The 80's!! Anyone remember knives from the 80's??

Most of the knives I owned in the 80's are long gone, but I do still have a few of them in my collection.
My oldest brother kept this one stored away for me for 30 years, and returned it to me in 2018.
This one, and a couple of dive knives, are all that remain from that time in my life...

 
Schrade Uncle Henry, bought in Calgary in 1988. There was load of Chinese copies of that knife at the time, I don't know why because it wasn't a very expensive knife, nor was it a very good knife. Still, sat in my pocket every day for well over 15 years before I moved on.

PXL-20220623-045134213-1.jpg


Buck 119 from 1989. It doesn't seem this model changed much, if at all, since then. Loads and loads of hunters, fishermen and woodsmen carried this back then. It was cheap, available everywhere and did the job.

PXL-20220623-050641219-1.jpg


Also carried this for a short while. This was the third knife I ever made, made in 1989 with a bench grinder, a column drill, files, hacksaw and sandpaper. There was a big store called "House of Tools" in Calgary back then, they sold supplies and did tempering of the steel. Not my best effort, but I was young and inexperienced.

PXL-20220623-052010403-1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Aside from carry-over brands like Buck, Case, Randall, Kabar, and Gerber, brands that started appearing (maybe earlier but I noticed them in the '80s):
Al Mar
Kuzan Oda
Cold Steel
Bali-Song (Benchmade)
Spyderco
 
not2sharp said:
Back during the 1980s we all craved:
1) The original Cold Steel Tanto, as featured in every issue of Soildier of Fortune.
2) A hollow handled survival knife - either the original Lyle or Crain versions or one of the production knives by Buck (184), Gerber (BMF), AL Mar, Randall, Chris Reeves, or the rest.

n2s
Click to expand...

The Aitor jungle king knife had to be around that time.

That was probably my grail knife as a kid. It even had a slingshot.


Racking my brain on the music. I am guessing predator.
 
Last edited:
hank_rearden said:
Aside from carry-over brands like Buck, Case, Randall, Kabar, and Gerber, brands that started appearing (maybe earlier but I noticed them in the '80s):
Al Mar
Kuzan Oda
Cold Steel
Bali-Song (Benchmade)
Spyderco
Click to expand...
Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't exactly call Buck, Case, Randall, or Kabar, "carry-over brands".
I mean, these were well known and established well before the 1980's, so they would likely be better described as true legacy brands.
The 1980's were just a blip on the radar of these companies' long histories 😃
 
Last edited:
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't exactly call Buck, Case, Randall, or Kabar, "carry-over brands".
I mean, these were well known and established well before the 1980's, so they would likely be better described as true legacy brands.
The 1980's were just a blip on the radar of these companies' long histories 😃
Click to expand...
You're right, "carry-over" was the wrong term. Would have been better to say "established", or "existing."
 
jeronimo said:
Most of the knives I owned in the 80's are long gone, but I do still have a few of them in my collection.
My oldest brother kept this one stored away for me for 30 years, and returned it to me in 2018.
This one, and a couple of dive knives, are all that remain from that time in my life...

Click to expand...
I have one of those. It’s a neat little knife.
 
Seeing these old knifes brings back memories from the late 70s to early 80s. My brother and I would take the bus downtown to one of many of the Army/Navy Surplus stores searching for decent knives. I have a pakastani knife that was described in this thread earlier and attached a photo, dust and all. It came in a sheath and then unfolded, basically doubling its length. Back then it really seemed that almost all the guys in that high school belt carried what they called "Buck Knifes" witch were probably 110s. At this time it wasn't unusual to see gun racks in trucks in the school parking lot during deer season, sporting at least one lever action and or scoped rifle. Rumour was that as long as the rifle was secured in the vehicle, it was perfectly fine with the high school. Oh, right, the drinking age was 18 and there was a "smoking area" for students also. Its hard to believe during these times.
 

Attachments

  • PKKnife.jpg
    PKKnife.jpg
    174.7 KB · Views: 8
Here's the other side of the 80s. I moved to Florida in 1982 when I was in the middle of the 9th grade. This is some of the junk I bought when I worked as a dishwasher making $3.35 an hour, made in Japan, Taiwan, and Pakistan. Some are Valor Miami branded a couple are Parker. The rest are unbranded. As you can see, I don't get rid of much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top