USA or Overseas, what's your choice for a traditional pocket knife?

T. Erdelyi

T. Erdelyi

Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
32,359
I have more slipjoints made in the USA by now defunct companies, but they're all older than 50 years old.

Now a days what's out there, USA, Queen, Case, Remington, from abroad, Boker, Puma, Opinel, Wenger and Victorinox, who else?

So what do you prefer, new or old, and I'm talkin' production, not custom.
 
Old, definitely, of course I realllly like this new schrade tenn. river trapper in my pocket!!! Courtesy of OTguy :D !!! Of course schrade, unfortunatley is now "defunct".
 
I guess this is where my scizoid psyche comes out. I grew up with stockmen and scout paterns. To this day I am never without my old Victorinox pioneer and a carbon steel stockman.

For the stockman I like my old Timer 8OT or my original Hen and Rooster 4 inch stockman. Over the last 30 years the stag has turned a deep creamy brown.

For the rough stuff I use an old Buck 301.
 
I like the new stuff coming out of Queen but I have a Henckels made in the fifties that still has a lot of life left in it. A great old stag handled large stockman!
 
Have to say I like the old stuff. Have a number of older ones, in a variety of brands, US and foreign. My favorites have to be Case XX and old Henkels, especially the older lobster patterns with ornate handles.
 
For spending MY money country of origin is no so much the issue with me as is the quality of craftsmenship and components that went into it.

For new, that would be USA and European where manufacturing is a Team Sport. The US has several companies compeating, trying to make a living and make their name mean something - like a team. The same in Germany, Switzerland and the rest of Europe. Pride in their country and pride in their "team" (ie company).

A Chinese knife to me is just a chunk of mediocre steel made as "cheap" as possible, with any logo required to sell it stamped on, to be not much more than eye candy. Would they ever put "Norinco" on them them to shout to the world "Hey we made this knife and we are proud of it!" ? I doubt it. Every effort is made to cover it up. I've yet to see anything made in China because they could make it better. (This is especially true for electronics.) "They're disposable" is the best thing I can say about them.

Granted, there have been plenty of "cheap" USA and European knives as well, but even they tend to have some history or reason behind them and those companies either improve or die off.

Even though a SAK is not the best steel, the fit and finish is consistant, the tools are useful (last week I used both screw drivers, both blades, and the toothpic on mine :D ) and it screems "quality".

The only thing I avoid (for myself) in knives are "collector" knives. I don't like collecting items that were made for collecting - I want the real deal. This doesn't mean I will throw away a gift, but I'll only keep it as long as I want to remember that "so & so gave me this for Christmas one year".

Sorry if this was rant-y
 
I prefer a medium stockman - really dig that sheepsfoot blade :D. Mostly I carry carbon steel schrades but I've been known to carry a Case CV or a Buck now and then. The smaller trappers somehow find their way into my pocket once and a while as does a Case warnie Copperlock in yellow CV.
 
My favorites are some pre-WWII Bruckmann knives I bought from AG Russell a few years back. Very classy little knives of excellent quality.

New knives, I like Hen and Rooster, some of the Bear MCG, the Gerber Silver Knights, and I generally like Case.

Smoky Mountain Knife Works had some "warehouse find" Geisen & Forsthoff knives from Germany from the '50s. The handles weren't particularly attractive, but the guality is nice.

-Bob
 
T. Erdelyi said:
I have more slipjoints made in the USA by now defunct companies, but they're all older than 50 years old.

Now a days what's out there, USA, Queen, Case, Remington, from abroad, Boker, Puma, Opinel, Wenger and Victorinox, who else?

So what do you prefer, new or old, and I'm talkin' production, not custom.
Click to expand...

Did I follow your question correctly? You're title made me think you were asking about a preferance in country of origin (which I answered) but looking at the the text and other answers it looks more like "which brands do you like"

Victronox is the only one I own that is still made by THAT company. I have more Schrade products than anything, with Colonial comming in second.
 
There aren't that many US made traditional patterned knife companies out there in the US, Case, Remington, Camillus, and Schrade come to mind.

Non US, Puma, Boker, Hen and Rooster, Henckles, come to mind, so it's not hard to associate a few brand names with a country.

My question is what country, but if you want to be brand specific there's no harm in showing brand loyalty.

The workmanship in the early 1900's was the best in England and Germany, eventually a lot of the cuttlers emigrated to the US and the quality here became second to none, as time marched on and union demands, and material supply issues became more prominent the quality of the work suffered, we started looking to Asia to provide the quality we were previously accustomed to.

Now we hear that Schrade will now be making premium knives in small runs, similar to Queen under the Schatt Morgan moniker, maybe the tide will turn and the US will once again make a pocket knife everyone can afford and also be made well enough to pass on to future generations.
 
I've got a few Schrade brands, (extremely hard to beat!), a couple of Colonials (decent for the price) Bunch of Cases, A couple of Remingtons, several Queens, all made in USA, all good working knives. But also have several European made folders that are good workers too. The latter seem to be a little more expensive (at least in my collection) and will probably last longer. All knives above get carried and used (If I can't use it, I won't buy it), and they all seem to hold up well. Just my .02 Marty :)
 
T. Erdelyi said:
maybe the tide will turn and the US will once again make a pocket knife everyone can afford and also be made well enough to pass on to future generations.
Click to expand...

T., I fear that the well made pocketknives won't be affordable by everyone. Most people use and will use cheap POSs anyway, and the collector market is more and more oriented towards the looks only. The well made, functional and well looking pocketknives will be marginal collector items, so expensive too. Let's hope, I am wrong.

As for your question, both USA and some foreign made brands are still good quality: Queen (including the knives they make/made for Moore Maker and Bluegrass/Case Classics), German Eye, Boker, Hen and Rooster, Bulldog, many French companies.

Camillus makes functional, good and relatively cheap pocketknives, but almost all of them are with Delrin or Rosewood scales.

The nicer Winchesters made (by Queen?) for Bluegrass are nice, similar to the Case Classics and the Moore Makers.

A.G. Russell has some nice variety of traditional pocketknives, they are made by USA, German or Japanese companies. I highly recommend you the A.G. Russell Arkansas toothpick, made in Japan.

Also, as a person of Hungarian descent, you might be interested of Imre Polyak's knives available from Accent Knives (Banner advertisers on KFC).
 
littleknife said:
...Also, as a person of Hungarian descent, you might be interested of Imre Polyak's knives available from Accent Knives (Banner advertisers on KFC).
Click to expand...

I'll have to check him out.

jó estét! es nagyon köszönöm
 
USA

I really like my older Case knives the most, but I love my Moore Maker Trapper.

I don't really care for the new Case, and Puma slipjoints.
 
Like the older knives best and Queen/S&M for new. As for overseas or domestic, still strugling to ID quality overseas knives after I bought a couple of Pumas (not knowing better and only owning some > 40 years old) and got a big shock.
 
T. Erdelyi said:


I'll have to check him out.

jó estét! es nagyon köszönöm
Click to expand...


T.,

Szivesen! :D

In the past I have reviewed here one of Polyak's knives:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277819&highlight=Imre+Polyak

Many American knives are better made, but this is definitely a different slipjoint. Resembles the Laguiole, it is heavy and solid, even though the blade steel is only a German equivalent of 420HC.
If you want truly excellent fit and finbish with smooth operation, try out the Japan made A.G. Russell Arkansas toothpick. Even the seconds of these look better than many first class German or American slipjoints, and the blade steel is ATS 34.
 
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