'Tis a Giveaway!!!

[Pàdruig]

Friends! Come one, come all!

'Tis time for a giveaway!

I just realized that I made my 6000th post earlier today (it kind of sneaked up on me there...) and in the tradition of old, to celebrate such an accomplishment, I will be giving away a knife out of my collection to a lucky entrant here.

Now, I like giveaways that require some audience participation - it makes it fun, interesting, and rewarding - regardless who wins. So let's lay down some housekeeping first and then we will move on to the fun stuff.

1. Please be an active participant here on The Porch - this is my home away from home, so to speak, and I'd rather the prize go to someone who will genuinely appreciate it.
2. I cannot control what one does with their prize but if you hope to win with the hopes of turning a profit, please refrain from entering.
3. International entrants are welcome - however, there will be delays in shipping obviously. Should you win, we will work it out.
4. I respect one's wish to not enter but if you post here but do not wish to enter yourself, please nominate another instead.

On to the fun stuff!!!

As you all know, I am quite fond of taking a good picture. I am an amateur at best but I have come a long way since I first joined these forums and I learn new tricks all the time. So, for this giveaway, I'd like entrants to do one or both of the following two things:

1. Find one of the oldest pics you posted on the forums here and post it alongside a more recent picture. Is there improvement? Did your style change?

If that doesn't work (due to lost pics or such), then try this:

1. Find the knife you've had the longest (traditionals only, please) and take a picture of it alongside your most recent acquisition (again, traditionals only). Have your preferences changed?

For example - I will show one of the first pics I shared here and will follow it up with a more recent pic:

Then:

Now:

A bit of a difference - I think...

Example #2 (my very first pocket knife alongside my most recent acquisition):

Now on to the prize!

This is a knife that was made available to me by a good friend @Leslie Tomville awhile back. It is a GEC #78 in Ironwood - a beautiful knife that is largely unused and will come with tube. My time on the forums here has been very rewarding and I've made a lot of friends here - this is my way of paying it forward, in a sense.

I will let this go for a couple weeks and then will randomly draw a winner. Good luck, all, and have fun!

 

[Rockon75]

How 'bout. My first deer hunting carry, and a version similar to it for this deer season (or one dressed up from this run-by a baaaaaaad man)...will that work?

 

[afishhunter]

That's a real beauty.
Since I've just recently been able to start posting pictures, pictures taken on my (allegedly) "smart" phone are "too big" to upload (resolution is set as low as possible), I have no photo editing software to fix that, and the auto focus on my tablet (who's pictures are "small" enough to post) needs glasses, I'm not going to enter for me.
I'd like to nominate @Henry Beige , in my stead, please.
He entered for me in another GEC GAW. I'd like to return the favor.

 

[CVamberbonehead]

I bought this Case Sodbuster Jr. a long time ago, and this GEC bullnose is the last traditional pocketknife I bought. There have been many others in between, but I keep coming back to the old Sodbuster. I would say that my tastes havent changed much at all. I have always liked sodbusters obviously. lol Im in, thank you.

 

[Railsplitter]

Great idea for a giveaway, Dylan! Please count me in and thank you.

This picture is dated 11/22/10. Judging by my join date, it's most likely the very first picture I posted on Bladeforums.

And here's a picture of that same knife taken on 1/16/20 using a light box and the same camera.

Honestly, when I look at the knife itself and not the background, I'm not sure if one picture is any better than the other.

 

[Pàdruig]

Thanks for the entries so far, fellas! I am not going to be too much of a stickler on pictures - just as long as it follows the "Old and New" theme to some extent.

 

[Wild Willie]

Cool idea Dylan and congratulations on your milestone! My picture taking hasn't improved very much since I started posting with any regularity. I do everything from my phone, but I have noticed that I make a better effort to have everything centered and uncluttered.
My Douk Douk should be familiar to anyone who has seen any of my past posts, it's the knife that brought me here, and got me back into slippies. My most recent addition arrived in the mail today, a Canal St Cannitler in blue rope jigged bone. It won't knock the oldie out of my pocket, but I like it so far.

 

[Modoc ED]

I'm in for @r redden - Randy Redden. He needs a pick-me-up.

November 2010

21 August 2020

 

[JohnDF]

I'd like to enter too. I traded away my #78 and I really miss having it around. Besides, the little trip down memory lane is a worthy exercise.

When i was younger, my days were filled with riding horses, working cattle, fishing for trout, hunting for deer, and chasing pretty girls. I didn't give a lot of thought to the knives I carried back then, they just had to be good solid users. I'd mostly just copy what my friends and coworkers were carrying. Most of my carries were Old Timer Stockmen knives and Case Trapper knives, with Delrin handles of course.



But as we get older, earn more money, and have greater responsibilities, I think we start to appreciate a few of the finer things. As a teacher I can't really carry big knives at work. The laws about such things are very clear in Kalifornia. This has brought me full circle to carrying traditional knives again. My knives don't get used as hard as they used to, and I certainly have more money than I used to, so my knives have become more elegant. Where I used to pull out my knife to cut parts off of animals or fix something, I now find I pull out my knife just to marvel at its craftsmanship and remind me of the old days.

This is my most recent purchase and I think it reflects my evolving tastes over time.

 

[JohnDF]

Randy Redden. He needs a pick-me-up.

You're a good man Charlie brown.

 

[screened porch]

[OOPS. I have a 78 in ebony through the good offices of 5KQs from a GAW by @waverave. Hard choice, but since we're casting our minds back,]
I'm in for @Campbellclanman, who was very welcoming when I first showed up among the axes, hatchets, and tomahawks.
My earliest expensive self-bought knife is this mid-size Camillus stockman.

I chose the 3.5" ish over the 4"ish because the additional blade didn't seem worth the additional bulk. (It had to be a stockman, because "The jackknife has three blades...", Horace Kephart. Maybe also because the main blade should be a clip, like stockmans have, because I should be able to imagine it's a Bowie.)
My most recent knife is a bit of a departure from the first:

Seems I still like yellow.
But considering how often I carry these knives pictured between the latest and the first, maybe my tastes haven't changed that much.

 

[joeradza]

July 15, 2014This week

 

[Prester John]

Congratulations on the milestone, Dylan. I'd like to enter on behalf of JohnDF please.

(1) Oldest pic and a more recent one:
Here's the first pic I posted on BF in June of 2018:

And a more recent pic:

I don't know if I have a style. I have taken good pics and bad during my time here. Sometimes I'm just lazy. Same trapper in both pics, by the way.

(2) Knife I've had the longest and most recent acquisition:
My first knife was a scout/camp knife my father gave me about 50 years ago. Don't have it anymore, but I loved it. I think the knife I've had the longest is this small stockman bought as a souvenir in Silver Dollar City, Missouri, in the summer of 1993:

It's about 2 3/4" closed. I carried it for a few years. Probably paid about $20 for it. Nice little knife.
I have only bought two knives this year: a Case canoe, which is not really indicative of what my tastes are. It's my only canoe, and it looks neat, especially with the etch of an Indian rowing a canoe on the main blade. Don't carry it much, but had to have it. The one I just bought, but have not received yet, will probably be my favorite, and is indicative of my current tastes:

It's 11.5 cm (4 1/2") closed, and has a boxwood burl handle and 14C28 steel. (Other current favorites include a 12 cm Laguiole, a No. 8 Opinel, and the Case trapper pictured above.) My tastes have changed a little in that I prefer larger knives.

I look forward to seeing the entries. Good luck to everyone!

 

[SteveC]

Thanks for the chance in your GAW

Here is one of the first Traditionals I bought when I first started collecting and my first older knife.

This was before I was introduced to GEC's and I have a few of them now but my favorites are still the old knives, There is something about a well used but not abused knife that speaks to me.

One old one newer

I think my picture taking has gotten quite a bit better

 

[WhittlinAway]

What a fun and generous GAW, Dylan. I'm in, please.

I always admire your photos in the beverages and blades thread, so I thought for my entry I'd use my first ever photo posted to that thread and one from this Monday:

May 7, 2016:

August 17, 2020:

Hopefully folks notice some improvement, but I'll still be using yours as the standard for which I strive to achieve.

 

[black mamba]

Dylan, congrats on the 6 G posts! My picture taking skills are still rudimentary, but definitely improved since 2008 when I joined.

Early Photo of Import Remington Sowbelly

Notice the total lack of composition, lousy focus, fingerprints on the clip master . . .

Recent Photo of Usual EDC Combo

Still featuring the knives, but at least with a little imagination.

 

[JohnDF]

I'd like to enter on behalf of JohnDF please.

Thank you, Vince. That's very kind of you.

 

[kamagong]

That's a lovely knife. Impossible to resist, I'm in. I don't have a GEC spearpoint.

I didn't grow up with spring knives, so I came to them a blank slate. My first one was a Laguiole, but I gave it to my wife to use for her lunches at work. Unfortunately it was lost a few years back when her purse was stolen.

I'll show the knife I bought after the Laguiole. I think it better illustrates my progression anyways. It's a Cold Steel stockman, made by Camillus. The Stallion is not my newest purchase, but it's the knife I've most recently put to use.

When I first discovered spring knives, the pattern that most called to me was the stockman. Three blades, of different shapes, in a nice pocketable package. What's not to like? After a while, I noticed that I only really used the main blade. And that the other blades made the knife uncomfortable to use during use. They also made a knife heavier, needlessly so since they weren't being used. Although undoubtedly versatile, for EDC purposes, I only needed and wanted a knife with a single, sharp blade. The majority of spring knives that I've bought since then are single blade.

A couple of other details distinguish the Stallion from the stockman. As I've gotten older, I've developed an appreciation for fine craftsmanship. I don't mean fancy, you can keep the engraving and guilloché, I don't need such ornamentation. But give me natural covers every time, I don't want anything to do with delrin or micarta or any other synthetic materials. At least not on traditional knives. And glued shields? Bah! If you won't do it right and pin the shields, why bother at all? Leave the blasted things off, they're purely decorative. No shields are better than a shield-less recess.

Thanks for your generosity Dylan. And congrats on the 6k.

 

[CelloDan]

Thank you Dylan, I am in.

I bought my first traditional on my birthday almost 4 years ago.

My last one ( 38 knives in between these two and waiting anxiously for the BF 2020 as my next ..... unless I win this GAW lol )

The two together

 

[rdave]

Congratulations on the 6K Dylan!

Edit: Out