Your first knife

[silenthunterstudios]

I was looking at my collection of slipjoints the other day, and remembered when I first got interested in pocket knives. When I was a kid, my parents were dirt poor. My father owned, still owns, an auto upholstery company, and my mother was, still is, an RN. Both of them worked crazy hours, so my sister and I spent a lot of time at our grandparents houses. My father's father was still working, driving a soda delivery truck, and my mothers mother was still working for the map division of the State of Maryland. So, we spent a lot of time with my fathers mother and my mothers grandmother. And our cousins sometimes.

When I was a kid, my father, uncles and their friends would go to the local gun show. My father could've been heading off on an adventure worthy of Indiana Jones as far as I was concerned. He would always bring back trinkets for my sister and I, I got a lot of arrow heads from the gun show, he told me he found them on his property, some he did.

My father is a knife nut, but he had a family to support, and very rarely could he get knives. He loves pen knives, and has gone through probably a couple dozen over his life, he seems to lose them left and right. His knife collection consists of an old Sharpfinger, a couple Pakistan clones from the 70s and a Green River skinner blank.

One Saturday he came home with a gift for me, it was a figure knife, a USA single blade plastic handle with Daniel Boone on the shield side (no shield). I was enthralled, with getting a knife, and it had my name on it! My first "real" knife was a Boker figural knife with dogs on it, I have no idea where that knife is, but I cut myself pretty badly by accident. Later, a neighbor that was a big gun collector gave me a .22 single shot Wards and a Schrade 7OT. I have no idea what happened to that little Daniel Boone knife, I know the last time I saw it it had about a pound of caked mud inside and I was able to open it and oil it. Hell, it might have been found, cleaned up and put aside by my father. My little brother found a similar knife in my fathers field about five years ago, and he found an ancient jack knife (I need to take pics).

So, the Boker and the Schrade stand out much more, but I remember sleeping in at my uncles house, when they returned from the gun show one rainy morning with the Daniel Boone knife. A man that dearly liked his old guns and knives, since he was a kid at his grandfathers house in the coal hills of PA where this appreciation was nurtured, to trying to instill that love in his son.

My father tells me all the time, if I'm going to throw my money at those knives, why not throw it his way (a sanitized version of what he really says, you can intimate all you wish ). But I love to watch him coon finger and chicken eye an old knife, like a peanut or a small pen or jack knife. He always gives any knife the opening test, if the pull isn't what we'd put at about a three or four, it's too strong and no good at all. He also gave me an old Western fixed blade, great knife, I gave that to my little brother. He was going to give me his Sharpfinger, but he said I'm crazy with knife trading, and he wanted to keep that knife in the family. My pop knows me all too well.

So, even though the amount of knives I own (whew if he found out what I pay, I'd never hear the end of it) is a constant source of discussion , thank you dad for getting me interested in knives and guns.

What was your first knife?

 

[jc57]

Seems like I have answered this a number of times here.

First knife ever that was "mine" was some version of red-handled Swiss Army Knife. I recall owning it when I was 11 or 12. I have a scar on my left hand to this day from that knife, nearly 50 years later, to remind me of the first lessons that sharp knives are sharp. I have no idea what happened to that knife. I was not into pocket knives when I was young. My father never had any particular interest in knives either to my knowledge.

First knife I bought for myself was a Buck 110 in 1979. That was for work. I carried it on my belt at work for about 10 years. It languished in a tool box in the gargage, mostly forgotten, for about another 20 or so years. Right now it's in my desk drawer.

I didn't get into pocket knives as a hobby until late 2012. My first traditional knife purchase was 3 knives in a single order in early 2013 -a Case Peanut, Case Small Texas Jack, and Case Sway Back Jack, all in CV steel. In retrospect, I should have stopped right there since those three are adequate for my needs.

 

[Txjohn]

One of those very cheap metal framed knives sold in a bucket at gas stations . I can't remember exactly but the frame was retangle and came with a ball chain . Little pen blade and nail file , I think

 

[jc57]

One of those very cheap metal framed knives sold in a bucket at gas stations . I can't remember exactly but the frame was retangle and came with a ball chain . Little pen blade and nail file , I think

Trim Trio! A true classic.

 

[Txjohn]

^^ that's it, thanks

 

[BigBiscuit]

My first knife was an Ulster Boy Scout Camp knife my Dad gave me in 1964. I still have that knife and it carries a lot of great memories. A couple years ago I cleaned a bunch of crud off the covers and buffed out the bolsters. It still has great walk and talk.

 

[bonzodog]

A green handled made in Sheffield folder.I was eight or nine when my grandfather took me with him to a local ironmongers to get some paint,I remember looking at the knives displayed on the counter and grandfather telling me to pick one saying it's about time you had your own knife and not keep using mine.

 

[ScottK]

My first knife was a purchased for me by my father in the mid 1960s at the Riverside county store. It's an inexpensive little Providence cutlery peanut, which I still have. It still has solid walk & talk.

 

[Rookie82]

My first knife (that I bought with my own money) was a Swiss Army at one of the big Kentucky NKCA knife shows, when I was probably 10 years old. I don't remember the pattern name, it had a spear blade, saw blade, punch, can opener, bottle opener, nail file, phillips screwdriver. The phillips driver and punch opened off the spring side, all the rest came out of the top. Also had the tweezer sand toothpick.

I still have it, I think it's in my hunting backpack out in the garage.

 

[black mamba]

My experience is similar to Bob's, as my first knife was an Ulster scout, received in the early '60s. Still used regularly, I might add.
A fair amount of sharpening over 50 years has turned the spear main into a Zulu.

My dad was a lawyer who never carried a pocket knife. He was a hunter and fisherman, but only had time to indulge a few times a year. He had two fixed blade knives he used outdoors, a Rapala filet knife, and this Imperial Prov hunter, which I used many times to clean game.

 

[Hickory n steel]

My very first knife was a dollar store multi function knife my dad bought me when I was 7 which eventually broke in me ( it was enough for me to learn slipjoint use )
My first real knife was a Shcrade 33OT or 34OT ( I get the models mixed up as I have both, but it's the stockman I'm talking about ) that I sort of stole when I was about 10.
One day in 2005 it randomly showed up in our apartment and just sat In the corner of the living room for over a week. I think my moms husband had bought picked it up on sale at Walmart and forget about it. Anyways it was just sitting there as if nobody even knew it was there, so I took it got rid of all the packaging evidence and slipped it I to my pocket where it stayed for years.
I had no clue at the time that it was a lemon as the sheep's foot blade is limp and is sort of bent as it rubs on the spot blade severely but it served me well and would continue to do so if it wasn't a late production lemon.

 

[Ebbtide]

ff

The first was the wooden "dagger" my dad carved for me from a broom handle.
The second was a souvenir knife from the World's Fair here in NYC.

 

[mrknife]

this may have been my first knife ever

it came up with a bail and clip but i ripped it off. we had just gotten a new car after the first family car had crapped out, an old buick my dad bought for about $900 a few years after we lived in America. It was family day and we drove the outlets, Tanger outlet in Long Island to be exact, and they had a sporting goods store and I saw a machete and that tiny coleman knife. I wasnt allowed to get the machete as you can see. Had to be about 9 years old at the time. I eventually used this thing to carve a pipe bowl out of a piece of stick (mop handle or something) but its been lost for some time. still have it for old times sake. Around the time I eventually got one of those cheap tool knives with spork, knife, cheap saw etc, the 99 cent store swiss army clones, and a reindeer two blade trapper that would eventually become my first modding project at 12 or 13. I still have the pieces sitting here, as my father helped me put it back together. But eventually the cheap plastic cracked and so they sat. It was from a junk shop where I also bought my first butterfly knives, cheapos but still fun. good times.

 

[r redden]

my very first knife my dad fashioned out of an old file. My mom made me a sheath for it out of a piece of canvas. That old knife stayed on my side for a long time but I have no idea what ever happened to it.

 

[zolthar]

My first knife is a German FES knife. I recovered it from a drawer at my parents place a few years ago.

I still remember standing in the store with both of my parent looking at the small selection of blades. A friend entered the store with his parents and proudly showed me the knife he had just bought followed by showing a band aid on his finger and warning me not to try and feel how sharp the knives are.

At that point the decision was made and I decided I needed the same knife in my favorite color black:

 

[deltaboy]

Imperial Small stockman Black Scales and a Federal Shield on one side. Also had a Imperial Barlow.

 

[Ironbut]

My first was a wooden handled Barlow that my Dad gave me when he got a new one. I found it, along with a few others, a couple years ago when we were cleaning out my Mom's house before auction. It was still in useable shape & had my initials carved in the wood. I gave them all to my son.

 

[brownshoe]

ff

The first was the wooden "dagger" my dad carved for me from a broom handle.
The second was a souvenir knife from the World's Fair here in NYC.

I had one too. It was a souvenir from Bar Harbor, Me. In about 1968. Long gone in a garage sale...My first I got at my christening from my Uncle. Was a traditional gift in my Irish family. Italian made 2" with two small blades, sterling silver covers, bail and a sterling chain. Still have that one

 

[Liberando]

My first knife was a Camillus electrician's knife, TL-29. A wonderful gift for a new cub scout. It's long gone, lost during a series of moves. But fortunately, the TL-29 is fairly common so I picked up a replacement not long ago for a very reasonable price. Darn sturdy and well made.

 

[JK Knives]

These are the knives of my childhood, small yellow handle Kent, and an Imperial Fish Knife. Grampa gave me the Kent when I was about 6 years old, (57 years ago!), and my Mom bought me the Imperial off one of those cardboard displays in the drug store in town shortly before she passed away. I still have both of them.