United Cutlery

Daniel Moore

Daniel Moore

Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Messages
2,790
Hey there fellas.

I saw First Blood last weeekend, and now i can relate to all of those "I had to have it" stories that I had heard before. I know the Jimmy Lile versions are out of the questions, but how about United Cutlery?

Here it is

I'm not familiar with United, but I'm reluctant because IIRC they're up there in prestiege with top brands like Frost Cutlery and Cutco :D
 
Great wall hanger I'm sure, but I wouldn't try to replicate any of Rambo's feats with it. You did notice that the blade steel is 420J2 right? :barf:
 
:( The only hanging I wanted to see it do was from half-way into trees.

Does anyone know if there are any similar survival blades, with hollow handles?

Thanks
 
I've been looking for a quality "rambo" knife for a long time. The only things that comes close (and which are definetely quality) are the Chris Reeves one piece knives. They are on my want list for sure :D .

these
 
CRK or Randalls if you can afford it. There are LOTS of good fixed blades that are 1000x better than that wallhanger
 
Ouside of Reeve-made knives, the only production hollow-handle that seems to have a good rep is the Garcia Survival Knife designed by Ken Warner and imported from Finland back in the 1970's. Apparently, Bill Moran couldn't keep up with his "Vietnam" orders and bought 100 of these Garcias, put a convex edge on them, and sold them in his sheaths -- with proper attribution, of course, being Bill Moran. They are massive 1/4" thick knives with a huge nut holding the hollow handle to a short, threaded tang. Later, Garcia shifted to a much thinner knife of the same general outlines made in Brazil - no comparision in quality so you need to be sure what you're buying. WARNING: the early Garcias are "collectable" :barf:

Some custom maker probably made the odd good quality hollow-handle knife. If you are willing to pay enough, much is possible.

Outside of ease in mounthing the knife as a spear, why do you want a hollow handle? No pockets? ;)
 
Aitor of Spain make good survival blades with hollow handles which are the Commando, Jungle king 1, 2 and 3. own Commando it has a flear firing system built on the shealth. Its a nice knive strongly built the saw back actually work but you need to be quite strong to use them. Was told that the new design for the saw back is better. But will have to tell you this i never used the survival item before.
If you ask me i will tell you get something with full tang. If you really cant go without the survival capsule thing you can alwasy attached a small pouch on the shealth and put the survival stuff there. This way you can have the streath of a full tang and you can place more use full stuff in the pouch. And as for the saw get a SAK or Leatherman stye multitool. First if you are going out door you are going to need one of these multitool and the saw on them are better than any saw back i know.
 
Yeah, I'm starting to look at fixed blades without the hollow handle. It was a novelty thing :D

I was looking at the 119.
 
I almost forgot about the Randall Made Model 18 - second knife on this page - it is suppose to have a really good reputation for a hollow handled knife. I agree about its novelty factor, but that doesn't stop me from think it is pretty cool :o .
 
I think Colin Cox makes one, if I remember correctly........
try asking on the custom knife forums.
 
dennisb1975 said:
I almost forgot about the Randall Made Model 18 - second knife on this page - it is suppose to have a really good reputation for a hollow handled knife. I agree about its novelty factor, but that doesn't stop me from think it is pretty cool :o .
Click to expand...

According to an old Randall catalogue, the original Model 18 was the product of a request from a Para-rescue medical type to take with him on his first tour to VietNam way back in the early 1960s. He had very specific needs and made very specific requests of Bo Randall which, after some discussion, resulted in the knife that became the prototype for the Model 18. Most of the attributes mentioned on that catalogue page were his specifications. The saw teeth on the back edge were so he could cut through the aluminum skin of a downed aircraft, not for sawing through trees, etc.
 
There used to be a maker named Robert Parrish that made some really nice looking hollow handle "survival" type knives. Avoid United Cutlery, I handled some of their product. Ghastly is a good way to describe their product.
 
Buck used to make a hollow-handled survival-type knife back when I was a kid and really wanted one (in the 80's) - can't remember the model number but they were pretty popular for a time.
 
I remember the Buck, think it was called the Buckmaster. I hafta dig out my old cutlery shoppe cataloges. Had those funny looking "horns" on the guard. I think it was about $100.00 at the time which might have well have been $1000.00 on a teenagers budget. I had the serious jones for one as well.
Another neat item was a Taylor Cutlery version which doubled as a slingshot. Not sure how practical it was but a neat collectible to be sure.
 
Hollow handle + short tang - weakness

I always make sure my survival knives have a full tang and as little weakness as possible the last thing I want is a failure on a survival knife...its not like you can just get a new one sent via UPS if it breaks when you really need it :)
 
I have 2 of those generic hollow handle survival knives. The first one I got was from a friend when I was younger as a present. The second I got from a friend of the family's a few years ago. The first one has a plastic handle and is pretty weak but it has a decent blade. The second has a metal handle but a crappier blade. I use the second one now as a throwing knife and it holds up pretty well. I took it apart and put some epoxy around the tang area where it goes into the handle and round the blade where it meets the handle to tighten things up. Pretty strong for throwing but any lateral stress would probably break it easily.

One thing that you have to look out for if you're buying a knife like this is the construction. I found that (I forget which one) one of the knives I own is made from a blade and has a bolt welded to it and then sanded flush to make the tang rather than having threaded a tang that is part of the blade, got that? If not I'll try to better explain :)
 
I hath cometh to a decisioneth!, eth!



I decided to skip the hollow handle and saw and go for the BK7.
 
But there goes your fun factor :p .

Good choice though, it will serve you much better in the long run, I am sure.
 
NR,

good choice! If you had the $$, then it would be a Reeve or a Parrish or a Randall that you'd get. Skipping the wallhangers is good!

If you still want to saw, Buck and Gerber and lots of other folks make good folding saws. They'd work better than a sawback knife at sawing anyways, and the saw and your Becker would be cheaper than most quality sawback hollow handled knives. For a really good woods saw, you can get collapsable frame saws (bow saw?) where evrything fits into a tube. Easy to carry and once assembled makes for a great outdoor tool. Lee Valley Tools sells 'em, as do many outdoor gear places.
 
I've got half a dozen of Reeve's one-piece knives and the only thing I keep in the handles are Vicodin and assorted other painkillers. I spend a lot of time outdoors and I have yet to find that I can't live without the items I can stuff inside of one or two cubic inches. I simply find someplace else to stuff it. I think the best use for a hollow handle in a knife (I got this from another BF poster) is stuffing a Tuff-Cloth for wiping down the knife.

That's not to say that you should not buy a hollow handled knife... The Reeves are great knives in their own right and I would buy just as many of them if the handles were not hollow.
 
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