What knife do you most associate with the USA?

Survey Says!!!
Buck 110 #1 answer

But for some reason when I see the gaucho style knife I think American, probably because I live here in the West or maybe its all the cowboy and indian movies I watched as a 5 year old:D
 
When I see a Buck 110 I think of Rural saskatchawan hotel bars and belt sheaths.
 
The Stockman and Cattle slip-joint pocketknife patterns. Or the old patterns by Camillus, Case, and the original Schrade.
Jim
 
Aw! Come on People!
America's Number ONE
knife carrying icon - "John Rambo".
never carried a Buck 110 as far as I can remember...
And the crowd roars,
"bowie! BOwie!! BOWIE!!!".

But I suppose it depends entirely on which golden age of America (historically speaking) one comes from, in order to make that final decision on which knife screams "USA" most. I love the Buck 110 too, but it's a pattern which is by far, much too youthful (in cutlery usin' years) to have made a deeply rooted impact in the overall development of the American knife psyche. A Bowie Knife is repesentative of Americana.
 
I vote for the Western F39
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My second choice are any of the knives used by Clint Eastwood in western movies
I like the way he cuts the tobbaca in Outlaw Josey Wales

3rd choice is this CASE XX butcher knife
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Honorable mention goes to the Gerber Guardian Backup
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GIRLYmann said:
I love the Buck 110 too, but it's a pattern which is by far, much too youthful (in cutlery usin' years) to have made a deeply rooted impact in the overall development of the American knife psyche.
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Could be, but the initial question was: "What knife do you most associate with the USA?"

~Paul~
 
from a European viewpoint I would say:
The Bowie knife, because that is what Zeb Macahan used :) and in the early B/W TV years he was the biggest hero there was and every kid wanted a bowie knife. even a Mora knife was a decent substitute when you were seven.

Closely followed by the "Rambo" knife, because that made every young kid drooling over cheap "survival" knives with compass on the handle, sharpening stone on the sheath and the obligatory fish hooks and matches in the handle. You saw them everywhere, they cost nothing and were crap but if you got one you were as strong as Rambo.

Well, MacGyver used the SAK, but that is not a knife from USA, but still.

The Ka-Bar is a part of the North american heritage, so is the barrel knives invented by swedish immigrants in 1900 something. I think though that the Ka-bar has not had that impact outside the US, even though every GI wore one there was no TV series where it played such a significant role as the Bowie and the Rambo knife and by all means the Victorinox. Zeb wouldnt have survived one episode of Bonanza without his knife, in Rambo the whole film revolves around his huge knife and so does MacGyver, his whole existence was dependent on the Victorinox. An early example of product placement maybe?

I know that both the Bowie and the Rambo knives have other names but if you tell someone that you have a Gil Hibben knife at home they go Huh,what?
 
nodh said:
I think though that the Ka-bar has not had that impact outside the US, even though every GI wore one there was no TV series where it played such a significant role as the Bowie and the Rambo knife and by all means the Victorinox.
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Actually, truth be told, not that many GI's carried or carry the Kabar.
It's mostly a Marine knife (the smallest branch of the military), and even alot of Marines did not carry the Kabar.
I would dare say that more military personnel (including Marines) carried the Buck 110 than the Kabar by a huge margin....in the pre-multi-tool days of course.
 
When I think American made knife, the first thing that comes to my mind is: Buck.
 
All good answers, but the knife that came to my mind first is the Barlow. Sure, it may not be an entirely-American design, but nearly everyone I knew carried one or at least owned one.

An interesting article: http://www.barlowgenealogy.com/Edson/barlowknife.html

There aren't many Americans, not now, not ever, who actually carried a Bowie, Rambo, or Ka-Bar knife. Although in a fantasy-oriented point-of-view, I can see how people around the world would quicky associate those knives with an imaginary/romanticized American lifestyle.

Best Wishes,
-Bob
 
To me, the Bowie knife is the American knife. Knives like the Ka-Bars and other "Marine Combat" knives are bowies. The Buck Special, the Case Bowie, and the Western Bowie come to mind. Those are all Bowies to me, even if they may be a bit smaller than the early Bowies.
 
It has to be Buck... Some dont even know that BUCK is a company they think it is a knife type (a large pocket knife). I have seen people point at a Bowie's, Kershaw's, and even Spyderco's and say can I have a look at that "Buck Knife"
 
For me the Bowie is the ageless American knife design. There are many awesome new developements in American knife design, but the Bowie was THE American knife first.
 
Yes, this is an echo you are hearing right now, but Bowie and Buck 110, American icons all the way!!
 
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