The "one knife" question. With a difference.

Shorttime

Shorttime

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A little segment over on the Youtube discussed the "one knife for life" question.

Just to be clear: that's not what I'm asking. We've done that question to death, resurrected it by internet magic to be killed all over again, and this terrible cycle will continue, forever.

One of the knives that came up was the Buck 110, obviously. Which led me to thinking that there was a time when a man carried one knife, if not for life, then for many years. Maybe the childhood knife was retired when he became a Journeyman, and perhaps he allowed himself some extravagance when he retired. Those knives did their work, without any of the over-thinking that we apply to cutlery, today.

Some of you may have one of those knives, passed down to you by one of those men. If you do, I would very much like to see them.

Even if you don't have the knife, feel free to share any stories you may remember from a time when "one knife for life" was the expectation, not a point of debate on an internet forum. And thanks in advance.
 
gramps had a nameless kitchen knife.
which he used to prepare all the meals
when i came visiting during my youth.
i watch him or rather the knife
and what it could do to fish,
chicken and rabbit.
it made a deep impression.
i think he knew i wanted
that knife because he
eventually left it for me.
so when it came into my hand
it felt something like this
60632115_2048837598755783_5483645305289179136_n.jpg

a flood of memories.
it stayed in my kitchen
for at least 15 years.
i used it daily.
and all that time, it felt like
gramps never left my side.
i've long replaced it.
and none of knives since had soul.
 
My paternal grandfather, born 1900 in the southeastern mountains of Italy, had one knife for at least 40 years. He was a whittling fiend, and would tell me fables in Italian while he carved little trinkets for me out of dried peach puts and bits of wood.

He'd emigrated to Pennsylvania and the knife was a Case 3 blade with jigged amber bone. It had a clip blade, pen blade, and sheep's foot.

My father wasn't a knife user, at least not during his adulthood. He had an executive job and I never saw a knife in his briefcase.

My father eventually got my nono's knife, but after papà died my mother refused to give it to me, declaring it "improper for a lady." I'm negotiating with my brother for it, hoping he can get it and give it to me.
 
I carried the 2 in the middle for about 30 years and wore out

view


The long story if anyone is interested.

The top knife was my Dads mid 70’s. He kept it in an pouch with Trauma shears a glass breaker and some other things when he was an EMT. It was one of the early ones with all the sharp corners on the bolsters but he filed them all round before Buck started making them like that.

The middle one I bought in the mid 80’s. I was buying one like his, but he paid the extra $5 for finger grooves and I took his which was cool with me because it was HIS knife the one I had been lusting after for years. (Probably because of the Dukes of Hazard)

I carried it every single day for 15 years and was wearing it out. I wanted to semi retire it. I told him I needed a new one. Next time I saw him he handed me his finger groove and said take mine I never use it. So the finger groove became my work knife and the original went on my jeans for after work and weekends.

It’s worth it to note that these were expensive items at that time. To us anyway. The first one cost me about 10 hours pay bagging groceries. the second would have been about three hours I was a young tradesman, had just bought a house and had a new wife and a newborn. He knew I couldn’t afford to replace my knife.

So I carried it everyday for another 15 years and wore it out. To the point the lock failed.

Then I bought the third knife. To replace them both.

I joined this forum specifically to warn others that 110 locks can wear out. To tell people check theirs because I don’t know how long I carried mine with no lock.

See post 30 in this thread I resurrected. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/anyone-ever-have-a-110-lock-fail.688862/page-2

I knew Buck had a warrantee but did not know about the $10 blade deal. I did not want to ask for a warrantee as I felt like they were not defective just worn out. Someone here told me about the $10 blade and spa treatment. I was still on the fence but in an uncharacteristic moment of non sentimentalness. I decided to send them in for new blades. Got them back looking new. No regrets.

I settled into a routine of carrying all three on three pairs of pants.

The new one was on my long jeans the original on my short jeans and the finger groove on my work pants. So I can just take my wallet and keys and change pants when the weather or activity change.

From 14 to 50 I have never gone to work a single day without a 110. Covertly at times, and on my belt when I could. “For all the honest world to see”. (points if you know the song)

I lived in a very anti gun place and the 110 was the very least armed I was willing to go. A line in the sand of sorts.
 
Last edited:
No one has passed anything down to me. ;) My Dad carried a moderate sized Schrade, Buck, or Case.... usually a jack knife of some sort. The knife changed over the years but I never really paid any attention to what specifically he carried other than he always had a pocket knife in his pocket. He taught me that knives are quite useful for life.

I don't believe in the "one for life" knife. Needs change and so does the fickle human brain when it comes to cutting tools.
 
I don't have a knife that was passed down ( my father is 88 years old and still going strong).
I'm sure if I asked, he'd give me his Schrade hunting knife, but I don't need it.

This Case Sharktooth was give to me by my parents 43 years ago and for any sane person it's a knife for life.
Whenever my mother saw me carrying it, she reminded me "how expensive it was", and $69 was expensive back then.

I carried it on many deer hunts and stopped carrying it after my mother passed away ( I don't know why).

casest.jpg
 
eveled said:
The top 2 I carried for about 30 years and wore out View attachment 1359490
The long story if anyone is interested.

The top knife was my Dads mid 70’s. He kept it in an pouch with Trauma shears a glass breaker and some other things when he was an EMT. It was one of the early ones with all the sharp corners on the bolsters but he filed them all round before Buck started making them like that.

The middle one I bought in the mid 80’s. I was buying one like his, but he paid the extra $5 for finger grooves and I took his which was cool with me because it was HIS knife the one I had been lusting after for years. (Probably because of the Dukes of Hazard)

I carried it every single day for 15 years and was wearing it out. I wanted to semi retire it. I told him I needed a new one. Next time I saw him he handed me his finger groove and said take mine I never use it. So the finger groove became my work knife and the original went on my jeans for after work and weekends.

It’s worth it to note that these were expensive items at that time. To us anyway. The first one cost me about 10 hours pay bagging groceries. the second would have been about three hours I was a young tradesman, had just bought a house and had a new wife and a newborn. He knew I couldn’t afford to replace my knife.

So I carried it everyday for another 15 years and wore it out. To the point the lock failed.

Then I bought the third knife. To replace them both.

I joined this forum specifically to warn others that 110 locks can wear out. To tell people check theirs because I don’t know how long I carried mine with no lock.

See post 30 in this thread I resurrected. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/anyone-ever-have-a-110-lock-fail.688862/page-2

I knew Buck had a warrantee but did not know about the $10 blade deal. I did not want to ask for a warrantee as I felt like they were not defective just worn out. Someone here told me about the $10 blade and spa treatment. I was still on the fence but in an uncharacteristic moment of non sentimentalness. I decided to send them in for new blades. Got them back looking new. No regrets.

I settled into a routine of carrying all three on three pairs of pants.

The new one was on my long jeans the original on my short jeans and the finger groove on my work pants. So I can just take my wallet and keys and change pants when the weather or activity change.

From 14 to 50 I have never gone to work a single day without a 110. Covertly at times, and on my belt when I could. “For all the honest world to see”. (points if you know the song)

I lived in a very anti gun place and the 110 was the very least armed I was willing to go. A line in the sand of sorts.
Click to expand...

Nice story and thanks for sharing it with us. And thanks for leaving poncho and lefty running thru my brain!
 
My father got an opinel from his father.
It is with this knife that he shows me how to use a knife.
He has lost this knife and later he gave me a victorinox spartan.
I still have the memory of the old opinel, but for me the SAK is clearly a milestone for me
When my kid turned 10 I took him in a victorinox ship for him to chose his first SAK.
Now he has a Cadet Alox
 
Therom said:
My father got an opinel from his father.
It is with this knife that he shows me how to use a knife.
He has lost this knife and later he gave me a victorinox spartan.
I still have the memory of the old opinel, but for me the SAK is clearly a milestone for me
When my kid turned 10 I took him in a victorinox ship for him to chose his first SAK.
Now he has a Cadet Alox
Click to expand...

Good plan: Give the boy a Victorinox. When he becomes a man, the Opinel!
 
My grandpa was a serious hunter throughout his life, he's taken almost every game animal in Canada. Sadly I just missed being able to hunt with him as he got too old just as I came of age. But throughout his entire life, he exclusively used a Grohmann #1. That knife still has some life in it, though by now it's starting to look like a #2. I grabbed it from his gear a few months back because no one else in my family cares about things like that. I love it.
 
As a young boy I remember my father carrying a pocket knife, the same one he carried most of his life. Best I can recall it was a two-blade jack pattern. I don't know when he started carrying it -- maybe when he was in the Navy or perhaps even in school. I don't have it now because sometime in the early 90's he lost it. I wanted to replace it for him but didn't really know what would be a good choice, but after a bit of shopping I settled on a Schrade Uncle Henry 885UH stockman. He passed away a few years after that so I have it now. It shows a bit of wear from good, honest use, which makes me very happy. As you can see from this picture, he did keep the box as well as the original papers.

40214480110_42336724aa_b.jpg
 
When I was about 15, my father brought back for me a smallish inexpensive Parker Cutlery lockback as a souvenir from a trip to Hawaii. It had bone scales scrimshawed with a tall ship on one side and “Hawaii” in tropical lettering on the other. I carried that knife every day in high school almost thirty years ago (frowned upon in these times), and nearly had it confiscated during some shenanigans, but never totally. My dad has been gone a few years. At the time of his passing, I gave it to my young son to start his own collection. The boy recently shipped out for the Army. I imagine he’ll pass the knife, and it’s story, down someday. Hopefully while I’m still around to see it ;)
 
Thank you for this, everybody. It was good to hear stories about something timeless. I can come back to this when some aspects of knife enthusiasm get to be too much for me.
 
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