Your first knife....

[Roj Avon]

I'd be interested in knowing about other's first knives and at what age and circumstances they received them.

As for me, my first knife was purchased at a gift shop in North Carolina. My family and I were in a shop and on a rack were some small inexpensive sheath knives. It had a white plastic handle and was in a tan sheath that said "Great Smokey Mountains". Dad had always been a hunter and fisherman and always carried a knife of some kind. I was 8 or 9 and must have looked at them longingly. I didn't notice as Dad stayed behind for a moment and when he came out he handed me an item wrapped in a brown bag.

Before I opened it he sat me down and gave me the rules. "A knife," he told me, "is a tool. You are never to even so much as act like you are going to cut anyone. If I ever find out that you abused the priviledge of carrying a knife you'll loose it for a very long time."

The knife was cheap, blunt, and mostly useless for anything but starting to teach a kid the lessons of the responsibility of carrying a knife. However, somewhere at my parents house I still have that knife. Dad gave me other knives as I grew up but that one will always be special.

I guess a Dad giving his son (or daughter for that matter) that first knife is quite a moment. Its a sign of respect and maturity that can't be surpassed in any way I can think of.

 

[MAURICE]

my first "real knife" was when i was 8 or so,and i got it on my birthday. i was at my great grandfathers house (rip) and my great uncle was there with (what looked to be a huge) buck or some other folder,and he let me look at it. i was hooked! i kept telling my parents that i want one,i want one!
on my birthday,i got a schrade or case or some other slip joint (lost it a long time ago,wish i still had it

)

after that i went through a bunch of crap knives,and really got in to crap knives.one day while at wal-mart i was walking through the sporting goods section and saw a schrade FB i wanted.delrin handles,bout a 3 or 4 inch blade,and bought it.

i went back to crap knives for a while,and while looking through the net i kept running into some strange place called bladeforums.com. everytime i did a search i kept running into it. so i eventually clicked on it,and became educated.

i then got my first "real" knife...the only one i had ever bought with my own money. it was a used kershaw whirlwind.

the rest,as they say, is history.
next week im going to blade to pick up my first custom folder (already have some fixed blades) and cant wait!

 

[hstdist]

Must be a magic age.. 8 or 9 yrs old. Xmas present was an " original buffalo skinner " a 6" bladed black handled with a bufflo head pommel leather sheathed monster from Home Hardware. Lost it in a quarry pond playing pirates ( had it stuck in my belt ). Next came a Ka-bar folder which I still have.

I bought my first knife at about 15 a Normark folding hunter and used it for everything from skinning deer to picnic's till it fell apart when I was about 30. Then came my no name POS, which the sheath snaged (I think) in the bush, because knife and sheath was gone . Next came Outdooredge Kodi skinner. Nice but I don't like it anymore.
Then all kinds, Bucks,Gerbers,Scharades.

Now its a Busse. I think it's worth more $$$ than all I've owned. But I can still picture my Buffalo Skinner

Cheers
Ken

 

[narruc1]

My first knife was bought at Great Eastern Department Store, back in 1962, when I was 12 years old. It was a Fixed blade Puma, with very nice Stag scales, and a 8" I don't know what kind of steel blade. I wish I had it now! It would bring back many memories.

Good post... It got me looking back on a time I all most had forgotten.

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BC... For those who fought for it, Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know... Semper Fi!

[This message has been edited by narruc1 (edited 06-01-2001).]

 

[tknife]

Ahhh, memories! Mine is a Camco, Boy Scout knife. My dad is a big gun and knife guy, so I got this when I was six. Rusty, and battered it may be, but I still have it 23 years later! I keep it tucked away with my more expensive knives, and when I pull it out, I can still remember the "being responsible" lecture from dad. Good stuff!

 

[Coonskinner]

My first knife was an old yellow handled Schrade Walden Trapper. I still have it today. Actually, the story of how I got it is a bit poignant for me. I was 6 years old when my dad came home from work, gathered my sister and me up on his lap, and told us that he was leaving and wouldn't be living with us any more. When I followed him out to the truck he stopped just before he got in, pulled the knife out of his pocket, gave it to me, and drove away. My mother was a bit hesitant to let me carry it, but when I told her it made me feel like a part of my daddy was near when I had the knife in my pocket, she didn't have the heart to take it away.

That has been 25 years ago, and my dad has since passed away, but I still treasure the old knife. I guess my love affair with knives probably started that day standing in that dusty driveway watching my dad drive away across the pasture, clutching the knife tightly in my hand.

I have two boys of my own now, and like most men, I hope they are interested in some of the things that have brought me so much enjoyment. I plan to pass along my love of fine blades to them...but I by the grace of God am going to be there to teach them how to use and care for them, not just press one into their hand before I walk away.

Anyway, I didn't mean to be maudlin, but that is the story of my first knife.

 

[R.W.Clark]

Kleenex anyone?

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R.W.Clark

Proud Member : California Knifemakers Association

 

[Bugs3x]

Since at the time getting my first knife was such a big deal for me, you'd think I'd have remembered more about it. But, I can't even remember what it looked like, let alone provide name/manufacturer. (A good mind is a terrible thing to have lost)

I was 5. I remember the envy of a couple of my playmates, because they didn't have one. It was a slipjoint folder, I recall, sharp enough to cut me pretty good the first time I ignored the "don't cut towards yourself" rule, but I can't bring up a mental picture of it.

Have always had a knife in my pocket since, but can't remember any of the folders until I was in the Marine Corps. I had a fake pearl handled "hunting knife" with leather sheath that I got when I was about 7. Made a terrible mistake and gave it to a good friend -- a young boy neighbor of a lady I thought I'd be with a long time. Miss the knife and her dogs a whole bunch more than I miss her!

Pretty non-descript magic moments, I fear.

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Asi es la vida

Bugs

 

[bfm]

I was 5 and it was a pearl handled two blade slip joint that came over from Europe with my grandmother. She thought a boy shouldn't be without a pocket knife. It was lost a couple of years later (much more sad about that now than I was then) and was replaced by a 112 from my father (still have that one 25 years later).

 

[Stumpy]

Well my first knife was bought by my dad I
was about 6 or 7 years old.It was at a gift shop in Jasper National Park.A small folder with a RCMP officer on horse back on a fake pearl handle, I don't know what ever happend to that one.

 

[JBoS6]

First knife (non-kitchen) I ever used was my dad's bowie knife. Yep, I got the "responsibility" lecture, too. That's probably why I never told him the scar on the back of my left hand is from making bows and arrows with my brothers when we were younger!

First knife I owned was my grandfathers ... got it when I was 11 or 12. Old two-bladed slipjoint. Still certainly keep that one around, although I should put some time into cleaning it up.