What's your oldest modern knife?

mlanghornes

mlanghornes

Joined
Apr 24, 2009
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798
So we all know that if you're looking for a knife that will outlive you, a traditional folder or SAK is the easy choice. But what about modern (one hand opening, locking, clipped) designs? My hunch is that a well made modern knife will last just as long as a traditional. So, if you would, share a little bit about the elder statesman in your collection. I'll contribute as soon as I get home
 
I really only carries traditional pocket knives until just a few years ago so I don't really have any that are very old.

I have a couple of multi tools and a Buck Prince I have used since I was a kid in the scouts.
 
By "modern" if you mean "tactical", then I'd say my very early (circa 1995) original Spyderco Clipit Dragonfly w/ molded-in clip and full spyder-edge (old pix, too!):





I also had a couple original Clipit Delicas from the same time period (20+ years ago), but those have all been sold. Shoulda kept 'em...
 
link2derek said:
By "modern" if you mean "tactical", then I'd say my very early (circa 1995) original Spyderco Clipit Dragonfly w/ molded-in clip and full spyder-edge (old pix, too!):





I also had a couple original Clipit Delicas from the same time period (20+ years ago), but those have all been sold. Shoulda kept 'em...
Click to expand...

Deja Vu.....

I have that same knife. :D
 
I own a Buck Metro that my father got me as a stocking stuffer for Christmas. I can't remember exactly how long ago that was, but I would guess it's at least 15 years old and still works fine. It rode my keychain for more than a decade, but I've since retired it.
 
That's a great question, a nice change of pace. The answer to that question is an old CRKT that looked like it was based on a Crawford design from Benchmade. It's not near me at the moment, but I want to keep this spot as a placeholder for when I can take a picture.

Updated to add description and photos.

So this particular knife is not the original one that I bought. The original knife was the same make and model as this one, but I broke the tip off trying to get into my brother's house after he locked himself out, and then after that, it became my fishing knife when I fished the flats in North FLA many years ago. I purchased the original knife at a cutlery store in a mall in Rio Rancho N.M. back in '97 or '98 when I was building a Home Depot there. I really wanted a Benchmade Crawford that the store had, but at the time $90 seemed like a hell of a lot of money for a knife.....times have changed for sure. So I ended up buying this CRKT for about $60 because it looked so similar to the BM but was quite a bit cheaper, in more ways than one I came to find out.

Anyway, fast forward to my brother's house and the broken tip and it becoming a fishing knife. I just happen to be at a gun show in Atlanta GA sometime around 2000, when I came across the exact same model, NIB for $20, so I bought it as a replacement, and this knife in the pics is that knife. I carried it until around 2005, when I decided I needed something smaller to EDC, so I got a SOG Flash 1. I carried the Flash 1 for a couple years until I lost it (later found) and replaced it with a ZT 0350. It was the ZT that pulled me into knife collecting and the obsession that afflicts me today.

So, sorry for being so long-winded, but here is the knife that got me into modern folders.









 
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My oldest modern knife is the mini-AFCK below, probably bought about 20 years ago. Next oldest is a Benchmade Leopard, 18 years old. Both knives are in good shape and fully functional today. I have an old slipjoint that my grandfather gave me almost 50 years ago, that would be my oldest knife.

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By "modern" knife, I'd consider anything with molded/synthetic handles and a liner-less build, perhaps a lock too.

The earliest I have are from the late 1980s / early 1990s. Bucklite, Gerber Gator, Imperial Apex, Featherlite...
 
It was modern during WW2 when my grandfather was carrying it in Europe. Cattaraugus 225Q.

 
My Schrade Old Timer. Must have been gifted it by my uncle in the early 1990's.

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My oldest modern knife (as per the definition in the first post) is a CRKT Point Guard. I've had it since 2000 or something like that.
 
Top - 1982 Maxam folder, lockback. Not a bad knife actually, bought new from a friend who had a bag full of them for some reason.


Bottom - 1999 Emerson CQC-7 - has since been reground and handle scales replaced by Phil Dobson.

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And an old Spyderco Clipit Merlin - not sure of the year

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best

mqqn
 
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Modern as in "tactical" were these two closely related folders:


Benchmade%20AFCK%20ATS-34.jpg

Benchmade AFCK, the one with ATS-34 as bladesteel. This one is a leftie because I got it from a sale

Spyderco%20Police%20VG-10.jpg

Spyderco Police. Before the handle got attacked by termites :)



But my first knife was of course, since I'm from Sweden, a classic Mora no1 with red birchhandle!! :) My grandmother gave it to me at the age of six. But that is another thread...

/ J
 
I have a first generation Delica (tang stamped G-2) and a Made In USA Schrade LB7. I'm not sure which one is older. But if this is about one-handed opening, locking knives with clips, that would be the Delica.
 
This is the oldest modern folder I own. It's a Gerber Bolt Action folder.
I bought it sometime in the early 80's.
The design was very ahead of its time , solid synthetic frame, lanyard hole, metallic washers and a lock design still used on some knives today.
Back then I didn't own anything made like it and it was the most expensive non traditional folder I ever bought.

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