Your first "good" knife

Doc4570

Doc4570

Joined
Jan 18, 1999
Messages
347
I'm new to the forum and I've spent several hours reading about Terzuolas and Sebenzas and Mad Dogs, but I'm curious about something. What was your FIRST "good" knife. The one, after which you would not be buying your knives from the hardware store any more. The knife which started this grand (not to mention expensive) obsession.
About 25 tears ago I needed a knife for my first backpacking trip and paid the outrageous (back then) price of $25 for a Puma Hunters Pal. One look at the stag handles, the bright steel, the blade that didn't wobble like a metronome, the edge that would stay sharp for more than a few hours and I was hooked. I knew then that my family, in their heart, would prefer that I had high quality steel than a little extra food on the table.
smile.gif

Any other fond remembrances of "the first time" ??
Doc
 
Doc,

I guess mine would have had to be my Carl Scheipler "German Eye" Survival Companion purchased 15 to 20 years ago. Everything I'd had before that was typical hardware store fare. [Then again, the old Buck 110 folding hunter really can't be termed "crap", although readily available at hardware stores. And I've had one since the early 70s.] It is just that stepping up to the $60 to $80 I paid for that big fixed blade was a significant departure. Those Buck 110's ran about $15 at the PX when I bought mine.

-=[Bob]=-

[This message has been edited by bald1 (edited 31 January 1999).]
 
I ordered a Benchmade Leopard Cub from a internet dealer about three years ago.
That knife made a great impression on me. Very well made, extremely smooth, confidence-inspiring lock.....beautiful knife.
If there ever was one that hooked me, it was that knife.
Bill
 
My first "good" knife had to be the Buck 110 I got in 1980, the year I joined the service and needed a good knife to work on deck of the ship I was assigned to. I grew up with numerous knives, but doubt I ever had any quality brand names. When I got to the ship everyone told me I needed a Buck knife so I got one.

I had it for years until someone borrowed it and pryed something open and broke the tip. I immediately replaced it and still have it my other 110. I also have a 110 in the Master series. Out of all the 'sexy' knives I have now, the Buck 110 still has a strong place in my sentiments, though I hardly carry them.

Now a Puma Hunter's Pal for a first knife is top of the line. Doc, is yours the one they made with non stainless steel? A co-worker of mine has an older Pal. It's absolutely beautiful.
Regards,

------------------

~Greg~

 
Going on three decades ago, when a Buck 110 was still a Good Knife, I got a 4" Puma. And lost it a few years later. But that's not what got me hooked.

What got me hooked was the presence of the knife store half of the House of Muzzle Loading, later Blades 'n' Stuff, where Bob Engnath encouraged me to come in and BS, even if I wasn't about to buy anything. I still have the Duff hunter with an Engnath-scrimmed cougar on the micarta handle.

But that's not what got me really hooked either. That "honor" goes to the semi-finished ATS34 bare blade that Bob sold me about a year later.




------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com

 
I had a really great "EYE" brand bowie style with about a 7" blade. Picked it up cheap at a pawn shop, then re-handled and sheathed it.That knife would do anything. It had a high saber grind that I finished off flat (like a pukko) to a thin edge. It would cut water vines like a hung rope and was still tough enough to throw at armadillos and turtles. Lost it though when bowfishing for gar in a Red River slough. I guess I should dived for it, but when my canoe tipped over all I could think about were the alligators that fished the same area. Saved the bow with a grapple hook but the knife is probably still there.
Russ
 
Greg,
I didn't say the Puma was my first knife,
it was my first "good" knife. There was a long string of cheapies before that. I think it was the stainless model. Eventually gave it to my "true love". Didn't realize that 20 years later I would remember the Puma with much more fondness than her.
I'm also a big fan of the Buck 110s and 112s. I give them credit for starting the lockback style. If only they didn't weigh 8 pounds.
Doc
 
My first "good" knife was a Buck Guide 105 which I still have and use decades after getting it for a camping trip.

I guess the "other" knife that landed me where I am today is the old faithful SAK -- one I still carry daily along with some newer "friends."
-->BLADE

 
My first good knife was a Bucklite Lockback with a 3" blade that I bought in 1988. I still have it, and it still works/performs fine.

 
You never got that Hunter's Pal back? Oh well… another of life's more bitter lessons. At least she didn't give it back point first which, as I remember, might have been a consideration.
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My first good knife was also a Puma, but their Bowie model. As Doc knows, I am a staunch follower of the Jim March "bigger is better" philosophy. As many quality knives as I've gotten since then, the Puma Bowie remains one of my all-time favorites. It was also the recipient of my first custom leather sheath.

Brian

 
Got a SAK f/ 10th b-day, around 11 I got an Opinel (I don't know where those fall but, it was the first knife i got to handle outside of the kitchen that was +3" and had a lock. And of course by the time I was thirteen I had a... you guessed it... a Buck 110. Now I have a 110 CMK conversion.
 
Al Mar Falcon, micarta handles, ~$100.00 (for a pocketknife!!??!!) c.1975

Lost for 15yrs, found recently in an old pair of jeans just about to throw away. The micarta now looks like fine ivory. Welcome back.

-Michael
 
Like many others my first "good" knife was a Buck 110 but,the knife that really got me hooked was an BM Brend Combat Talon II
 
My first good knife was a Rambo II knife, but the knife that hooked me was my next knife that was a SOG Government 7.5 inch blade. Loved it and still do.
 
I got my first "good" one about 15 or 20 years ago, it was a Gerber Silver Knight (a small folder with brass liners, nickel silver bolsters, and wood handles). It really was a good knife but, I lost it. I paid $30 dollars for it. That was alot of money to me back then!

Bernie

 

A Wicked Knife Company Air Assualt. May be not be the best knife but sure does have a good fit and finish. I think teh two Busse's I have on order will replace it though.
 
Bernie,

I also had & lost a Silver Knight at about the same time period. I picked up an exact replacement last year on Ebay, mint condition & in original wrapping paper, for around $15 -- less than I paid years ago. If you're interested, I'll dig around for the seller's info. He had a few at the time.

Brian
 
My wife bought me a Spyderco Police model with Aluminum handles 5 years ago that started this expensive fixations with cutlery and sharpening equipement
smile.gif


Waldo
 
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