Thrifty Thursday... Cheap Traditional Knives

Found this Kamp-King years ago for 20% of what I paid for a taco salad this week.
The salad was delicious but even after almost 10 years I'm still enjoying the Scout. Now that's thrifty entertainment. :)

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An New one from the Czech Republic.
Mikov Fish Knife.
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Sorta reminds me of the baby spoonbill catfish I caught* back in the '90s from this angle. (an adult's nose is "only" half their length.)
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*had to put him(?) back. Eye to fork of tail had to be no less than 48 inches to be a keeper. Mine was only 10 inches.
60 to 90 inch plus "keepers" were not uncommon where I tried my luck.)
 
redsparrow said:
Had to look up the Spoonbill Catfish, here's what I found;
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World record 164 pound Spoonbill Catfish also known as American Paddlefish.
Possibly processed with a FILET SWORD! ;);):p
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"fun fact":
Spoonbill/Paddlefish don't take any type of bait.
They eat micro organisums in the mud/sand/gravel of the bottom.
Only way to catch is by snagging. (during the spoonbill/paddlefish season).

I fished for them on the Taberville River in Missouri. A somewhat fast stream.
I was fishing "light line": 80 pound test braided Dacron. (spliced, not knotted). Reel was a PENN 309 levelwind. Rod a 5 foot trolling rod rated for 80 pound test line.
Guy I was fishing with (and most others) used 120 pound test Dacron and a PENN 116 reel.
Ocean trolling rods, reels, and line are the norm when targeting them.
(by-catch includes gar (yummy) and carp. Any and all game fish snagged (bass/walleye/other types of catfish) have to be released.

Because of the fast current, we used 10 ounces of lead below the 4 inch dia. treble hooks. (1 at 3 foot above the sinkers, 1 at 5 foot above) to get the hooks to the bottom.
Saw one guy "ultralight" fishing for them. He had a Mitchell 302 Salwater reel loaded with 25 or 30 pound test line. I don't know how big the one he caught was - other than it was a "keeper". I only saw the fork of the tail when he got the fish to with-in 3 feet of the shore.
Tail was a good 2 foot tip to tip.
That one got off the hook.
 
Still toting the one in post 1883, above. Have it on the right leg of the double Albert watch chain.
(1883 was an excelleny year, BTW. A maternal great great uncle arrived that year. Sadly, I never got to meet him. He left in 1917 while serving in France. Great grandpa had his photo hanging in a place of honor in his sitting room.)
 
So a GOOD while back I was perusing a certain local(ish) big retailers site and buried deep deep on like page 13 of Rough Rider's stock there was a gorgeous Clip point single blade knife labeled as Marble's "Exhibition Grade". It was out of stock but I had never even seen it before so I called and emailed and after getting conflicting yet equally confused answers I tried to contact Rough Rider and Marbles...both to no avail. I clicked to be notified when back in stock and never heard anything again. I peeked back at the site from time to time in hopes to find it but in the back of my mind I figured, like with most things, it was a pipe dream. Quite randomly I was back on that site looking for a stocking stuffer idea and had the thought to look for it again and noticed that the Rough Rider section had been updated and the knife was no longer there. I looked in Marbles section and BOOM, first row and it was available. My heart jumped out of my chest (I know, silly right for a $16 China knife?) and I ordered 4 immediately. Two days later they show up and they are as good in person as I had hoped but after inspection the quality is a tad below what Ive gotten used to from RR lately.

Bolsters all have blemishes, blades all have some waves and lines in them and the bone scales are cracked/chipped and the dye job isnt the best. They come really dirty and which ever one I chose to keep will be cleaned and oiled properly but here are some quick out of box pictures.

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I know its silly to be this excited to find and obtain this "Thrifty" little knife but as a major fan of cheap User/Abuser knives from RR, this thing is really cool. Im going to go through these and see if there is a keeper then Ill really see how it holds up from there. Happy Thrifty Thursday to all...its certainly a happy one here!

Matt
 
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66sprint6 said:
So a GOOD while back I was perusing a certain local(ish) big retailers site and buried deep deep on like page 13 of Rough Rider's stock there was a gorgeous Clip point single blade knife labeled as Marble's "Exhibition Grade". It was out of stock but I had never even seen it before so I called and emailed and after getting conflicting yet equally confused answers I tried to contact Rough Rider and Marbles...both to no avail. I clicked to be notified when back in stock and never heard anything again. I peeked back at the site from time to time in hopes to find it but in the back of my mind I figured, like with most things, it was a pipe dream. Quite randomly I was back on that site looking for a stocking stuffer idea and had the thought to look for it again and noticed that the Rough Rider section had been updated and the knife was no longer there. I looked in Marbles section and BOOM, first row and it was available. My heart jumped out of my chest (I know, silly right for a $16 China knife?) and I ordered 4 immediately. Two days later they show up and they are as good in person as I had hoped but after inspection the quality is a tad below what Ive gotten used to from RR lately.

Bolsters all have blemishes, blades all have some waves and lines in them and the bone scales are cracked/chipped and the dye job isnt the best. They come really dirty and which ever one I chose to keep will be cleaned and oiled properly but here are some quick out of box pictures.

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I know its silly to be this excited to find and obtain this "Thrifty" little knife but as a major fan of cheap User/Abuser knives from RR, this thing is really cool. Im going to go through these and see if there is a keeper then Ill really see how it holds up from there. Happy Thrifty Thursday to all...its certainly a happy one here!

Matt
Click to expand...
Congrats on your persistence paying off! I appreciate your excitement over a thrifty knife; the gunstock-checked covers look superb! :thumbsup::cool::cool::thumbsup:

Coincidentally, I'm showing off a Marbles product this week, too.
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- GT
 
cbach8tw said:
Need to get an Antonini Bear to compare to my MAM and my Opinels.
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I’ve got another similar knife for you. José Pt-Luso Pt-Luso recently posted a photo of a knife very much like an Opinel with the same lock. The company’s name is Pires, a Portuguese company. I had one in my cart, but shipping to the U.S. was the same cost as the knife itself. Otherwise it was very appealing.
 
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