The common pocket knife in uncommon times.

jackknife, I have returned to a kinder, simpler life. I'm spending time on our little ranch in Texas, playing with my grandkids and planting gardens. Cincinnatus has returned to the plow from the battlefield.

Ron
 
Well done as usual jackknife:thumbup:! I have a lot of affection for the simplicity of the TL-29, as it reminds my of my much used and appreciated Cadet II. A couple of years ago me and a SSgt I was working with were talking knives and I pulled out my stockman, he stepped back and goes "you got one of those old man's knives"! I was like what ever dude; I'm 45 now! Our guys were being issued Benchmade AFOs but now they are going to the new Gerber Military auto. I didn't realize they had S30V steel in them until they just got back. They were very happy with the way they performed!
 
If I were military and overseeing a bunch of fresh faces today, I'm not sure I'd want to issue 'em anything that doesn't lock.

Think about it - back in WWII, I'd wager every GI had grown up with a slipjoint in his pocket. These days, though? Hell, even half of this forum of knife knuts have so little experience with non-locking knives that they write about 'em as if they were as dangerous as a car without brakes. No, I'd err on the safe side and just issue 'em locking multi tools. Why waste valuable training hours teaching greenhorns what they should have learned from Dad or in Boy Scouts?
 
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I've been carrying a SAK in some form since junior high school in 1972. I was never in the services, but the knives have served me well.

This thread got me thinking about that very fact. I've been using a Vic Soldier for some time that I picked up used, but even after fiddling with it the main blade doesn't close right, and I've always wanted to fix or replace it. Lo and behold, I started poking around this weekend and discovered the original Soldier has been discontinued, and replaced by a new one hand opener. So I decided to buy one of each: Yin & yang, old & new, not-quite-traditional (not carbon steel & bone) and not-quite-tacticool (modern one hander, but not black/tanto/coated/"high speed-low drag"), etc.

I've also got a Case Electrician's knife that I bought as one of the very first when I started "officially" collecting slipjoints. A weird choice, for sure (a $25 "Working Knives" series in brown Delrin; not exactly everyone's idea of a "collectible"), but knives have always been tools to me, and that model is eminently useful. I've thought about picking up a "real" TL-29, but never found one I liked enough.

-- Sam
 
This was a very think worthy thread. A true observation of reality instead of theory of what to carry in ruff times.

Bosse
 
smiling-knife said:
Great post as usual Jackknife. This is a Camillus WWII US Army knife and a British GI Issue for comparison. There were a number of variations of this basic pattern. I like the bone scales on the US knife.

WWII-31019.jpg
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Hi All. Can anyone tell me what this spike accessory tool was used for on these knifes during WWII? I've heard it is called a Marlin spike (used for rope), but I have also heard it referred to as a pig stick (for close combat). My brother thinks it's the latter, but my guess is it was for opening rashon tins.

I have a similar looking knife in my collection. The belt ring is the same, the scale texture is the same, the scale geometry and pins are similar, but mine only has the spike and blade tools. Mine also bears the Nazi Swarzstika on the blade, so guessing it is WWII German. Material is all steel & it feels like a very strong knife, like Fallkniven quality, but not as precise of course. Thanks in advance.
 
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My friend Bill, who was a Marine recon sniper in Vietnam, the guy they dropped off in the river and came back for a couple days later, was issued a Gerber dagger, the famous one with the serrations. But he showed me his drill sergeant's scout knife, missing the bail, an old Imperial. He used that for everything when he was in Vietnam, and it has traveled with him. I gave him an alox Victorinox Pioneer and told him to retire the old girl. He uses that Pioneer and a utility knife now, but I see the scout knife in his pocket every so often.

Snipers aren't known for CQB anyway ;)...
 
DrIndianaJones said:
Hi All. Can anyone tell me what this spike accessory tool was used for on these knifes during WWII? I've heard it is called a Marlin spike (used for rope), but I have also heard it referred to as a pig stick (for close combat). My brother thinks it's the latter, but my guess is it was for opening rashon tins.
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Marlin spike for rope work. No Molle, no Velcro, no gun tape back then. Everything was lashed and tied off with rope.

Of course soldiers being soldiers it would have also been used for any number of "don't do this" tasks.
 
Not really anything to do with war, but I've noticed that there seems to be 2 camps, knives you see on the internet and in forums and knives that you actually see in use in real life. Sometimes they overlap. I'm sure it varies by location, but where I live in the Ozark Mountains I seem to see certain knives carried by the majority of the people who carry knives and many of these guys are Veterans. The majority of the knives I see carried aren't high dollar knives. I'd have to say I see more USA Oldtimer stockmans, yellow Case Trappers followed by Sodbusters and lastly Buck 110 ... about in that order. But if I'm at deer camp, or fishing or work where someone needs a knife, that's about what I see.
 
My dad brought a TL-29 style knife home from service in Vietnam. He was a crew chief on C-130. He said it was one of the few items he always carried on his person. A couple weeks ago my 10 year old son was asking him what knife he carried in the airforce. He as surprised to hear it was a pocket knife. He thought for sure grandpa would have carried a bayonet or a machete in Vietnam.

My grandfather was in the WWII Europe invasion. He started my love for pocket knives. I never found out if he carried a pocket knife in Europe. He never told me much about his trip to Europe other than the fact he thought very highly of Gen. Patton. My dad and grandpa are my heros. As a kid I always assumed grandpa had a knife like my dad or else it was a dagger like you see in the movies.

It's amazing how these simple tools travel through our heritage.

-Rex
 
Nothing to add, just have to say that this is a very enjoyable thread to read through. I must have missed it the first time. ;)

Jim
 
DrIndianaJones said:
Hi All. Can anyone tell me what this spike accessory tool was used for on these knifes during WWII? I've heard it is called a Marlin spike (used for rope), but I have also heard it referred to as a pig stick (for close combat). My brother thinks it's the latter, but my guess is it was for opening rashon tins.
.
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Danke42 said:
Marlin spike for rope work. No Molle, no Velcro, no gun tape back then. Everything was lashed and tied off with rope.

Of course soldiers being soldiers it would have also been used for any number of "don't do this" tasks.
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This. --↑
 
My first knife was a TL-29, given to me by my father, who was a career helicopter mechanic in the USAF. Early in his career, stateside and in Viet Nam, he was a flying crew chief on rescue choppers.

That TL-29 survived some tough campouts when I was a scout. When it disappeared one day, I was sorely disappointed...reading this thread has revived my memory and respect for such a great workhorse of a knife.

Carl, a belated "well done" as always, thanks!
 
I have one of those rigging knives. It was packed in enough cosmoline to protect a case of rifles. British but looks exactly the same as the one above. Maybe Camillus made mine.
 
jec88 said:
Not really anything to do with war, but I've noticed that there seems to be 2 camps, knives you see on the internet and in forums and knives that you actually see in use in real life. Sometimes they overlap. I'm sure it varies by location, but where I live in the Ozark Mountains I seem to see certain knives carried by the majority of the people who carry knives and many of these guys are Veterans. The majority of the knives I see carried aren't high dollar knives. I'd have to say I see more USA Oldtimer stockmans, yellow Case Trappers followed by Sodbusters and lastly Buck 110 ... about in that order. But if I'm at deer camp, or fishing or work where someone needs a knife, that's about what I see.
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This is soooo true!

For years I saw in knife magazines, when I still bothered to look at them, about how the military guys were carrying Randall's and this and that. The whole ten years I was in the army, I saw just one single Randall, and no other customs. Saw a lot of PX sold Buck knives, a few gerbers here and there. But for the most part, I saw a heck of a load of pocket knives. Most were a mixture of TL-29's, MIL-K knives, SAK's, Schrade OLd Timers, and some odds and ends.

I think there is the knife knuts view of things, and the real world. The two of them may differ in the details.:)
 
Jackknife- I carried a Buck 110 a good portion of my 7 yrs active USMC..... Also carried often, a Boker 8288, that I purchased at WhiteMarsh Mall Cultlery in '87 when I was attached to Marine Barracks at Aberdeen during some of my mos training. When stationed at Camp Pendleton, I was tool room nco for awhile and ordered a box of 10 or 12 of the Cammillus scout type utility knives with the stainless handles....many folks call them demo knives, but I think they are confused because the combat engineers I knew were issued tl-29 types-and they called it a demo.
Anyways, I issued myself a scout utility, and traded one to the artillery tool room nco for a tl-29 type which was available to him to order. As an armourer, I was only able to order the scout type for our E2900 small arms tool kits...still use them both occaisionally and had them in Germany, Hawaii, Italy, Alaska and most stateside Army bases while I was a govt contractor/armourer for same until a couple yrs ago .....cheers, Mike
 
jec88 said:
Not really anything to do with war, but I've noticed that there seems to be 2 camps, knives you see on the internet and in forums and knives that you actually see in use in real life. Sometimes they overlap. I'm sure it varies by location, but where I live in the Ozark Mountains I seem to see certain knives carried by the majority of the people who carry knives and many of these guys are Veterans. The majority of the knives I see carried aren't high dollar knives. I'd have to say I see more USA Oldtimer stockmans, yellow Case Trappers followed by Sodbusters and lastly Buck 110 ... about in that order. But if I'm at deer camp, or fishing or work where someone needs a knife, that's about what I see.
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I grew up in the Ozarks, on the Missouri side. I don't remember ever seeing a bone handled pocket knife growing up. They were all delrin, jigged or saw cut mostly . Case knives were rare, tho my Grandad did give me a Case Stockman when I was a boy. The local feed store had a huge Buck knives display and it wasn't unusual to see someone pull a shiny Buck Stockman out of there pocket.
Around where I grew up the Stockman was king with Schrade Old Timers being by far the most common. I would guess 6 or 7 guys out of 10 were carrying one. 8OT and 34OT's were the pocket that most people carried. I remember a couple of 77OT Muskrats but I don't remember ever seeing a Trapper until I got out into the world a little.
During hunting season you would see a lot of Buck 110 and Schrade Lb7s. It was a pretty rural area, small farms, manual labour, everybody had a garden to tend and hunted and fished to put a little extra in the freezer. No fancy knives around that I ever saw. Just simple mass produced knives.

Jim
 
I got through three tours in Iraq with just a Leatherman Wave and a Buck 501, I was issued a Ka-Bar but never used it. In fact it stayed in my kit bag. A guy I knew carried a Sodbuster with a Swiss Army Knife, he did not see a need for anything else. There were lots of multitools over there and they got more use than anything else.
 
runninmike said:
Jackknife- I carried a Buck 110 a good portion of my 7 yrs active USMC..... Also carried often, a Boker 8288, that I purchased at WhiteMarsh Mall Cultlery in '87 when I was attached to Marine Barracks at Aberdeen during some of my mos training. When stationed at Camp Pendleton, I was tool room nco for awhile and ordered a box of 10 or 12 of the Cammillus scout type utility knives with the stainless handles....many folks call them demo knives, but I think they are confused because the combat engineers I knew were issued tl-29 types-and they called it a demo.
Anyways, I issued myself a scout utility, and traded one to the artillery tool room nco for a tl-29 type which was available to him to order. As an armourer, I was only able to order the scout type for our E2900 small arms tool kits...still use them both occaisionally and had them in Germany, Hawaii, Italy, Alaska and most stateside Army bases while I was a govt contractor/armourer for same until a couple yrs ago .....cheers, Mike
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I miss that old knife shop in the mall, it was called Chesapeake Knife and Tool when I went there. Long out of business. A shame. I wish I was looking at the good knives in there instead of the fantasy swords when I was 17, 18.
 
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