Your Father's Knife:

[Quiet]

I was going through some of my picture folders where I've stored the pics that I've posted in various threads here, and came across a picture I snapped at one point of my Father's knife (a Buck Colleague with a personal engraved message) and a knife I'd been carrying that day, and it made me think for a minute. Like me, Dad has been a knife guy all his life, and also like me, he's carried many different knives over the years. Today, he carries one of those little folding skinning knives that have the replaceable "blades", because it just works for him. It gets dull, he replaces the blade and trucks on. Anyway, the point is, if there were several old knives on a table, I probably wouldn't be able to pick out the knife that was his in the lot. Of coure, many of us over the years have posted up pics of their Father or Grandfather's knife, and I always enjoy seeing them. In many instances, those knives were the only one the guy had, and so it being passed down made it a special heirloom of priceless value, and I realized that I'm probably not going to have something like that myself, because Dad has used so many different knives. Instead of one knife with countless memories attached, I'm probably getting a box full of knives that I'll look through and probably won't recognize or feel a connection with.

All of that longwinded navelgazing aside, it had me thinking "What's my knife?" What's the knife my wife would look in my main collection and be able to point to it and say "That's the one. Out of all his knives, that's the one he'd never part with, and he always had with him, that I remember him using." Fortunately, she knows me well! She'd be able to tell you right away, it's this one:

She gave this to me years ago, and it was one of my first "expensive" knives. The bead on it is a solid copper shifter plate nut from the first nice car I bought not long after we got together, and we had that car for several years and to this day, we have a lot of good memories of those early years with that car. I still carry it every so often and it resides in my daybag when not in my pocket.

So that's mine. What about you guys? What's your knife? What's the knife that your children will receive? Or perhaps, in less morbid terms, what's your knife that those who know you will be able to see it on a table and immediately know it's yours?

 

[sonofwilfred]

This is affectionately known as our holiday knife. I carried it on my wedding day and any special occasion since it's been all over the world and If I need to fix something I tell my boy to get the holiday knife and off he goes and picks it out of the big selection of red knives I have. He knows it well.

https://imgur.com/o8BNFXO

 

[sabre cat]

Not matter what knife I carry, it seems that I keep going back to a couple of knives. One is a Kershaw Zing with orange scales. The other is a full size Griptilian drop point.
Also with orange scales. The Griptilian was in my pocket for the road trip to take my daughter Rebekah out of state to the university she wanted to attend. It was used to cut open food packages, slice bread while on the road. Also made the trip from California to Utah for her wedding and another trip to Idaho to see Ruth, my granddaughter.

The Zing is an amazing little knife with a 3 inch blade that I plan to have buried with me. That decision came about because my wife said that I can’t take a knife with me when I die. Au contraire was my response.

If I had to scale back to 3 folders, I would just add a SAK to the Griptilian and Zing and be done with it.

 

[shane45-1911]

I'm quite jealous of you guys with your sentimental stories and attachments to your knives.

My Dad was a knife guy, and I mean that literally - he was A (as in "one") knife guy. He carried a Schrade Old Timer for as long as I can remember. I can think of dozens of times throughout my life where memories of that knife take me back to simpler better times and places, when Dad was still alive.

I truly wish I had A knife like that. Sadly, I do not. I have lots of knives, most with certain stories or memories - but none of them define me, or are more special than any of the others.

 

[MrStabby7]

I'm not sure I have a "My knife" but I do like the idea. You've given me somthing to think about and somthing to work on.

 

[K.O.D.]

My father had a lot of hobbies that involved knives, but he was not really "into them" per say. Die hard fisherman, and later in life he liked to do carpentry and home fixing stuff. As some of y'all know, I lost him in November. Much of my life we weren't close, but in going through his stuff (of which there was a lot) he had quite a few SAK's, as well as a few Jarbenza's. Never knew. I knew he had an old Gerber Gator from the early 90's that was beat to hell, an SAK he kept at work, and the few knives I gave him. Over the past 8 years I'd given him an engraved Case golf knife, a Lionsteel opera, and a Kershaw Launch 8. However, he never "carried" a knife, just squirreled them away everywhere. All over the house, workshop, garage, cars, office.

Me, I can't have kids, but I'm sure EVERYONE will remember that I carried a knife:

I'm guessing my sister and her family will remember me for my OTF's and my GITD Punisher Yojimbo 2.

My mother will remember the Matt Bailey Model 2 Geek edition she gave me

Everyone else, probably the Ironwood Manix 2 CTS-XHP.

 

[badmatt]

My father never really carried a knife.

But over the past year of him watching me be an idiot with knife collecting he's warmed up to carrying one. I was looking to sell my mnandi at the time as it wasn't seeing any carry time.. He said he liked it a lot and asked what I was going to sell if for, he scoffed a little at the price jokingly I assume (or before he was going to call me an idiot) and said OK he wants it... I went and grabbed the box and said here - its yours and happy birthday. He's been carrying it daily since I gave it to him. Saved me from buying him a birthday gift this year... or a few years at this point.

SO this is now his mnandi.. Sebenza for scale.

Matt

 

[rhino]

This is a great topic! Unfortunately, I don't think anyone in my life would be able to identify just one of my knives that is The One.

 

[Danny Linguini]

No kids of my own, just my wife’s son and daughter, and her daughter’s husband (step son-in-law?). Unless I get something nicer before I kick the bucket, I’m planning on handing down my Ochs Worx Solarstorm to step son-in-law, because he’s more likely to appreciate it and take care of it. Not sure yet what the step son will get, cos he’s kind of an idiot, and I have a hard time with the thought of one of my nice knives getting left outside in the rain or lost or run over by god-knows-what. He’ll probably get one of my fixers that he’d only be able to destroy trying to chop up rocks. Stepdaughter is definitely getting the three David Mary kitchen knives I have on order once both wife and I are gone.

 

[tony281sc2]

My father never really carried a knife.

But over the past year of him watching me be an idiot with knife collecting he's warmed up to carrying one. I was looking to sell my mnandi at the time as it wasn't seeing any carry time.. He said he liked it a lot and asked what I was going to sell if for, he scoffed a little at the price jokingly I assume (or before he was going to call me an idiot) and said OK he wants it... I went and grabbed the box and said here - its yours and happy birthday. He's been carrying it daily since I gave it to him. Saved me from buying him a birthday gift this year... or a few years at this point.

SO this is now his mnandi.. Sebenza for scale.

Matt

That’s awesome, and pretty much the same story with me and my dad. I haven’t “bought” him a birthday gift in a while! Lol he takes a look at the new stuff in my collection time to time so I know what he likes. So far I’ve gifted him a PM2, a Brous, and a few ZTs. His most carried is usually his newest addition.

 

[Dogdrawz]

Quiet I'm on the same page.

 

[sabre cat]

My father never really carried a knife.

But over the past year of him watching me be an idiot with knife collecting he's warmed up to carrying one. I was looking to sell my mnandi at the time as it wasn't seeing any carry time.. He said he liked it a lot and asked what I was going to sell if for, he scoffed a little at the price jokingly I assume (or before he was going to call me an idiot) and said OK he wants it... I went and grabbed the box and said here - its yours and happy birthday. He's been carrying it daily since I gave it to him. Saved me from buying him a birthday gift this year... or a few years at this point.

SO this is now his mnandi.. Sebenza for scale.

Matt

What a great story. Great knife too.

My father always seem to have a knife of some sort. Stockman, Trapper, something along those lines. He was a rancher for much of his life so it is not surprising that he carried some sort of blade.

I remember him having a Boker and he later purchased a Sears stockman made by Old Timer. I got one too. They were on sale for $4.00 a piece. Both are long gone.
I think one of my sisters may have his.

In 1977 I was getting ready to leave for Basic Training/AIT. Dad saw that I was planning to take my knife. “Don’t take that with you. It will only get stolen”, he said. Then he reached in his pocket and handed me a small folder that I had never seen before.

He was right. My knife did get stolen. However, I got it back when I threatened to beat the guy senseless with a rifle barrel.

I still have that knife somewhere. I think it’s an Imperial Trapper. Last time I looked, it was happily retired and resting peacefully in my work shop/storage area.

 

[unwisefool]

Probably this one for me.

 

[Alberta Ed]

I have my Dad's old Ulster Fishing Knife and leather sheath which he kept in his green steel tackle box, but I never recall him carrying a knife of any kind. My kids/grandkids will probably look at my collection (if I don't manage to take it with me ) and wonder, What the hell did he do with so many knives?

 

[Billy The Hungry]

I was going through some of my picture folders where I've stored the pics that I've posted in various threads here, and came across a picture I snapped at one point of my Father's knife (a Buck Colleague with a personal engraved message) and a knife I'd been carrying that day, and it made me think for a minute. Like me, Dad has been a knife guy all his life, and also like me, he's carried many different knives over the years. Today, he carries one of those little folding skinning knives that have the replaceable "blades", because it just works for him. It gets dull, he replaces the blade and trucks on. Anyway, the point is, if there were several old knives on a table, I probably wouldn't be able to pick out the knife that was his in the lot. Of coure, many of us over the years have posted up pics of their Father or Grandfather's knife, and I always enjoy seeing them. In many instances, those knives were the only one the guy had, and so it being passed down made it a special heirloom of priceless value, and I realized that I'm probably not going to have something like that myself, because Dad has used so many different knives. Instead of one knife with countless memories attached, I'm probably getting a box full of knives that I'll look through and probably won't recognize or feel a connection with.

All of that longwinded navelgazing aside, it had me thinking "What's my knife?" What's the knife my wife would look in my main collection and be able to point to it and say "That's the one. Out of all his knives, that's the one he'd never part with, and he always had with him, that I remember him using." Fortunately, she knows me well! She'd be able to tell you right away, it's this one:

She gave this to me years ago, and it was one of my first "expensive" knives. The bead on it is a solid copper shifter plate nut from the first nice car I bought not long after we got together, and we had that car for several years and to this day, we have a lot of good memories of those early years with that car. I still carry it every so often and it resides in my daybag when not in my pocket.

So that's mine. What about you guys? What's your knife? What's the knife that your children will receive? Or perhaps, in less morbid terms, what's your knife that those who know you will be able to see it on a table and immediately know it's yours?

This is a great topic.

My dad gave me his old USA Camilus that he carried as a young man when he worked for the Coal Mine in Ohio.

Currently, I have it at mom and dad's place for fear I will misplace it. I will grab a picture of it when I can. It has an interesting inset in the handle, a depiction of pick axes and something else, maybe a lantern. I can't remember at the moment.

 

[sabre cat]

This is a great topic.

My dad gave me his old USA Camilus that he carried as a young man when he worked for the Coal Mine in Ohio.

Currently, I have it at mom and dad's place for fear I will misplace it. I will grab a picture of it when I can. It has an interesting inset in the handle, a depiction of pick axes and something else, maybe a lantern. I can't remember at the moment.

That’s cool.

I am a firm believer that a knife with a story is more interesting than just a knife.

 

[LimpCroissant]

I really don't know what knife would be remembered as "My knife". I did want to share though that my "Dad's knife" currently is the Kershaw Offset I gave him many years back. It's a pretty cool and innovative knife really. The blade is injection molded 400c, I believe the technology is called MIM. The milled G-10 handle was pretty special in it's day as well. It also may be the only Kershaw that uses two torsion bars, one milled inside each handle to assist that beefy blade. And finally, it has that cool lock on it like on the Spec Bump and Speed Bump. He keeps it in his motorcycle bag and rides almost everyday rain or shine all through the year in the Pacific Northwest. Just something I wanted to share.

The other main knives that he EDC'd while I was alive were a three bladed Old Timer for most of my life as a kid. Then it became a Benchmade Benchmite that I gave him. And when fishing he had a rubber handled Buck back-lock folder, partially serrated.

{Offset photo just found on Google}

 

[bdmicarta]

My father was a mechanic and carried medium to large traditional knives. Occasionally he would break the tip off of a blade and then hand the knife down to me. I have one that I got before I started working in his garage, I ground the broken blade square and it worked great as a screwdriver. The blade was still long enough to work for cutting wire, belts, hoses, etc. This was a long time before multitools were invented, it was somewhat of a substitute for a multitool.
In more recent years he got a Puma lockback. He knew Puma was a good brand and he was proud of it.

 

[Billy The Hungry]

That’s cool.

I am a firm believer that a knife with a story is more interesting than just a knife.

I wish I knew even 15% of what that knife has been through. My dad is 71, I believe he was in his early 20's when he worked the coal mines.

Never had a great relationship with my father, but I have tons of respect for the man.

 

[coolbreezy37]

Well I still have my first knife that was a present from my father. He loved Buck fixed blades, Kabars and Benchmade. I don’t have a knife that defines me yet. The one I constantly use is a Busse Team Gemini.
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