Knife question for US Military vets

During my US Navy active duty time from 1977 to 1988 as Division Officer and Department Head on 4 ships, I never signed a requisition form for a knife of any type.

That includes being the Electrical Division Officer for 138 Electrician's Mates on an aircraft carrier.

Any knife carried by my guys were all private purchases from the Ship's Store, an NEX or from civilian B&Ms.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
During my US Navy active duty time from 1977 to 1988 as Division Officer and Department Head on 4 ships, I never signed a requisition form for a knife of any type.

That includes being the Electrical Division Officer for 138 Electrician's Mates on an aircraft carrier.

Any knife carried by my guys were all private purchases from the Ship's Store, an NEX or from civilian B&Ms.
Click to expand...

I still have the Camillus TL-29 that my first class ET gave me. One day he brought in a handful of them for everyone in the division (being RC division on a submarine meant a very small group). I don't recall where he got them. Mine rode around in my pickup truck for about 20 years and I just recently rediscovered it while cleaning up the truck for trade-in. It is a bit rusty. (The knife, not the truck, which was in great shape for being 24 years old.) :p

Oh yeah, and all the MM(N)s carried a Buck 110.
 
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I was Army. 1986-1990,1991. Rarely saw them. Most had Victorinox Swiss Army knives instead. If you went to Ranger School and didn't bring a knife, you were given a rather nice Swiss Army knife with several tools. A few steps up from the Spartan or Tinkerer (My most expensive models). Every Jumpmaster I saw had a Buck 110 on their belt. Not sure if they were issued or a personal buy. Most knives were personal purchases.
The Camillus Pilot Survival knife was issued from supply. The same model made by Ontario is currently sold at Walmart. The M7 and M9 were signed out from the arms room.
 
US Army 1985-2010. I was issued a Gerber multitool once, but the knife I used for my entire career was a Victorinox SAK (first a Huntsman, then a Compact).
 
I found one, sitting on a mailbox, about 15 years ago. Stiff as heck even after lubing it well. Probably 420J. I keep it in the car emergency kit.
 
My brother in law gave me one when I was about 15 or 16. At the time, he was a supply specialist stationed at Fort Knox.

I knew they were still in the system a few years later when I enlisted but, I only saw a few. I'd say less than a dozen, maybe a dozen and a half. At the most. That was in 1976

Still had the Demo knife in the demo boxes (or TL-29, in some) last time I had a reason to look, but, they were rare among the troops. I spotted more SAKs and Buck 110s than anything else for the first ten years I was in. Mainly SAKs. Later, it seemed like CRKT and S&W took the point. We had one Lt. that thought his S&W knife was the best thing ever. Go figure.

Before I got out, they started using Gerber multi-tools. A much better piece of kit, IMHO. Back then, units issued them based on your MOS.

Personally, I can't help but feel that a good Alox SAK is much better than the Demo knife. I wish that I had a Vic. Cadet when I enlisted. It is a better knife than anything I ever carried.
 
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USMC '87 - '93 after bootcamp went to Panama for 18 months then 2nd Rad Bn for 3 years.
We worked with lots of electronic equipment... radios, antennas, slash wire, field phones and such.
I only ever saw the TL-29 in our gear locker with lineman pliers (both in a leather sheath)

I had one of the "demo" knives, I think I got it just before bootcamp.
Never heard it called a demo knife til reading this thread. I called it a camp knife.
Carried it a lot in the field. Tied a "dummy" cord on it so I wouldn't lose it.
Still got it stashed with my service mementos.
It was a good knife in my opinion but I always carried a VIC sak and a Leatherman PST...plus my trusty ol' kabar.

Most guys in my units never carried a knife. And the ones who did carried some weird or junkie stuff.

edit: I HAD to look it up...
How did this particular model get the name "demo knife" ?
Apparently it was thought to be non-magnetic due to the stainless
steel handles and therefore a good tool for disarming mines.
However, as it turns out it is not non-magnetic but the misnomer stuck.

Anyone find anything contrary to this?
 
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I was in the Army from 1961 to 64...like some others, the only knife I was issued was a bayonet...

Cheers/bg
 
I"m sure that in the US military just like all others the supply clerks exist to protect the bins from being emptied by their fellow soldiers.

There's all sorts of NSN/CAGE tagged stuff like these knives and watches and flashlights and the catch is you need to have a trade/MOS that the particular item is required for. And of course some clerks do zealously protect their wares more than others. I think they're always worried the CO will come in for a particular item and find that it's not there. I've had more than one "it's our last one" conversations when I needed something.
 
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