Knife display in local hardware.

J

jackknife

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Oct 2, 2004
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So we're still here in Georgetown Texas helping my better half's youngest sister move in, and I ragout to the local Hardware store to have a duplicate key made. Up by the cash register was an old knife display that looked like an old floor mounted Schrade Old Timer cabinet. But the Old Timers were long gone, so it was filled with a strange mixture. There were some Case pocket knives like mini copperhead, stockman, canoe. A handful of SAK's like the tinker, spartan, cadet, classic. Then the rest of the spaces were filled with Some Rough Riders.

I asked the young man who was doing the key copying, and he said the sell a "fair to middling amont of each."

Strange mix of knives.
 
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I think I'd be quite excited if I found a retailer in my city who had that mix of knives in stock! To see traditional folders in person I think I have to drive 15 miles to a little town surrounded by farms where a well-known "farm store" who's name I'm probably not allowed to type has a display of some Schrades and Uncle Henrys. (I guess I'm exaggerating, since there's a hardware store not too far from my house that's some level of Case dealer, and also stocks a few Rough Riders, SAKs, and LOTS of modern folders. Their traditional selection is pretty minimal, though.)

- GT
 
Seems like everyone has Frost anymore, you lucked out brother! I cleaned out most of the hardware stores in the Baltimore area. From York PA to Ocean City MD, especially in OC MD, I had a lot of Schrade Old Timers, and gave most of them away to cousins, uncles, my father and little brother, and knife nuts for their kids. I told one knife nut about a stash at an Ace hardware across the street from where my family stayed downy ocean, had a good supply of OTs. He cleaned them out. My family still have those knives. I even bought a clamshell 34OT on my birthday one year over the Delaware Memorial bridge in Jersey. I stopped in a hardware store to cool off on a brutally hot day on my way to Cape May, and they had a few OTs. Great little town not far enough from Camden/Philadelphia. In the past couple years, everyone must've gotten cleaned out, I asked at a hardware in Chincoteague about Case/Buck/Victorinox/Schrade. The clerk laughed and told me you knife guys bought them all out. He showed me some junkers, same as the guy at the hardware across from where my family stays in OC.

Luckily the hardware store over the line in PA from me still has a few Bucks and Victorinox, but most people buy from the Frost case, per the clerk. The supply company [That is not a BF dealer] :grumpy: is pretty much the only one that has any knife selection around me, but it's mainly junker clones and Chinese Schrade. If businesses like that could get Moras and Rough Riders, they'd make a mint selling knives that didn't break.

Or maybe not...
 
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What I've done in the past is make friends with the people that stock and order the knives at the hardware store or supply/feed store. When they change out displays, they let me know. They don't hold anything back for me, but they have given me the 411 on some great deals. I've gotten lots of Case knives dirt cheap. Turned around and either sold them or gave them away, but it is a way to get good knives cheap.
 
After Schrade went under I went around and cleaned out every knife store I could find. I was stocked on Christmas presents for years. I wish we had a good knife display like that anymore- there really aren't any. Handful of cheap tactical knives and utility knives at [one big box hardware], [Another big box hardware] has some Case but expensive, but none of the smaller hardware stores have any worthwhile stocks.
 
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silenthunterstudios said:
... The supply company that is not a BF dealer :mad:is pretty much the only one that has any knife selection around me, but it's mainly junker clones and Chinese Schrade. If businesses like that could get Moras and Rough Riders, they'd make a mint selling knives that didn't break.

Or maybe not...
Click to expand...

Good job, Dan! :thumbup::thumbup:
That's the "well-known 'farm store'" I was afraid to name, but I wasn't smart enough to come up with an obvious "alias" for it. :o:o
Anyway, it sounds like your East version of that store is pretty comparable to my Midwest version! :(

- GT
 
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Our local hardware has an odd mixture too. Victorinox, Buck, Case, and maybe Bear, Gerber, or Leatherman. Just about three of each brand.
 
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Same here in TN. Old Timer case stocked with oddball knives, none that I would own though.
 
One of my local hardware stores has an actual Case display case, the kind with the indentations for each knife, and the Case stock # listed by each indentation. So I am guessing it is a standard retail panel for the dealer, and they only sell those knives and restock when sold out.

Just the basics - some of the amber bone, some of the yellow Delrin, some of the brown jigged Delrin. I have never bought anything from them - they are at full MSRP pricing.

Carl, you mentioned that was "strange mix of knives" - Case, Victorinox, and Rough Rider pretty much covers 80% of my collection! That sounds exactly like my knife drawer "user" rotation. :D
 
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Had to make a quick visit back east, carry on only, so no knives were taken. The local (non-Ace) hardware store had a similarly old Schrade counter top display fairly well stocked, so I picked up a 180T. Can't say I was bowled over by the knife, but it sits at Ma's in case I need it. Better than nothing I guess : )

~Jim
 
Georgetown, TX is my old stomping grounds. I went to Southwestern University in the late 1980's. I should be back for Homecoming this year.

The town has grown and changed so much in the last 25 years. Glad to know there are still traditional knife options.
 
Most of you folks should know better.

Leave the names out.
 
Sorry Frank! At least I got taken out to the woodshed in some distinguished company. :D
 
It think it must be tough for brick and mortar stores. Everyone wants everything shipped to their doorstep... everything....even groceries. And it must be difficult to compete with online stores that don't have the same costs as a brick and mortar store. I've heard people say they'd be willing to pay a bit more for a knife if it was available locally. But I suspect people look locally and then buy online. Priorities seem to change once it's time to reach for the wallet. A lot of brick and mortar knife stores have closed their doors. A few years ago, there was a local hardware store with a large Case display filled with knives. The display is gone and replaced by cheaper knives in blister packs. Another mom and pop shop had a big bin of Victorinox Classics by the cash register. I'd stop by ever now and again and grab a handful to give away as gifts. Now that's gone too.

classicsd-value.jpg
 
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When I first got into traditional knives about 3 years ago, I decided I would go on a tour of all of the local Case dealers that I could find, based on their dealer list. Well, the recession (fresher in the mind then than now) and the rise of Internet sales had taken their toll. One of the Platinum dealers that used to be a tour stop and even did their own SFOs had gotten mostly out of the business, another one didn't look like they had added any new stock since 2009, and a third that I had to drive about an hour and a half to get to told me I should have come by about 6 months previously, when they had a big sale and cleared out a lot of their Case stock. They were restocking with inexpensive imports.

I did buy some knives from the two that were still doing business. The prices weren't great, but the knives are:

This was my first Barlow, from a Case Platinum dealer in a little non-chain hardware store in north Mississippi:


My second one, from the same hardware store (family owned, second generation, great old place like you remember from when you were a kid):


And this one, which was not a discontinued model like those two. I got this from the other Case Platinum dealer, up north of me a bit in western TN. I think I paid about $65 plus tax for it. I liked the pattern and it was a nice looking knife (still is). But I could have bought the same knife for about $20 less online (and not counting the 3 hour round trip drive):


Though on a cheerier note, the other Case Platinum dealer in NW Mississippi that had nearly stopped selling their Case knives must have renewed their interest in them, as they are again sponsoring Case tour events and even have one scheduled there this Saturday. I'm going to drive down there and take a look-see, and meet the Case historian, Katie Shonts-Saar. It's the only old-time hardware store on the town square in Holly Springs, MS in case anyone else in the area wants to go down there. You can look on the Case web site for more details, follow the "Happenings" link on wrcase.com.

There ya go. No names of stores mentioned. ;)
 
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There is a Case official distributor in San Diego. Happens to be a local style hardware store which is reasonably close to me, and even closer to where I work. Very old school place. It's got lots of pieces/parts instead of a bunch of appliances.

His stock of Case knives is actually fairly limited. But I did buy one there for a friend who was retiring. Time had gotten away from me and I ended up needing to buy a farewell gift the day of my friend's departure. The action was a bit stiff. I explained that I was about to give the knife as a gift with no time to go home, and asked the store owner if he would oil the joints for me. He said, "No Problem." We went in the back store room, oiled it, and the action became very acceptable. You just don't get that kind of help from a big box store. I think I need to go back and buy another knife from him.
 
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