whats the first knife you ever owned?

I love this question!

My Dad was forced to give me a small Case fixed blade when I was eleven. I still have it at age 43, but the leather is pretty beat up. My older bro got one for scout camp and when I went to Girl Scout camp...I had to have one too! I just aimed those big brown eyes at him and batted my lashes and pouted till I got it. Or so my brother and my dad say.

We were raised in a small town in upstate NY - Skaneateles - and there my Dad taught all of us the basics....how to use a knife, gun/shooting, cleaning your instruments and the rest you may need on a country road like how to change a tire and fix a radiator.

I am a city gal now, but I still miss those country roads and my Dad telling "no no, use the knife correctly and it will take care of you"
 
My first knife was a Queensteel single bladed slipjoint ,my two brothers and I all got one at the same time one christmas at the sporting goods store in Tahlequa, Ok. I think I was about 7. Dont know what happened to it.but I still have my second one, a Queensteel #77 trailing point hunter I got a couple years later from the same place, both knives had imitation stag plastic handles, and aluminum buttcap,and guard , or bolster.
 
This was my grandfathers knife. But it is also my first knife too. For Grand dad it was his custom made pipe cleaner. Notice how needle like the small blade is. He did that on purpose.

I remember him sharpening this little Hibbard Spencer and Bartlett knife on the top of the banister out on the front porch. The banister was made out of cinder blocks and he used the top of one for years. He used it so much for all his knife sharpening that the top block by his rocker had a worn spot in it from all his grinding on it over years and years. He gave me this one day when he got him a new one. I have always cherished it as it is one of two things I still have that I got from him. The other is an old rare bottle opener.





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Wenger Esquire. I made a post here introducing myself and I said I didn't have a knife. Someone told me to try and get a SAK. I went to Century 21, a dept store here in NYC and I brought it. My second knife was a Gerber LST. My friend who always liked cheap POSs was gonna buy one. I didn't like the LST much, so i just gave it to him
 
If I count all the cheapies I've had over the years, I know I've owned over a 100 knives. It's weird how some memories of my life are just now starting to clear up and come back..anyways to answer the question, the first knife I remember owning was a multi blade Boy Scout knife. I'd almost swear it was made by Camillus.

The first real quality knife I owned was a Spyderco Police model, which I foolishly gave to a friend several years ago.
 
My first fixed blade came at I think 9-10 years old and is a Wm Rogers,"cut my way"
The first folder is a Hammer Brand from the mid 50's. I still have both along with the first knife I bought which is a mid 70's Buck 112.
 
Ulster scout knife that was later lost by a friend. Shortly after that I got one of those generic German stag-handled fixed blades for under $3 (late 60s).
 
First, a Gerber LST, then came a SOG Tomcat, then a Spyderco Endura. I still carry the Endura every day. The Gerber and SOG are in my B.O.B.



Blades
 
My first knife was a no name brand stockman. I remember it had pale yellow handles, the blades had a little rust on them. The story is that when I was about 8, I wanted a pocketknife for EDC for those little general duties. No one would let me have one. I spent a couple of months wondering how I could get one---I never told anyone this. That summer, I was in the yard thinking about how to get a knife. And there it was, a no-name stockman. I remember taking out the blades, cutting at some branches and saying 'This'll do.' The rusted areas cleaned up nicely with a rag and Comet. I had that thing for years, until I was about 22. Over the years, I lost it, found it, had it stolen by relatives, but it always made its way back to me. When I turned 22, I was home for the funeral of a close relative. I had found that knife in the yard of that relative. I remember putting the knife in a drawer next to some cash before the funeral. I came back after the burial looking for the knife. The money and everything else was still in the drawer but the knife was gone. I know no one had been in the house and no one knew the knife was there. But, the knife was gone and I have not seen it since. Even with all the Benchmades, Spydercos, REKAT's, etc, etc, I've collected over the years, I still miss that old, rusted thing. True story.
 
My first knife was a throwing knife made and given to me by my father when I was about 6 or 7. He shaped and sharpened a piece of steal from an old car spring and the handle was made from many wraps of electrical tape. I would spend hours and hours launching this rusty piece of steal at an old dead tree in the back yard.

Still love to throw knives, hawks and axes today, great therapy!!
 
My first knife was also an Old Timer stockman. I got it from my father when I was 7, and had it for a while until he took it from me for being irresponsible with it.

Some time later he gave it back to me. I have one like it today, but I can't remember if it is the same one. Too bad Schrade is going belly-up.

Jeremy
 
All the *quality* knives I own I got years ago. My first two knives ( had 'em since I was 8) were a demo knife (Camillus), and some very small Boker lockback. Having done construction work since I was 12, I usually own cheap knives, but I've started collecting. Some better, more recent knives are Cold Steel Vaquero Large (old 5-inch one), some Queen collectors knife in D2 Tool steel(lost it in the mud while cuttin' silt fence in the rain), and a good Bulldog knife. However, I've never owned many "quality" knives.
 
an old victorinox huntsman model i got when i was 10 was the first real knife i got
but the first knife i really had was a small slip joint, probably made of bronze or something, not even iron. not to mention steel, with a metal handle shaped like a fish.. i was maybe 7 years old when i saw it & my dad got it for me.. i still have it :)
 
First knife came from Dad . Occasion, birthday #7, type, John Primble, 2 blade peanut,still have the knife,both pieces. Oh, the memories!
 
My first knife I purchased when I was 10 years old.I had been ogling it for several weeks in the local hardware store and finally got the money to buy it.
My happiness was quickly dampened when the owner of the store told me he couldn't sell me the knife unless one of my parents came in with me and okayed it.
I finally managed to coerce my grandfather into going to the store with me.He wasn't too keen on the idea as I had cut myself pretty badly on one of his pocket knives some time before that but he said OK.
To digress a bit,my grandfather used to keep his knives in the top drawer of my grandmother's sewing machine cabinet and there were explicit instructions that they were off limits to me.
Of course it only took a few minutes for me to forget that and one day he was out of the room I got one of them out.It was a 4-blade Kamp-King and was,in addition to being razor sharp,very difficult to open.
Well I managed to get it part way open before it snapped back on my finger cutting it nearly to the bone! I let out a yell and he came hurrying back into the room as I'm holding onto my finger and screaming at the same time.He grabbed the finger and held it up while applying pressure to the wound and after what seemed to be a short eternity the bleeding slowed down to where a gauze bandage could be applied.
It probably should have been stitched but in those days you didn't get stitches unless a limb was hanging by a thread.As the tears began to subside,he told me that I wouldn't get a licking for pulling this stunt until the wound had healed.Somehow he never did get around to that one and I never ventured back into that drawer either.
Anyway I was very proud of my new knife.It wasn't marked with a maker's name but was a fixed blade hunter with bone scales cut to look like stag and had a leather sheath.I would always be very careful not to try and cut anything that might damage the edge and always cleaned the blade of whatever I happened to get on it.
I kept it in a little drawer in a small table that was in my room along with all the other treasures that a 10 year old manages to accumulate and after a while the knife was forgotten and other things took it's place.
In 1964 I enlisted in the Navy and said goodbye to Gramps;heading off to Great Lakes NTC and a new life.I talked with him on the phone a few times but never did get to see him again as he passed away in February of 65.
By the time I returned home,the house had been sold and everything that I had there(baseball cards,hot rod books,etc.)had been disposed of.
I eventually got married and started a family of my own and began seriously collecting knives and every once in awhile thinking about Gramps and his knives and wondering where they had gone.
In 1987 my mother passed away and I,as her sole surviving relative had the task of cleaning out her apartment.As I was doing this I came upon the little table I had in my room at my grandfather's house.Imagine my surprise when I opened the drawer and found not only his two pocket knives but my hunting knife as well! Still in it's original sheath and if you looked closely at the back of it,written faintly in pencil it's original price:fifty nine cents!
Needless to say it occupys a place of honor in my collection that now comprises some 1800 knives.Of all the knives I own,these three are my most prized.
Ray
 
I have owned so many in the past 50 years it is hard to remember, but I do remember having a Clauss, Fremont, Ohio Pocket Knife and I still have this one in my collection of knives.
 
Korean war era Garand bayonet. Cut the heck out of a lot of stuff with it when I was younger and dug up FAR to many flower-beds for being a little
smartmouth. Thanks for reminding me....... :rolleyes: :D :D
Still have it, NO finish and a lot of small nicks in the blade.
 
First knife was a Camillus Silver Sword mini lockback with wood inlays, my father bought it for me. I still have it.
 
A Japanese multi-blade brought back from Japan by my dad ca. 1960. It has a knife, fork, spoon, can-opener and scissors and was a smaller version of my older brother's. I have a great picture of me at about that time wearing my red cowboy boots, a rebel cap, that knife on my belt and a mischevious grin. I remember my brother cutting himself with his and blaming me (I was about 5, he was 10). My knife was confiscated for a week. I was pissed. Bastard. I wonder if I ever returned the favor... :p
I still have it somewhere and must go look in my camping gear where I s'pose it to be.
Anyone else remember the tiny 1" folders to be had from penny gum machines in the early 60's? Total POS. Couldn't be sharpened though we tried.
 
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