Al Mar Knives blast from the past...

[OldHercDude]

Sorry for the 5.5 month bump - hope it doesn't ruffle feathers. I didn't see this before today.

Always enjoyed AL Mar's work, but never bought much due to the prices of the ones I wanted. Should have bought when I had the chance.

Anyhoos, several have mentioned the original SERE (not the 2000s). I still have my 3002A I bought back in '90 +/- (a year). Never saw hard use, was carried for years in my flight suit, finally swapped it for a Benchmade. Figured a few might enjoy the photos.

 

[jfk1110]

Sorry for the 5.5 month bump - hope it doesn't ruffle feathers. I didn't see this before today.

Always enjoyed AL Mar's work, but never bought much due to the prices of the ones I wanted. Should have bought when I had the chance.

Anyhoos, several have mentioned the original SERE (not the 2000s). I still have my 3002A I bought back in '90 +/- (a year). Never saw hard use, was carried for years in my flight suit, finally swapped it for a Benchmade. Figured a few might enjoy the photos.

Very nice. Always great to see A classic in pristine shape.. Almost as good as seeing one well loved like Ant-Dog's!!! Thanks for sharing it...

 

[bouddha0357]

Sorry for the 5.5 month bump - hope it doesn't ruffle feathers. I didn't see this before today.

Always enjoyed AL Mar's work, but never bought much due to the prices of the ones I wanted. Should have bought when I had the chance.

Anyhoos, several have mentioned the original SERE (not the 2000s). I still have my 3002A I bought back in '90 +/- (a year). Never saw hard use, was carried for years in my flight suit, finally swapped it for a Benchmade. Figured a few might enjoy the photos.

Dude, there's never any problem in bumping an old topic when it is to add such beautiful pictures!

 

[WValtakis]

 

[OldHercDude]

View attachment 1574038

Almost picked up a 2000 when they first came out, can't remember why I didn't.

Looks like yours has been serving you well.

 

[Zephyr One/Zero]

Hard to go wrong, when you post-up a 'classic'.

 

[Zephyr One/Zero]

I flew on the EC-130Q Hercules, a number of times and washed them too!

 

[OldHercDude]

Hard to go wrong, when you post-up a 'classic'.

Nice pair.

I couldn't place your folder, it's also a 3002A, right?

It looks like at some point the false edge was changed from a perpendicular transition (like mine) to a swoop (like yours) or vice versa. Something I had not noticed before.

 

[OldHercDude]

I flew on the EC-130Q Hercules, a number of times and washed them too!

That's one variant I was never on. Hated wash rack duty.

Most of my time was on slick E's, then H3's and MC-130Ps.

It's a bit sad these days, driving by the boneyard and recognizing tail number after tail number of birds I crewed as a crew chief or an FE.

And a pic for the thread - product-y shot of two old friends from back in the day.

 

[Zephyr One/Zero]

I believe your right, Herc. I purchased mine ca. 1994-95, if memory serves. Probably a late-production change from Seki. They are beautiful, heavy folders with the micarta-scales. Some of the earlier iterations had the "special forces' crest on the bolsters. They had the glass-filled nylon scales. This warblade was really expensive, when I bought-it way back then. The bowie was purchased at an Army/Navy store in the late-90's. It was $240 USD then! Guy behind the counter said: "A lot of people look at it, but no buyers for that price." I asked if they had 'lay-a-way', they did; so I grabbed it up. Knowing that, I would never see one again.

 

[Zephyr One/Zero]

P.S. the EC-130Q's variant were employed for communication to nuclear subs.

 

[OldHercDude]

I believe your right, Herc. I purchased mine ca. 1994-95, if memory serves. Probably a late-production change from Seki. They are beautiful, heavy folders with the micarta-scales. Some of the earlier iterations had the "special forces' crest on the bolsters. They had the glass-filled nylon scales. This warblade was really expensive, when I bought-it way back then. The bowie was purchased at an Army/Navy store in the late-90's. It was $240 USD then! Guy behind the counter said: "A lot of people look at it, but no buyers for that price." I asked if they had 'lay-a-way', they did; so I grabbed it up. Knowing that, I would never see one again.

They also made the micarta versions with the Special Forces crest. I liked the "camo" micarta much better than the neoprene versions available at the time I got mine.

They definitely are solid knives.

And yeah, they were a bit pricey for the times.

P.S. the EC-130Q's variant were employed for communication to nuclear subs.

I have primary flight time on Navy (C-130T) and Marine (KC-130) variants, as well as a couple handfuls of AF/ AFRES/ ANG variants, a National Science Foundation bird, and several variants for allied countries. (I did the factory/ depot/ mod center/ occasional flight test stuff for one assignment.) Did not get a chance to fly on Navy ECs.

In the early '90s we had AF FEs pulling 6-month cross-service TDY to fly in one or two Navy Herc units due to FE shortages. I missed that. They had already selected the guys to do the training before I returned from an overseas assignment, and they rotated the same guys to the same units/ missions every 6 months to reduce time lost to training. I would have done that in a heartbeat. They all had great things to say about it, gained different experiences, and both services learned a bit more about the other.

 

[jfk1110]

Nice knives gents and neat bit of background on yourselves!!!!! Thanks for sharing both!!

 

[nemesis]

I had a sere 2000 operator and regret selling it to this day.

 

[Zephyr One/Zero]

The legacy Al Mar knives are the most sought-after. Especially, those that were designed, and made when Al was alive, and at-the-helm. The new, re-constituted company: not-so-much.

 

[knarfeng]

I'm going to sneak this one in, fellas.
Before Al Mar formed his own company, he designed knives for Pete Gerber, including the Silver Knight series.

 

[Phydeaux]

I'v got a Falcon Ultralight, Hawk Ultralight and SLB all from the mid 90s, and an Osprey from 2008. I also have one of the Gerber Silver Knights. All great knives.