Hardware store knjves

In the 80's my local "real" hardware store had a special on knives in their flyer every year before Christmas. I waited for it like a little kid and over the years picked up knives by Victorinox, Case, Camillus, Buck and particularly Schrade. These were the nice Schrades made in Ellenville, NY, USA. I often got some for gifts, as well as something for myself. In fact, I still have a nicely patina aged single blade Old Timer trapper with the brass liner lock that I carry from time to time. It has what I presume is 1095 steel that sharpens up easily like a razor. In fact, I still have a brand new one still in the unopened blister pack stashed away!

I'm sure lots of you remember those Schrade 3 bladed Stockmans that were everywhere. I had a large one in my jeans pocket on the weekends and a small one during the week at the office. Bought at Somers Hardware, on Main Street.

These days it depends on the hardware store, but there seems to be an overabundance of junk.
 
Times have changed (sorry for the cliché). The first knife I bought on my own was a Boy Scout knife from Sears (!). Everything the past few years have been on line exclusively.
 
RevDevil said:
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.
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I hear you on the 119. Just beautiful lines.
 
My local bait stores carried Imperials , The hard ware stores were all Schrade dealers with Case ,Boker and Swiss by order. Every county grocery store had Imperial and Schrade and Case . Buck was always a knife you could order in Eastern Ark 1970-80's.
 
Memories. So I guess I will take a leisurely stroll down memory lane with you fine chaps.

It was the early 80's for me. I remember it all fairly well. The location was Modoc, S.C. There was a old white colored former gas station, turned fireworks stand/flea market/random junk shop. The old people that owned it had a bell jigged up that rang when you walked through the entrance. It would take the old lady about 10 minutes to come from her house, behind the place, to the shop. She was always dressed to the nines. I assumed she went to church every day. She always rode down on one of those wacky looking 3 wheel golf carts with a big handle for a steering wheel. She never appeared as excited to see me as I was her. Looking back, I get it. Her face never smiled. I guess I was expecting her to say, Get Off My Lawn.

The store had a small display case by register with, you guessed it, BUCK knives. As a starry eyed kid, it seemed like 200 knives but, it was probably 15 or so. My brother, who is older, and rich in my mind, bought the Buck Prince. That was my grail knife at 12 years old. But doing odd and ends type chores at the house didn't pay well. So my eyes turned to the Buck Knight. Gazing at that knife with no money, all a young boy could do is dream. And dream I did. I dreamt day and Knight.

Well, a few weeks and a ton of chores later, I was the proud owner of the first new knife I ever bought my self with my hard earned money. I must have carved a 1000 random campfire sticks, cleaned and dressed untold numbers of small game. All taken with my one hole Crossman 766 spitting out .177 Copperhead BBs at break neck speeds with 10 pumps. Now my collection was as complete as a poor 12 year old boy could have. My Buck knife, Crossman, and trusty Everyready 6 D cell flashlight. I would later learn that the Everyready didn't float. But with all this gear, I was a invincible unrelenting back yard Rambo, after school. I was so proud and I had convinced myself I could probably take down a speeding rhino at 60 paces!

Unbeknownst to me, this would be the beginning of my EDC/knife/gun obsession that has carried forward into my mid life crisis years.

The best part of this 30 some odd year old story, I still have the Buck.
 
The true value here stocks the lower priced case buck schrade victorinox and even a few real nice bone handle knives. Whenever I decide I have budget for a traditional I'll buy there even if it's a few bucks more than Amazon. Unless it's outrageously more cough cough bass pro here that sells a mini grip at 150 and normal griptilian for 200 I would rather support local business
 
I see a lot of big names in this thread, Buck, Schrade, Case, Victorinox... Most hardware stores around my city have those very brands still in stock, they seem to sell just fine. However, most of what they have in stock seems to be the imported Chinese variety of knives, with a few exceptions, such as the ever popular Buck 110.
 
The local 5 & 10 carried Imperials when I was a kid. My first couple of knives came from there which is all I could afford. These stores have been replaced by Walmart Supercenters or similar stores. One stop shopping.... and they do carry knives.
 
Around where I am, around 2009 or so, one Tru-Value used to have a display with Case, Gerber, Victorinox, and some cheapest as well. However, several years ago they took the case away and, AFAIK, no longer carry pocketknives. I've also checked at two others in the area, and nothing knife-wise. I can only assume they were poor sellers.

For whatever reason, wherever knives ARE sold, Gerber knives are ubiquitous.

Sport Chalet sells a variety of knives by Spyderco, Benchmade, Gerber (of course), Victorinox, Buck, etc. And many gun stores still sell lots of knives, though higher priced than online.

The old, once family-owned little hardware store where I once bought my first pocketknives back in the '70s, now afaik only carries cheap no-name Chinese imported one-hand knives. They might still have the Schrade display case, because only a few years ago it was still there, though the knives in the display had been sitting in there for decades, and looked it.

Jim
 
The hardware stores around here don't even carry Estwing tools, much less a decent knife selection. I can usually find Buck and Victorinox, but that's about it.
 
Slight tangent here but does anyone know a good hardware store on on route from Kansas city to Detroit?
I'm on a business trip and passing through a lot of rural areas...
Sadly in the Detroit area most hardware stores don't carry any knives to speak of so hoping I can use this opportunity to find a good old time hardware store.
 
Poeschel said:
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?
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Schrade, Uncle Henry, Old timer, Imperial, and Smith & Wesson knives are all made by Taylor Brands these days (a Chinese company). Gerber and Fiskars Brands is a subsidiary of Fiskars Corporation (a Chinese Holdings Company). Frost cutlery is also made in China....Basically about half (probably a little more then half) of what is out there to buy from the hardware store knife case comes from China. And a lot of it is simply cheap junk.

Not saying China can't make a good knife (Taylor Brands actually has some higher end offerings that I have heard aren't bad, and I've yet to meet someone who didn't enjoy using a Fiskars axe). Just saying they sell a lot more bad ones then they do good ones. And that is probably because most people likely don't know the difference and don't care that they don't know the difference. They will buy what looks good and what is presented to them if the price is right. And when it breaks they will buy another one. Can't really blame Chinese companies (and even domestic companies) for doing what works best.

There is still plenty of good quality stuff out there. But what I mean by "good quality" is things you can trust are good off the name alone most of the time. Not all cheap knives are bad. You just can't depend on the name as a seal of quality. You have to asses them on a case by case basis. Getting one good knife from a cheapo brand is in no way an assurance that anything else you get under that brand will be any good. Nor is a getting a bad one under a brand an assurance that everything else they have to offer is junk. The problem with cheapos is that their range of quality varies wildly and does not necessarily have anything to do with what they cost.
 
Just about every Christmas our family would try to go see a huge train display at the local hardware store in Blacksotne, VA, really a fantastic display and set up. After looking awhile I would check out the sporting goods section and they would have Bucks, Victoronix, Case, and a few Chinese stuff. Neat stuff, but I was really happy when I went to the kitchen section and they still had the old Hickory carbon knives, never did get one, maybe another year. As a teenager, not the hardware store but sort of like a merchandise retailer, Best store had the first Kabar marine knife I saw in the case, that was the first BIG knife I saw and I was hooked.
 
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cbach8tw, you just reminded me, I have a OH my dad bought from a small hardware store probably 20 something years ago. I need to go find that thing. It was one of my favorite do it all knives around the house.
 
RicFlair said:
cbach8tw, you just reminded me, I have a OH my dad bought from a small hardware store probably 20 something years ago. I need to go find that thing. It was one of my favorite do it all knives around the house.
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Hey Ricflair, not only were they cool and stayed sharp, but nowadays there are many bushcrafters who are modififying these old carbon blades into bushcraft knives such as kepharts and skinners. A lot of mod threads in the bushcraft site, probably here too. Last year I finally found some old boing knives in carbon steel, and want to try to redo the handles. Around here old carbon steel kitchen knives are hard to find, at least I have had no luck, I bet because there were used hard until nothing left. Sorry to get off topic, I wonder if a lot of people got there kitchen knives from the old hardware stores
 
JeffreyC said:
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.
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Get the sodbuster you definetly won't regret it.
 
I bought my first knife in a hardware store, Oklahoma Tire and Supply, around 1957-1959, when I was 10-12 years old. I don't know where I got the money but I purchased a Queen Steel #75. I don't know why I purchased that particular knife but probably because it was so shiny. We had a Case Shear plant in my hometown so there were lots of Case knives in town and they were dirt cheap and just about every store in town had a display case with Case knives. I carried a knife occasionally until 1971 when I discovered I needed a knife at work and then I started carrying a Buck Stockman daily that I purchased at a local sporting goods store/pawn shop. Back then all the hardware stores had racks of knives, mostly Schrade and Imperial. In 2004, when I needed a new knife, the display cases were mostly gone and no one had knives in boxes, they were all in plastic packaging hanging on racks. I bought a Buck Cadet and when I got home realized it was made in China. I did a lot of searching in local stores but couldn't find a Buck made in the USA. I finally found one in a Cabela's outside of Austin, TX. Since then I have purchased most of my knives online. Locally now the most varied knife selections are at Gander Mountain and Academy though most of their knives are made in China. It seems most stores now sell knives packaged in the plastic bubble wrap and almost all of them are made in China.
 
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