Knife shop's around Princeton NJ?

N

Native1

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Apr 10, 2008
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I'm going down there on the weekend of July 23 and wanted to see if I can get to a real knife shop. If you NJ folks could point me in the right direction that would great.

Thanks Mike
 
oh boy, princeton? Hmm... I don't know anything close to princeton.. There's a few surplus places on rt. 18, but new jersey doesn't really have any dedicated knife shops that I know of.
 
NJ is like some sort of knife shop black hole. Princeton is a lovely town though.
 
I leave nearby and there's nothing of note in town, not even a decent surplus army-navy. (on the other hand if you're into the preppy look, Princeton has plenty of shops including a high end kitchen gadget place that technically has dozens of knives, but of the sort that rarely leave the kitchen)

Let's see:a WalMart and Dick's Sporting Goods outside of town off Rte 1, an Eastern Mountain Sports off Rte 1 and if I recall correctly there's a dive shop or two up Rte 206 towards Somerville, but that's about it other than a police supply place outside of Trenton, Samzie's...I don't know if they sell knives but they did have 5.11 stuff. They all may have something or other, mainly production and utility knives.

Best bet if you want to take a trip:further up 206, maybe 45 minutes to an hour, there is a true gear store that had some good quality knives plus other fun stuff last time I checked: Cigars and Fire Trucks in Bernardsville as seen here: http://www.cigarsandfiretrucks.com/location.shtml

It's a drive but Harry's Army-Navy and the Sportsmans Den (if I remember the name correctly) are in Bordentown on Rte 130, about a half hour away. Haven't been there in a while but Harry's had an excellent selection of knives and SD wasn't bad, either. Guns and gear as well. Fun stores!

Down Rte 130 south there's a flea market near Cinnaminson that has an actual knife shop, but nothing custom or high end. Plenty of swords and lower end things, though. Also a martial arts/ paintball stall in there as well, plus a remarkably good bookstore and a back date magazine place if you're into that sort of thing (Columbus Farmer's Market has a back date magazine place as well). Figure on at least 45 minutes from Princeton proper, though. Once you're there you're pretty close to Philly, if that helps.

Around here you can also wait for gun shows in PA. There's several venues from Philly area to Harrisburg to Allentown with two to four shows each per year, and staffed with several good vendors who will have a large range of Spydercos, Benchmades, Cold Steel and even the occasional Chris Reeve item or two. Plus I'm seeing Blind Horse Knives at King of Prussia's show and one or two other local makers here and there that also have some very interesting items.

Once upon a time there was a neat little knife shop of the non-Hoffritz sort in the Toms River area--I'm thinking Hooper Avenue but I can't recall the name or the exact venue. Something-Creek, and it was a nice store...has to be gone 5 years plus by now. There also used to be one or two Herder's Cutlery places in PA malls, and possibly even in Woodbridge NJ, but like the Remington store in Franklin Mills they also seem to have left the scene ages ago. Ray's in Plainfield was great, but they shut down in 2009, I think, but there's Effinger's in Bound Brook, a neat old style sporting goods store that caters to hunters. But it's getting a little far afield from Princeton.
 
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oh harrys army navy! They do indeed have a lot of knives BUT they are ridiculously expensive.
 
The place in woodbridge that was mentioned is probably woodbridge auto parts, not a great selection of high end knives but terrific prices being as the new management doesn't really understand the value of the current inventory. I was able to score a benchmade 710 for ninety bucks!
 
Granted I haven't lived in NJ for roughly 5 years or so. Harry's in Bordentown wasn't a bad place, some of the salesmen were a bit obnoxious when I used to hit the place up. I lived in the Mt. Holly/Burlington area so it wasn't a terrible drive for me. There is a Dick's in Burlington also. Down 206 was the Colombus Farmer's market. Hell you can find anything there, so maybe a place to scour over. Clearly the best way to do this is to jump a bridge to PA and do your outdoor shopping in a state where they won't give you the Gestapo treatment. There were always enough army/navy stores in Bristol PA alone to keep me busy. Fairless Hills, Levittown etc. used to be littered with small mom and pop style outdoor/hunting stores.
 
NHbeau said:
Granted I haven't lived in NJ for roughly 5 years or so. Harry's in Bordentown wasn't a bad place, some of the salesmen were a bit obnoxious when I used to hit the place up. I lived in the Mt. Holly/Burlington area so it wasn't a terrible drive for me. There is a Dick's in Burlington also. Down 206 was the Colombus Farmer's market. Hell you can find anything there, so maybe a place to scour over. Clearly the best way to do this is to jump a bridge to PA and do your outdoor shopping in a state where they won't give you the Gestapo treatment. There were always enough army/navy stores in Bristol PA alone to keep me busy. Fairless Hills, Levittown etc. used to be littered with small mom and pop style outdoor/hunting stores.
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Harry's Army Navy?
 
There is a great knife store in New Hope PA, not to far away from Princeton about 1/2 an hour. Its right on main street. They have Doizer, Chris Reeve, Benchmade, Daniel Winkler, Al MAR, and a bunch more I cant think of. The guy who owns it is Fred. I cant remember his last name, good guy. Google knife store in New hope PA and it will come up
 
None that I know of.Maybe Dick's Sporting Goods (at Woodbridge Center Mall) or Walmart (any town USA).

I lived here my whole life & never bought a knife here.I get them all off the interwebs.
 
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