Re-found an old(?) knife I underappreciated

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Rangerspencer

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May 23, 2014
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A long time ago my grandpa made me a custom knife box when I was about 11 or so. He made me a folding knife box out of ceder wood with his own two hands and put it together from scratch by himself. I got the box for either my birthday or Christmas, since the they are only two weeks apart and I can't remember.

Inside the box was a stockman knife he had bought for me. I had already been collecting blades then in my life and I was happy to get another. Oh, but I was young and foolish and I opted to collect knives a young teen would....balisongs made in china, big rambo style knives, switchblades, anything I could get at the local flea markets really. It wasn't until the last 7 years have I actually started to collect "real" knives. So, being the stupid young teen I was, I didnt carry around the stockman my grandpa gave me.

So it sat in that box until I found it recently while cleaning and I just looked at it and sighed, knowing it wasn't until just now that I so under-appreciated what sort of gift an old grandfather had actually given me. He gave me my very first stockman and I let it sit in a box and gather dust. Well, no longer I say! I'll carry it around with me and treasure it for what it is, a throw back to the days my grandfather lived when he carried a stockman with him around his farm in rural Kentucky.

Heres the thing though guys and gals: while I treasure this knife as one of the VERY few things my now-passed-on grandpa gave me, I cant be sure of it's quality. I can tell by looking at it that it's made decent enough, and the steel isnt terrible, but I don't feel like its actually a "good", well made knife. I actually don't even know what it is, and thats where me posting this whole story comes in. The only defining features it has is on the main blade, stating "Wild turkey Hand Made", and on the base of the same blade it also has "solingen steel". No other logo's or defining features and the shield/logo plate in the handle is missing. I would have taken a picture but I'm having camera troubles. Also, the handles seem to be "bone" but then it could just be really nice looking fake or synthetic bone. I tried to do some research but I couldn't find anything online that tells me exactly what "Wild Turkey" is, aside from a few cheap knives being listed on Ebay under the same name.

So, anyone have any ideas the maker of this thing? I'm not worried if it isn't a super fancy knife brand. My grandpa never in his life ever had that much to his name, and honestly it means the same to me no matter if he paid 10$ or 1000$ for it. He gave it to me because he loved me, and he felt a young boy needs...no, deserves, to have a good knife at his side. I just want to know what it is for curiosity sake. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me identify this knife.
 
Frost had a line of "Wild Turkey" knives.
I don't know that your grandfather would have spent a lot on a pocket knife for an 11 year old. He was likely wise enough to know that quality and value are often insignificant or under appreciated by most 11 year olds. None the less, that is really cool that you hung onto it. In my youth, I seemed to "lose" most things my grandparents and even parents gave me. My brother did much better hanging onto stuff than I did. I don't even want to think about what I COULD have now ... had I known.
 
Frost Cutlery. They currently have them on their site for $13.00. Hope this helps.

I too had a Grandpa as special as the one you describe. I think about him everyday. We trapped and skinned thousands of muskrats together with an old beat up two-blade muskrat pattern knife. I'd give anything to have that old knife today but it's been lost to time...
 
...I'll give you $14.00 for it ... if it comes with the box ;)
My point is that what you have is priceless
 
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Well actually, I was more mature than most kids my age. He would have spent a lot more, if had the cash. I already had a few pretty expensive knives, I just tended to focus on other types at that point. The box actually I would put around 100+$ in value, just considering the type of ceder used and such forth. But thanks for the info guys I kind of knew it wasn't that expensive but just wanted more or less to know where this thing actually came from.
 
Wonderful story, congratulations on having such a gift from your grandfather.

You may be shaking your head at the foolishness of a young teen to not appreciate such a knife, but therein lies the silver lining. If you had carried it, it's likely you would have done what most young folk do. Pry with it, or throw it at trees, or lose it. (I in no way mean to imply that you were an irresponsible young person, just that many of us went through that phase, and I sure did have a good time throwing knives at trees when I didn't know better :D) This way, you have it now to treasure.

I'd love to see a picture of the box.
 
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