Hardware store knjves

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Poeschel

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Jan 2, 2016
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I remember back in the 80s when I was growing up, you could walk into the local hardware store and buy affordable, made in USA carbon steel knives. My first folder my dad got me was an imperial and what a great blade it was. Seems like all I see in local stores now is junk. Why is that? Is there not enough demand for a good knife? I miss seeing schrades, case, western.....what did your hardware store carry?
 
Closest one to me carries Case, Buck, Victorinox and Leatherman. Plus a bunch of peg-hook mounted low-end stuff.
 
Yes I miss the good old days also. My first SAK and buck stockman came from hardware stores.
I still see a few and my last leatherman came from Ace. For the most part it's junk. Now I'm sad.:grumpy:
 
greetings,
wow, great memories. a case of case knives that I'd drool over, Camillus display, ka-bar display, schrade display. unfortunately, the 60's are long gone. thanks for the memories, poeschel. gone but not forgotten.
 
I was excited to see that my local ace now carries case, Buck, and victorinox. They used to just have a big case of junk, but they've expanded. Just hope the demand is there to keep them stocking them as I've got my eye on a new sodbuster. Heard one of the other aces has microtech. I let the manager know that I'd bite if he got those in.
I used to work at a small privately owned hardware store in the summers and all we stocked were pretty much garbage. Guess it depends on the manager and his budget.
 
Relatively, the junk you're referring to is probably roughly what was being sold back in that period of time. Technical and steel advancement have just created higher tiers. This is in regard to quality of course, not pricing.

There have been threads about how most people don't quality-shop knives. They buy on impulse and to spend more than $30 on one is repulsive to them because they see so many cheap ones around.

I think most high end knife owners are either BladeForums readers or those who are given them by someone else.
 
My local hardware store only carries Victorinox. I wish they had some different brands.
 
The Ace Hardware by me (it was a Hardware Hank until sometime in the last 20 years) me carries Buck, Ka-Bar and Victorinox knives and I think Leatherman Tools too. They are little over the price you can get online but still fair, I've still picked up a few items there over the years. I have a Ka-Bar 3000 small folder that I bought 15 years ago and it still get some pocket time.
 
You can ask the manager at the store to carry something else. I know someone who works at a hardware store in Portland that got in a selection of Benchmades, but dropped them after a while because they just didn't sell. Even the big chain stores like Ace and TrueValue are usually franchises so they can order in a lot more than what appears in the catalog.
 
Knives? I would settle for some decent tools in my local big box hardware stores that killed all the local shops. I went in to buy a drill press, and they had exactly one model with exactly one box in stock that was obviously a return.
 
My dad ran an Ace Hardware in the 70s and 80s and I worked there in my late teenage years. We carried Case and Schrade and I believe Buck and also Boker. We picked up a couple of the big Case folding hunters that were "collector's items" that I still have. I wish I had been collecting then, as there were some nice Case knives that passed through the store.

I still have a sweet little Case red letter Peanut that he gave to me in 1978...great little knife.

I love walking into a real hardware store and just looking around, but they are getting harder to find.
 
My local Tractor Supply Co. carries USA-made Case and Buck knives. I've picked a few up here and there over the years - prices are decent. It's good to know they are available there in case I need to pick up a last minute knife gift for someone.

Btw, WELCOME to the Forum!
 
A good old time hardware store is a joy to visit. There's an old true value hardware store in Carolina Beach that I visit every time in there. They carry Case folders.
 
I remember walking up to the Schrade, Imperial, Case, and Buck display boxes by the registers at our local hardware store as a kid. I would admire the various patterns and handle covers. Miss those good old days. I don;t know why, but the Buck 119 was always the most impressive knife I always gravitated towards that one.
 
The only brands worthwhile I see at Crappy Tire are Buck and Victorinox. Got my first 110 there and gifted it to a dear friend because I loved it as much as I did. I also bought my 119 there. There's also the odd SOG or Schrade, though I've never tried one of their blades; the products of either company never really appealed to me.

It's very rare in Canada to find a brick and mortar store with decent knives therein...and for a sensible price? Forget about it.
 
As a kid back in the '70s, the first knife I bought was at a family-run hardware store that had a big Schrade display case. That was the only brand they sold. I later bought a Buck 303 at a marine supply store that had a Buck display case. I also got some pocketknives at sporting goods stores (Ka-Bar, Colonial, etc.). I got my first Victorinox SAK at a downtown hardware store when I was 18. Throughout that whole time, I never saw, nor ever heard of, Case knives. In fact, I only heard of Case when I was well into my 30s, in a knife catalog that came unsolicited in the mail.

Jim
 
I remember seeing a large case of Explorer knives. I have not seen an Explorer knife since the 70's.
 
My parents own a True Value. Each store is individually owned and operated, and we can buy from whomever we wish. The True Value warehouse itself stocks the basic stuff like Case and Buck. However, we do business with a LOT of vendors, and as such there isn't a limit on what we can stock. The Solingen steel knives, like Eye Brand, Tree Brand, Arbolito, etc are very popular in our area. We carry Benchmade as well. Case knives are very popular. Cold Steel. Some Spyderco. Our market, being where it is, likes good knives for cheap. It's hard to sell Benchmade type knives were we are. But carbon steel sodbusters.....best seller.

As far as kitchen knives, we used to only have Chicago Cutlery. And back in the day when they made carbon blades...they were great. Then they changed to a stainless that is just horrible. We just picked up the Henckels and Whustoff line of knives as well.

So depending on the hardware store...you never know what you're gonna get!
 
As a kid, my local hardware store had a Case display. Bought my first Barlow there. It cost what it cost. There was no internet to shop knives like today. The convenience of shopping online for such things as knives has really hurt stores from carrying higher end knives. Impulse buying is very important.

Stores stock what sells. Some smaller stores still stock Case and Buck knives, but mostly it is Frost stuff that I see.
 
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