The one that started it

[chevyrulez1]

I have always liked knives, back in the 80's and early 90's I looked at knives more as a weapon than a tool. Bought my fair share of mall ninja stuff, but one day I started thinking back on my first knife I bought, back in the early 80's which was a stockman that I remember had an anvil shield on the side. Not knowing anything about knives, and doing a Google search looking for the anvil I came across Buck and thought, "yeah, I think it was like that!" (Actually now I realize my first was an Anvil brand knife made by Colonial)
Pulled the trigger and ordered the Buck 373 at that time not knowing anything about blade steels, country of manufacture, what would be good quality, etc. Looking at the tang stamp of this knife, the year was 2006. After carrying it for a while, I realized it was superior at everyday cutting tasks as compared to my cheapo mall ninja stuff, and started down a path of study on what made a good knife and learning about steels, sharpening techniques, etc.
I joined Bladeforums in 2007, and went down the road of trying this and that.
Fast forward 18 years later, it seems like I have bought it all, and own hundreds of fixed blades, folders, modern, traditional, cheap, expensive, old, new, from most of the countries you can buy a knife from. And today, I drop the Buck 373 in my pocket again, the one that started it all back in 2006, and realize it is razor sharp and still cuts as good as it did when I first got it. I have enjoyed the hobby, but am thinking about where I go from here. Maybe I will just carry this for a while
What was the one that started you on your road of the knife hobby?

 

[combatjiujitsu]

Like you I have came full circle a few times lol. My dad always had a little yellow Buck cadet he carried everywhere with him and he wouldnt carry anything bigger when that little Buck would do everything he needed it to do. I ended up with a Buck 301 and it started my obsession, down the spiral I continue.

 

[cbach8tw]

Tarzan films got me on the knife bug, widdled a wooden knife and made a cardboard sheath from a paper towel roll. Climbed a few trees, etc etc. Then my dad got me a thin imperial Frontier Double Eagle wood lock back, think it had the 4515 and made in USA. Graduated to Swiss Army knives and the rest is history. Still have the Frontier somewhere. Not my pics but same knife.

 

[chevyrulez1]

View attachment 2571962View attachment 2571963Tarzan films got me on the knife bug, widdled a wooden knife and made a cardboard sheath from a paper towel roll. Climbed a few trees, etc etc. Then my dad got me a thin imperial Frontier Double Eagle wood lock back, think it had the 4515 and made in USA. Graduated to Swiss Army knives and the rest is history. Still have the Frontier somewhere. Not my pics but same knife.

I love this knife, I had the exact same one that was branded as Craftsman. It was given to me by a coworker, and I carried it for years at work. Unfortunately I ground the blade away trying to sharpen it on the coarse stones in our Maintenance shop before I learned how to sharpen a knife properly. I still have it but it has been retired.

 

[5K Qs]

Here's a post I made in a "what was your first knife?" thread back in November 2014. I'll use it again here (although I had to replace the "dead" photos).

I got this Colonial Forest-Master around 1960 when I was 8 or 9. I carried it every day on the dairy farm until I left for college in 1969. Used it to cut a LOT of baler twine from bales of hay and straw; whittled wiener sticks and apple slingers and little shims and "guns" and "knives" and cars and boats; carved initials and other important messages; opened bottles of pop, cans of paint, grease tubes for the grease gun, oil cans; drove screws and pulled nails; bored holes in belts and milking straps; just generally used (and occasionally abused) it almost every day, and I don't remember ever cutting myself, at least not badly!
(The bail in the picture is not the original; I lost that somewhere in life, and made the one that's pictured out of an S-hook I bought for toilet repair.



And then, although I always knew where that knife was (usually in my desk drawer), I rarely used a knife and never carried a knife again until last January! At that time, my wife happened to show me a knife (see below) she thought she probably got from her dad after he had carried it for years and then replaced it. I cleaned that old Imperial up and decided I was going to start carrying a knife again, and see if I could find some other old knives I could "rescue" and use. I soon ran across BladeForums, and now I say, "Hello, I'm GT, and I'm a knifeaholic!"



Thanks for starting an interesting thread, Brian! Your first knife is looking good after your TLC!!

- GT

 

[afishhunter]

What was the one that started you on your road of the knife hobby?

Good question.
I think it was the issue Camillus(?) (I've learned since other companies made them*) "DEMO" knife my uncle, Bob, gave me while he was home on leave in 1960, between returning from Vietnam and going to Germany.
(*the Army Reserves issued me a Demo knife made by Western, in 1974.)
No picture of that knife. It vanished in 1966 when my parents divorced.
I've had other Demo knives, and various "Official" and un-official 4 blade Boy Scout knives since.

I remember pairing my Demo Knife or Scout knife with a Stockman and Barlow, starting in first grade (1961). No idea which came first though.
I don't remember the brands.
They may have been Craftsman, since they were from my maternal grandfather, a professional all-around carpenter, before they started specializing in one aspect.
I know he had a lot of Craftsman hand saws, chisels, hammers, and so on. However, is shingeling/roofing ax might have been a leather grip Estwing.

Received my first Buck 110 in 7th grade (1968**). I was taking shop classes in junior high, a knife was expected.
Actually, from 2nd grade on it was presumed all the boys had at least one pocket knife on them ... and most of the girls had one in their purse, along with their sewing shears, paring knife (in a DIY cerial box and black electrical tape or duct tape sheath) and a sheathed filet knife or boning knife, and/or a 7 to 10 inch butcher's knife (in DIY cerial box sheath), and a church key bottle/can opener, that they used regularly in Home Economics cooking class.

Despite virtually ALL the students having a knife (or knives) on them, there was never a slicing/dicing or stabbing of a student ... or teacher ... incident.
(In high school during deer season, and other hunting seasons, a rim fire rifle (small game) shotgun (deer, turkey, phesant, and waterfowl) or (unstrung) archery bow in the rear windows of student's pickups or SUV's, and rear side windows of station wagons.
Never had a school shooting ... or a student ventilated by an arrow.

These days my favorite patterns are Stockman, 2 blade Jacks & Barlows, canoe, moose, Scout/Demo/Engineer's/(3+ layer) SAK (with scissors).

(** In third grade I spent over half the school year in the hospital; Pnumonia (more than once) Chicken pox, Mumps (left) Mumps (right) Tonsels removed ...
None the less, I kept up with the classwork. My grades were sufficient to pass; "C's" with a couple "B's".
However, my mum went to the schoolboard and demanded I retake 3rd.
Of course that labeled me an "idiot" (or worse) from my former classmates, who were "kind enough" to spread baseless rumors about me to my current classmates, ensuring I was pretty much detested, avooided, and ignored by the classmates) of my year and below (especially the she's )
Oh well. Their gain, my loss ... back then ... today ... irrelevant ... I ain't seen or talked to most in 50+ years. I doubt the majority of those still on the census (sadly, at least 35 have been removed from the census for non-military action) even remember me. Witch is fine ... I don't recall most of them, ither.

 

[JohnDF]

I'm too old now, I don't remember my first pocket knife... probably a cheap Barlow or Jack.
I can remember my Cub Scout knife, later my Boy Scout knife, and I carried Old Timer Stockman knives in High School.
They were just tools meant to cut random things, or castrate critters, I never really thought of knives as weapons... Country Boys had small caliber rifles for that.
But I do remember the knife that started me down the collecting path. I was still carrying cheap folders and one day I decided I wanted to get something nicer to carry at work. I needed something small and discrete for school. I did a youtube search and stumbled across Great Eastern Cutlery. This was back in the day when some of their knives sat on the shelves and you could take your time deciding which one was right for you. It came down to a #56 Jack or a #15 Caplifter... the #56 won out... I couldn't resist the bird dog theme. I carried it a few times and then decided it was too expensive to carry every day (Lol). I still have that knife sitting in its tube and displayed on a shelf, and I carry much more expensive ones now. But I will always keep my first GEC knife, it's irreplaceable. Thanks GEC for swallowing up so much of my money.

It's only 1 of 2 knives that remain in their tubes...

 

[hugofeynman]

My very first knife, bought by me, was an Extrema Ratio RAO. It was my birthday gift to myself on 2008 or 2010, can't remember.

 

[afishhunter]

Here's a post I made in a "what was your first knife?" thread back in November 2014. I'll use it again here (although I had to replace the "dead" photos).

The 4 blade jack/"scout" knife sure is a versitile and capable tool, ain't it?!?
I carried one daily until 1999 when my then boss' gave me a matching Ruby Huntsman and Signature set.
I decided scissors, the wood saw, "gut hook" (the package hook works for that when prepping fowl for the pot/grill/pan/smoker.) were super handy to have along.
I semi-retired my "Scout" knives and toted that huntsman daily for the next 21 years. It was lost in 2021, during my move to my current digs.

Another resident liked my collection of pocket knives.
He decided he didn't have an heir who would appriciate his small collection of SAK's,
He gave me a Evo Grip 14, Evo Grip 10, S54, (Year of the Ox) Huntsman, Hercules, a Cellidor Mini Champ, and a Leatherman Charge+ TTI, to "make sure I got them", since he does not trust the facility (or his (in his words "useless and greedy") nephews (he never had any younglings)to give them to me when he passes.
The Huntsman, Hercules, and LM have been a daily carry (or with-in reach clipped to my rollator, when I carry one of the other SAK's or a 4 blade Demo/Scout/Engineer's knife) since.
I'll likely take the Huntsman, Hercules, and LM (and a few other pocket knives and other things) "with me" when I get planted and go to the next life.

 

[black mamba]

My first knife was an Ulster scout which I still have, roughly sixty years later. It was a gift from my dad when I started hunting.
It now resides on my reloading bench, where I mainly use the driver to adjust my loading dies.

The first knife I ever bought for myself was a Gerber Silver Knight lockback with MOP covers. I carried that for about 14 years before I lost it.

 

[JohnDF]

A Sentimental Gem!

 

[Whetstone39]

I remember my first knife vividly. It was a red Coca Cola jack knife, the blades were a dark grey (possibly a forced patina). My Uncle Tom (my namesake) bought it for me at a flea market in Arkansas while on summer vacation.

I was looking at it on a table full of other similar knives. My uncle asked if I needed a new knife. I said I don’t have a knife. He seemed a little surprised by this, and said “well you need knife boy, pick one out” . No idea why I picked the Coca Cola knife, but he said something like “yep that’ll be a fine first one”. I think it was that experience of being trusted with a knife, and not the blade itself that made it special.

This was like 40 years ago, I think the knife itself had a little yellow sticker on it with the price, $5.00. I eventually lost it in my early teens on a camping trip. I’d pay an inordinate amount of money for a good example of that knife today.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Thinking back, for me it had to be either the Buck 110 or the 425 Minibuck, maybe a combination of both or just Buck in general.
I got my 1st cheap junk knife at age 7 and flea market specials were mostly what I had from there on.
I kind of knew Victorinox because my grandfathers fondness for the classic and I had a couple Old Timers which I knew were good knives, but I still didn't really know much about general knife quality.
Somewhere along the way I came to know Buck knives in discovering the Buck 110 that became my grail, and when I had the opportunity to get a Buck 425 from my neighbor who bought a bunch of bundles off TV to resell I didn't hesitate because it was a Buck.
I believe I was 13 or 14 at the time.
I didn't have a box or anything and I had never seen one before, so I decided to go online and look it up.
There was a new thing called YouTube where I was able to find videos about the Minibuck, from there other knife related videos started popping up and pretty soon I was learning about knife quality.

If it hadn't been for that 425 minibuck I may not have become interested in knives of better quality, and I certainly wouldn't have gained my long undiscovered love of traditional knives that started after I gew to favor knives that didn't have screws to fall out like I experienced with most of my cheap linerlocks.

 

[ZHoovie]

Probably this one, it's my first knife & I oddly enough still have it. A Frost Cutlery "Bullet" My dad gave it to me when I was around 6 or 7 years old, I don't remember. He didn't just give it to me though. He spent a lot of time teaching me how to properly use it & be careful with it. I remember in elementary school my mom would always ask me every morning if I had it in my pocket & make sure I left it on my dresser so I didn't wind up taking it to school
It spent countless hours whittling, cutting twine, cutting bait for fishing, digging out splinters, ect... Had that & then a SAK. Eventually I got into the modern folders in my teens & early 20's. Now I've come back full circle to the classics. I appreciate the visual appearance & the feel of traditionals more. They just seem to have more soul to them. Not every thing has to be high speed. It's nice to slow down & enjoy them.

Then unfortunately I found the "PORCH"....

 

[JM2]

What started me was a small Old Timer stockman (I forget the model number) at 10 years old for Christmas. I promptly stabbed myself in the palm whilst opening another package. I still have the scare 30 years later. I don't know what happened to the knife, but I still love Schrade USA knives.

 

[Jakeywax31]

My first traditional pocket knife was a small Schrade Oldtimer stockman when I was 8 that was a gift from my grandfather. I did not venture back into traditionals until about 3 years ago after I found a box of my grandfathers old knives in my father’s gun room. It got my interest up and than I found the porch. I am well on my way to traditional pocket knives and have met a bunch of great people along the way.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

It's possible the knife pictured here might've been the first one for me that sparked my interest in knives. It was one of three my Dad had for who knows(?) how long. Dad gave it to me back in the late 1960s or early '70s perhaps - I might've been pre-teen in age at the time (I'm closing on 63 now). It looked old and well patinated to me when he gave it to me - I assumed it might be 1950s vintage or maybe older. I don't think he ever told me when he first acquired it. The three old folders he had might've all had celluloid covers, with the other two in mixed, bold colors. The other two seemingly 'went away' some years after that - I suspect Dad might've disposed of them for corrosion issues, as I vaguely remembered they always looked at least somewhat rusty. This is the ONE that remained, never having shown any serious rust at all. No branding marks on it at all. So it has always been something of a mystery to me, as to its vintage or origin.

The Puma Bowie pictured below is the one I always think of when I try to remember which one actually got me spending some serious money on knives and triggered my lust for accumulating them. Bought this one around 1982 (it's an '81 vintage), within a year or so after I'd joined the Navy and finally had a little bit of steady income to spend on such things. Bought it at a cutlery shop at the mall - how I miss those stores, these days.

 

[black mamba]

David, do you know what alloy "Pumaster Steel" was?

 

[garddogg56]

A Imperial Kamp King started it for in Cub Scouts gift from Dad then my Uncle came home from Nam and he bought me an official Camillus Cub knife and I was hooked.

 

[ZHoovie]

David, do you know what alloy "Pumaster Steel" was?

You have to be a "Pumaster" to know

A Imperial Kamp King started it for in Cub Scouts gift from Dad then my Uncle came home from Nam and he bought me an official Camillus Cub knife and I was hooked.

Was it similar to this? I got this Imperial Kamp-King from my late grandfather & have been cleaning it up & getting it back into service. I took off the handle wrap off since it was shrinking & chipping. Then just scrubbed it with oil & fine steel wool to get rid of the shop gunk & preserve the patina on the blades. After that I gave it a good scrub down with hot soapy water to get all the decades of funk out of the joints. I also replaced the bail that my grandpa "lost" ... He honestly probably just didn't like it so he took it off... Anyway it's got a replacement back on there now. That old piece still has zero play & a nice action to it