Knife dealers from the past.

[JPD1998]

I remember getting knife catalogs from Cherry's back in the 80's.
They had lots of higher end knives and a big selection of Al Mar knives.
There's still a gun shop with that name, but I don't know if it's the same company.

 

[XJ-linux]

Anyone remember Phil's Fine Cutlery in Las Vegas NV. I remember meeting and buying from him at the great knife shows that use to be held at the old Riviera Hotel and Casino Las Vegas in mid 90s. Still have his knife catalog with prices and descriptions. Before computers and websites only mail order back then. View attachment 1928359

Great photo. I actually owned each of those at some point (not at the same time) over the years. I remember the ads very well. Thanks for posting.

 

[cbach8tw]

I remember my first copies were the black and white Smokey Mountain Knife works catalogs (if I have that correctly) and Cutlery Shoppe and the special paper sales flyers they sent. Also US Cavalry and Atlanta Cutlery.

John_B , back in the mid 80s I remember a Hudson Bay Outfitters in the shopping center near a bowling alley at Fairfax Circle right off Lee Hwy. I think that Is where I bought my first generic hollow handle knife And viewed my first Swiss Army Knives. I also remember a Best store (not a Best Buy and across the street from Penguin Feather records ) right past Fairfax City on Lee Hwy and Rt 50 where I saw my first Camillus marine combat knife, and a Bowie kit knife I fell in love with too. I think I remember an Army/Navy Store in Annandale off Little River Tpke, but I really had fun in a Hofftitz store at Fair Oaks Mall. That is going a ways back if my memory is correct, it may have been in Springfield Mall. I also bought my first Swiss Army knife at Evans there in Fair City Mall, the shopping center right behind the Giant Food Shopping center.

 

[madcap_magician]

Great thread!

I was a 90s kid and for me it was a combination of Cheaper Than Dirt catalogs and the flea market. There was a big flea market in northeast Pennsylvania within bike range, and I got $1,$3, and if I was rich at the time, $5 knives there a lot. My dad was very permissive about that! I was also the neighborhood knife dealer to other kids.

Man, if I did half that stuff as a kid now I'd be on four watch lists and a cable van would always be parked outside my house.

 

[JPD1998]

Great thread!

I was a 90s kid and for me it was a combination of Cheaper Than Dirt catalogs and the flea market. There was a big flea market in northeast Pennsylvania within bike range, and I got $1,$3, and if I was rich at the time, $5 knives there a lot. My dad was very permissive about that! I was also the neighborhood knife dealer to other kids.

Man, if I did half that stuff as a kid now I'd be on four watch lists and a cable van would always be parked outside my house.

I was in high school in the mid 1970's . My friends and I would compare our cheap flea market /mail order finds in the school yard, right out in the open ( while smoking cigarettes).
Lots of wrist flicking and throwing at each other's feet. No one gave a second look.

Most were cheap stilettos like the ones Killgar posted, but I remember someone having a wooden handled knife with 007 inscribed on the scale.

 

[G3]

Brigade is still around. Had a few catalogs from a few years ago somewhere.

https://brigadeqm.com/

 

[TC]

Do you remember a gun shop in Annandale not far from braddock rd?

No, we didn't buy too many guns back then...some .22 Rugers (rifle and pistol), a 12 guage...all at K-Mart and Best IIRC There was a range out in the sticks we went to a couple of times a year, don't recall the exact location of that either (wasn't driving yet).

 

[cbach8tw]

No, we didn't buy too many guns back then...some .22 Rugers (rifle and pistol), a 12 guage...all at K-Mart and Best IIRC There was a range out in the sticks we went to a couple of times a year, don't recall the exact location of that either (wasn't driving yet).

i commented above to John_B, I think there was an Army/Navy Store right off Little River Trpke (rt .236) in Annandale, I was trying to find a USMC combat knife back then. I think I went to Springfield area looking for one the Ar y/Navy store too. I used to enjoy a Hoffritz store at Fair Oaks Mall, it was not there long.

 

[TC]

i commented above to John_B, I think there was an Army/Navy Store right off Little River Trpke (rt .236) in Annandale, I was trying to find a USMC combat knife back then. I think I went to Springfield area looking for one the Ar y/Navy store too. I used to enjoy a Hoffritz store at Fair Oaks Mall, it was not there long.

How about Sunny's Surplus on M Street in Georgetown! Bought some cool but pretty useless stuff there. And a knife or two.

 

[cbach8tw]

How about Sunny's Surplus on M Street in Georgetown! Bought some cool but pretty useless stuff there. And a knife or two.

I didn’t get to Georgetown often, I know they had a mall there. I think I did get my Kabar USMC right before college, it was in a shop in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Thanks for sharing some memories. I also remember seeing a knife store in Pentagon City mall, surprised me to see one there. Also Potomac Mills had a Remington razor shop where they had knives. Back then it was just handling them and hopeful wishing for some day. The, after I got married, I found a Blackjack model 1-7 at the local hardware store that had a great guy who sold their guns and knIves, rhe shop is long gone but the knife remains and so does my memory, I got it for about 70.00 bucks, I did not have enough for tax but the seller told the cashier to ring it up for what I had. After that I would buy some of the German Bokers they had in the display case.

 

[msierant]

greetings all,
3 great places i've bought from since the mid 1960's in chicago. corrado cutlery, breit & johnsin and pomper cutlery. all 3 gone. another favorite was clark cutlery in kentucky. now just good memories. best to all.
mike

 

[Brules1]

There was Koval's Knives in Columbus Ohio. They mostly sold knife making supplies, but sometimes knives. Mr. Koval passed away many years ago.

 

[chevyrulez1]

No, we didn't buy too many guns back then...some .22 Rugers (rifle and pistol), a 12 guage...all at K-Mart and Best IIRC There was a range out in the sticks we went to a couple of times a year, don't recall the exact location of that either (wasn't driving yet).

I remember looking at the guns and knives in Kmart and Sears in the late 70’s to early 80’s in Southern VA. There were also a lot of locally owned country stores and hardware stores that sold such things as well. I had never heard of a Walmart back then

 

[Cutshaw]

Before there was SMKW, there was the Acorn in Gatlinburg. Lots of great stuff there back in the eighties and nineties. Some souvenir junk (just like SMKW) but also the only place around in the 8-s where a boy in Tennessee could find good knives. If I recall correctly, Jerry Busse used to sell his early stuff there.

 

[CPP]

Anyone remember Phil's Fine Cutlery in Las Vegas NV. I remember meeting and buying from him at the great knife shows that use to be held at the old Riviera Hotel and Casino Las Vegas in mid 90s. Still have his knife catalog with prices and descriptions. Before computers and websites only mail order back then. View attachment 1928359

A belt clip?

 

[CPP]

In the early nineties, there was a knife store at the Copley Mall in Boston. If I remember correctly, the store only sold knives which, looking back, was seemed strange for such a high end mall; it was located across from Tiffany’s. I remember a sailing knife they had that I was fascinated with because it had a thumb stud and I had never seen a one-handed-opening knife before but being a college student I didn’t have the money to buy it. My friend did buy a Boker OTF that was manually opened with one hand but closed automatically when rotating the scale. I still have it somewhere.

 

[Triton]

Josh passed away last year; bought a lot of knives from him in the '90s and '00s



Bought many a knives at Chesapeake K&T in the Towson Mall!

I'm not 100% on this but I seem to remember this being a thread in TGB&U and that reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated.

 

[Ebbtide]

I definitely remember the elephant knife, it was one of the biggest knives in the catalogs. Here's a pic of one version below (I remember they also came with white handles). Another was the "wolf" swing guard, and the tiger and lion swing guards.

I remember a stiletto with what looked like a picture of a black panther in the jungle under a clear plastic handle, and a swing guard stiletto with a whiie wolf image on it. But I have never been able to find a picture of either online.

That's it!
WOW. I thought I'd never see one again.
Thank you!

I remember freshman year of HS in '71 (ouch) the teacher was trying to open a box and asked if anyone had a pocket knife.
I'd say half the boys in class offered theirs..... and there were no repercussions.

 

[JPD1998]

In the early nineties, there was a knife store at the Copley Mall in Boston. If I remember correctly, the store only sold knives which, looking back, was seemed strange for such a high end mall; it was located across from Tiffany’s. I remember a sailing knife they had that I was fascinated with because it had a thumb stud and I had never seen a one-handed-opening knife before but being a college student I didn’t have the money to buy it. My friend did buy a Boker OTF that was manually opened with one hand but closed automatically when rotating the scale. I still have it somewhere.

The Bokermatic, I bought one too. Got mine from SMKW back in the 80's.
I actually tried to reverse the action but failed.

 

[LimpCroissant]

I like them too. Last year I ordered a Dozier Fighter from them and Goldie Russell herself called me to tell me it would be a little delayed. They carry things (often in the AG Russel brand) you don’t see anywhere else.

That's cool, yea I always got kind of the "family business" type vibe from them. Ive never been there so i don't really know, but they've always done me right. And yea they do have some very unique stuff that you don't see much of anymore.