my oldest knife......

Vet95LT1

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whats your oldest knife? ya know the 1 ya have had the longest? had a bunch when i was a kid and lost em all - my oldest is my gerber mark 11 combat knife, bought it new in '69 - carried it daily in the army for about a yr after that - it really brings back memories - took it out and sharpened tonite, first time in probably 20 yrs - took a while, but scary sharp now - a few yrs back took it to a gun show and all the knife guys wanted to buy - its the old style wasp waisted angle blade - anyway i never carry now, but its neat to pull her out of the gunsafe and clean her up and sharpen - that and a gin brought back a lot of old memories - i think i paid $39.95, in '68 from mcbrides guns in austin tx - was a lot of $$ back then, but i think i got my $$ worth out of it........

vet
 
I can't find it right now, so it might not be accurate to say I have it. But, I have/had the smaller stockman from those large/small pairs of stockmen that Sears used to sell. Lost larger one in burglary about 13 years ago, but the A** H*L*S missed it. -- Biggest tragedy was the 1947 Ruana my Dad had given me.

Anyhow, if I can find it, I've only had this knife about 17-18 years.

Now to leave the main focus of the thread -- I will go to bed soon -- I just received an as NIB Kabar in mail today. Just like the one I carried 19 mos in Vietnam. So, it is like old home week. Been 32 1/2 years since I left the original behind, but finally have one back by my rack to sleep with. Who cares if it is new?

Good thread, I'll end my meanderings.
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Asi es la vida

Bugs
 
Ah, the memories. As a kid growing up, like every young lad, I was really into knives. You know, the cheap folders of the day that were readily available. I fondly remember the pair of small lockbacks that I order out of the back of a "Fur, Fish & Game" magazine. 2 for $1.99 + s/h
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. I collected everything I could find.

My Dad had two hunting knives that he used regularly. I really knew nothing about knives at the time, but there was no doubt that one was vastly superior to the other. I could get it quite sharp on a small whetstone, while the other was more like a sharpened butter knife. Over the years though, I had forgotten about that old knife and knives in general.

Fast forward about 20 years. My father had sinced pasted away. I had recently become quite interested in knives again and that old knife came back into memory. I started asking around the family to see if anyone knew where the knife was. I stopped at my brother's place one afternoon. No one was around so I went into his garage to see what he was working on (he does taxidermy part-time). His desk drawer was opened and as I went to close it, there it was, the old knife. Funny how I couldn't remember the name or model from my youth, but instantly recognized it when I saw it again. It was well tarnished and looked really pretty ratty. The tip had about a 1/8" missing. I picked it up and immediately scraped the tang hoping to find some information. And there it was, under a layer of crud, the name was clear, "Marble's".

Turns out the knife was a 1915 (first year) Marble's Woodcraft. The leather handle was still very good as was the stag pommel and everything was still tight. My Grandfather had purchased the knife new and later passed it on to my father. 83 years later she still looked good. My brother arrived home and came into the garage. I asked him where the knife had been, as I had been looking for it. The damn fool had been carrying it in the tool box of his old John Deere and using it as a utility knife
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!

A few months afterwards, I found out that Marble's was starting up again. I contacted Mike Stewart about the knife and was told that Marble's offered a life time guarantee and I should send the knife into him and he would see what he could do. I received my knife back from Marble's one week after I had sent it in. They had cleaned & polished the handle, reground the tip and finished the blade. The damn thing looked like a mint condition knife with a gorgeous patina on the handle and pommel. Sharp as hell too. While I consider the knife to be a sort of family heirloom, and therefore have no real monetary value, I firmly believe that I need to use this knife. While I haven't yet, I think this hunting season may be just the excuse I have been looking for to put her back into that role. I really think that it would be quite special, and not something that everyone gets the chance to do, to use an 86 year old knife that has survived three generations in your family. While I certainly have purchased more valuable, higher performance and visually attractive knives, I can say that this one is indeed my favorite. I smile every time I hold it
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Great story blademan!
As my father is still alive, I have yet to inherit his old WWII bayonet. That will be my oldest knife. As of right now, being a young 27 yrs. I don't have anything older than about 6yrs old. I have an old Beretta folder with zytel handles, and a thumb stud. With the 440C blade, it still takes and holds an edge. I have had to super-glue the brass "bullet" back in the handle twice, but it still looks good. For awhile, that was the best knife I had, and it will continue to hold it's place in my carry rotation. Any knives that I would have had longer have been lost, and that's a lot of knives...

Daniel D.
 
In order, I have my grandad's Case Trapper from about '75 (he wore out quite a few), then my father's trapper from about the same time, and the my first trapper from '81. Those are my knife-legacy for my children.

Other than those, much as now, I traded all my other knives for other knives I wanted...

Brandon
 
I have an old Ulster pocket knife (same style as the Boy Scout knives) that my grandfather gave me when I was about 5 or 6 years old. Just "refound" it in the garage recently.
So it's 24 or 25 years old.
 
morton1S.JPG


The hallmarks on my knife have been researched for me by a knowledgeable collector, dealer, and authority on English silver. They are the marks of William Morton of the famous Old Rockingham Works at
175 Rockingham Street in Scheffield. Mr. Morton first registered his hallmark (the WM on the left in the
picture below) with the Sheffield Assay Office on July 24, 1885.

Furthermore, the hallmarks date this piece authoritatively. There is no doubt:
this balisong was made in Scheffield, England in 1886.

I think that you'll agree that the knife in these pictures is very much a balisong. Notice the tang pin and
the pockets in the sides of the handles. Notice the latch design. This is a very well-thought-out knife.
This is clearly not "the first" balisong. I doubt very much that this was Mr. Morton's first balisong. By the
time Mr. Morton made this knife, the balisong design was quite well evolved and Mr. Morton was a skilled
maker of them.

This is significant because many people think that the balisong design was invented in the Philippines in the early 1900s. Clearly, this piece disproves that theory.

This is the second oldest balisong-style knife that I am aware of. The oldest is in a museum in France. So, I am very pleased to own such a piece of history.


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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
Dending on how you look at it, the one I have had the longest is a 1974 Buck 112 that was given to me new by my father when I was 4. When I was 12 he gave me a Barr Bros. sheath knife that he found in NYC when he was in high school. Still have both of them. There where some slip joints that my grandmother gave me when I was 6 but I lost them somewhere a few years later.

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It is not the fall that kills you. It is the realization that "yes, you did something that stupid."
 
My oldest knife is a Buck 110 that I bought at the suggestions of a friend in 1974. The friend asked to look at the knife and dropped it butt first on a concrete floor. The knife wasn't 2 hours old. But I kept it and just last night I sharpened it properly since I had it and the edge came out quite alright, but I think I can get it better.
 
The knife that I've had the longest [ as opposed to the oldest knife I own] is a Gerber Magnum Hunter I bought when I was a kid for canoe tripping in Northern Ontario. It's maybe 30 years old. It's been through hell. And I lost it for a decade or two. Amazingly, it doesn't have a single rust spot on it, although the handle is a little worse for wear in spots [it has the "Grumman Grime" if you know what that is].
It must be made of 440a or something low tech like that. Great old knife, although the design can't really compare to the better knives out there.
 
:
Here's a scan of the oldest knife I have. Please pardon the less than perfect scan, but I'm new at it. And I think I know what will improve the scan in future pix.

I found it in a scrap pile of flint that some kids were screening out just looking for the good stuff.
This is in a small cave in Eastern Oklahoma where my ancestors used to live and hunt.
Interestingly the little knife cuts wet rawhide better than a sharp steel blade.
This is the front and reverse sides.
And who knows, it might just belong to an ancient relative.
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I don't think the kids actually knew that this was a knife blade due to its size.
It is approximately 2 5/8" long and
1 1/4" wide and about 1/8' to 3/8" thick. The edges are quite thin and when brand new would have been hair splitting sharp. I find it interesting that the very point is dull and flat, but that's so you can put your index fingertip on it without getting cut and for better control. Another interesting thing is that the bottom cutting edge is thin while the top one is very thick and perfect for a scrapper.
At first appearances it looks like just a rough knife that may have been broken, but in actuality it is very well thought out and knapped.
And a credit to the tool maker of ages ago.
It has been in my possesion for about 10 years and I have no idea how old it actually is...
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>>>>---Yvsa-G@WebTV.net---->®

"VEGETARIAN".............
Indin word for lousy hunter.
 
I also have a Gerber Magnum Hunter folder I bought in 1978. The blade is 3.25 inches, drop point, 440C. Back then Gerber made some of the best factory knives. I used it as my everyday using, defense and cooking knife, pretty much as my sole knife, till 1992. That knife went through a lot of North America with me on my travels and work. It's still sharpened but is retired with honor to the drawer.
 
The last time I checked my collection had an average age of around 75 years, with some pieces going back to at least the 18th century.
 
Oldest knife? (and it's one I've been meaning to check up on)

Dad has a small thin folder with amber handles, that SUPPOSIDLY was owned by Marie Antoinette (sp? - You know, "let them eat cake"), and was used by her to stab someone. It was given by to my Grandfather by his one time employeer, a Ms Ladoue (again, spelling unsure), along with MMe Antoinette's snuff box

What we REALLY need to do is get provinance on these. One day...

 
I lost all the one that I carried as a boy. The oldest now would be our Kershaw survival knife. I got it for a X-mas present in 1988. RKBA!
 
The knife I have had the longest, as opposed to the oldest one I have, is a German fixed blade, stag handled knife that I bought around 1968. If I remember right it cost me less than $3.

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Die Entropie der Welt strebt einem Maximum zu - R.J.E. Clausius
 
The knife I have had the longest, is a Camillus Navy Mark 1, that I bought in '69.
That was my main knife for a long long time.
I still like the way the sheath is made, hard plastic/fiberglass sort of stuff. Takes a REAL good edge.

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Buck Collectors Club Member # 572
Dedicated ELU
Knifeknut(just ask my wife)
Sebenzanista
 
I kinda misread the thread title...so...the oldest knife I have is a Katar...India thrust daggar...used for punching thru mail armour of the day. Not exactly what you'd consider a quality piece by todays standards...rather primitive but no doubt effective...with leather cover wood sheath..don't know the age of mine but apparently used from the 16th century on..or thereabouts. Never did understand what those long things were opposite direction of blade though...possibly a guard of some type.
Found it in a pawn shop couple years back.

Now the blade I've had the longest...gotta think bout that. Still got it somewhere....my first attempt at making a blade..yep outa a file..dang ugly...guess I decided right then I was better off buying my blades.
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That being said I've been playing at making a blade again...40 years later and probably not much better.

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Only perfect practice makes perfect
 
the knife that got me hooked on knives
and started me on my never ending quest
for more and more knives was the
Cold Steel Original Tanto.
 
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