Knife hobby and the internet

My "research" amounted to wandering around in stores as a kid. I ended up mostly with junk, specifically low-quality daggers and boot knives, although a couple (Explorer brand, made in Japan) weren't bad. As others have mentioned, catalogs were a major source of information.
 
Catalogs and the back section of hunting magazines as well as The American Rifleman (NRA) was where I saw cool stuff that wasn't on display at the hardware store or Sears.

I remember saving up and longing for a Buck 110 and eventually getting one from my grandfather who got a minty pre-owned one from a military surplus auction of all places. I field dressed many deer with that knife and eventually got it refurbished by Buck. I keep it just as I received it back from Buck.

Display cases at department stores and gun shops was where knives were seen.
 
I remember seeing martial arts and gun mags with Bali-Song Inc. (Pre-Benchmade) ads selling balisongs/buttefly knives for less than $100. Ad stating "Featured in Sharkey's Machine, starring Burt Reynolds" For Brochure send $1.00

 
Last edited:
The gun rags in the 80's would have ads for these new fangled Spyderco knives---Cutlery Shoppe ads would have featured knives and you could call to get their catalog---heck even a large D cell Maglite was a much sought after--hard to find item-----I remember seeing them in the Gander Mountain catalogs and they were very expensive.
 
Most of what I bought back in the early 70's all through the mid 90's were from catalogs or sporting goods stores.
Any decent shop would carry brands like Buck, Schrade, Case and Gerber.
I remember one small shop in a local mall carried the original Paul and Rolox knives. A 16 year old certainly couldn't afford a $75 knife. Heck the shop owner wouldn't even let me handle the Rolox knife.

There were no forum type reviews , so it was either a magazine review or a storekeepers opinion, nothing like the information available today. You also had to trust a brand's reputation.

Catalogs like Smoky Mountain Knife Works , carried entire product lines of certain brands. You couldn't find that much selection in stores.
I would keep the SM catalog for a few weeks and add items to the order form before sending it in ( 70's / 80's version of the shopping cart).
My grail knife back then was a Gerber Bolt Action folder, SMKW reduced them to $25 or $30 and I finally bought one.

I remember the first time I saw an AG Russell catalog, my head almost exploded. AG was one of the few catalogs around with higher end and custom knives. I saved up some money and bought a Bruckmann bartender's knife that AG had in one of his catalogs.

In the late 80's /early 90's most catalog companies started to accept fax and phone orders with a credit card. No more waiting for the order form to arrive by mail and then wait for a check to clear.

Lots of dealers were selling junk in the back of hunting magazines too, ( 70's / 80's version of Mtech). Once you opened the box and saw what you bought, you knew you were scammed.
Then you'd see a different ad next month and wonder if you should take another chance on a knife for $9.99. ( hey they said it was genuine 440 steel)
 
Most of my first knives were given to me by my grandfather, he was an expert splicer in the navy and then a fireman in San Francisco. I can't remeber him not having a knife or two in his pocket. I also would stare at the knife cases in the local hardware store and would love to check out the new knives every summer at the Bait&Tackle store near our summer cabin in Russian River. Thinking back, a lot of my friends were also into knives, so we would trade back and forth. I'm sure I traded a couple Willie Mays and Willie McCovey cards for some cheap knife that I had to have.
 
JPD1998 said:
Most of what I bought back in the early 70's all through the mid 90's were from catalogs or sporting goods stores.
Any decent shop would carry brands like Buck, Schrade, Case and Gerber.
I remember one small shop in a local mall carried the original Paul and Rolox knives. A 16 year old certainly couldn't afford a $75 knife. Heck the shop owner wouldn't even let me handle the Rolox knife.

There were no forum type reviews , so it was either a magazine review or a storekeepers opinion, nothing like the information available today. You also had to trust a brand's reputation.

Catalogs like Smoky Mountain Knife Works , carried entire product lines of certain brands. You couldn't find that much selection in stores.
I would keep the SM catalog for a few weeks and add items to the order form before sending it in ( 70's / 80's version of the shopping cart).
My grail knife back then was a Gerber Bolt Action folder, SMKW reduced them to $25 or $30 and I finally bought one.

I remember the first time I saw an AG Russell catalog, my head almost exploded. AG was one of the few catalogs around with higher end and custom knives. I saved up some money and bought a Bruckmann bartender's knife that AG had in one of his catalogs.

In the late 80's /early 90's most catalog companies started to accept fax and phone orders with a credit card. No more waiting for the order form to arrive by mail and then wait for a check to clear.

Lots of dealers were selling junk in the back of hunting magazines too, ( 70's / 80's version of Mtech). Once you opened the box and saw what you bought, you knew you were scammed.
Then you'd see a different ad next month and wonder if you should take another chance on a knife for $9.99. ( hey they said it was genuine 440 steel)
Click to expand...

Forgot about AG Russell catalogs; now they were knife porn!
 
My dad always took me camping when I was a kid and bought me a SAK for my 7'th birthday. This was the beginning.
There is also a company in Canada called LeBaron Outdoors and I remember as a kid drooling over the catalog's pictures of a Buck 184 and such... When I went to LeBaron I got a hold of a big book about knives that had a knife maker directory in back - this was another big step - but I was not a "collector" until the internet came along and from that moment on it seemed I was always looking for something better... I remember being 12 -14 [no internet yet... yes I am getting old] and getting to see the knife shops in Switzerland and Japan - this was too much and I always spent whatever money I had on me to get a souvenir. I was fortunate enough in the early 90's to work near a knife shop too - these two guys that owned the shop were really understanding. They would let me see all sorts of stuff and they knew I had the bug. They knew I appreciated the blades for the time that went into them. They would let me fiddle with the latest folder and talk to me about anything knife related - these guys in this store were the next big step for me. It's tough in Canada though. The sheeple are scared - like actually afraid of shops. Leave any city in Canada and drive an hour... You will want a knife. It's so backwards. Much (read: almost all) of the shops in Canada have closed and gone online as of today. I used to like going to the knife shops and talking with the sellers. The interaction is disappearing now.
...and now online...
The internet was HUGE for me to find all sorts of great knives... Knifecenter was the first site I found and it was downhill from there :) Knives I never even knew existed were just a few keystrokes away. Actually - now I think of it, the internet sort of ruined me.
When I buy a knife I want to carry it, use it and spend time with it. Not put it in a vault. Guys like Busse, McClung, and Brend (to name a few - my 3 favorites) don't make blades for some dude to profit off of 10 years later - they make blades for people to use and confidently depend on. You look at a hand ground knife that sells for a thousand dollars and then consider the maker's hourly wage... It's not that much. They did you a favor by making an amazing tool. I am back to that now. I am not so much searching for a grail as really enjoying what I have. I love going out into the woods for a week with something awesome on my hip - I know some guys think I am nuts - using and sharpening anything "worth" over 500 - but I love using the best knives out there. I remember going through a "super steel" phase, a survival phase, a double edged phase, all sorts of phases. Now I just like what works and have revisited lots of steels that were made by makers I enjoyed as people. I think that is what is great about the internet. Bladeforums too - we can all talk about it with other like minded people who just like collecting. I do not really buy a lot of knives now, but I love the methods of creation, the steels and the maker's time / technology that goes into making them. I think the internet really sped things up though and I am thankful for that. :) I am glad that the internet has made it easier for makers to be vendors as well - eliminating the need for a middle man and allowing you to deal with the craftsman first hand. Though this is a tough business where reputation is everything and the internet can take one bad review and multiply it by a thousand overnight. When I was 10 I built a lean to using ONLY a SAK. It took a long time - but there you go. I never had the internet, a huge collection and the physicality I have now - but I had fun.
 
Danal14 said:
Most of my first knives were given to me by my grandfather, he was an expert splicer in the navy and then a fireman in San Francisco. I can't remeber him not having a knife or two in his pocket. I also would stare at the knife cases in the local hardware store and would love to check out the new knives every summer at the Bait&Tackle store near our summer cabin in Russian River. Thinking back, a lot of my friends were also into knives, so we would trade back and forth. I'm sure I traded a couple Willie Mays and Willie McCovey cards for some cheap knife that I had to have.
Click to expand...


My grandfather taught me to splice rope too. Old UK merchant mariner. I am worried about the demise of stuff like that.
 
That's cool, brings back memories
BIGLOU said:
I remember seeing martial arts and gun mags with Bali-Song Inc. (Pre-Benchmade) ads selling balisongs/buttefly knives for less than $100. Ad stating "Featured in Sharkey's Machine, starring Burt Reynolds" For Brochure send $1.00

Click to expand...
 
I started in the late 70s I got most of my info by going to the libraries, writing the knife companies themselves among for catalogs, gun shows and old timers like AG Russell Parker and Frost.

I read every book I could find and when Pallidin Press started putting out the yearly knives books, quarterly magazines and eventually monthly periodicals.

Even when the internet became an option there was so much misinformation out there it took forever to sort through it and compare it to what was previously published.
 
killgar said:
I remember when there was no internet, no FedEx, and no UPS.

Ordering a knife, or "sending away for a knife" as it was known in my little world, consisted of filling out a paper order form (or making one from scratch), mailing that order form to the company with a check or money order, and then waiting "6 to 8 weeks for delivery". And no tracking numbers.

Back then it seemed that everything was "6 to 8 weeks for delivery". I imagine that many people today, especially people who grew up with the internet, might very well suffer a nervous breakdown if they had to wait that long for a knife, especially with no emails to keep them updated or tracking numbers. I pride myself on my patience, but I have been spoiled by the internet, and now I would find it hard to deal with such a long wait, as well as no emails or tracking.

Today I can order a knife on my computer, and it can be delivered the very same day (Amazon Prime Same-Day shipping).

What a wonderful age we live in.
Click to expand...

I remember 6 - 8 weeks... I paid for one day shipping on a half dozen $2 bandanas the other day.
 
killgar said:
I remember when there was no internet, no FedEx, and no UPS.

Ordering a knife, or "sending away for a knife" as it was known in my little world, consisted of filling out a paper order form (or making one from scratch), mailing that order form to the company with a check or money order, and then waiting "6 to 8 weeks for delivery". And no tracking numbers.

Back then it seemed that everything was "6 to 8 weeks for delivery". I imagine that many people today, especially people who grew up with the internet, might very well suffer a nervous breakdown if they had to wait that long for a knife, especially with no emails to keep them updated or tracking numbers. I pride myself on my patience, but I have been spoiled by the internet, and now I would find it hard to deal with such a long wait, as well as no emails or tracking.

Today I can order a knife on my computer, and it can be delivered the very same day (Amazon Prime Same-Day shipping).

What a wonderful age we live in.

I had a small collection before I got the internet. Most of the knives I owned during that period were "cheap". The most expensive and highest quality knife I owned during the first 30 years of my life was a Buck 110. I have a much larger, and for the most part a much higher quality collection now.

I remember when Buck was king, Gerber meant "quality", and Spyderco came out with their first knife.
Click to expand...

Haha, awesome post, thanks for bringing me back! I can remember (as a kid in the early 70's) having my folks write a check and sending it off with a hand written note or maybe even with the ad for the product clipped out of a magazine and waiting literally months for delivery. I didn't get to do it often as we were kind of poor but the memories are vivid and fond. I remember when i was about 10 using some of my summer work money to order a cheap short machete with kind of a funky hook in the spine. It was called the "bushwhacker". Haha.

Edit: And speaking of how the world has changed with the internet. Just a few words in google and voila I present to you THE BUSHWHACKER!!!! HAHAHA

I thought I was so cool when this thing arrived! And my Dad was happy to let me "play with it" everyday cleaning the fencerow behind our house. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top