Your first quality knife?

Gerber Buddy System, on my first trip to Smokey Mountain knifeworks around '92 or '93. I was 10 or 11 at the time.:)
 
K-Bar and camillus pilot survival and 3 month later Al mar SOG
(I was 17 and worked 3 nights non stop as barman to get the money but I'll do it again if I have 2)
 
Buck slimline trapper, purchased sometime around 1970 (I know I was in high school, but don't remember which year). Still have it.
 
It was a Darrel Ralph EDC. I thought that I only wanted one great folder so I sold it in search of "perfection". After going through many, many folders and continually repeating history I've had a void left by selling off the EDC. I found and bought another which is now my favorite folder out of the many that I've been through. Looking forward to some new Pirela Designs, though, of course.
 
Mine was a finnish puukko. Got it from my grandfather in the mid 70s. One of my uncles later trew it in the sea by accident:( .
 
Buck 110, bought summer of 1976.

Right around that time my grandfather gave me a nice Finnish knife, so it mught have been first.
 
Endura, 3 years ago. I don't think my subsequent knives - CQC7 wave, sog night vision with the arc lock, even the buck mayo with S30V and framelock, quite matched up to it. Pity I sold it as it was a little too large for urban carry.
 
The first quality knife I bought for myself was a Gerber Sportsman III. It was a large brass handled knife with a tropical wood insert on both sides. The blade had a wonderful grind (it looked like the metal was buffed away in a smooth arc) and was made out of 440C. This was in 1976! That was state of the art in those days. Gerber knives were high end back then and I paid @ $50 at the Tysons Corner mall knife shop. That was a lot of money for a 17 year old janitor. Bad points were that for some reason the blade was difficult to get a sharp edge on and the knife itself was heavy. It came with a dark dark green leather belt pouch. It was stolen out of my truck in 1991 in Wellington Florida. The only thing I really miss about the knife was how it looked after some Brasso. It would gleam like gold and the tropical wood was impervious to anyting!
 
1965, A Camillus Pilot Survival Knife out of the back of Boys Life Magazine.

Next, higher quality was in 1993, A Randall #16 with Nickle Silver forward curved hilt, saw teeth, Border Patrol Handle. It's all been uphill since then!

Bruce
 
Puma General-lockback, 4" blade, aluminum handle with delrin inlay. Bought in 1986, retired 1997. It was retired due to wear on the lock tab. With my big hand, the lock opens slightly in a tight grip, and the lock tab wear is now just enough for the blade to close. However it is now a kitchen knife used by those with smaller hands.
 
My first high quality knife was a Buck 703 stockman, a birthday gift from my parents. The 703 was a slightly smaller version of the knife my Dad carried every day.

The first quality knife I bought for myself was a Pacific Cutlery balisong. I got it at Cutlery World at the local mall, and I remember it was pretty expensive for me at the time (around $60). I was 14 and had no parent with me. My Mom bought so many knives in that place for gifts that the guys there let me handle and buy whatever I wanted. This knife was my EDC through high school and college.

Still have them both.:D
 
Oh man... This is a tough one. For me it all started when my Grandfather, a collector of Case folders, and other little fancy pocket knives, gave me some Seahawk diving knife. I gotta dig it out to get more details about it. I was probably 12-13 at the time. It had an orange handle and you could unscrew the butt cap to put it on a pole to make a spear out of it. While it's a dive knife, this probably was my first solid knife. With that he gave me a copy of his Smokey Mountain Knife Works catalog, and you can all figure out what that led to! :) I ordered all kinds of crap from there, mostly junk, but at the time all I cared about was how big the blade was, or whatever. I remember getting nothing but knives for Christmas. If my brother was getting a video game system and some games for say around $300, I ordered $300 worth of knives. $300 goes a long way when you're buying all those cheap pakistan knives and United Cutlery knives from SMKW. At some point as I got a little older I picked up a couple of the fixed bladed Buck knives with the black plastic handles. I remember getting the Cold Steel SRK when it first came out for $35. I also picked up the Gerber BMF, a Gerber boot knife, and the SOG Tiger Shark (silver blade). These were now some better quality pieces. I also picked up a Victorinox Swiss Champ around that time. Then I got out of knives for awhile and then I found the blade forums. :) About the time I became a member in 2000 I ordered some Bench Made stuff. I think I first got the AFCK with combo edge, then the 710HSSR, etc. I also picked up some Spydercos, and then a large Sebenza before I proposed as I figured I better get it while it's still MY money. :)
 
Had the ol' Timers, when I was really young, but my first quality knife was a Buck Special my dad gave me when I was around 12.
 
Spyderco, forgot the model number but it was the first spyderco with carbon fiber handles. It had the Walker Liner Lock and the blade was ATS-34 - 3 inches long. It was a fine knife. I'm sorry I gave it away.
 
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