How old were you and what kind of knife...?

I was 6. Summer of '87. Both my parents worked days and I'd spend the day with one set of grandparents or the other. When I was with dad's parents, my grandfather and I would always go fishing or out in the woods or just mess around in his woodshop.

One morning we went fishing and he handed me this old knife in a well worn (even then) brown leather sheath. He said a good fisherman needs a good knife. I opened the sheath and this huge hunk of wood and brass and steel fell out in my lap.

The knife wasn't new when he gave it to me, he'd carried it for over ten years.

Below is a picture of that first knife, and it's baby brother... I still carry the old one from time to time.

110s.jpg


1973 (no dot, three line stamp) on top and 2005 (Idaho stamp) on bottom.

Keep in mind, that's a huge knife for a six year old.

Ben
 
I was about 8, and my father gave me an Ulster scout knife. Unfortunately I no longer have it.
 
Wow, havent thought about this for a while. My first knife was an old cub scout multiblade that my dad gave me when I was 8. I still have it some where. I have two sons of my own now, so I reckon it's gonna be both of their first knife(when my youngest is old enough to have a knife I'll get my oldest a new one).
 
I was nine or ten or something like that. My dad gave me a Buck with a zytel handle... don't remember exactly what it was. I cleaned and sharpened the crap out of it. Someone in the family probably has it now, even if they don't know it.
 
I was 7 or 8 and my dad gave me a small schrade lockback "old timer", I don't know what ever happened to it, and wish that I still had it. Good memories.
 
I was 4 or 5 my father gave my brother and I 'hobo' knives he brought back from Japan (ca. 1961). Mine is in my folders cigar box. A bit beat and sprung. I think I posted a link to a pic of me wearing it sometime past. Grinnin' like a jackass eating cactus with my jeans tucked into my red cowboy boots, the knife on my belt and a costume Confederate cap topping all...I used to be cute. :eek:
 
My first knife was aBuck 110.
Still have it in the original sheath and in great condition.
I beleive I was 11-13 years old.
Roger
 
My brother got one of those small white SAK's with the small knife, file, sissors, toothpick, and tweezers as a graduation present when he graduated middle school and i wanted one so badly but my parents wouldnt get me one because they said i would have to wait 3 yrs until i graduated 8th grade, but my brother ended up getting another one that was black so he gave me the white one. :D and that my friends, is my life story. thank you. :)
 
Crappy no-name chinese slipjoint when I was about 10. After that, I got a cheap lockback, both gifts from my dad. They were rarely carried and hardly ever used, and I didn't get back into knives until I was about 15 or 16 (at 15 the interest re-kindled, at 16 I bought my first "real" knives.)

I still have a SAK Classic that I got from my stepdad when I was 13. It resides in a desk drawer as we speak.
 
11, Cam Scout knife, still have and use. The backsprings need cleaned and polished- lots of damage from a friend who offered to polish with a dremel- but still tight and sharp.
 
about 5 years old when my dad gave me an old timer that is long since lost along with the switchblade and bull whip that he gave me for my eighth birthday.
 
When i was 12 I got my first real knife, a Case Arapaho, I slept with that knife under my pillow :) I used it to dress my first deer i ever shot...2 years later it was stolen from my house during a break in...Last month i was able to buy a "brand-new-in-the-box-since-1981" Arapaho off eBay! woohoo! My wife wouldn't let me keep it under the pillow though :D
 
I was 8 or so, and it was a 110. I wish I still had that knife, I do however have a scar on my knuckle where the blade snapped shut. I remember everything about that knife.
 
I had just turned seven, on 12/3, that Christmas of 1949 when my older brother was given the first Swiss Army Knife that I had ever seen. He, in turn, gave me the Barlow knife that he had been carrying and using for some 3-4 years. He and my Dad spent the rest of Christmas vacation teaching me the care and feeding of a knife.
 
At age 9 I earned enough money doing yardwork to go to Western Auto and bought a Kabar trapper, kept it for about 3 yrs. and lost it in the north Ga. mountains on a family camping trip.... :grumpy: I still miss that knife!!
 
Wow, lots of responses! It was cool reading through them and seeing how everyone seems to remember their first knife, some of you in great detail! If I ever have a kid, I will probably pass my own little knife on to him/her when the kid is about 8 or so. That seems like a good age. :) Or maybe I'll keep it (to make sure it doesn't get lost!) and buy a new one for my own kid. IF I ever even have a kid, lol. Otherwise I'll have to get one for my sister's kid. (My sister is about a month and a half pregnant with her first child!)

~ashes
 
I've had quite a few SAK knock-offs and hollow handle Rambo knives as a kid. I bought a Leatherman PST when I joined ROTC in college in 1993, I was 21. In 1995 I bought a Buck 110 and a 50/50 Spyderco Endura with a molded plastic clip from the PX in Germany, I was 23. Those were my first "real" knives. I still have the 110 but the Endura and the PST have disappeared.
 
I think I was 10 and in the Scouts at the time. My uncle gave me a SAK as a Christmas gift. I thought it was about the best gift I'd ever received. Not surprisingly, I eventually lost it on a camping trip or at summer camp. After that I owned a Schrade Old Timer and a few others.
 
Wenger Esquire- around the time I joined BF so around 14ish
Then 1 month later, POS Gerber LST- it had a bad HT and wouldnt get sharp.
Finally- Spyderco Caly Jrs - 2 of them in the Winter of 2003-4
 
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