What was your first fixed blade knife?

U

Uncle Buckmaster

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Oct 21, 2021
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Earlier today I was thinking about the very first fixed blade knife that I ever owned. It was a cheap Chinese knockoff of the Cold Steel Magnum Tanto II marketed by BUDK, and it turns out that I still have it, and it looks more or less as good as the day I ordered it way back when I was about 13 years old!

BUDK-BK622-Tanto.jpg


It's a pretty cheap knockoff too, just as you'd expect... Made of some unknown mystery metal identified only as "STAINLESS STEEL" on the Ricasso.

BUDK-622-Ricasso.jpg%22 alt=%22BUDK-622-Ricasso


Yep, "HANDCRAFTED IN CHINA" no less. All it's missing is "USA DESIGN" to check off all the boxes of your stereotypical Chinese wall hanger. And boy, oh boy does it ever feature that signature handcrafted Chinese quality.

BUDK-622-Grind.jpg


The blade guard rattles when you shake it, but I can't remember if it always did, or just came loose after me beating around with the thing in my youth. One thing I do distinctly recall is that it wasn't sharp at all on arrival, as it couldn't even slice through a sheet of printer paper.
Needless to say, this was purchased long before I knew anything about knives, and never saw much serious use. I mostly just bought it because it looked cool to me.

So there you have it, shouldn't be a tough act to follow. What was your first fixed blade knife?
 
I think, but cannot swear, it was a Buck 119 bought in 1992. I may have had something else before then. I used to have some sort of bayonet when I was a kid but, sadly didn't keep it. All my knives as a kid were pen knives, little stockmans, etc.
 
Cheap survival style knife with hollow handle and compass cap, purchased at the local surplus/outfitter store. I think around '85, as I got it right after seeing the only movie I ever saw at the movie theater with my dad, Rambo: First Blood Part II. I built many a palm frond fort with that thing. It might still be in a drawer at his house somewhere.
 
The Marttiini Kateva. I still have it and carry it, it's small and light. That's the first one I bought.

But before that I had a giant Rambo knife, full tang, just the bare steel, so I used bookbinding resin just as one would use plasti dip to make a handle for it. I don't know what happened to it though.
 
I was about 11 or 12 years old when I got bitten by the movie, "First Blood".

I went to school in downtown San Antonio and scored my first "survival knife" at "National Army Surplus", when they had a store at E. Commerce and Navarro streets...



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*When "Rambo: First Blood Part 2" came out, I sanded the top and bottom edges.
 
Not sure if it was the English F&S knife I bought in Times Square, NYC coming home from attending the Auto Show, or a Japanese made clone of the Elmer Keith Hunting knife I got for a subscription to Guns & Ammo, both around 1958 or 1959.. I jumped into Korea in Nov 1964 on and Exercise with the Elmer Keith clone and carried the F&S on my 1st tour in Vietnam, yeah, yeah, not a good decision, as IMO that F& S was basically worthless. John
 
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For me it was one of these (but not this one). A mini version of an Imperial bowie, with a blade around 4" long.

It was given to me by a friend when I was around the age of eleven or twelve back in the early 1980's. It was a prized possession. It didn't come with a sheath, I made a sheath out of bicycle inner tube and carried the knife strapped to my ankle under my pants.

As for the fate of that knife, I've told this story a few times, but I'll tell it again-

I was at the shore here in San Diego, crawling around on the side of a jetty (a flat pile of rocks extending out into the water, like a pier). I was chasing the crabs that lived in the rocks. The knife fell out of the sheath and clattered down between the rocks near the waterline. I crawled down to the spot, peered into the rocks, and I could see the knife. If I had been willing to lay flat I could have extended my arm into the crevice between the rocks and retrieved the knife, but the waves were crashing in, and the rocks were slippery, and the water there was deep, so I decided the knife wasn't worth drowning for, and I reluctantly left it there.

There was no chance that anyone else would ever find the knife or know it was there, and it wasn't going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. For many years I would occasionally think about that knife, stuck there between the rocks, slowly rusting away. I'm thinking about it right now.

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My Dad gave me a Sheriff Knife. It had no handle or guard. I used it as a throwing knife for a few years. Then I put a wood handle and brass guard on it. Eventually I put a leather handle on it. I found a like newer one on ebay. So I bought it. I imagine they are from the 50’s? I never realized how worn mine was Until I got the better one They take and hold a wonderful edge

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Then I made a leather sheath from a belt. All before I was 14 or so.
 
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Ahhhh, back in the mid 70s when a young boy would go and finish his Hunter Safety course, receiving a fixed blade of some sort usually followed.

My old man frequented the tavern after work, and this establishment always had a punch board with Schrade knives as prizes. My dad would generally win one or two a week, so I always had a Schrade pocket knife of some sort. When I got my hunting license, he gave me a Schrade Sharpfinger.

What a knife! Of course I had to take it to school so as to compare it to the other fellas' gear. There were always some Buck, Schrade, Case and a smattering of other stuff, but the Sharpfinger with the sharpening stone in the sheath pocket was always my favorite of them all, and was a standout in the crowd on the playground.

Funny, we had knives at school all the time. We schoolmates would get into fisticuffs sometimes, but never once would anyone think of drawing their knife as a weapon. Different times.

Had Schrade still been in business when my boys got their hunting credentials, I would have given each of them a Sharpfinger. I was kinda saddened when they closed.
 
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