The most American Knife

onojoe

onojoe

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Aug 4, 2013
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What do you think the most "American Knife" is. The one that is associated most with the good ol US. Like the Opinel is associated with France, or the Higonokami with Japan and of course there is the Swiss Army Knife.

My vote would be Buck 110
 
Yeah, I agree... the first thing I thought of after reading your title was the 110.
 
Folder Buck 110.
Fixed Buck 119.

You can argue about their marketing strategy, the direction they're going, whether or not they're competitive in the modern market all you like, but Buck Knives say Americana like no other blades.
 
The Bowie knife comes to mind as an American design which has persisted since its inception, though Abraham Lincoln's pocketknife or Teddy Roosevelt's Bowie knife probably deserve the title of "THE Most American Knife". If nothing else, a Case folding stockman should be high on the list.
 
aleforme said:
KaBar USMC
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This.

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Russell Barlow! It is the most American knife - long before Case or Buck or Kabar.
I think we should reinstitute the Barlow Bearcats.
Rich
 
Brash. Overweight. Able to skin a deer, or at least pretend to be able to...

The Buck 110.


Seriously though... Buck should really figure out a way to put 110/112s into the POCKETS of those of us who can't abide sheath carry on a belt.

Thinner and lighter while still unmistakenly looking like a 110/112. How hard could that be?
 
When I think American knife I think about something like a loveless hunter in stag.

The kabar as well ,and slip joints wheither it be by case but mainly the old Schrades and uncle Henry's that every man carried around when I was a kid.
 
I think it's the Ka Bar USMC hands- down. Designed and made by a US company to fill a US need in a theatre of war. That's pretty damned American.

The Buck 110 is a close second but is probably less distinguishable by the uninitiated.

Case (etc) slip joints are well down the list for me because they're so similar to Sheffield designs.

FYI the " Australian knife" is an old, rusty, over-ground swept back butchers knife that gets used for everything :D
 
It depends if you're talking about a knife pattern or specific knives.

Specific folder - buck 110

Folder pattern - Barlow

Specific fixed blade - mk2 KA-BAR

fixed blade pattern - Bowie
 
Buck 110.

I think "bowie knife" is a rather generic term that people use in reference to a variety of knives. And I'd wager that far more people own, and carry a 110, than own and carry a bowie knife.

And I believe that more people in the US could identify a Buck 110 over a Marine KABAR. As someone who carried a 110 on my belt for several years, I've encountered many people who knew virtually nothing about knives, but they immediately recognized my knife as a "Buck knife" ("Is that a Buck knife?"). And again, I'd wager that far more people in the US own and are carrying a Buck 110 today than own and are carrying a KABAR.

To many, the Buck 110 is a boring, outdated, and even unattractive knife. But it is iconic, highly recognizable, often copied, and lots of people have owned them, carried them, used them, and continue to do so to this day. It has survived the test of time. How many other individual knives have experienced the same level of popularity in the US as the Buck 110?

People in the US must still be buying the 110, because Buck is still making them.

I also know that many Buck 110's saw use in the Vietnam war. So it also has a history of service.
 
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