New horizons; traditional lockblades.

J

jackknife

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Oct 2, 2004
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I remember dad telling me that when one door closes, another opens if you are paying attention. In other words, there's a silver lining someplace in every setback.

So these days with some hand problems from arthritis and post operation stiffness, I find myself looking at a type of knife I never paid much attention to in the past. The lockblade. Since I'm old enough to remeber when most knives had real organic handles, jigged bone, stag, wood, and maybe even ivory, I've been pleasently surprised at how many traditional lockblades are still out there once I started looking.

I've been experimenting with the wood handle Henckels sodbuster, a small Bear lockblade the size of a peanut with stag scales, an old Buck squire with some kind of wood scales. I was browsing through the company website for Queen and looked at the mountain man lockblade. Heck of a chunk of knife there, good for a coat pocket. I thumbed through the lastest Smoky Mountain Knife works catalogue that came in the mail before the blizzard hit, and saw a Rough rider red bone locking sdbuster I'm tempted to try out, but I don't know if the spring is still a strong one. Just today I saw a photo of a sodbuster with a locking blade that had a handle of imitation abolone. Some sort of synthetic I guess, but it looked nice. A buddy of mine has a nice Boker single blade trapper lockblade with imitation tortise shell. A nice looking knife with pretty darn good fit and finish. And the little lockblade Weidmannshiel somebody posted looks like a very nice edc pocket knife.

One door closes, another opens. I never thought at this age I'd find a whole new area of knives to check out. :)

Who's got some old style traditonal lockblades to post? Like I need more ideas.:rolleyes:
 
Here's mine; not the best pic:

Lockbacks013.jpg


They are: (top-to-bottom)

1st column: Case CV Wharncliffe Copperlock; Case Bros. Cheetah Cub (missing guard); Case Caliber; U.S. Schrade+ 5OT Bruin; U.S. Schrade+ SP2.

2nd column: Buck 503; Buck 505; Frontier/Imperial #P-I; Frontier/Imperial #PII;

Bottom two knives are imports: a Rough Rider Locking Toothpick, and a generic NRA kife, handle shape is identical to the U.S. Schrade 5OT. Both are really nice users and fit & finish is actually pretty nice on both.

thx - cpr
 
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Hi,

I've got a RR small lockback that I picked up as whim this last fall. Kind of a give-away knife for those in need. Surprisingly, I found I really like it myself.

It's right at that magic 3 1/2" closed length with 2 3/8" of blade. And at only 3/8" thick it rides thin in the pocket. Mine opens easy and smooth. Yet it locks up as well as any Buck I've ever handled.

100_6528.jpg


And don't forget, Schrade made the LB1 and LB2 also.

dalee
 
You never ended up with one of these in your pocket as a kid Jackknife?

collock.jpg


And who can forget the Normark's...these were pure cutters, that Swedish steel would take a razor sharp edge.

normarks.jpg


Those were the ones I remember growing up with more or less. Today I like my Case Sharktooth and Cold Steel Shinobu's. I have also considered the Case Trapper Lock. Also look through AG Russell's lockback section, his Wharncliffe Tear-Drop Lockback looks outstanding and his Texas Ranger is a great knife as well. The Ron Lake Tail Locks are great looking as well as are the S&M Saddlehorn Lockbacks.
 
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orca, I like that wooden scaled knife at the bottom of your picture.

jackknife, you mention a Rough Rider locking Sodbuster. I think they MAY come in different sizes. I got one this week in faux Tortoiseshell, not at all bad. You can pinch this one open and it has a deep match-striker pull at the front of the blade making opening easy. It is a BIG knife though at 4.75" or so and it is liner lock not lockback. I believe they do other sizes in other scales though. RR also has a couple of decent looking lockbacks that might be worth a look. One is in the Long Rifle series in smooth brown bone,this is a Barehead style. The other is in the Old Yellow series for yellow delrin fans, small, just over 3" looks very good, I'd like to try one but can't yet find a dealer who ships this one to Europe.
 
100_0579.jpg


Top to bottom:
Buck 112
Hen and Rooster
Case Lg. Copperlock (my go-to hunting knife)
EKA
Fallkniven TK3
Fallkniven U2
Buck 55
Puma
Buck Custom Shop

To the right:
Western (although not a lockback)
 
Interesting picture thanks Pipedreams.

Those Fällknivens are a lot broader than I thought, is the TK3 in some kind of wood? I like the simplicity and functional elegance of the U2.
 
You are most welcome. The scales on the TK3 are black quince burl. It sees a lot of pocket time, as does the U2.
 
I have the Eka 88 Masur in the picture. I do like it a lot, it's light and very practical, a nice general use outdoor folder with a thin blade that slices well.

By the way, is the second from the bottom a Puma? I thought it was a Boker.
 
-Top and bottom are Bucks with 440C blades.
-The Gerber was a 5-year anniversary gift to me from my company in 1996. Seems odd in today's climate to remember that companies used to GIVE knives not that long ago.
-The one below the Gerber is a Klein. Got it in the late '80's I think.
-The Remington is a Camillus with 0170-6C blade

100_3085.jpg
 
Pipedream,
Looks like we have very similar tastes. I forgot that I had an EKA. That is one sharp blade. I'll have to go dig it out.
Not a bad blade while traveling to the East.
 
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