a lot of knife shows around the country with him. So I've been dabbling in the trade since I was about 5 years old I guess. But my knowledge mostly just focused on what my grandfather's table was selling, which was mostly Queen, Schatt & Morgan, and Case tested era, along with a few random pieces. I didn't start learning and developing my own knife interests until I was over 20 years old. Now I focus on the NKCA Youth Knives and their prototypes (my grandfather bought me my first 5 youth knives which started the collection). And my other interest is the Tuna Valley line (my grandfather gave me an original 1906 pearl handled Tuna Valley, so that started that collection also.) No matter how you slice it, my grandfather was the only influence in my life regarding pocketknives.

 

[jackknife]

When I think about my childhood, it seems that all themenin my life had a pocket knife on them and used it for something everyday. My dad, Uncle Paul, Mr. Van our scout master, all were an influence on me and my taste in knives in general. Growing up with a father like my dad, he was a study in minimalism.

They say the environment you throw up in casts an indelible influence on how you grow up, so I guess I'm a conglomerate of dad, Mr. Van, and Uncle Paul. Maybe a dash of Bill the trapper of the Jenkins store in the mix. Lord knows I spent enough time on the front porch of the store listening to those guys like they were the holy gospel of all outdoors. To this day, I remember Bill Harding in a drunken haze pronouncing that all that was needed was finger worth of blade.

 

[silenthunterstudios]

I should say that two men in the knife community have had a huge impact on me, starting in my late 20s and into my mid 30s. Scott Gossman and Carl/Jackknife. Both men are quiet and reserved but when they talk you listen. Or rather, I should. Both are outdoorsmen, both like slipjoints and traditional knives. Scott got me started in custom knives, and the bushcraft community. Carl showed me that I can get by fine with a peanut, something that Scott jokingly echoed, he said I didn't need anything in the office, which I don't. Both men prefer small fixed blades for EDC, but Maryland doesn't . Texas seems to not mind I hear, PA doesn't mind too much either if you're out in the boonies or small towns ...

Both men appear to be the last of an old breed, like my father and uncles.