What kind of knives did you prefer before you found khukuris?

Started off with the Boy Scout knife. Need I say that between Cub and Boy Scouts, not to mention other organizations 90% of the boys in elementary school in the late 50's ( and who knows how many girls ) would have been expelled under today's hyper-reactionary rules. Later was given a Case chromed blade hunter for a birthday with about a 4" long blade by 3/4" wide, clip point, stag handles, and aluminum single guard and pommel. Still have it somewhere.

After high school came various promptly lost pocketknives, and then the Buck 110, later replaced by the smaller Ranger. All lost.

Finally along came the SOG Tomcat, when my Social Work Supervisor, informed that I didn't have a knife on me, disgustedly turned to another woman and asked "What good is a man who doesn't have a knife?" ( She was a character - I could have handed her a 20" AK and she'd have asked if I didn't have anything bigger, then called the state capitol to tell her boss - the head honcho - the story, only it would have grown to a 30" AK by the time she was done. Did I mention she loved to fish and tell fish stories? ) Heavier than lead to make it sink to the bottom of my slacks pocket and with rubber handles ( kraton ) to keep it from falling out. Honorably retired when the rubber finally peeled off. One of these days to be polished up and new scales added. It is now resting next to an unused SOGwinder II I kept in reserve just in case the Tomcat was ever lost or broken.

About that time McGyver came along and 3 or 4 swiss army type knives.

Finally, I got my first HI, two or three dozen khuks back. Plus a 30" Sirupati, an Everest katana, and the Tarwar.
 
Interesting how two different people react to what is essentially the same knife out of carbon vs. stainless steel:

Chris B. likes the SOG Bowie ( "a very good knife" ).

While Alan found the SOG Trident to have a spirit ( "but not a good one. It definitely wanted to be fed...RIGHT NOW" ).

Hmmmm:

I've got a Bauchop Alley Cat.

I've got Audrey, the 12" Sirupati whom I named after the bloodsucking plant in "Little Shop of Horrors".

I've got a Fairbairn-Sykes.

And the triangular bladed stiletto already has a feel to it.

Every one of them could do a job for you if needed, but they all have different personalities.
Beats the bleep out of me how to explain it.
 
NDN,
NICE TOPIC! Mine was & still is Bali's,started with PC had Lovestrand change the inserts to Mast.Ivory on my wee-hawk, then customs (Erickson, Miller etc.)Settled down to two for EDC ,a PC 5"KRIS,or 4"Mod.Spearpoint & of course my Gunting(love it)!Also love Randells, Lovestrands(my brother & his fam. gave me these for Christmas,wouldn't take anything for them),& Wild Bill Caldwell'S WORK!Discovered HI way back at the beginning (thanks Ray), managed to find a cave to keep one or two in ,"for Reasearch"Also carry a hawkbill,love them,at one time only a SEAL & me had the Civilian in Fl.talked one of Sal of Spyderco's secretary's into sending me one! I guess I just have that sweettalking ability(comes with age)or maybe it's because I haven't got a mean bone in my body & am just a nice,innocent,kind ,old man!
jim
 
Though my first knife was a folder from an uncle, I always did (and have) preferred fixed blades. A few of these early knives were an obsidean bladed knife and a Schrade Golden Spike (which has cleaned a few Catfish).

Bob
 
Osiyo Bro,

This is a good one! AnteHi times found me pretty satisfied with my Randall Smithsonian Bowie. Bowies had been my first choice but I really liked the Irish/Highland dirk too. Longer, wider, heavier blades have always had more appeal for me, both ascetically and practically. Now, I have to rank the formerly almighty Bowie second to the almighty Khukuri in mightyness- especially the UBE, which having a curved point covers that functional aspect of the bowie. I still keep my Irish and Scottish dirks sharp though.
 
Bill Paxton said:
Back in (circa) 1981 almost bought an Pacific Cutlery made balisong. Then noticed the price tag was $199.95 not $19.95 . Too rich for my then youthful pocketbook.
Click to expand...

About six months ago, at a local knife show, I bought a Pacific Cutlery balisong, with nylon case, for $195.

I collect various sorts of knives, but one very interesting (to me) subset is knives that are all metal, preferably one piece with blades of 4 inches or less. I have a Chris Reeve Shadow III, an all-steel A.G.Russell Sting, a David Boye Basic 4 etched with an eagle's head, two very slender handmade Japanese blades (one is ATS34 with a textured handle, the other is a pattern-welded laminate), and a knife forged from a horseshoe. The PC balisong fits in nicely with that bunch, as does a recent Norm Bardsley one-piece made from Nick Smolin damascus. And there are others, including a Fairbairn-Sykes replica (I assume it's a cheap knockoff; I only paid $25) and a very nice decorated Sebenza.

Then I had to find this place, and I've now bought four :confused: blades from Uncle Bill! -- a BAS, a 20-in. Sirupati, a JKM-1 and a "letter opener" (can't ever remember what its called).
 
Finn:

The big blade syndrome hit me early, too. The only hand-made Bowie I was able to obtain was an early Eldon Courtney, which just didn't quite fill the bill - I never carried it. Nice knife, but just a half-bubble off plumb.

There was a statement made by one of the gun writers, to the effect that the .357 SIG was a grown-up 9X19. While I'm not sure of the cartridge (yet :)), the description certainly fits the UBE. It fit the niche for my "Big Bowie" yearning, and shut it down completely. Well, almost completely. DeathDancer has a bone handled UBE for sale over on KF. If I wasn't grounded.......... ;)
 
I also have a SOG Trident and I like it too! It's a good heavy bladed 440C knife. It has served me well for years! I also have A Bussie and a Randall 14, heck I'll bring em all to the convention!!!
 
Wal,

Me grounded too.

I once had a sword polisher friend take my Ontario machete and reconfigure the point like a bowie. I had the longest bowie on the block.

It'll be interesting to see what Bro Yvsa has to say about the UBE after he's had one in his mit for a while.
 
:
All the talk about the UBE made me remember that mine will be waiting for me when we get home, no doubt already is.
Something to really look forward to and may help me deal with the 115* heat indexes Tulsa has been having.:eek:
And maybe the heat and humidity will have already fixed the scabbard by the time we get home around next Wed. or Thur.:D

I guess it's not strange that I like balisongs as well. They're absolutely the strongest folding knife ever and approach fixed blades in their strength!!!! I have a Dragon's Forge which I understand isn't one of the best, but isn't one of the worst either.
I would like to have a really nice one from the islands.

Another one I was always fond of although it has little practical purpose is the old Italian Stillitoes(sp) of the James Dean fame.
I had one with about a 4" blade that a one time way back when future brother in law had to register and be fingerprinted for. You had to be 21 years old and they were just like buying a pistol at the time.
I lost it somewheres down the road to being so called grown up.:D
I still wouldn't mind having one of those huge 8" kris bladed ones. The really good ones would almost jump out of your hand when you hit the switchbutton!!!! I still admire them at the shows, but the really good ones are going for much, much more than I'm willing to spend. I had rather buy another khukuri for that kind of money.:)

And although i'm not too much of a fan of folding knives but another one I have that I'm also rather fond of is a Spanish Navaja that I got at a gun and knife show for a lot less than what it was worth, or at least what they were selling for at the time. I think I gave around $25.00-$30.00 for it.
It has about a 6"-7" blade and makes a nice ratcheting sound when opened quickly.
I understand it was once, perhaps still is a knife favored by the displaced Roma peoples. I can never remember who the maker is, but I think it's Jose' something.

I really wish now that I had some of the old knives I made when I was a young man out of old car springs.
And especially a couple of them that would have been nice to anyone's standard's.
One of them was a really nice southwestern style Bowie with a welded handle on it. If you dab the welding rod on and then beat off the slag and then dab more on and so forth you can build up a really nice feeling handle that polishes up on a high powered buffer to look like silver. The hollows in the dabbed on steel is black just like silver does.
That knife was totally indestructable!!!!

Oh and Will, my daughter didn't give me any doggie penicillin, but if she had it wouldn't have been the 1st time I have taken it.:D
 
Great Topic Yvsa, I was beginng to think that everyone on this forum were Kukuri elitests.Glad to find out different.
I had a cheap bowie back when I was a youngster, stag grips, brass guard,"Solengen blade". I think it cost $10 or $15. Later just before the army I bought a WWII Fairbirn/Sykes. The first good knife I bought that saw LOTS and LOTS of use was a Schrade Uncle Henry 5" hunting knife, carbon steel. Still have her, great knife. About the same time late '60's I bought a Case three bladed stockman and I still have it though the blades are a bit more narrow than when I bought her but still a good using knife. In more recent years I gravitated to one hand openers. My first was a Benchmade AFCK. Excellent knife I carried her every day for years till I lost her, of all the places, a movie theater, reaching in my pocket to pay for popcorn, expensive popcorn. I was going to buy another of the same at a blade show but saw one of the Benchmade McHenry/Williams Axis lock knives in the case, at first I didn't like the look of her but I found myself walking back by to check it out, about four or five times. I finally asked to see it and it felt just right so I bought it and had carried it everyday for a year or so it was #1 of 1000 production run so I decided to retire it. The folder that I replaced it with is a Columbia River Crawford/Kasper,3" blade. I'm never without her. I was never attracted to Columbia River knives before couldn't afford a handmade Crawford saw this hefted it at the store and was sold. It holds an edge better than any of the ATS 34 blades I have. Wonderful handy knife that becomes one with my hand. Fixed blades, the one in redent years that I love is a SOG Seal 2000. Just read about the tests it had to pass, it is awsome. Its not as good a chopper as a Kuk but certainly a knife that I would stake my life on. Enough rambling I could keep going but I'll spare you all. Yvsa thanks for getting me started. :D
 
Hey Guys,
Where could I find a sight regarding legal issues on blades in Tx, and where could I find a good place for balisongs (butterfly knives)?

I am interested in teaming up my 20" Kobra with a new little friend. ;) (Lets hope that they like each other :eek: )

I'd prefer to carry around my 12" AK all the time, but that is not possible here in college. You all like to toy around with balisongs so I figure I need to forfit a kagas katne or two to see what the hubub is about.

What do ya'll know??? :confused:

Thank you
 
Hi all...
Haven't posted much lately...logging in with the new forum software is a pain, with my setup here.
I enjoyed this thread...kept nodding and saying: "Yup, had one of those...and one of those...and one of those..." :)
I too have a Plumb Boy Scout hatchet...a birthday present in 1942, that has lots of miles and its third haft on it.
In the 40's it was pocket knives and a small bowie-style hunting knife, as well as my precious 1924 KaBar skinner...a legacy from my fly-fishing Dad, never used.
In the 50's there were switchblades and the search for the 'BIG' knife. A couple of Case knives, including a stockman double ender that I still have.
In the 60's it was the military, and my first Puma bought in Germany...a Fallschirmjager Gravity knife that never made it back to the ZI...and a few Sykes-Fairbairns that kept breaking off thier points. And there were my first Randalls...an Alaskan Skinner (Model 11, I remember) and a magnificent Thorpe Bowie that at long last satisfied my hunger for a good BIG knife. Nice ivory hilts, too!
In the 70's it was back to civvie street, and a sucession of boot knives for discreet carry...Gerber, Al Mar, and Russell...still have 'em, but no boots :)
80's and 90's saw a couple of Cold Steel and a few quality Japanese (Seki) knives come and go. Some stayed, of course... My nephew became a knife dealer, and kept passing me things to test for him...
And finally, after years of seeing HI ads in Blade and elsewhere, I contacted Bill...and ended up with a great sirupati and a GS, as well as a couple of katas kagnes.
My knife drawer is full. No more, please!!!!
Ken
 
Samurai Dave,

Where could I find a sight regarding legal issues on blades in Tx
Click to expand...

As a former Texan I remember the high (low) points - to carry any knife in any situation the blade must not be longer than five and one half inches, and have a single edge, or it can or will be considered as a "prohibited weapon".

To safely understand your position, you should take this to mean that you are subject to arrest and incarceration if your knife exceeds these specifications in any way, shape, or form, no matter where you are, or what you are doing (hunting, camping, fishing, hiking, driving to and from). To comply, avoid sharpened "false edges", even if serrated. Texas knife laws are in themselves criminal, and archaic. While there is latitude given to law officers, you can't safely count on any "slack" at all. For example, your knife may have a blade only two inches long, but if it has two edges you are in violation.

Other forumites may want to add to this. Good luck and stay safe.
 
I too started out as a kid with the nonlocking Scout folders, which I think are made by Camillus. As an adult I've always had a few handy SAKs around, again nonlocking. In the mid-70s I got my first lockback, a heavy Gerber with a brass handle and wood inlays. But the only knives other than HI's that I've felt a real enthusiasm for and desire to sort-of collect have been Spyderco's. Partly because it's a Colorado company and you can visit the factory, partly because it's a family-owned business, and partly because I've always liked the corporate motto: 'Integrity is being good even when no one is watching.' Spydies are about as far away from the wonderful kami-handcrafted end of the spectrum as you can get, but my dad was a patent attorney and he taught me to see real beauty in ingeniously simple inventions that improve function, like the one-handed opening hole and reversible clip for lefties.
 
Berk, our HI Research Librarian, probably knows more about TX law regarding knives than anybody and he'll be around to give us the skinny.

Stay tuned.
 
I was a teenager during the 70s, and at that point I was perfectly happy hunting and camping with just a simple Valor Brand trapper, and an Edgemark model 487 (4.5" hunting knife). Then eventually my friends and I got our driver's licenses and we started backpacking. It was on one of these trips, that we stopped at a dime store along the way to pick up supplies that we added a couple of cheap American Camper machetes to our kit.

Those machetes lasted about 10 minutes before they were completely bent into rediculous "S" shaped junk. We had to cut our hike short, and I started my quest for a good machete as soon as I came back from that trip. My collection of camp knives continues to grow, and along the way I have added a few kukries.

N2S
 
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