I remember my first Knife

I forget which knives exactly were my first...

My uncle gave my sister and I a set of jack knives that he bought at the dollar store when I was about 5 (they had some kind of weird, reflective and checkered/flannel pattern that was just a sticker on a steel slab handle), and then I think at about six my dad bought me a little keychain SAK. The dollare store knife, I decided to see if a camp fire was hot enough to melt it, not thinking about how I would get it out afterward... So it got left in the camp fire. Not sure whatever happened to the SAK.

I think the first real knife I got I was about 8 or 9 and it was a Old Timer dog leg jack and a Schrade Uncle Henry stockman my grandpa gave me. The dogleg jack was really used, he use to castrate hogs with it he told me, so that might explain why it was sharpened so much. I still have those two, but he also have me another Old Timer of a different pattern which I lost a few years ago during a move.

Then when I was about 10 or 11 I got a Buck 119 that I still have, and then a KaBar USMC a few years later that I don't have. I also had a Buck Odyssey 2 at some point but lost that years ago in someone's couch.

Those were my best knives up until recently. I had other ones, but too many with not enough redeeming features to mention. Sometime a year ago I got my Benchmade Kulgera, which was the first knife I spent more than $100 on.
 
When I was about eight years old, I picked up one of those little TRIM knives that my dad had, sitting on the piano with his other pocket contents in the living room. I liked opening the blades & messing around with it, but I don't remember trying to use it for cutting.

A while later, I figured out that it would make a perfect parachute weight, and made a parachute with it. All went well, until I got it stuck in a tree. I promptly forgot about it, until after a storm it fell far enough down for dad to reach up and grab it, and he realized what I'd done.

Needless to say, he wasn't happy with what I'd done with his little knife, which, by the way, he'd been looking for for a week and didn't know I had it.

He took it back, and gave me a steel washer for my parachute. about five years later, we were talking about it, and he went to his little dresser box, got it out, and gave that little TRIM knife to me. Unfortunately, I later lost it (and a lot of other stuff) in a move.

~Chris
 
My first knife was a hobo style that was a gift when I joined the Cub Scouts. I wish I still had it. My first hunting knife was a gift from my uncle on my first deer hunt. It was a stag handled Bowie made in Germany.
 
Oh god... my memory... 20 years and I'm already starting to feel old. I think my first knife was some Wenger ripoff of a little SAK. At that time i thought a bench grinder was the ideal tool to sharpen knives, so the blade lasted for about 1 year and then broke off because it was down to half the original with and wasn't able to stand the abuse that I put it to anymore.

After that I had several knives, most of them pretty bad, some actually surprisingly good (i can't remember ever spending more than 15 € on a knife). The first expensive "knife" related thing I bought was a Victorinox Super Tool Which has seen a lot of use in the past 5 years but is still in pretty good condition.

--

maethor
 
First knife was a Classic SAK from my sister when I was 8.

My most memorable knife however was the beautiful stag-handled uncle henry my dad gave me when I was 10. I had watched him use it clean my fish for a long time and he gave it to me the summer after I had turned 10 =)

I still have and use both knives. Very fond of them, plan to pass them down to my kids in the far off future
 
Ahh yes, my first knife. I still have it. A blue two blade Victorinox pocket knife with the Cub Scouts logo on it. Makes me almost want to carry it this week, lol. My first fixed blade, a big survival knife from a local cutlery. My Utica survival knife. Hollow handle with the compass, saw teeth on the back of the blade. Still have it too. I beat the snot out of it as a kid, many a lean-too was built with it hacking down small trees in the woods behind my house. Honestly, I wish I could find another one that isn't beat up for my collection. lol, The good 'ol days.
 
The first knife I remember buying was a Barlow style that I paid $1.25 for at the local news stand back in the late 60's. The steel was so cheap, I never got it to hold an good edge. I got my first good knife a few years later, it was a Old Timer 340T(Schrade, New York, USA) that I still have.
 
Imported SAK-style monster with a fork and a spoon! Thanks Dad! Wish I still had it so I could post a pic for you guys to chuckle over...I still grin when I think of it.

Edit: found a pic. Enjoy!

LessIsMore12.jpg
 
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I had about 4 or 5 knives by the time I turned 10. I recall an unknown manuf. carbon steel Barlow. I had a found, broken blade imperial fishing knife, yellow. The blade had been sharpened with a bench grinder. I had a "black cat" that had a weak lock from being thrown at trees so it was given to me. I also had what amounts to a giant camp knife with full size fork and spoon, saw, scissors etc.

My favorite was the barlow. Later I got a nicer camillus and had that for 8 or 9 years until I left for the army.

I tried learning to freehand on that one without any kind of instruction on a really cheap stone. I dulled it more than sharpened it at first. I even tried to sharpen it in the barn on the pedal powered grindstone we used for farm tools. That worked a bit better but still didn't put an edge I would use or carry today.

Later, when stationed in Germany I found that just about every Mom and pop store had a bowl full of switchblades to pick out of costing about 10-12$, up to $30 for the nice hunting type autos in stag or bone.I thought I was in heaven and brought a bunch back'

Later they became common and easy to find here at Gun & knife shows.

By then I had K Bars, a Gerber Mk 2 in S7, etc.

I really didn't have much use for stainless steels until I bought my first Spyderco. An endura in "G2" ( Gin 1).

The rest came like a snowball rolling downhill getting bigger and bigger until I was a part time knife dealer myself at Gun & knife shows.

I gave that up long ago now and just collect knives to use.
 
Phew, dusting off the memory banks here. Though I probably had others, I clearly remember the first one I actually bought. Guessing the year was probably 1959 or so. We lived in the city, where knives were considered "bad", but on the weekends drove to our grandmother's / cousins place about 30 miles away in a small town. There was a dumpy candy / newspaper / cigar store called Smokey Joe's. I saw this card full of Imperial knives that were hung up and displayed, with the elastic string holding them on the board. Went home and emptied out the piggy bank, ran errands, brought back soda bottles for 2 cent deposit, etc., and was able to return the next weekend and buy a 2 bladed, canoe type knife with rounded carbon steel blades and green plastic fake bone scales. I think I remember it being $1.25 which I dutifully counted out in nickels and dimes on to old Joe's glass counter top. This was at a time when cigarettes were 22 cents a pack, and a Hershey's bar was a nickel, so it seemed lie a fortune. Tried to sneak it back home, and of course got busted with it. Typical pocket knife of the times, but it could be sharpened up pretty well.

Got lost along with so many others over the years I could probably fill a 55 gallon drum with all of them :o.

Fun conjuring up that memory.
 
An Imperial Schrade Kamp King I bought with earnings from a newspaper route at age 12. It was my only knife for 15 years until I impulsively gave it to a girl friend who promptly lost it. Many years and knives later, a friend gave me another KK in excellent condition, far better than what the original had become after all the use and abuse. It is one of only 2 keepsake knives in my collection, although occasionally I use it for nasty jobs. Nostalgia is all very well, but sometimes you don't want to mess up a really good knife ;) .
 
My first knife was a crummy little souvenir I got from the Texas State Railroad in Palestine when I was about 6 or 7. Still have it too - more of a letter opener than a knife but it looks like a mini bowie and came in a sheath - and what was neat was my mom didn't want me to have it but my dad picked it up and gave it to me when we got home- I was so excited - loved that little thing.

From there he gave me a marine kabar, and some others which I still have, and the first knife I purchased as an adult which got me hooked was a Kershaw Blackout - it has been all down hill from there!
 
skwab said:
My first knife was a crummy little souvenir I got from the Texas State Railroad in Palestine when I was about 6 or 7. Still have it too - more of a letter opener than a knife but it looks like a mini bowie and came in a sheath - and what was neat was my mom didn't want me to have it but my dad picked it up and gave it to me when we got home- I was so excited - loved that little thing.

From there he gave me a marine kabar, and some others which I still have, and the first knife I purchased as an adult which got me hooked was a Kershaw Blackout - it has been all down hill from there!
Click to expand...

Mine was the same only from Tweetsie Railroad which was located in Blowing Rock, NC. And I actually still have it. It has yellow plastic handles, and total length is about 3 to 4 inches long. I thought it was the grandest thing in the world. I may have been 6 or 7 years old. May have to dig it out and post a pic.

My mom said I would get cut, but after checking the blade, just laughed. I figured I was the only person who would keep something like that. Glad to see there is others skwab.
 
My first knife was an Opinel (probably No. 5ish) that my dad bought for me during a camping trip to Jasper. I really wish that I still had it.

Ever since then, I've always carried a pocket knife, usually junk. Then about 2 years ago, my friend used my $20 Ruko from Canadian Tire to pry something and of course broke the tip off.

I was feeling a bit flush at the time so I thought I would spend a bit more than I usually do and get something decent. I went to House of Knives in the mall, where I now know the prices are outrageous, but the selection is decent and the staff was very knowledgable and helpful.

I left with a CRKT M16-10Z. Ironically the knife that got me into knives is the one that I now hate almost everything about. AUS-4, chisel grind, tanto tip, combo edge, all things that I hate.

This is what prompted me to find Blade Forums, and we all know what happens then :D
 
My first knife was a SAK Tinker. I had that knife for a good 9 years before I lost the darned thing. Now I have SAKs up the wazoo:

Classic
Classic Alox
Money Clip Alox
Compact
Pioneer Alox
Soldier Alox
Farmer Alox
Climber
Explorer
FieldMaster
SwissChamp
SwissChamp XLT
CyberTool 34
CyberTool Lite
Adventurer
WorkChamp
One Hand Trekker
 
My first pocket knife was a black 3 bladed Ranger made by Imperial. I went with my Dad to get it when I was 9 and I carried it everywhere. It wasn't an expensive knife but I thought it was awesome. Sadly, I lost it in the woods when I was 12. I've had many other knives since then but that one was special.

A while back I found one just like it still in it's original packaging. It's just like the one I had before. I keep it safe now and take it out every once an a while for old times sake.
 
The first knife I remember carrying was an old Colonial Barlow with a broken tip that I found in the garage. It was a lousy knife and had all sorts of bladeplay but it worked great for opening boxes in a warehouse.

My first "good" knife was a Buck 313 Muskrat I bought back in 1971 - think I paid 16 bucks for it, which was a pretty big investment back then since I was only making $2.25/hr. :D After I lost my Buck I was sold on quality knives and moved up to Gerber's and Puma's.

buck313.jpg
 
Grew up in the early 70's hanging out around a muddy river a bit like Tom Sawyer. even had a corn cob pipe. My friend and I would ride our push bikes to our shack and boat wearig our shanghhai's(slingshots), made in China machettes and knives. Mine was a Soligen made Sheriffs knife. Confession time the knife was shop-lifted and used and abused throwing etc. I can't remember what happened to it but funnily enough, nostalgia rang and I recently bought one off of ebay for $80.
 
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