What is THE American Traditional knife to you

110 & a Russell Barlow. Kabar or Bowie for fixed blades. I always think of a boy scout knife as American too but we probably can't claim it as our own.
 
As Mr. Idle said in a movie one time "that's easy".....
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To pick just one and only one......a "Bowie" Knife. Which can mean a whole bunch of things. But I would believe it should be tied to the large fixed blades of American history AND legend. Be it green river mountain man knife, native trade knive or the Jim Bowie fighter, even the KaBar of the great conflicts.

The Buck 110 does have world wide recongition as the "Buck Knife" made in America. BUT,

you make me pick a folder that means America, that embodies our culture, our history and even our legends and I would have to go with a two or three blade Stockman. Bet there are lots of non-Americans that know what a Ole Timer or Schrade is also, and when you say Stockman, they say John Wayne, good cowboy.

300Bucks
 
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300Bucks said:
To pick just one and only one......a "Bowie" Knife. Which can mean a whole bunch of things. But I would believe it should be tied to the large fixed blades of American history AND legend. Be it green river mountain man knife, native trade knive or the Jim Bowie fighter, even the KaBar of the great conflicts.

The Buck 110 does have world wide recongition as the "Buck Knife" made in America. BUT,

you make me pick a folder that means America, that embodies our culture, our history and even our legends and I would have to go with a two or three blade Stockman. Bet there are lots of non-Americans that know what a Ole Timer or Schrade is also, and when you say Stockman, they say John Wayne, good cowboy.

300Bucks
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Those are about what I was thinking, but 300 said it better than I would have.
The quintessential American blade? The Bowie.
The American folder? Stockman.

To me those have a bit more history going for them than the 110. It's only been around for 50 years. Even the Bowie has not been around for near as long as the Puukko.
 
Another vote for the venerable Buck 110

best regards -

mqqn
 
Scagel.
The Kabars and Randalls are very close seconds but the Scagels have that American do-it-myself feel to them.
 
I kind of agree with the trapper being one of the top ones, but when you say, AMURICA! I think of a Ka Bar with a clip point blade
 
The 1st thing that crossed my mind was the Bowie. For me it is iconic. Whatever it is it is the stuff of legend and imagination.

I see a lot of Buck 110 entries but maybe I'm missing the boat on this one. The stockman, on the other hand, is probably the most common knife pattern I know of. Everybody has one.
 
From what I understand the oldest stockman is English, and thought to be based on a German or Swiss design.
 
Historically I'd agree with the Bowie.
I know I'll get pulverized for this, but my first instinct is Leatherman(and I don't even carry one outside my car). As a teenager i was much more excited about Leatherman than the Buck 110 my pops carried.
Leatherman is a modern icon, its sold in 82 countries and Americans only buy 50% of their output. I just looked it up on Wiki. Leatherman employs twice the amount of people here in the US as Buck and the company is growing exponentially. Born and made in America, mass produced with amazing quality, it is THE American knife today.
 
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