I grew up in the 1950s hunting the south Texas brush country with my father and brothers. Dad wasnt a big spender on hunting knives--he did well to outfit himself, my mother (a crack shot), my two brothers and me with hunting rifles. However, he did have a worn-but-beautiful bowie that belonged to his grandfather, a rancher in the borderlands of south Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. That bowie rode on my great-grandfathers gunbelt for who knows how many years--talk about an EDC! I loved that knife from the first moment I laid eyes on it. I also lusted after a Camillus sheath knife my grandfather carried on hunting trips. When I was old enough to start field-dressing my own deer, Dad gave me a cheap plastic-handled swing-lock folder to carryI probably field dressed and/or helped butcher at least a dozen deer with it, as well as using it for all kinds of camp chores in my early years afield.
The day after my 16th birthday, I took money from birthday gifts and went down to our local hardware store to upgrade my blade. I fell in love with a Case Bulldog folder with yellow stag handles, and even though it cost me everything I had--$10--I knew I had found The Knife. Used it on through my college years. I traveled Mexico by myself quite a bit in my youth, and the feel of that big Case riding in my boot top was a comfort on many occasions.
My real downfall came in the early 70s when my father told me about an experience hed had at a local gun show. He saw a duplicate copy of my Bulldog for sale on a vendors table for $100. I couldnt believe itsomeone actually paying that kind of money for a knife, just to keep in a collection? I decided the Bulldog was probably worth too much to continue using, so I put it away and began looking for another better knife. The quest has never ended.
Ive owned many thousands of dollars worth of knives since then. The most Ive paid was $1500 for a knife, then turned around and sold it for $2,000 a couple of years later. Of course, I never used that knife, and most of the ones I buy I never do (though I almost always think I might).
Now $100 for a knife to me is nominal, but I wouldnt take $1,000 for that old yellow stag Bulldogor even for the red-plastic-handled swing-lock my dad gave me all those years ago. And I doubt Ill ever top the feeling I got walking out of that hardware store with my new Case when I was 16 years old.
Here are my great grandfathers bowie (with sheath, his gun belt and holster), my grandfathers Camillus, the plastic-handled swing-lock, and the Case Bulldogthe only knives I know Ill never trade:
....yes.....makes me quite nervous.
