Question for the long-time knifeknuts

[thombrogan]

Not for the folks who've been into knives only since the 1980's.

What are the favorite knives of those of you who've been knifeknuts since before the Reagan years? The knives don't have to be from 1970s and back, though that'd be cool, too, but what have the veteran knife lovers settled on as their all-time favorites?

A special model from Randall? The new Szabofly? A Sawby folk with mammoth ivory?

Which one and why?

I've only been a knifeknut since the 1980's and then mostly from afar.

Thanks, folks!

 

[Normark]

Hey Thom...

Well I think I fit into this catagory...
Geez... Some of my favorite knives from the 70's and 80's..

well one of the first real good knives I bought when I was 13 in Toronto. An AG Russell Sting, which I still own today...

Some other favorites from those days..

Gerber MKII
Gerber Command series
Gerber Guardian
Black Jack Marauder I & II
Al Mar Fang
US Paratropper Switchblade
Original Spydercos (Remember when they came on the market)

Ohh Geez,, I know I'm forgetting alot,, but all I can remember...

ttyle

Eric...

 

[Robbie Roberson]

Hey Thom, I would have to say some of my older Case bone handled knives......the ones that you can just hear the quality in when you close the blades.

There is something so different about the bone handles from the seventies and early eighties, they just look and feel different.

I did not even consider a tactical type blade until 1982.

I was a police officer and worked during the 82 worlds fair, we were told to "be ready", so I made me a boot knife.

Robbie Roberson

 

[Esav Benyamin]

From the late 50s through the 60s I was definitely into slipjoints -- 4-blade camp knives, toothpicks and fisherman's knives (toothpicks with a scaler blade), jackknives. Jigged bone, high carbon steel.

By the 80s I was carrying small "tactical" knives -- one-hand openers, pocket clips.

 

[ranger88]

I went knife nuts in the 70's. Knives were so much different then than now. My favorites were:
The sabre Barlow.
The fishermans Toothpick with the scaler.
Stockman.
Ka-bar USMC.
The classic buck 5 inch lockback folder, with the leather pouch.
Machetes.
And Opinel folders.

 

[IUKE12]

Only three, but here goes:
a swiss army knife-everything I required at the time
a buck 110-my first pocket knife of substance.
a G-96 brand fixed blade-bought it for a two week canoe trip, turns out I was the only one of four to bring a knife, the blade got used big time.

 

[psy-ops]

There was a magazine called "Boy's Life" or something like that, in the back there was an ad, "buy one knife, get the other for a penny." It was a small switchblade style. I went in with a friend. Also in the back of that magazine, I fell in love with my first knife, the airforce survival knife. I never got to own one but I will never forget the fantasy adventures I went on as a kid. Just staring at that picture.

I owned every cheap folder I could get my hads on. I had those cheap yellow folders that were sold in dime stores. We would play Stretch, (that is what we called it) two kids would stand facing each other and throw a knife in the ground toward the outside of the other kid's foot, if it stuck you had to move your foot where the was and then you got a turn, this went until either you or the other guy could not reach the knife.

We also would work the blades of those cheap mexican folders, till we could flick them open with one hand. My first real knife was a Schrade old-timer. I whittled and was so content. Until the knife world exploded, now I won't be content until I own every knife by Spyderco.

 

[MikeH]

Thom: I have been a knife nut since about the time I could walk. That was when my parents gave me a made in Japan (back when that meant junk) fixed blade knife with a compass in the handle. A piece of junk, but a real knife.

I dearly love my Busses, but there is one knife from back then that is/was my all-time favorite. It was a leather washer handled Boy Scout fixed blade that I had broken the tip off from throwing. My dad, a natural craftsman, re-ground the tip, and in the process transformed it into the neatest little semi-skinner shaped blade ever. It was a very thin blade of carbon steel, and could get that thing razor sharp, and kept it that way. It was my constant woods companion for all my teenage years, and it cleaned fish and gutted and skinned an untold number of rabbits, squirrel, and a few deer. Somehow it disappeared in my college years, and because of it's special nature it is truly unreplaceable.

 

[glennbad]

My two most memorable knives were a schrade walden 3-blade medum stockman with jigged delrin handles. Belonged to my grandfather, and was given to me by my father. My grandfather loved knives, and only used quality makers like Schrade, Case, and Queen. I still own it today.

The second that I remember well was a DH Russell/Grohmann canadian skinner. A knife that my father gave to me. I loved it's shape, and how the handle fit so well in my hand. I accidently threw it and a handful of other knives away while cleaning my room one day. Ah, foolish youth...

Another I remember is a USAF pilot's survival knife that my father had. It was well used, and he had customized the sheath and added on EOD tools. He gave it to me to "take care of".

Here's a pic after I reworked the sheath:

I also went through the "buy the junk knives because they look cool" stage. I still have many of them. They remind me of when I was a teenager and thought I was Rambo.

Glenn

 

[JPD1998]

My favorite in the 70's was a Case Shark Tooth lock-back with stag scales. I used it mostly for hunting.

Ironically I was coating it with oil this morning before I left for work. I also had a few of the cheap stiletto lock-backs. I lusted over the original "Paul" knife and a lot of Gerber stuff too

 

[orthogonal1]

Back then, I bought a few knives.

Still own a Gerber Bolt-Action (went through metal detectors - to my suprise), a Kershaw "12" sailors knife, a Cold Steel San Mai tanto folder (always forget the name), a Cold Steel Carbon V Trailmaster, and a couple of Victorinox big folders. I keep these for the memories and they still are good performers in their respective areas.

Somewhere I have a G96 Hunter (bent the tip - really soft metal), a Case Mako, some Case Cattleman knives (not sure on the model name - but they have the leather punch with the curved side - like my Grand father carried, so I did too), and a couple of locking Old Timers. Need to track these down some day when visiting the old homestead.

Had bunches of others - Gerbers, Bucks, etc.

Say what you want about how golden the past was, but as far as diversity of knives go, we are in a "golden age."

 

[ahgar]

in the 70's my favorites in no particular order
sak's victorinox
buck 110
schrade- stockman, folding hunters
gerber {yes gerber they used to make cool, good knives}
puma,
that's about it. I still remember seeing the first add for spyderco knives, and as usual i was wrong when i said, "dang that's an ugly knife it'll never make it" wrong again, ahgar

 

[G3]

I remember Case, Buck, and Schrade from the 70's. Schrade/Buck folding hunters. Case Camp series slipjoints. Mostly they weren't mine but I got my first Case in '78-79. Dad had Buck 110 and a similar model from Schrade but I don't remember the name.

 

[oldrifleman]

My first knife was a boy scout knife in the mid 60s, My favorite back then was the Buck Stockman, but couldn't afford one so I bought an "Oldtimer" and it was great, until at last I could but the Buck of my dreams.. I carried that knife everyday for about 9 years until I lost it (I think, can't remeber). Steven

 

[lambertiana]

In the 70s I settled on the stockman pattern. Then it was a Buck 301, now it is usually a Queen.

I also have a few newer models that I really like:

Buck Mayo and Spyderco Para are at the top of that list. I also have a few of the older Pumas that I have picked up over the years that have a special place in my collection.

 

[Culhain]

1955 Imperial Camp Knife
1963 Boker Muskrat
1970 Buck 110
1971 USAF Survival Knife ($5.00 at a Bangkok flea market !)
1974 Buck 102 and Buck 112

The above knives really covered all my needs, but starting about 1976 I went on a knife buying spree that still continues.