Hollow handle survival knife confessions

never had one... never will.
I was always pretty interested in the knives at the walmart checkout line... which turned out to be buck 110 rip-offs the served me well... until I lost ALL of them.
:D
 
Call them Guilty Pleasures.. owning a hollowhandle knife is how a lot of guys started out with their obsession over knives. I had the EXPLORER got it at a Sears sporting goods section purchased by my Grandfather.

I had it until '93 and I lost it over in Somalia.
 
I bought one with the big bulbous compass and never knew the handle could hold stuff and was hollow until I was chopping with it and the blade flew off. Out poured the matches and stuff. I was amazed at the hollow handle thing so I foolishly bought another one to hide all my treasures in. After this one also broke, I made a spear out of the blade.
 
Thankfully never owned a hollow handle knife, though as a kid I saw them being sold at a market where my grandmother used to own a stall. The worst knife I've ever had was one my brother found at a truckstop. The handle of this thing was extremely heavy, being simply a big chunk of steel with a piece of hard plastic riveted to it as a grip. The blade was about six inches or so with a fish scaler on the back, and it had a tang extending about an inch into the handle with a single pin holding it there. Anyway, it was a real POS and I threw it out a couple of years ago.
 
I bought a Buckmaster when they first came out back in the 1980s. I gave $135.00 for it.
that was a lot of money for a knife back then. now I have $400+ knives.:D
 
Tim,

If you had that Buckmaster now in perfect shape, it, too, would be worth well over 300.00 :D

I had one. The "saw" was ludicrous but it was one hell of a chopper. Banged your leg to death while hiking.
 
okbohn said:
If you saw Rambo...you HAD to have a hollow handle knife!
Click to expand...

Hi all my name is Jules and I owned a Rambo replica knife...

and it was average, very very average. But as Derek says you had to have one. Hell I haven't thought about that knife for years.
 
I bought one from the souk when I was 15. My mother went balistic when she found out I had spent $60 on it.
The survival kit and compass fell out into the water when I was chopping some wild reeds, but the knife itself is still in good shape and I'm pretty sure I have it stashed somewhere
 
macgregor22 said:
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Its funny that they sold these for $10 back then and they sell them for $5 now.
Most of use wont admit it but almost all of us have owned a knife like this.
Heres mine.
b3mow4.jpg

My dad got it for me after my first hunting trip when I was 8.

Now lets see your pictures and hear your confessions.:D
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I had one of those when i was a kid. I think i still have the knob/pommel with the compass in it.
The compass didn't work right either.
Hmmmm a compass mounted on a steel knife.
I wonder why it didn't work?(sarcasm) lol!
After i acquired some thing better the blade got stuck tip first into a stump and an attempt was made to pry the stump apart.
The blade bent and bent and bent.... Basically it bent to 90 degrees and never did break.
That cheapo stainless was very soft!
:D
We should send one to Bear Grylls, great for hotel room survival!
;)
 
I remember those. Some of my friends got them in scouts. The big, bulbous compass was never stable, so it was not usable. Then there was the riveted blade with less than 1" of tang and no support inside the handle. Then there was the soft steel, bad grinds, and bottle opener weakening the whole thing so that the weakest point wasn't at the hilt, where about 1/3 of them broke, but at the bottle opener, where the rest of them did.

The masters of cheapness, was my thought. Cool concept, very poor execution, with some serious flaws in design.

My knives in that time period were a frontier medium stockman, a Boker whittler, and a Case Muskrat. Other than that, I had some custom sheath knives that my dad taught me how to make. Those, I've never broken. :D
 
For alot of use though this knife kept us in wilderness survival and got us interested. We bought this knife then broke it and bought something better.
 
sixgunner455 said:
I remember those. Some of my friends got them in scouts. The big, bulbous compass was never stable, so it was not usable. Then there was the riveted blade with less than 1" of tang and no support inside the handle. Then there was the soft steel, bad grinds, and bottle opener weakening the whole thing so that the weakest point wasn't at the hilt, where about 1/3 of them broke, but at the bottle opener, where the rest of them did.
Click to expand...

Yep. I had one with the big compass on the outside. The one I had wasn't rivited though. It had a 7/16" nut on the inside and the tang of the blade was threaded. I know because it wouldn't stay tight and I was constantly having to tighten it.

I was probably 10 or 12 years-old and new nothing of thread locker or lock washers :rolleyes:. Apparently the chinese didn't either.

The knife was a gift from my uncle. At the time I thought it was the coolest knife. Never broke the blade. The compass, the cheap wire saw and the other stuff that came with it all broke in short order.

After that I went to what I think was a knock off of a Marbles type hunting knife. Stacked leather handle, aluminum pommel, and a 4"-ish blade. Then a Camillus Air Force Survival knife that I had untill I lost it just two years ago on a camping trip.
 
The first knife in the thread looks like the original Lifeknife Design that was copied by everyone and their brother.

That knife you just posted Aaron, that looks like the Lifeknife Commando or a copy of it.

Lifeknife had a lot of other stuff as well, even had a model called the Floatknife and the Trailmaster.
 
Don Rearic said:
That knife you just posted Aaron, that looks like the Lifeknife Commando or a copy of it.
Click to expand...

I haven't heard of that brand. The knife I pictured was Explorer Wilderness knife.
I would actually like to find a replacement so I posted that in the Trade area.
I found one similar on eBay.
It was a tough knife the only complaint I have with it is that the stone sucked and in the cold weather the handle being metal was not very comfortable...
I finally cord wrapped it.
 
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