Your first pocket knife

[Peregrin]

My first was a Blue Cub Scout knife my mom and dad got me. I was 7 years old and a brand new Cub Scout. I'm pretty sure it was made by Camillus. I haven't seen it in years but I'm hopeful that it's packed away somewhere.

 

[SVTFreak]

Mine was a olive green knife with a spoon and fork in it. Cheap folder. Used it for years in boy scouts alongside my later to come scout lite. I still have the scout lite and fairly certain I have the eating kit.

 

[SoCal_kid]

A case trapper in white jigged bone. I had big plans for it that never came to fruition. Carried it every weekend during my high school years.

 

[r8shell]

My first two pocketknives were Official BSA knives, a blue Cub Scout around 1963 and a brown Boy Scout in 1966; I don't remember what brand they were - they are both long gone (I had three younger brothers and stuff got bumped down). The pocketknife that occupies that special place for me came third, but it is the one I still own (but rarely carry) a Buck 301. My Grandmother allowed me to pick out this pocketknife, with a budget up to $15.00 in price, and charge it to her at the local hardware store for my 15th birthday in NOV 1970. She worked at the jewelry store and had me bring it to her and have it engraved with my initials. I carried the knife through HS, ARNG service, college, and during my early working days. I retired it when she died in 1989, but it sits here on my desk so I can enjoy looking at it when I want to - I don't look at it without thinking of her. OH

That's a nice story and it's great you have a tangible reminder of your grandmother right there on your desk.

I'm enjoying reading this thread, and I realize how lucky some of us are to be old enough to have gotten to grow up carrying knives every day at school. (I went to an art high school, and matt knives were on our list of required supplies)

 

[J Buck]

My Dad gave me my first knife when I was about 7 or 8 years old. A little old stacked leather fixed blade knife. My first Pocket knife was an SAK bought in a marina/bait shop in Crystal River, Florida. I don't recall what model but it was bulky in my pocket. When I was 12 I bought a Buck 301 at Oshmans Sporting Goods. Paid something like $15.00 for it. I carried that knife a long time until I got a Spyderco. Lost the Spyderco, still have the Buck. Growing up in an area where greenhouse plant production and orange groves, hunting and fishing a lot, all the guys carried some sort of pocket knife. A lot of fond memories.

 

[paulhilborn]

Here's mine---purchased with a combination of allowance and lawn mowing money. Seemed like an eternity to save for but well worth the wait :thumbup:

How I held on to it all these years is remarkable. Bought it new at the local hardware store.

Paul

 

[J Buck]

Paul, that is a really nice one. That has a whole lot of worth having had to work for something than having it handed to you. I mowed a lot of grass for that Buck 301. I had a pretty good little business going for a 12 year old. That knife shows a lot of character and is just beautiful.

 

[Jack Black]

My first was a Richards 'Little Chief' (Imagine an Imperial-made Radio Knife!), carried from age 7, and given away long, long ago.

I found an image of the same logo as was on my first knife:

I've got 2 of those knives sitting on my kitchen table, got them in a bag with 8 others last week. They're pretty beat-up, but you can have them if they mean anything.

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Great-looking knife :thumbup:

When I joined the Cub Scouts in the early '60s my father gave me this Ulster scout. Still have it and use it, frequently.
This photo is just a couple months old.

Here's mine---purchased with a combination of allowance and lawn mowing money. Seemed like an eternity to save for but well worth the wait :thumbup:

How I held on to it all these years is remarkable. Bought it new at the local hardware store.

Paul

Great stuff guys

 

[jon_slider]

As a boy I lived in Spain. One day when I was about 12, a wildhaired man named One Eyed Moe, who had been to Scandinavia visited and left me a pair of knives. Years later I fell in love with one of his beautiful daughters. The puukko with the bone handle and reindeer etching is gone, the barrel knife remains. Every time I touch it, I feel transported to a damp dusky dock on the Baltic, and sense a womans hand wielding the blade cutting some large fishes gills out.

I only recently came upon it again, and have never used it. The handle is very comfortable and the blade very sharp, but the clasp at the butt is not secure, the slightest push of the blade tip defeats the latch. From what Ive read, its a poor condition example, but its been with me for just shy of 50 years.

The barrel knife is marked Segerstrom Eskilstuna Sweden. Segerstrom made Barrel knives from 1864-1925. Ive owned mine since 1965.

 

[paulhilborn]

Paul, that is a really nice one. That has a whole lot of worth having had to work for something than having it handed to you. I mowed a lot of grass for that Buck 301. I had a pretty good little business going for a 12 year old. That knife shows a lot of character and is just beautiful.

J Buck, Thank you, it truly seemed forever waiting for my money to accumulate so I could buy it. I remember asking to do my two older brothers chores to earn the money faster .

As a boy I lived in Spain. One day when I was about 12, a wildhaired man named One Eyed Moe, who had been to Scandinavia visited and left me a pair of knives. Years later I fell in love with one of his beautiful daughters. The puukko with the bone handle and reindeer etching is gone, the barrel knife remains. Every time I touch it, I feel transported to a damp dusky dock on the Baltic, and sense a womans hand wielding the blade cutting some large fishes gills out.

That read like it was out of a timeless novel right there Jon :thumbup:. Worded very well .

Paul

 

[Living_Simply]

Some great stories in here guys. My first knife was a Buck Ecolite that I got when I earned my whittling chip in cub scouts. I got my whittling chip right before Christmas and remember pestering my Dad for a Buck 110 like he carried. When I got this I thought it was so much better because it was blue. Anyways I still have it all together in a box, it hardly even shows signs of use but I beat that thing as much as any kid could running around a farm.

 

[Ace Krampus]

I was 5 or 6 and I came across some crappy little pocket knife in the basement of my old place. It had a blade under two inches, white plastic handles with a bronze seahorse on one side and said Florida on the other. Absolutely hideous little knife but I was totally enamored with it. Carried it every day until I got my first Swiss Army knife a few years later. Wonder what the hell happened to it.

 

[erikj3]

It was almost certainly a Swiss Army Knife, but it's long gone.

 

[whetrock]

Mine was a cheap SAK copy. It looked like a Victorinox Classic. I was really young, 5 or so . It was as dull as a butterknife. My Dad actually replaced it with a Wenger version of the same model a year or so later.

 

[NMpops]

Mine was a Boy Scout knife I got while still in the Cub Scouts. My Dad didn't want to waste money on another knife when I advanced so he bought the brown boy scout model. Wish I knew what happened to it.

 

[MrPocketsOfSteel]

I was probably about 6 or 7 years old (60 years ago, more or less). My grandfather gave me my first pocket knife. I don't remember what brand it was but I remember it was a slipjoint and surely it was an inexpensive one. I remember afternoons sitting around with my grandfather, whittling on old lumber and tree branches, watching the chickens feed and mill around the yard. I remember he used to fill a pan with hot water and take it and a straight razor out on his porch every morning to shave in front of a mirror hanging on the unpainted wall. No matter what the weather, he shaved on his front porch with that same razor in front of that same mirror every morning. He taught me respect for sharp things. He knew his blades and used them well.

The mirror remained on the front porch for decades after he died until someone in the family decided they wanted it. I have a picture of it hanging there. At times, I can almost make out his reflection in that mirror.

I don't have a picture of the knife he gave me or a picture of my grandfather. But I remember.

Great post.

 

[MrPocketsOfSteel]

My first two pocketknives were Official BSA knives, a blue Cub Scout around 1963 and a brown Boy Scout in 1966; I don't remember what brand they were - they are both long gone (I had three younger brothers and stuff got bumped down). The pocketknife that occupies that special place for me came third, but it is the one I still own (but rarely carry) a Buck 301. My Grandmother allowed me to pick out this pocketknife, with a budget up to $15.00 in price, and charge it to her at the local hardware store for my 15th birthday in NOV 1970. She worked at the jewelry store and had me bring it to her and have it engraved with my initials. I carried the knife through HS, ARNG service, college, and during my early working days. I retired it when she died in 1989, but it sits here on my desk so I can enjoy looking at it when I want to - I don't look at it without thinking of her. OH

Excellent story and great looking piece also.:thumbup:

 

[MrPocketsOfSteel]

As a boy I lived in Spain. One day when I was about 12, a wildhaired man named One Eyed Moe, who had been to Scandinavia visited and left me a pair of knives. Years later I fell in love with one of his beautiful daughters. The puukko with the bone handle and reindeer etching is gone, the barrel knife remains. Every time I touch it, I feel transported to a damp dusky dock on the Baltic, and sense a womans hand wielding the blade cutting some large fishes gills out.

I only recently came upon it again, and have never used it. The handle is very comfortable and the blade very sharp, but the clasp at the butt is not secure, the slightest push of the blade tip defeats the latch. From what Ive read, its a poor condition example, but its been with me for just shy of 50 years.

The barrel knife is marked Segerstrom Eskilstuna Sweden. Segerstrom made Barrel knives from 1864-1925. Ive owned mine since 1965.

I thought you were going to say you ended up marrying the girl. Ha! If you're serious about picturing a woman every time you touch it......very interesting and a little spooky. Great stories!

 

[link2derek]

Cool knives, guys! Mine was a Buck 305 Lancer (sorry, no pix).
It might be the smallest of all the Buck pocket knives!

 

[22-rimfire]

As I recall, I purchased my first knife when I was in the 2nd grade. It was a tiny Imperial about the size of a Vic Classic. As such is was a knife, but it wasn't real practical to cut much. Bought a larger Imperial at the 5 & dime a couple years later which fit my hands better. Used that one until I was probably 9 or 10 when I purchased a Case Barlow. Basically wore it out. Can't remember ever asking permission from my parents to buy a knife.

That knife lasted me until college days when I purchased a Case folder which I used for everything until well into my 20's. Still have this one somewhere. After that, I could pretty much buy any knife I felt the urge to own and had an assortment of Case, Gerber, Schrade and so forth which at the time were fairly good knives. Didn't own a fixed blade for many years as I saw little use for one in my life. Folders got used for hunting chores.

I bought my first fixed blade after watching the Rambo movies but it still took a while... probably 1990 or there abouts.