Good pocket knife story … show us pics of your old, worn pocket knives.

arizonaranchman said:
Coonskinner,

A sad story of your childhood experience. How old is that pocket knife? How long did he carry it would you estimate? That's as worn of a pocket knife as I think I've ever seen! Tons of hard use and many years in the pocket for sure. Thanks for sharing.
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I imagine he carried it a while.

I was six when he gave it to me, and he had carried it my whole life.

It was in better shape when he gave it to me.

I used and carried it religiously until I was a teenager and got sense enough to put it away.

I have no idea how many bull calves that thing has made into steers, or how many deer, coon, and squirrel it has skinned.

But a lot, I promise.
 
Here are my two real oldies, both are 50+ years old, and about the only heirlooms remaining from my youth.

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quattromori said:
I found this knife a few weeks ago in a drawer at my parents' house. I have no idea where it comes from, nor how old it might be...but it's no newborn for sure :p

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Fausto
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Fausto, I noticed that one when you posted it in the Pattadese thread. I have to say, I really love it! It looks like it could tell many stories of its past adventures. I hope that one day, when my Resolza grows old, it will age as gracefully as that one! :thumbup:

Coonskinner, that's a very touching story; thanks for sharing it with us.
 
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One more. It isn't really a pocket knife, but it is old and irreplaceable. It was my Uncle's. I never met him, he was killed in a hunting accident at the age of 15. I believe he had this knife with him that day:

 
About 20 years ago I was digging up a shrub in my garden. About three feet deep I ran into a big pocket of sand in which I found this very early Italian knife. I always thought it was a trade knife because of the zigzag rocker engraving on the scales which is exactly like the early trade silver traded to First Nations peoples. When I joined the forums I posted it on Bernards forum where he identified it as likely 18th century and Italian.
The brass scales are over horn, the blade is bent at the tip but I guess the sand protected it from rusting. How an 18th century knife got buried in southern Ontario I have no idea. A first nations history would have made much more sense.

Best regards

Robin
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Awesome historical knives... What is the pattern # of the medium stockman there?

Flint Hills said:
These first two were my great-grandfather's, and I believe they qualify as "old, worn pocket knives." :D







Story about them here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...sgiving-surprise-my-great-grandfather-s-knife

This one was my grandfather's. Stainless medium stockman. The main blade is broken off at the tang, and you can see that it's been sharpened a lot and carried so much that the "CASE" is worn off of the shield:

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What great pictures of knives and related stories we've had here so far - thanks to all who posted!

Coonskinner, thank you for sharing your story and the picture of your knife. I don't recall reading it before, and it's so memorable and heart wrenching that I think I would have remembered it had I read it. I do remember pictures you posted a few years ago of you and your boys on horses, among other great pics also. Glad to see you back here a little more lately!
 
mudguard said:
Awesome historical knives... What is the pattern # of the medium stockman there?
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I'm not sure exactly, but it seems the same as my 6318. It's from the 70's. As you can see in the pic, the sheepsfoot has been sharpened so that it isn't a straight edge anymore and the main blade is broken off, so it looks a little funny.

It has wood handles, but I'm not sure what type of wood it is. I wish they still made them with a wood handled option.
 
Hello All. This is a great thread and I really like reading the stories. Here is my Grandpa's knife. He is long gone but I have his knife and I cherish it. I dont carry it except for my recent wedding day. I also checked my pocket a thousand times that day. I know the main blade is proud but I am not fixing it. It is "as was when his". I love the color and the pocket worn look. It looks alot like the stockman from the above post by Flint Hills.
Nathan
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Coonskinner - I got a bit of dust or dirt or something in my eyes while reading your post… not sure what it was, but it made my eyes water. My wife looked over at me like I was crazy, so I told her she needed to do a better job vacuuming, dusting and such. Don't think she believed me, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Thanks to all for the posts in this thread. Lots of great knives, and even better stories.
 
That's a poignant story Coonskinner. Thanks for sharing it.

- Christian
 
navin74 said:
Hello All. This is a great thread and I really like reading the stories. Here is my Grandpa's knife. He is long gone but I have his knife and I cherish it. I dont carry it except for my recent wedding day. I also checked my pocket a thousand times that day. I know the main blade is proud but I am not fixing it. It is "as was when his". I love the color and the pocket worn look. It looks alot like the stockman from the above post by Flint Hills.
Nathan
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Wow! This is a spectacular example of "pocket worn" to say the least. This is a classic! Thanks for sharing. Great pics.
 
Pipeman said:
About 20 years ago I was digging up a shrub in my garden. About three feet deep I ran into a big pocket of sand in which I found this very early Italian knife. I always thought it was a trade knife because of the zigzag rocker engraving on the scales which is exactly like the early trade silver traded to First Nations peoples. When I joined the forums I posted it on Bernards forum where he identified it as likely 18th century and Italian.
The brass scales are over horn, the blade is bent at the tip but I guess the sand protected it from rusting. How an 18th century knife got buried in southern Ontario I have no idea. A first nations history would have made much more sense.

Best regards

Robin
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Ok THIS is an absolutely FASCINATING story and knife here! Do you know anything about the past history of your property where you found it? This is VERY interesting and looks to be ancient.
 
Back in '83, I took a new SAK Pioneer out of the knife case in my small sporting goods store and used it to help my Dad cut up 10+ big water heater boxes next door. When we were done, my "out of the box" ALOX SAK was still really sharp...I was very impressed so it went into my pocket and I carried it for about 10 years. Timed moved on and it ended up forgotten in my truck toolbox.

We got the call on New Years Day 2006 that wildfires had destroyed my parent's farm and my Dad had been missing about 3 hours. We were 4 hours away and made a quick and stressful trip to the farm.....the wildfires were pushed by 50 mph winds and it looked like a war zone.

My Mom left in a car earlier but Dad had stayed behind to get the dogs and was trapped by the fire at the front gate. He saw a wall of fire about 50 yards high coming from the west, loaded the dogs into the truck and backed under a big tractor shed my FIL had built for him. The fire passed over him like a tornado (he said) and he watched his farm burn and then passed out. Dad was a fireman, retiring as a Captain after 20 years out in West Texas and by using that big shed as a fire break, he saved his life. Dad had Angels with him that day, I have no doubt.

We always hunted and fished at the farm so I had all my gear there including my knife collection which included all my store stock I brought home when I had closed it in '84. Most of my my guns were lost and all of my knives.

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Imagine my joy months later when I looked in the truck toolbox!!!!

There it was, my old Pioneer with the ground off keyring that I had carried so long and thought was lost along with everything else.

Here it is with some of the fixed blades I kept.
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I later found a few more knives in other places at my house but none brought the joy of when I saw that silver cross on the red background down in my toolbox...and that's why today...I'm a SAK Guy!

Btw, the dogs were fine as well!!!! :D
 
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arizonaranchman said:
Ok THIS is an absolutely FASCINATING story and knife here! Do you know anything about the past history of your property where you found it? This is VERY interesting and looks to be ancient.
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Hi Arizona
The house was built in 1901 as a cottage. It was raised and had a foundation poured in the late 30s and was hooked up to the sanitary sewers in the early 50s. These are the two times that the earth was disturbed around the house to my knowledge. I would say it's likely the knife was lost during the pouring of the foundation. The question is, why would someone be carrying an 18th century knife ;-))) Here is a pic of a piece of rocker engraved "indian" trade silver.
It's certainly a mystery.

Best regards

Robin
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Great stories. I have the only known surviving knife owned by my father's father, whom I knew slightly. He was born about 2 weeks before Custer was killed. He was a semi-professional hunter and trapper back in the day and was so good with a knife that he received messages from folk 50 miles away and more to come do skinning jobs for them. He made many primitive knives himself. Doing rough math, he probably touched a knife to somewhere around 50,000 animals in his time, possibly one of maybe a couple thousand men in the U.S. who could say that. Now that is traditional. This Boker was made in the 30s or 40s, most likely.

 
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