off topic: Any pics of your first knife?

high desert

high desert

Joined
May 20, 2009
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Well this probably is not my first knife, but its the first I bought for myself paid for by doing summer jobs. You can see on the sheath its stamped 10/10/76 on one side and my name on the other. I was 14 then and thought it was cool to personalize it. This knife went on my first backpacking trips into Yosemite. It went on my early deer and antelope hunts. You can see the damage to the spine and end cap on the handle from battoning with rocks. We split the pelvis of our deer this way. If you weren't willing to batton this way you were a weak heart not true to the spirit of a true hunter. Tough standards my friends and I had set at that early age. Not many trees laying around where we hunt. I have traded or sold many knives but keep this one around. Its not worth much money and doesn't keep an edge but it's just as valuable to me as the weatherby 30-06 my first centerfire from the same time frame also bought from summer farm work. The rifle is now covered with scratches and gouges from crawling over the rocks on various sneaks. I guess you will always have more respect for things you acquire on your own. Now I am looking forward to the new Porkshank which is about the same size. Hopefully it will be well worn near abused and full of memories after sometime. No safe queens for me. Post your early pics.
 
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My Grandfather gave me his hunting knife when I was 12 and ready for my first Mule Deer hunt, over 40 years ago! I used it for many years, until I discovered it is a very early Rudy Ruana knife. I remember my Grandfather telling me that he bought it from a guy that made it in his garage.
It is by far the knife in my collection that is worth the most monetarily, but that does not matter, it was my Grandfathers and it will always be one of my most precious possessions.

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I need to take some fresher pictures of the old knife!
 
Wow Salvo thats a cool looking knife. I like the upswept tip and the handle looks secure. The guy who made this in his garage looks only one step away from full time knife maker in his time.
 
My first knife was a Wenger Swiss Army knife. Unfortunately I don't have it any more, nor any pics. So my first decent fixed blade was an original Aitor Oso Blanco. It was a gift from my parents for christmas when I was about 15.

Here it is with my first Busse...

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I got my first knife on my 8th birthday. Actually it was a knife and hatchet set from Sears. (In hindsight---what was my dad thinking)

This was in 1961 growing up in central Florida. We lived in a neighborhood that backed up to the Orlando Air Force Base (later converted to the Naval Training Center Orlando).
This was a neighborhood full of rambunctious little boys and we used to sneek through the fence and build forts in the woods on the base. That knife and hatchet saw alot of action; each carried in a leather sheath on a canvas belt around my waist.

Well -- one afternoon, around a small campfire we had built, one of my buddies spots a small plane flying overhead. We decided to send up smoke signals by pulling some spanish moss off a tree and placing it on the fire. Unfortunately, the moss was a long strand and was still attached to the low hanging branch of this dryed out dead tree. WOW......that tree went up in flames quick. All my buddies scattered and ran for home.

Me? My hatchet was still under that tree..................and I wasn't going to lose it. Well......I hear the sirens coming from the base and within a couple minute the airbase fire department shows up. There is a huge crowd on the other side of the fence watching.......including my Mom. After filling out a report they turn me over to my horrified and embarrassed Mother. She drags me home by the shirt collar and tells me "Wait til your father get home". Dad got home, I got the belt and my knife was confiscated (never did find the hatchet).

I never saw that knife again until I was helping my Dad clean out his work shop. I was in my late 20s and it was still in the leather sheath up on a high shelf. We had a laugh about old times and he handed it back and said maybe someday I'll give it to my son. The Florida humidity and being in that leather sheath really rusted it up. I've cleaned it as best I could...it is still pitted pretty bad. I still have it....had two daughters (no sons) and now have two grandsons (both under two). I think I'll wait a while...........this was an awfully wicked knife for an eight year old to be roaming the neighborhood with.

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Wow Rob. Thats a cool, wild knife. It has virtually every design feature that would take three knives to fulfill.
 
Georgecatl said:
I got my first knife on my 8th birthday. Actually it was a knife and hatchet set from Sears. (In hindsight---what was my dad thinking)

This was in 1961 growing up in central Florida. We lived in a neighborhood that backed up to the Orlando Air Force Base (later converted to the Naval Training Center Orlando).
This was a neighborhood full of rambunctious little boys and we used to sneek through the fence and build forts in the woods on the base. That knife and hatchet saw alot of action; each carried in a leather sheath on a canvas belt around my waist.

Well -- one afternoon, around a small campfire we had built, one of my buddies spots a small plane flying overhead. We decided to send up smoke signals by pulling some spanish moss off a tree and placing it on the fire. Unfortunately, the moss was a long strand and was still attached to the low hanging branch of this dryed out dead tree. WOW......that tree went up in flames quick. All my buddies scattered and ran for home.

Me? My hatchet was still under that tree..................and I wasn't going to lose it. Well......I hear the sirens coming from the base and within a couple minute the airbase fire department shows up. There is a huge crowd on the other side of the fence watching.......including my Mom. After filling out a report they turn me over to my horrified and embarrassed Mother. She drags me home by the shirt collar and tells me "Wait til your father get home". Dad got home, I got the belt and my knife was confiscated (never did find the hatchet).

I never saw that knife again until I was helping my Dad clean out his work shop. I was in my late 20s and it was still in the leather sheath up on a high shelf. We had a laugh about old times and he handed it back and said maybe someday I'll give it to my son. The Florida humidity and being in that leather sheath really rusted it up. I've cleaned it as best I could...it is still pitted pretty bad. I still have it....had two daughters (no sons) and now have two grandsons (both under two). I think I'll wait a while...........this was an awfully wicked knife for an eight year old to be roaming the neighborhood with.

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Looks like a version of the schrade sharpfinger. It says craftsman so maybe schrade made them for sears. As a high school kid we would take our guns and knives to school to show our buddies what santa brought or your birthday present. Could you imagine doing that today?
 
Western BSA knife given to me when I was in Boy Scouts. That was back when scouts could carry a fixed blade knife, which they can't do now. My brother-in-law found it while looking through some stuff at my parents' house, cleaned it up and gave it back to me.

The leather sheath disappeared long ago.

 
high desert said:
Looks like a version of the schrade sharpfinger. It says craftsman so maybe schrade made them for sears. As a high school kid we would take our guns and knives to school to show our buddies what santa brought or your birthday present. Could you imagine doing that today?
Click to expand...
During deer season while in high school, we tried to hunt before class. So we would show up at school with guns in the gunrack mounted in the back window of my pickup. Change out of camo into pads for morning football drills.
 
A little comparison.
My first along side my newest:D

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The one on the right I've had for 50 years......................DAMN :eek:
 
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