What Was the First GOOD FOLDER You Got?

I remember my first knife was an SAK classic. I got it when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I used it alot and fond it very useful. Then the "dark years" came around when I did not have a knife for years. Then when I was about 12 or 13, I was at Lowes, and convinced my dad to let me buy a $10 Gerber LMF ultralight. It was great, because I did not know any better. Then I cut myself and about a week later the knife mysteriously "disappeared."

Of course I had Gerbers, which I though was 'all-that' and then I discovered the wonders of Kershaw. The 1670 Blur. wonderful. Now I am on Benchmade and Zero Tolerance for EDC's and rapidly going for Busse and Chris Reeve.

A good knife works wonders!
 
My first really good folder was a Buck 110, although I do remember a SAK, but that was a long time ago.
 
Some of you are going to be hard on me when I say this but... the first nice knife I got was a Colt AR-15 :$ like 8 years ago. Too bad the lockback doesn't work as it should now (worn out I guess). The blade takes an edge though.

Mikel
 
Schrade LB7 got it as a gift 1983 or 1984. The back spring broke in 86 or so and I sent it in they sent back a brand new one. I wish I still had the first one, but I do still have the replacement one.
 
Probably the Kershaw blur, but mainly the ZT 0200.

I know I roamed around with gerbers in my pocket until I found these beauties! :thumbup:
 
The first decent knife was a Benchmade Pika...

But having the chinese version of a well known USA manufacturer reeled me in. I then had to try Spyderco..so I got a Delica. Then wanted a blue boxed Benchmade so I got the mini grip, then another Spyderco, etc. Im a poor college student myself so it slowed down after about 10 nice knives..but I'm slowly building a collection.
 
The first folder I got that was a good one was the good ol' Buck 110 folding hunter. Works great, easy to sharpen, this knife is a classic.
 
I'll tell ya, my whole life would have been different if my dad had gotten me a Buck 110. No offense to you slip joint knife people, but slip joint knives were such a turn off to me for so much of my early life (locks were so stiff they weren't worth opening, blades were too small on the Case knives and frankly I was more prone to cutting myself if a blade stuck in a block of wood and suddenly wrenched free and came back on me).

Most of the ones I had were the kind they sold by the counters by the registers. If I had two bucks, I could get a knife and a cold bottle of Dr. Pepper from one of those "pay, grab and pull" soda machines they had back then. Then I'd usually go over and look at the guns in the window of the coin shop next door. They were all blue and cheap looking. None was over about sixty bucks.

I don't know when the 110s first hit the market, but based on the two Alaskans I have now, I think I would have enjoyed having one as a teenager in the late sixties.
 
My first knife was a real POS Boy Scout knife knock off - something like $1 in the late 50's . Amongst it other dubious qualities was it was entirely constructed out of some very high carbon steel - not good steel -just really good at rusting steel.Infrequently used blades would rust shut during the sweatie summer.Treatment was to soak it in Coke for a day -wash it out -yank all the blades open and closed a bunch of times-soak in motor oil -clean and hope for the best.Harder than hell to sharpen and didn't hold a edge worth a damm. Finally -at around 12 or so - found that I could make money cutting up cardboard boxes and convincing one of my bunches mothers to haul us and our load of to WestAllis salvage - where we could sell it . This left me with the finances to buy a better tool - a Camillus boy sccout pattern knife - enormious improvement- you could sharpen the blade to real good cuttin edge for slicin up those cardboard boxes.Blades where still carbon steel - but the big improvement was the liners and dividers between the baldes where either stainless or hard brass - at any rate they didn't rust - no more Coke dips.Really excellent - practical tools. Stayed with Camillus Boy Scout pattern knives until the Gerber LST hit - now about every 5 years I go lookin for somethin better than whatever I'm curreently using and spend a stupid amount of money experimenting with different makes/models 'till i find the right tool for the next ? years. few things in this life are as elegant as a practical pocket knife.
 
Schrade LB7 in 1982. Bought it at the BIG FIVE sporting goods store in Torrance,California. I was seventeen at the time. I still have the knife and the great memories associated with it. All my friends had Buck 110s'. I wanted to be different.
 
My first folder was a little SAK that my grandfather got for me when I got into scouting. This was about 6 years ago when I was 12. Since then, I only bought one other folder for myself, a SOG Trident Tanto. Nice knife, and I loved playing with the assisted open.

Then my brother got into scouting. My grandfather passed away about a year ago, so I took up the task of getting my brother started with his knife collection. As soon as he got his Totin' chip, I bought him a SOG Vulcan.

Then I got my Eagle, and at the Court of Honor (which was this Saturday actually) my friends all chipped in and got me a Benchmade 530. My career as a Boy Scout started with a knife, and ended with a knife. It all felt very symbolic.
 
My Grandad gave me a Case stockman when I was in middle school, but I still don't think of that as a good knife because I never could get it to take an edge (Case still had a name in the 70's but their quality control was gone to hell). I still have it though, and hopefully always will.

I saved my money and bought a Gerber dropped point folder for $45 when I was a HS senior. I don't know the model but it's a brass-framed dropped point folder with finger groves and wood scales. This was back when Gerber still made quality knives in the US. I still have that knife and I dressed my first deer with it. I put it in the safe alongside the 2-3 other knives I value too much to lose.

My first modern designed SUK was a Benchmade Emerson CQC7. I sold it because I hated the chisel grind.
 
My FIRST real good folder was a Buck 110, got it for my 16th birthday from my folks. Oh yea, I also got a red, white and blue ABA basketball, what a great birthday!!!
 
Not the best steel but takes a beating (440). Used for taking off hubcaps, hammer, canopener and sometimes to cut stuff LOL. Still have a New one in my knife chest. Started carying a Parabellum after that.
 
I had used cheap knives for a long time until,while in a knife store, ipicked up a kershaw. Probably the first good quality knife I had ever held.
I was so suprised at how sharp it was that I gave up those crappy knives.
 
Confederate said:
Okay, so you'd been using mediocre slip joint folders and they were getting you by. And maybe the time came when you either bought or were given a CHEAP linerlock knife. What was the first really good folder you got, and if you paid for it, was it something you had to save up for? Or did someone give you a quality knife?

First "good", good to me at least, was a Case Sodbuster Jr. No lock, just a pretty knife with a good hunk of steel that was pretty easy to sharpen. After a few years my EDC became a Puma Earl, a teriffic little lock back. For now, my everyday knife is a Boker Plus Subcom Folder. $39.95 on sale for $25.00. It's all I need.I've alwayu bought my own.
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When 14-15 years old I bought a puma lockback.
After about years I replaced it for a buck 110. (bad chose)
I didn´t like the buck, to heavy and not so sharp as my old puma.
And you could not open it with one hand (with a little practice it opens the same as all modern knifes with thumbstuds)
Later I bought a Al Mar gunstock.
The latest knife I bought is a Spyderco Military (my 7th Spyderco)

Fred
 
first decent knife i bought was a schrade old timer at walmart, it looked just like a 110, i still have it but its not in the best shape, i bought it when i was about 11 and back then i thought i could sharpen it realy well with a dremel:rolleyes:
 
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