Show me your humble, rough-and-ready traditionals!

[rune1279]

This knife was built on the Moran farm in 1944 by a German P.O.W. named Albert Wurtz. He had some experience with working in the cutlery trade in Germany, and didn't mind showing a young man named William F. Moran who was a budding knife maker, how to make a folding knife. Handle was made from a crown stag split on a bandsaw, and blade was forged from a small file. Bill carried this knife for many years. I will still carry and use it on occasion in remembrance of a friend.

Geez, that's as handsome a knife as any I've ever seen. The lines are pretty much perfect -- elegant and rustic at the same time. Thanks for sharing it!

--Mark

 

[Hammer67]

Marjacq - humble, simple, well-made and well used:

And I think it cost me about $12 at the time.

 

[Doug Add]

Here is another one I acquired this past summer. It is an Imperial jack (1940-59 era) that has seen some use over the years, and some rather interesting sharpening technique -- a lot of scratches on the clip blade. Both blades have great snap, and are very stout useful cutting tools. I particularly like the size and shape of the pen blade. It is nearly identical to the pen blade of my Case 6232, with the only difference being the nail nick on the same side as the clip blade (which I prefer).

One reason it is a favorite of mine, is how thin it is. At only 0.3125" wide it is the thinnest two spring knife I own. Here it is alongside my Case 32087 pen, which is a two blade/single spring knife, and is the identical width of the Imperial.

Even though it is only 3.5" closed, it must have been a back pocket knife because it looks like it has been sat on a few too many times! Notice the gentle curve of the frame that places the center of the blades near the liners toward the upper side in the photo, and the blade tips against the liners toward the lower side in the photo.

 

[TLARbb]

I've got this 194OT that I've used for a long time.

and this 34OT that was my Dad's EDC:

This Boker 494 Barlow:

This Camillus EO jack, even though the covers are bone:

another one of Dad's OTs:

Kabar swell end jack (new to me, but not a new knife):

Ed J

 

[zippofan]

I wish I had a pic of my old Imperial Barlow, which I found last summer and cleaned up, it's been mine since I was 8, that's 42 years
I remember my grampa using a yellow pen knife to cut apple slices for us kids when I was little. I'm pretty sure it was a Case pen, but I only have my (failing) memory. It could have been delrin or even yellow celluloid.

I have a couple of yellow knives:

and some black:

Plus a Schrade 120OT, one of my favorite small knives, and just arrived, a Camillus BSA whittler in jigged delrin.

Oh yeah, this Case Camper too:

 

[Doug Add]

Ed's picture reminded me of my Boker 493 barlow. It has definitely seen a lot of action, but boy oh boy are both blades amazingly sharp!

 

[tomsch]

I cleaned up this EZ open Kabar that is a great user with some hard use history. It had a pretty bad blade wobble that I fixed. Looks pretty rough still but compared to how bad it was it was great to put it back into circulation. It has years of life still remaining.

 

[whetrock]

I feel like this isn't really a picturesque, rough and well used knife. It's served me well for the past couple of years, and handles everything I through at it. It's not super ornate, but bone handled. Very basic, for a GEC that isn't a farm and field model. I like it, and consider it a serious user.

I don't want to come across as a poser, so I'll openly admit, that I forced the patinas I do this after I purchase a knife, that I want to use, so I can get over the new nature of the knife. I never used the pen blade much as you can tell in the photo, seeing as the patina covers the edge.

 

[CoffeeCat2112]

This one is about as humble a knife as I have, but it certainly can handle anything I've asked of it:

 

[rarreola]

nothing fancy but reliable, country cousin!

 

[mykel m]

Here's a couple of my Craftsmans.....
A 9553 (SS).

And big bro 9470 (carbon).

 

[Will Power]

This knife was built on the Moran farm in 1944 by a German P.O.W. named Albert Wurtz. He had some experience with working in the cutlery trade in Germany, and didn't mind showing a young man named William F. Moran who was a budding knife maker, how to make a folding knife. Handle was made from a crown stag split on a bandsaw, and blade was forged from a small file. Bill carried this knife for many years. I will still carry and use it on occasion in remembrance of a friend.

Remarkable! It's a very unusual pattern being a one off, but it's so nice that it would be an excellent knife to copy.

 

[Peregrin]

This knife was built on the Moran farm in 1944 by a German P.O.W. named Albert Wurtz. He had some experience with working in the cutlery trade in Germany, and didn't mind showing a young man named William F. Moran who was a budding knife maker, how to make a folding knife. Handle was made from a crown stag split on a bandsaw, and blade was forged from a small file. Bill carried this knife for many years. I will still carry and use it on occasion in remembrance of a friend.

That's a real treasure, Carl. Thanks for posting her up.

 

[TheGent]

My most humble is my Imperial Ireland Apex Stockman with serrated sheepfoot and punch blade. It's done whatever I have asked of it without complaints.

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

I took a couple of pictures for this thread this morning, and found that I could break them into synthetic and natural covers. Because this is a old fashioned workhorse thread, none cost more than $20 and in fact most of these were $5-10, which is why I feel slipjoints are the best deal in working knives.
Synthetic:

Natural:

I haven't put all of the wear on them, but I have added to the wear I bought them with.

 

[CrazySanMan]

 

[wouldestous]

pretty much everything i have is a candidate for this thread.

 

[mr_badexample]

I received this one as a "bonus" is a recent trade. It's about 20 years old as per the previous owner. I fixed up the wobbly blade and added the lanyard. It's super sharp and ready to go another 20.

 

[TomcatPC]

Camillus Hawkbill Pruner.
Mark

 

[C_Becker]

Marjacq - humble, simple, well-made and well used:

And I think it cost me about $12 at the time.

Looks very nice, do you have any more info on that knife ?
Is that an Opinel-like lock ring ?