What Was Your First Knife and How Old Were You?

Swiss Army Type knife made by Victorinox but not branded way back in 1987 when I was 17. Three years earlier I did buy the cheap Rambo type knife (because of the movie) with the survival gear packed in the handle but it was only for playing outdoors. The Victorinox was my first EDC'er.
 
A buck 503 that my dad gave me when I was 9. Which I still have but very rarely carry. The knife that I have more memories with though is my second knife ( also a gift from dad ), a CRKT M-16 14-le, the older one with the first astrick. I beat the crap out of it, lost it a few times, and even accidently stabbed myself with it. I still have it and it works fine but also doesn't see any pocket time. I was about 10 when I got that one and I used it for a good 4 or 5 years, then I really got into knives. I'm 18 now and my knife collecting seems to have drastically upgraded in a short amount of time. I went from the knives described to a few CRKTs then as soon as I got a job and some extra money I went right into Benchmades, spydercos, ZTs etc. this addiction kind of sucks for a kid trying to save his money so he doesn't have to pay his parents rent for his whole life but well you know.
 
One of these guys when I was... Pff. Somewhere between 5 and 10 I'd guess.

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A buck 373 from my grandpa for christmas when i was 5 was my first real pocket knife, however my dad gave me a worn out SAK when i was even younger than that. Red Ryder at 7 and a .22 when I was 10. Went fishing at the river just me and my brother on our own. Those were the days
 
Mine was a Buck-like knife, probably about the size of an 055. It was 1974.
I don't remember if it was actually a Buck; but it was brass bolstered with a clip blade
 
The first three knives I recall were a a hawkbill pruning folder which I played around with when I was about 8 or 9 (Was my grandfathers and he used it in the coal mines for cutting rope and straps if I recall correctly.), the next was about year later, a Victorinox, something small, the first knife that cut me pretty bad (closed on my finger, needed stitches), and at about 12 or 13 I got one of the China Survival Rambo Knives. Then nothing until I was about 23 when I bought a SOG Seal 2000.
 
I remember my dad giving me a Barlow style slipjoint with stag scales when I was a boy, but can't remember what make it was, or exactly how old I was...probably around 8. No idea what happened to it :oops:
 
A small slipjoint pocket knife my father bought for me at the base exchange, would have been at either Lakehurst or Glynco. I still remember my mother telling about coming into the back yard and finding me and my friend Richard playing with our knives, our hands "covered with blood." (I'm sure it wasn't nearly that bad! :D )
 
I was 6, but I don't remember what the knife was. I remember it was some sort of slip joint my dad gave me. It was taken away pretty soon after that when I took it to school to show to my friends. One of them ratted on me when we got to after school daycare. The same friend had brought his knife to show off the day before, and somehow he got in trouble, and he thought it only fair that I also get in trouble. I eventually got it back, and since that day, I have carried a knife of some sort everyday and everywhere I can.
 
My first was one of my Dad’s Barlow hand-me-downs when I was about 7. That was in the mid-1950s. They could be found in a display at the cash registers of any hardware or feed store for about $3-4. I remember getting some electricians knives as hand-me-downs too, but just about every kid had a Barlow.

Many, many years later, when my brothers & I were preparing our Mom’s house for auction, my son found an old cigar box in the attic filled with all the old pocket knives that my brothers & I “lost.” Apparently, whenever Mom found one of our knives just laying around, she put them away in the box “for safe keeping.” We usually crudely scratched our initials on the handles, so we divided them up, then gave them all to our boys, who are already in their 40s & have kids of their own.
 
My dad gave me a cheap little no-name keychain knife when I was 7 or 8. It was a rectangular, stainless handled, sheepsfoot bladed slipjoint. It was dropped in a fire and ruined by some dumb kid that should have known better and likes to post on internet forums these days... My next knife was a 1990s USA made Schrade SP3. I still have it but it lost its little embedded emblem (whatever that's called) and is a bit worse for wear. I sharpened it up and it's just as good as it's ever been performance wise.
 
BitingSarcasm said:
I had a Cub Scout knife. I don't remember the brand, just that it was (probably fake) blue jigged bone with a BSA seal. When I went into the woods with my family, I carried a Buck 118, I think, that I bought with my paper route money. I consider it my first real knife.
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Mine was a Cub Scout with included knife and fork "blades" ! ;):thumbsup:
 
I got one of these when I was 6 years old.
Slept with it on my nightstand. :-D
(I see that we are several Norwegians here)
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I ordered (without anyone knowing) a cheap Pakistani-made floating-hilt folder with a wolf-head engraved on the wood scales... (In Gold) it was a $5.00 piece of crap I found advertised in one of my uncle's hunting magazines ... Thought I was badass when I carried it to class in the sixth grade

Learned to flick it open... Never could get it sharp...
 
My very first knife my dad gave me a small Barlow when I was around seven. It was a cheap and dull one that only lasted about 6 weeks when the pivot pin broke and the bent metal bolsters fell off, it folded and sliced the top of my finger as dull as it was. That was my first lesson in terms of value. That it’s worth paying for quality and I valued my fingers enough to earn the money to buy a good well made knife. The next one I consider my first knife I bought for myself after working the next summer and saving. It was an Old Timer junior 1968. It was a good knife and had it about a year and a half before I lost it out in the field. Stockman knives were all I ever wanted until I saw a Buck 110 Damascus Stag 1989 I just had to get and I still have it.
 
Henry Beige said:
As a kid, I had a number of “jackknives”. The only one I remember is the steel-handled folder that I now know to be the Camillus demo knife, so by default, that is the one I refer to as my first knife.

At age 12, I saw West Side Story on Broadway, and for a couple of years after that carried a gravity knife, because I couldn’t put my hands on a real switchblade. I was lucky not to get in a lot of trouble with it.
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When I was 12 I saw West Side Story (circa 1960) and I had a highly unlawful Italian switchblade, probably 8". When I was 12 yrs old, having a knife in Jr. High School was no big deal. We were allowed to sharpen our pocket knives in craft class. I had a 8" OAL lock-back Italian stiletto which was legal. I still have it.
A heap of cheapo variety store jack-knives w/ hollow scales and bolsters.

About the same time I had a Western brand fixed blade official Boy Scout knife.
 
Can't remember that far back (we're talking about 60 years) but, if I were to guess, the 1st knife I ever owned probably would have been a Cub Scout pocket knife that looked like this:

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I was really into the Cub Scouts but never transitioned to the Boy Scouts. Don't recall exactly why but it was most likely because there was no Boy Scouts Troup located near me at the time and then I started Jr High School and there were other things that I found more interesting.
 
I think I was 12 or 13, I asked my dad for a pocket knife after growing up watching all the old Tarzan flicks, that is where it all started, and I think it was a Frontier Double Eagle ( made by Imperial, in Ireland? ) wooden lock back. Very slim blade. Still have it somewhere.
 
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