Sharp Memory

RedbeAR15

RedbeAR15

Platinum Plucker
Joined
Sep 29, 2008
Messages
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I had an opportunity to do a little reminiscing this weekend, thanks to a special friend and knifemaker who is a real gem ;)

I had a knife that belonged to my Grandfather refurbished, and gave it to my Dad this weekend, and this got me to thinking...about my first knife

It was a day when lawyers were what your parents encouraged you to be :D One where every real 'man' carried a knife to school in his pocket, and we listened for that special adult request - "I need a knife" to show it off...

The year was 1964, and I had a brand new Barlow - WOW! I was cool, I was the man, I was .... ugh bleeding :thumbup:

I think it took all of 5 minutes with my first knife and I was bitten, or maybe smitten by knives....:thumbup:

Here is a pic of the refurb - A professional meatcutter's knife used during the 40's-50's, Sorry no pic of the Barlow - it is long Gone:(

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Thank You Jeremy

Ironically, my first knife came from my Grandad :thumbup: Without a legal disclaimer, or fear of lawuit - can you believe it?

So how did your love affair begin?
 
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I have always loved knives. I don't remember really when it began.

I think my first knife was an Oldtimer with three blades, one a sheeps foot, one a clip point and one kinda a rounded point. I loved that little knife. Some one stole it out of my jacket pocket one day at school, when I hung my jacket up.

I really got a love for custom knives when My uncle showed me his custom knives that he made. Every family reunion he would break out a knife roll and show them off. I was able to scrape together the price for a nice stag horn skinner before he passed away (I was not even a teenager yet, and saved all summer from my lawn mowing job).

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im glad you had a great weekend with your family... i got a Perry Wingo custom Bowie from my Dad for my 12th birthday,, it's still unused,, but very loved,,,,
 
That first knife in your post has some similiarities to Rob Simonich's work to me.. Really nice first knife!
 
1Tracker said:
That first knife in your post has some similiarities to Rob Simonich's work to me.. Really nice first knife!
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That one was not my first knife. It was my first nice knife, and first custom. My uncle was Glen Hornby A custom knife maker out of California. He passed away when I was 18. I had always wanted to go spend a summer with him and work in his shop and learn how to make knives.
 
Very nice - tell me - how could a 12 year old resist using that beauty?
 
I have never used the custom my uncle made either. He died, and it is irreplaceable.
 
A few years ago, my mom asked me if I wanted my first knife. Of course I said yes. She handed me a small, stamped fixed-blade knife with real plastic imitation stag handles with a compass inset in the handle. Made in Japan, and this was back when that meant cheap and shoddy (1950). "We gave you this on your 4th birthday." she said.

Now, it was cheap and shoddy, but it was a real metal knife with a sharp point and an edge capable of cutting.
I speculated that I only got to hold it under close supervision. "Oh, no, your dad turned you loose with it. It was yours."

Think of the outrage if a parent gave a 4 year old unsupervised ownership of a knife today! But I am nearing 63 now and have not yet used a knife irresponsibly.
 
I remember my first knife. :)

I think I was about six or seven years old, back when Cracker Jacks actually had a real prize inside. This box had a little, really cheap and sloppy folding knife. :eek: It had about a 1" unsharpend blade with plastic green handles. Yes... there was a day you could get a little knife inside a box of Cracker Jacks. :D I remember sitting on the front step, sharpening it on the edge of the stone step. Got that lil' bugger pretty sharp too... slashed paper like no tomorrow. A month or two later, opened up another box and this one had red handles. Now I had two! :)

IIRC, my mom took them away from me... I just had to see how that edge I put on them would work on fabric. Well... the easiest fabric I could find was my sisters pants. :o I think I poked holes in, slashed up a couple of pairs of her pants. Certainly wasn't gonna do that to my clothes. :D

I think it was a couple of years later my dad gave me my first real knife for my birthday... a Case folder with two blades. I remember the first night I had it... layed there and carved up the side of the bookshelf next to my bed. :o Yes... it was taken away in the morning... I think my parents kept if for a month or two. I know, I know... I did not know how to respect other peoples things when I was little. Heck, when my dad gave me my first tool set as a kid, I took the little hand saw out, ran down to the basement and cut the first piece of wood I could find. It just happened to be the handle on my dads good hand saw. :o :D. But it was probably those three instances that taught me the value of and to respect other peoples belongings... or at least the punishment from them anyway. Actually... lack of respect for others and their belongings is now a pet peeve of mine. I guess my parents punishment worked well (and it was far worse than just taking the knife or saw away... trust me).

Anyway... I still had my first Case two blade knife up until last October. I buried it with my father when he passed away. The man was never without a knife, and I had taken the one he had in his pocket when he died (a newer Case with two blades and blue jigged bone handles). So... at the time, I felt a trade was the appropriate thing to do, and traded the last knife my dad had on him, for the first knife he had ever given me. Not sure how I will feel about giving up my first real knife that he had given me... but I didn't feel right sending him off without one, and it happened to be the knife I had on me at the time. :cool:

Sorry for all the long winded post... but the OP sparked some memories, both old and new.

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My dad gave me my first knife at age 5. It was an old timer 4 blade congress. I remember whittling away at sticks as thick around as my arm until they were the same diameter as toothpicks. That was really the start of my blade addiction. His next gift to me was a Swiss army knife. I really thought I was hot stuff carrying that around on my belt. I was home schooled during the formative years so my next purchases were a boker fixed blade hunter, a puma smatchett, and a case sodbuster.

At age 12, My dad gave me a homemade fighting knife made from a file. It was given to him by my uncle who had apparently used it for some horrific things during the course of WWII. It's handle is made from stacked leather washers and the sheath is made from a heavy duck canvass. The whole thing looks mean and crude and I will never part with it for any amount of money.

I'll post pics tonight when I get home.


The 2nd most important thing my dad gave me was a Ruger 3 screw Single Six revolver. It had quite a bit of sentimental value since it was the first pistol I ever shot. About 3 years ago it was stolen from my range bag while I was changing targets. Never found out who did it but I would like to give him a sound thrashing if I ever do find out.
 
First knife was a three blade Imperial which was thrown at me by a crazy a-hole who lived across the tracks behind my house. I was 6 years old and I was never without a blade ever since, until my old man took it but I got it back. First straight blade was a stag handled Solingen hunter that I won at the state fair, the guy tried to give me a toy horse but I insisted on the knife. I was probably 7 or 8 years old. Of course they are long gone now but the desire for knives still lives on.
 
My father ruined my first knife (Swiss army knockoff I bot with my own money at the tobacco store in town) using it to open clams on 7/4. Rusted the sucker to bits. :(

My first lighter was a Zippo I acquired. . . from a 25c candy/prize dispenser at K-mart. I was 7. Dad removed the flint and gave it to me to play with. It was a silver Zippo with blue stickers on it. I don't have that either.

No one ever gave me anything like that. LOL No wonder I'm so danged independent.

(On a related note, my older brother was given a car when he was 17. My younger sister was given a car when she was 17. I had to buy my first car myself. Again - the only one who could AFFORD to do so. LOL)
 
Lil' Foo's post takes me back. My older brother got the wood saw in his Christmas took kit, I got the hand crank drill with a 1inch wood bit. My dad built these took kits with big wooden boxes and a large wooden dowel as the handle. First thing we "fixed" was some cracks in the concrete floor in the basement. We both got hammers and nails in our kits so we took the nails an hammered the cracks in the concrete basement full of nails. If you have ever hammered a nail into a concrete crack you know it does a couple of things. It can make the cracks worse, and be very hard to get out again.

I also took that hand crank wood drill and made some "starter" holes in my parents hard wood floors in my room (just enough to have a little hole in the center and a line circling the hole from the edge of the cutter).

I also drilled some holes in my dad's work bench in the garage. Not all the way through, but a bunch of small holes.

My dad took those tools away from me for a while.
 
AngryFish said:
About 3 years ago it was stolen from my range bag while I was changing targets. Never found out who did it but I would like to give him a sound thrashing if I ever do find out.
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Thats why whenever i go to the range, i go with a buddy so we can watch each others gear whenever we are occupied with things like changing targets, or buying more ammo and targets. Its a bummer people steal, makes me so angry.

Back on target, my first knife was a swiss army knife... well thats the first one that i can remember the brand name of... i used to trade pocket knives at school, had quite a good racket going on. I still have scars from that swiss army knife. And i learned to whittle away from myself too.:D
 
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