Question about G96 Knife

C

CoxCrow

Joined
Dec 2, 2010
Messages
3
Howdy all!

Ignorant Newbie of the Day here, making my first post on BladeForums.

I was helping a friend move this weekend and pulled an old knife out of his desk drawer; along with beer and pizza, it became my payment for helping him move.

It has "G96 Brand" stamped on the side, and at the base of the blade it says:
MODEL 306Q
RUSTPROOF
STEEL JAPAN

From the sparse info that I found about these knives online, I determined that they are no longer in production, but seem to be held in high regard by at least a couple of individuals.

I've posted a photo I snapped with my phone; sorry for the quality, Ansel Adams I ain't.

g96knife.jpg


I was thinking about doing some touch-up work on it, and just wanted to gather any comments or observations that any of you who actually know a thing or two about knives may have.

Thanks so much and have a great day!

CJ
 
I would guess it’s a dime-a-dozen flea market special from the eighties. At least you got pizza and beer out of the deal.
 
Thanks for that thread! I guess these knives are either a hidden gem in the knife world or flea market party favors...or perhaps (and most likely) hidden gems of the flea market world.

The action on it isn't what I call smooth, but there's no crunching or scraping sounds, and frankly I like to have to work a little bit to get the blade to open on a folding knife anyway.

In any case, I tend to enjoy dwelling in the flea market/garage sale/discount hardware store arena anyway when it's not a critically important tool or machine; I'm definitely the "other man's treasure" guy.

I appreciate the comments and anything else anyone may have to share!

CJ
 
I really don't think it has more than nominal value in the market -- but it might just be a pretty nice knife regardless. Give it a good cleaning - spray into and soak the pivot area with WD40 a few times, blow it out with compressed air if you've got it - lockbacks are particularly sensitive to grunge and old dried oil and such - might totally change the quality of the action and lockup. If it has the quality of steel that they used in their fillet knives and a decent action, it'll be worth tinkering with.
 
In the early 80's alot of the kids I went to school with had G96s.There was a large product line of different sizes advertised in one of the catalogs we got at home when I was a kid.I believe it was cabelas.I wouldn't walk by one at a yard sale myself.Of course knives are as much nastolgia for me as they are the greatest tool of all time so I'm a sucker for most of them up to the early 90s barring "survival" knives.
 
Welcome to Bladeforums. Be careful... now that you've found this place, you might become a knife nut! ;)

If you like the knife, then it's a great one. That's my official knife rule. Since it was a gift from a buddy, I'd certainly want to clean it up, sharpen it, and use it. A couple days ago, it was just a knife in a desk drawer. Now, it's a gift passed from one friend to another... instant sentimental value!

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
They were sold in big numbers back in the 1980s or around then. Many were copies of Buck models and the quality wasn't bad. You can still buy them new - I saw some recently on ebay that looked like Buck fixed blades. Emailed the seller (they were commercial listings) and asked what the steel was - the reply was 'super surgical stainless". The early ones were Japan made but the recent prices suggest some other origin. I didn't buy one so can't provide any more info.
 
i had several of their knives in the 70s. the steel is real decent & they made a funny looking blue handled fillet knife that was incredible in performance. the fillet was so super in performance i still look for them at shows 30 yrs. later.
dennis
 
Wasn't that a line of knives put out by Birchwood-Casey when they owned the G96 line back in the 80's?
 
As said before,they made decent Japanese copies of the 110 and 112.Also made a small fixed 102 copy.That knife closely resembles a Rigid Cherokee?The big lockback made in the 80's by the original Rigid Knife co.Clean it up a little and put a edge on it.Will likely make you a good user.
 
Seems like I can recall a lot of G96 knives back then. Some were Gerber clones as I recall. I think they had other products for gun care also similar to WD-40.
 
Wow, thanks for the great info, and thanks for the welcome! I am getting a bit keen on this site, I think I'll be doing quite a bit of pawing around so I can come up to speed...

Whenever I can get it polished and sharpened up, I'll post another pic. I agree that perhaps it could make a nice little worker if taken care of the right way.

Thanks again!

CJ
 
IT's not only a GOOD knife with a very GOOD steel blade, it is a cult-followed collectible brand. And for good reason, it's actually a high quality knife produced at the end of the golden age of "knock-off's". The steel quality, other materials used and overall production quality was very high as Japan was doing everything possible to become a mighty economic power. And so many of the Japanese products of the early-mid eighties reflected serious quality in mass production. As far as being just a knife, by the objective definition, it's good or better. You can buy a brand new Buck that MIGHT come straight off the production line with a flaw or multiple flaws. Your g-96 didn't come with flaws. F/F was right, always. As far as being a tasty collectible, it's a WINNER!!! Enjoy it- you should.
 
Since this thread is seven years old, I'm pretty sure he has either enjoyed it or moved on, or possibly both, by now.
 
CoxCrow said:
Thanks for that thread! I guess these knives are either a hidden gem in the knife world or flea market party favors...or perhaps (and most likely) hidden gems of the flea market world.

The action on it isn't what I call smooth, but there's no crunching or scraping sounds, and frankly I like to have to work a little bit to get the blade to open on a folding knife anyway.

In any case, I tend to enjoy dwelling in the flea market/garage sale/discount hardware store arena anyway when it's not a critically important tool or machine; I'm definitely the "other man's treasure" guy.

I appreciate the comments and anything else anyone may have to share!

CJ
Click to expand...
 
I got my g96 at a flea market actually. But mine is different on the left tang it says jet-aer corp. Patterson N.J. and no rust proof steel Japan and I have never seen one like this and further more the right tang is stamped which I've also never seen before. It says g96 No.910 made in Japan. I can't find much on this knife. I'm not sure why mine is different from every one I seen on the Internet.
 
The G96 brand fixed blades that I have collected are copies of Buck Knives.
They were made by Hattori in Japan very high quility. They made copy of some Gerber fixed blades.
The G96 model 910 is a copy of the Buck 118.
Great quality steel. They used to be cheap, now the have been discovered and prices have gown up.
 
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