Your Father's Knife:

[sabre cat]

Cool thread.

Dad used to always carry a Buck 112 and use up the blade until the grind darn near kisses the spine. When Gerber released it's multi-tool he started carrying them exclusively. He loved to flick the pliers out. Now he is retired and has a Kershaw Dividend I gifted him, as well as a Fallknivven F1.

As far as what my family will remember me by...is likely the stacks of footlockers lol.

I love the Buck 112 Ranger. I bought an early production version while in my teens. Black Micarta scales and a blade without a nail nick, IIRC. I carried that knife on every hunting trip I made with my father.

Unfortunately, a dirtbag lowlife stole it out of my car shortly after my fathers death. That was over four decades ago. I still get upset when I think about it.

Out of all the knives that I have bought, that is the one that I miss the most.

I loved that knife.

 

[LimpCroissant]

I'm no Expert on the subject. My knowledge is more based on little tidbits I'd pick-up hearing guys talk in passing. However. to answer your question, I believe the extractor on the 870 is MIM.

Oh ok, interesting. Yea the extractor is definitely an important little piece inside a firearm. Good to know, thanks.

 

[Knives&Lint]

Cool idea for a thread! I've though about this before, and had similar thoughts with watches when I thinned my collection down.

The knife I remember my dad (a lineman) carrying when I was young was a Buck 110. It's just something that I will always relate to my dad at that time; just like Levis, Red Wing boots, a Seiko watch, and Miller Lite (when he dressed up he put on a sports coat with patches on the elbows and the boots changed to ostrich, all the rest stayed the same). Since retirement, he carries a Case (I'm ashamed that I don't remember which model) that has file work on the spine and spring that was gifted to him by a friend. I know for a fact that he also owns a handful of modern knives and SAK's, because I've gifted them to him over the years and on a recent visit saw them sitting in a drawer still in their boxes

As for me, it would likely be one of my CRK's, which works out well because they are the perfect heirloom knives IMO. The Inkosi is the one that they've probably seen me carry the most, as I pretty much carried it exclusively for some time after I purchased it. However, they really know me for customizing my items, so the Sebenza might get the nod because I bronze ano'ed, stonewashed, and flamed the hardware on it. They're often home when I'm working on my mods, and I usually get their input. Honestly, I've been thinking for a while about anodizing the Inkosi as well, so that's probably inevitable at some point. Beyond that, the ones that probably stick in their minds the most are the ones I've done fade dye jobs on. I've already gifted my eldest one of those though (well, she asked for it and I could never resist )

Then again, now that I'm thinking about it my Jurassic has been with me on many a adventure in the past few years, especially quite a few with my son right by my side as I watched him grow from tagging along to towering over me in height and actually pushing me to go harder, so for him maybe it's this one. I've got three kids so I guess it's fitting to have three knives, no?

 

[sabre cat]

I'm quite jealous of you guys with your sentimental stories and attachments…

…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.

FWIW, I don’t think I have a knife that defines me.

However, just having a knife on my person helps to define my lifestyle or maybe my attitude about life in general. I don’t know.

What I do know is that certain knives seem to get carried more than others so I have more memories attached to those select few.

I can also tell you that I am not overly fond of the Benchmade Griptilian. There are many aspects of it’s design that I find detestable. I hate the shape of the scales. And I hate how cheap the scales feel in your hand. Just to name a couple.

Saying that, I have learned that the knife’s ergonomics work very well for me and the Axis Lock is a fantastic design.

That is why I picked it as one of the folders to define me in this thread. It works better in my hand than most of my other knives even if it is butt ugly and far from my favorite knife. I prefer the Kershaw Zing and have had soft spot for SAKs from my early youth.

The other reason it’s listed is because of the personal memories tied to the knife itself.

May I suggest that if you look at the memories themselves, then maybe, just maybe, you will find one knife that stands out. Because of the memories. Then you can say that is YOUR knife.

 

[Hashishiin]

What a great thread!...and a lot to think about.


I feel sorry for some of you who didn't have a relationship with your Fathers. My experience was quite the opposite. My Dad was my Hero, and a bit of a "Renaissance Man". He wasn't "college" educated but was still very-well educated and very well-read. (*He'd read the local "paper" EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. from cover to cover and had a penchant for History and Military History books) He was a Soldier, a local Politician, an Energy Industry Executive, a hunter and fisherman, and (*later in life) a Game Rancher.

I posted this in the Buck forum, just a bit back. In all my years afield with him, I only saw him with ONE knife...his trusty Buck 110. I reckon he scored his first one at the PX before getting out of the Army in '65. As I posted, and knowing him, he was probably quite proud to show his Buddies that he was sporting the "latest and greatest". (*For him, in '65, the 110 may've well been the ZT/Chris Reeves/Hinderer/etc. of its time) If he was out hunting in "the great outdoors", that black leather sheath was ALWAYS on his belt. In-between accompanying him on his whitetail hunts for decades and watching him train other hunters in the art of field dressing, I probably watched him gut/skin/quarter whitetail in the high double digits with his 110s.

The "Internet" wasn't a thing in those days. So, "warranty" wasn't much of a thing to him. He'd destroy a 110 about every 10-or-so years and just score him a new one. I have his last and second-to-last 110s. I lost him in April of '12 to Stage 4 Prostate Cancer. Anyhoo, here's his second-to-last 110, complete with broken tip and "Redneck reprofiled" blade...







Me? I'm a child of the 70's and a teen of the 80's. So, large "survival/wilderness" fixies have always been my thing. I have about a million knives, but think that my favorite Cousin would tell everyone that this TOPS 107E was "My" blade, in the event of my demise...

The mixture of reading and gaining knowledge as well as the practice of real skills is a powerful one indeed. "Rennaissance man", great term for it. I know, say, a guy like Hemingway had his problems, but it's like "I travel, I hunt, I camp, I read, I write, I play music..." and all just as hobbies. I don't really know what I am trying to say here, but I am glad you could be raised by such a man, respect to your father!

PS - is the redneck grind to prevent snapped tips?

 

[shane45-1911]

This has turned out to be a great - and bittersweet, emotional - thread.

For what it's worth, this is the VERY first knife I ever owned - given to me by my Dad when I was 7 or 8. I remember him telling me that it has his name on it (Wayne), so I will always think of him when I use it. That sentiment didn't mean much to an 8 year old.

Fast-forward 50 years, and that statement means more than words can express.

Miss you tons, Dad.

 

[Alone]

...PS - is the redneck grind to prevent snapped tips?

I guess when I post "Redneck grind", I'm just talking about trying to bring the edge back to some sort of tip after the tip was squared-off from snapping.

 

[Hashishiin]

I guess when I post "Redneck grind", I'm just talking about trying to bring the edge back to some sort of tip after the tip was squared-off from snapping.

Oh! Oh yeah, I'm doing the same thing with a USA-made Schrade OT60 I found!


From this



To that so far, figure it'll look either like a SAK blade, or like a 110 LW with the drop point when I'm done. Now I have a name for the regrind, sweet.

(Edited to mention, I meant I had the same goal in mind - creating a functional tip out of a broken one I know mine is not comparable to the one pictured by Alone. This is my first regrind/restoration of any type, the goal is to make a usable, functional, clean knife, not a beautiful knife (though I'll see what I can do about the scratches!) and I've done 90% of that, just need a better tip to clean the edge up. All done by hand with file and grinder belt glued to wood.)

 

[Ironbut]

My Dad always carried a Barlow or one of the TL-29 electrician knives, and my brothers & I got his hand-me-downs. My son ran across an old cigar box of them in my Mom's attic, when we were cleaning the place out before auction about 10 years ago. My son is 47 now & he'd pick this Uncle Henry stockman as the one he always remembered me carrying when he was growing up. I bought it before he was born & carried it every single day for over 30 years.

 

[Uncle Buckmaster]

When I was a boy, the knives I always saw my father carrying were a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife that he himself had since he was a Boy Scout and a Buck 110.

I don't have pics of either knife to show because my father is still alive today, so neither knife is in my possession, and his Swiss Army Knife was lost or stolen, but I did buy him a replacement for Christmas some years ago.

However, I've always had a soft spot for Swiss Army Knives and the Buck 110, and I own multiple examples of the latter.

 

[Hashishiin]

When I was a boy, the knives I always saw my father carrying were a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife that he himself had since he was a Boy Scout and a Buck 110.

I don't have pics of either knife to show because my father is still alive today, so neither knife is in my possession, and his Swiss Army Knife was lost or stolen, but I did buy him a replacement for Christmas some years ago.

However, I've always had a soft spot for Swiss Army Knives and the Buck 110, and I own multiple examples of the latter.

That burgundy one at top is beautiful, what is that, the Cherrywood or something else? I think it needs one classic 110 though

 

[Uncle Buckmaster]

That burgundy one at top is beautiful, what is that, the Cherrywood or something else? I think it needs one classic 110 though

It's a Custom Shop model that my brother got me for my last Birthday, you're correct, the scales are Cherrywood. I was honestly thinking the same thing, I need a Classic 110 to round it all out. I'd also like to get an Automatic 110, but I don't think that's possible, unfortunately.

 

[Hashishiin]

It's a Custom Shop model that my brother got me for my last Birthday, you're correct, the scales are Cherrywood. I was honestly thinking the same thing, I need a Classic 110 to round it all out. I'd also like to get an Automatic 110, but I don't think that's possible, unfortunately.

That was the next thing I was gonna say, make it an auto, just for the cool factor, haha. But jeez, a pretty penny for a spring, eh? A classic will probably do ya.

 

[killgar]

Things were always rough between my father and I.

He was a hard man, old-fashioned, raised by an even harder man. Not cruel, just hard, he helped to make my childhood hell, and he was quick with a punch if he thought I was out of line, even when I was with my friends. And for that, I hated his guts growing up.

I left home at 16, in part because of him. A few years later I reunited with my family, I was a different person by then, and he knew it. The days of getting punched were over for good, but he was still an a-hole.

He wasn't a "knife guy", or any kind of outdoorsman. His only use for a knife was the occasional utilitarian task. He didn't even carry a pocketknife.

When I was 19 I bought him a Kershaw 5200 (pictured below). I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps a glimmer of attempting some father/son bonding. I guess I thought maybe he might carry it, but I never saw him use it.

The death of my mother a few years later drastically changed him, he actually became a nice guy, which shocked the hell out of me. I mean a total personality reversal. But it was too late for us, too much damage had been done between us. I often thought to myself that if only he had been that "nice guy" to me growing up we could have had a great relationship. But that's life.

We had a cordial but distant relationship, but we would never be close. A common story- he was hard on me growing up, as a result he turned me hard, so by the time he wanted a relationship it was too late, I wasn't capable, or willing, but at least I no longer hated him. In our entire lives we never once said "I love you" to one another. I regret, and will always regret that we never truly reconciled and became close.

At around 80 Alzheimer's hit him, and hit him hard. I wouldn't put him in a nursing home, too many horror stories. So I became his care giver for the last 5 years of his life. Five very horrific years. I watched a once strong and proud man disintegrate into a withered, frail, shell who didn't know who he was, and who couldn't do a single thing for himself.

After he passed, I found the Kershaw I had given him among his things. Both the blade and handle were thoroughly scratched. He had obviously been carrying and using it after all.

I never had kids of my own, I always feared I was too much like my father, so none of my knives will be used by my kids to remember me.

But I have my fathers knife, I carry it regularly. And the scratches are what I like best about it.

 

[sabre cat]

This has turned out to be a great - and bittersweet, emotional - thread.

For what it's worth, this is the VERY first knife I ever owned - given to me by my Dad when I was 7 or 8. I remember him telling me that it has his name on it (Wayne), so I will always think of him when I use it. That sentiment didn't mean much to an 8 year old.

Flash-forward 50 years, and that statement means more than words can express.

Miss you tons, Dad.

One of the better post in this thread! Maybe even the best.

 

[pholder]

I gave this to my son Jack when he was born. It’s not the best pic, but the ebony is a beautiful coffee color. I used this for years, I was carrying it when he came into this world, and then stopped on the day he was born. It’s His now. Cleaned, oiled, and stored in the safe…

A true Jack knife

 

[tiguy7]

The last two knives my dad carried are a SAK Executive and a Puma 260. My EDC’s include three heavily modified knives: a William Henry B-15, a Camillus CUDA MAXX, and a SAK Waiter.

View attachment 1891923View attachment 1891924

 

[oldmanwilly]

Great idea for a tread Quiet , it has been fun to read all of the responses. I may be an outlier as my Dad is still alive and I already own two knives I associate with him.

My Dad is not a knife guy. He's a hunter and has worked in some capacity on farms/ranches his entire life, so he appreciates a good quality working knife more than most, but he's not an aficionado. These are the two knives I recall him using most:



The antler handled lockback is an identical copy of a knife my dad used to carry when working out in the pasture. I think a friend of his gifted him a similar folder from a maker near Boerne, Texas (last name of Payne). My dad liked it so much that he ordered several to give to his brothers, one for each of his future sons in law, and me. He knew that I admired his so much after seeing him cut open hundreds of feed sacks, trim cigars, and check the done-ness of steaks that he manipulated me into earning straight A's one year in order to receive my own. It worked and I still carry it today.

The second is a CutCo version of a Trapper. I recall my dad using one as a primary hunting knife for years in conjunction with a fully serrated CutCo fixed blade he used to cut the sternum of countless whitetail. This was the knife he always carried on hunts when he brought me along and I always wanted one of my own. He still has his and I found one on Ebay for a good price so now we can both carry the same folder while hunting the same ground. Granted, he now primarily uses a Kershaw Blur I got him for Christmas, which has been his preferred knife for nearly a decade now.

I'm not sure which knife my daughter and future children will associate with me the most. I have so many that I rotate through on a daily basis that it's hard for me to imagine any one or two-dozen being my essential knife. All I can hope is that I can give them enough good experiences that they will someday think "Oh yeah, Dad had that knife on him that time we..." and end up with a knife that conjures their preferred memory(ies).

What I do know is that I will always associate this knife with my first-born because I wore it on my belt the day she was born, and many days thereafter while watching her grow (too damn fast):

 

[skyhorse]

I gifted my Father a small Buck 309 companion slip joint that he carried every day . He was suffering from cancer and one day made an emergency trip to the hospital in California where one of the scum bag employees stole it from him.