Puma White Hunter Question

[kwackster]

I don't have a White Hunter, but I do a have an old Pumaster bowie in carbon steel that I bought new in about 1973. It has the diamond imprint from the Rockwell hardness test, and nice Sambar stag handles. Probably paid $30-40 bucks for it.

Like this:

Somehow that knife looks familiar.
Probably because i'm currently looking at it,

 

[GIRLYmann]

Explorer (solingen) brand had the Alpine Hunter model, some say it was made by Puma others Boker...

https://translate.googleusercontent...700259&usg=ALkJrhjWmorWiGGuRHRRumd4FuM-i5bteA
Its construction is supposedly that of a blade with a single piece integral knife guard...

Btw.the Hirschkrone Bund messer SEK (Sonderreinsatzkomando)
had a rubber handle..
http://www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/attachment.php?id=25594&s=e3afb35bd2df47b7f7525be9563ddba9
View production of SEK from 2:43 - 4:19

Finally, wilkinson sword's survival knives
which spots a very familiar look about it ;-)
http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2011/dartmoor-survival-knife/
Dartmoor knife

Linder's white horse...

vintage japan sword white Hunter

 

[Ta1970]

I never dreamt that there was so much to learn about the white hunter style knife. Very interesting to me.

 

[boykinlp]

Very good info here.

 

[rick melear]

I have 1 NIB that off the top of my head is from 81Have to dig it out and check, stag handle. I collected stag handles Pumas in late 70s through early 90s. My folks brought the White Hunter back from the Puma factory on a trip to Germany in early 80s the only one I have left. So regret selling mine off when I did. The vintage stag handled ones
from the good years of Puma were awesome.

 

[mw999]

I have 1 NIB that off the top of my head is from 81Have to dig it out and check, stag handle. I collected stag handles Pumas in late 70s through early 90s. My folks brought the White Hunter back from the Puma factory on a trip to Germany in early 80s the only one I have left. So regret selling mine off when I did. The vintage stag handled ones
from the good years of Puma were awesome.

trying to remember re: 1960s and 1970s white hunters , I have read (maybe) that the puma W. Hunter was formed from molten steel? Trying to rmember if this is true. I may have read that it was drop forged from a piece of heated bar stock. I think I may have read that or heard that in a youtube video re puma knife. it is an impressive video about the grinding etc of the older models. thanks in advance.

 

[Jixxter]

Explorer (solingen) brand had the Alpine Hunter model, some say it was made by Puma others Boker...

https://translate.googleusercontent...700259&usg=ALkJrhjWmorWiGGuRHRRumd4FuM-i5bteA
Its construction is supposedly that of a blade with a single piece integral knife guard...

Btw.the Hirschkrone Bund messer SEK (Sonderreinsatzkomando)
had a rubber handle..
http://www.deutsches-blankwaffenforum.de/attachment.php?id=25594&s=e3afb35bd2df47b7f7525be9563ddba9
View production of SEK from 2:43 - 4:19

Finally, wilkinson sword's survival knives
which spots a very familiar look about it ;-)
http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2011/dartmoor-survival-knife/
Dartmoor knife

Linder's white horse...

vintage japan sword white Hunter

Nice knife. I recently picked up the same knife. I paid $125 without a sheath and have no clue as to if I screwed myself or did ok. Do you have an ideal as to when these were made?
I would greatly appreciate any and all insight that you could provide.
Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[tltt]

Nice knife. I recently picked up the same knife. I paid $125 without a sheath and have no clue as to if I screwed myself or did ok. Do you have an ideal as to when these were made?
I would greatly appreciate any and all insight that you could provide.
Thanks a lot in advance.

If you mean the Explorer, they date to the early - mid 90's. Puma was ending their almost exclusive import deal with Gutmann Cutlery of Mount Vernon around that time, and Gutmann not wanting to lose the market for this style of knife/knives had these developed, and marketed under their popular Explorer line. I forget the steel, but it was in the #400 class, I want to say 440c.

They were well thought of knives, many believed they were equal to or better than Puma at the time. But they were expensive, and Gutmann had a slow time selling them, and they were winding down the business anyway soon, so these got forgotten about.

There were 4-5 models in stag or wood. A bowie copy, a Trail Guide copy, a Buddy style model, the Alpine Hunter, and maybe one more. The Alpine Hunter sheath was the same style as the Puma WH. You did fine, they were really cheap secondhand for many years, but about 10-15 years ago, people started to re-realized they're a good knife.

 

[Jixxter]

Good afternoon, I greatly appreciate your response. I belong to the Gulf Coast Gun Forum (FL,AL,MS,LA) which has a similar format. However I can upload pictures but somehow can’t figure out how to here. I was inquiring about the White Hunter King Cold 339. It doesn’t reveal where the knife was made being it says King Cold 339 on the tang of both sides and White Hunter on the blade itself. I’ve read it’s either a Puma German or Japan Sword.
Funny thing thou I do have a made in Japan Explorer which I really like. I also recently picked up a stag handle Forschner but what’s confusing to me is that it has Forschner on one side and Japan on the other of the tang. All the reason I’ve done reflects that Forschner knives were only made in Switzerland or Germany, heck even the sheath is stamped Japan. If I can figure out the format here perhaps I can post some pictures and maybe someone with much more knowledge than myself can shed some light on what I actually have. The blade has never been sharpened but it’s literally razor sharp.
Again thank you very much for your time. Happy New Years.