What is your first knife memory?

My first knife memory involves going into my dad’s sock drawer, where he kept his knives. A Buck 110, a few Victorinoxes, a Leatherman Multi-Tool, a Gerber E-Z Out, and an A.G. Russell one-hand knife all come to mind. Good stuff!
 
Hal said:
Oh man! Back when I was in grade school (~ 1956 or so), someone started a fad going around for recess. Everybody - at least nearly all the boys - started playing a game we called "stretch". You stood facing someone - then flipped your knife into the ground by their foot. They had to stretch their foot over to where the knife stuck in the ground.
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Today, you'd be sent home and your parents investigated. How did we get from then to now? I always had a knife in my pocket at school. I live in a rural area and I think the majority of boys carried their pocketknives.
 
Hal said:
Oh man! Back when I was in grade school (~ 1956 or so), someone started a fad going around for recess. Everybody - at least nearly all the boys - started playing a game we called "stretch". You stood facing someone - then flipped your knife into the ground by their foot. They had to stretch their foot over to where the knife stuck in the ground.
It didn't take long for us kids to figure out that if we tossed the knife 10 feet or more away & it stuck, we'd win the game.

So - here we are - a few hundred kids - age 6 to about 11 running around tossing knives all over the place - in the schoolyard!
We're not talking tiny little knives here either. A lot of the kids found out that bigger knives were a lot easier to "stick" in the ground, so, we had a lot of 5, 6, 7-inch knives flying around!

The other cool knife thing back then was if you got a Cub Scout badge or new piece of equipment, you got to go in front of the class and show it off!
You were Charlie Potatoes for the day when you got your Scout knife and got to show it off!
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That’s funny. We played the same game until the teachers saw us and put a stop to it. :( We just found a spot where they couldn’t see us and kept playing :D
 
Trailer_Ape said:
...
my Dad (RIP) got me a small Old Timer with two blades, it is lost now
....
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Go look on ebay; I bet you can find one just like it. I did this with two knives my grandpa had. The first was a late 70s or early 80s Imperial two-bladed jack with MoP scales. He had broken off the main blade prying with it, and I wanted one like it with the large blade intact.

The other was an electrician knife that had a sheepsfoot blade, which is rare. With some help from the fine folks in the Traditional Knives subforum here, I found out what it was and bought one.

You'll be surprised, I bet.

desmobob said:
Today, you'd be sent home and your parents investigated. How did we get from then to now? I always had a knife in my pocket at school. I live in a rural area and I think the majority of boys carried their pocketknives.
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I remember thinking the same thing: I carried a knife to grade school. I remember one time in 3rd grade, I was whittling a stick on the playground. Some kid I didn't know came up to me and asked what that was. I showed him, and he went crying to the principal. She took away the knife, gave it to my dad, suspended me in school for a couple days and that was the last I saw of that knife. That was about 1985 in a Chicago neighborhood.

One of my most prized guns is my granddad's single shot .22 rifle. Its stock is cut down for a boy, and it has a peep sight. Dad told me his dad got that when he turned 12 (would have been 1929) and shot a LOT of squirrels with it. The family was farmers though, so that's a bit different than a city kid's upbringing.

Two Christmas presents I bought this year are a pair of Victorinox Jetsetters: one for my daughter and one for my girlfriend's. Since they don't have a knife blade (only scissors, toothpick, tweezers and the combo tool) they can bring them to school. :-D

SAK_0_6263__S1.jpg
 
Smaug said:
Two Christmas presents I bought this year are a pair of Victorinox Jetsetters: one for my daughter and one for my girlfriend's. Since they don't have a knife blade (only scissors, toothpick, tweezers and the combo tool) they can bring them to school. :-D
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I hope the school can deal with the fact there's no blade. Heck... kids are getting suspended for pointing their index finger and raising their thumb to make a "gun."

After 911 when all the TSA cracking down at the airports started, I bought a small "TSA Approved" keychain sized Leatherman tool that had no knife blade. The first time I flew with it, which was about a year after I bought it, I had to argue with the TSA scanner operator and her supervisor for half an hour as to the legality of bringing it onboard the airplane in my pocket. :rolleyes:
 
My first memory was crawling up on the old kitchen counter, and reaching way up in the cupboard to play with an old Remington bullet knife that my dad had. I loved that old knife. My dad must've hid it real good, as I never saw it again until after he passed. That was when my sister gave it to my older brother. He had absolutely no interest in knives and gave it to his daughter. She was attending American University in D.C. and he thought she might need it for protection. Shrug.
 
Mossyhorn said:
My first memory was crawling up on the old kitchen counter, and reaching way up in the cupboard to play with an old Remington bullet knife that my dad had. I loved that old knife. My dad must've hid it real good, as I never saw it again until after he passed. That was when my sister gave it to my older brother. He had absolutely no interest in knives and gave it to his daughter. She was attending American University in D.C. and he thought she might need it for protection. Shrug.
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Funny how things go when someone passes. So many cherished items go to the wrong person that will never appreciate it. Never to be seen again.
 
My first knife memory was the Swiss army my dad brought me back from a trip to Europe. I ended up losing it in a field and never could find it. A friend of mine had a Buck 110 and always had it on his belt. We'd use it to open the strap on our newspaper buddies and to whittle sticks.
At the time, I couldn't afford the 110, but recently bought a mid-60s vintage 110 since that was when I was born.
Although I have newer knives with modern steel, I mostly carry the 110, as it reminds me of a simpler time.
 
First please apologize my english since i originally talk & write in Canadien French.

i was around 10 years old back in the early 80's

it was a saturday afternoon

one HOT summer day (blue sky no cloud hot sun) hearing cicadas everywhere in the forest , magic day.
just to give you the mood :

I took MY little trail to go down the small river 1 hour of walk of the house enjoying sunny day in the forest.

was walking aside the river for about half an hour when suddenly a golden ray of light attracted my attention to what seemed coming from a rock right in the middle of the river. a very powerful shinning to say the least.

I was so attracted then i had NO other choice than go see what its about...

I carefully walked on somes dry stones head coming out the river but at some point i had no other choice to take off my shoes/socks , and walk on the river (not very deep , i had water on the waist max) and when i came close to the big rock where the shinning come from then i was able to discover a little piece of wood that ended with two piece of golden metal !!

i took it in my hands trying to figure out what was this piece of human creation that i never seen of my life...

then i found a small notch on the side of a white piece of metal and discovered with astonishment how to carefully pull the metal piece of a sharp blade shinning in all its glory into the sunlight like the excalibur sword I saw drawing at school.

I quickly searched for a living being around that could have put this on the rock ...no one around at all...

The whole piece looked to have sit there under a lots of weather condition for some times thats for sure.

So i decided that to acquire this awesome little thing with me.

What magic moment in my life , probably the best one i ever had and still remember it clearly to theses days.
The CLEAR blue sky , the hot sun , the Cicadas relaxing sound , this little excalibur... wow...

I quickly decided to run to the house and show it to my father who was working in the shead.
while i was running i yelled: "see daddy , see daddy ...check what i found on the river!!!"
he took it and asked promptly : "From who you took this boy !!?"
It took me sometime in my excitment with strong heartbeats breathing hard to explain the whole story and after he saw that i not stolen it from anybody he say :" ok you can keep it , but i will take it from you now because your not old enough to play with this alone in the forest but i will give it to you when you will be older."

I stand up proudly and said : "I give it to you Daddy!"
My father laughed and say: "Ok then boy , thanks you very much!"

I never seen the blade again of my entire life , i asked to my father who is still alive today but i barely remember the event (he is around 90 now) and when i ask him what happened to the knife he just cannot remember and we not found it in his old tools box...sadly...

Its only today after having discovered this thread , remember it and have made somes research on google that i found that this particular knife was one exactly like this one :
s-l1600.jpg

a Buck 110 or 112 , just cannot know for sure...

This is my very first knife memory in my life!
Knife forgotten probably by a fisher couples of years ago.

the ONLY knife missing in my small but humble collection is my fairy little old & weathered buck folder found on my young days on that river on that hot sunny days earing cicadas...

my very first knife that i miss like Citizen Kane's Rosebud now that i remember it
Thanks you so much for having started this thread Hal.
I will cherish this memories until i pass away and probably beyond.

Stay safe everyones
 
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Great story!
Your English is just fine. Much better than my French - which I haven't used for over 50 years - back when I took French in high school.
 
65 years ago, on a trip to Arizona, my mom and I crossed into Juarez, and I spent the 50 cents she gave me on a nice knife. It never rusted.
 
When I was 6 in 1977, my dad gave me a Craftsman Peanut. It has "1927 - 1977 50 Years Craftsman" etched on the blade (or had - it's so patinaed now that the etch is no longer visible).

I had a third- or fourth-hand wooden kids desk in my bedroom, and used both of the peanut's blades to cut a notch in the edge of the desk. (That desk was so dinged up that no one ever noticed these new dings.) Every knife I got until I was 16 or so (when I got rid of the desk) ended up adding a new notch to the edge.

I still have that peanut, and carry it on rare occasions. I had it in my tuxedo pocket for my wedding, and I gave my bride-to-be this miniature flask filled with Bushmills.
FlaskAndPeanut.jpg


-Tyson
 
Cognoscenti said:
First please apologize my english since i originally talk & write in Canadien French.

i was around 10 years old back in the early 80's

it was a saturday afternoon

one HOT summer day (blue sky no cloud hot sun) hearing cicadas everywhere in the forest , magic day.
just to give you the mood :

I took MY little trail to go down the small river 1 hour of walk of the house enjoying sunny day in the forest.

was walking aside the river for about half an hour when suddenly a golden ray of light attracted my attention to what seemed coming from a rock right in the middle of the river. a very powerful shinning to say the least.

I was so attracted then i had NO other choice than go see what its about...

I carefully walked on somes dry stones head coming out the river but at some point i had no other choice to take off my shoes/socks , and walk on the river (not very deep , i had water on the waist max) and when i came close to the big rock where the shinning come from then i was able to discover a little piece of wood that ended with two piece of golden metal !!

i took it in my hands trying to figure out what was this piece of human creation that i never seen of my life...

then i found a small notch on the side of a white piece of metal and discovered with astonishment how to carefully pull the metal piece of a sharp blade shinning in all its glory into the sunlight like the excalibur sword I saw drawing at school.

I quickly searched for a living being around that could have put this on the rock ...no one around at all...

The whole piece looked to have sit there under a lots of weather condition for some times thats for sure.

So i decided that to acquire this awesome little thing with me.

What magic moment in my life , probably the best one i ever had and still remember it clearly to theses days.
The CLEAR blue sky , the hot sun , the Cicadas relaxing sound , this little excalibur... wow...

I quickly decided to run to the house and show it to my father who was working in the shead.
while i was running i yelled: "see daddy , see daddy ...check what i found on the river!!!"
he took it and asked promptly : "From who you took this boy !!?"
It took me sometime in my excitment with strong heartbeats breathing hard to explain the whole story and after he saw that i not stolen it from anybody he say :" ok you can keep it , but i will take it from you now because your not old enough to play with this alone in the forest but i will give it to you when you will be older."

I stand up proudly and said : "I give it to you Daddy!"
My father laughed and say: "Ok then boy , thanks you very much!"

I never seen the blade again of my entire life , i asked to my father who is still alive today but i barely remember the event (he is around 90 now) and when i ask him what happened to the knife he just cannot remember and we not found it in his old tools box...sadly...

Its only today after having discovered this thread , remember it and have made somes research on google that i found that this particular knife was one exactly like this one :
s-l1600.jpg

a Buck 110 or 112 , just cannot know for sure...

This is my very first knife memory in my life!
Knife forgotten probably by a fisher couples of years ago.

the ONLY knife missing in my small but humble collection is my fairy little old & weathered buck folder found on my young days on that river on that hot sunny days earing cicadas...

my very first knife that i miss like Citizen Kane's Rosebud now that i remember it
Thanks you so much for having started this thread Hal.
I will cherish this memories until i pass away and probably beyond.

Stay safe everyones
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Magical story! Perhaps some day you can return to that spot if it still exists and leave a knife there for another lucky young boy (or girl) to find and cherish
 
Some great stories here. Mine is pretty unexciting. I just remember being given my first knife (a Leatherman blast) on my 7th birthday. It was a great one. I'm still carrying a Leatherman today. My old blast got swapped for a wave which I like better.
 
Growing up I used to watch old Tarzan movies on Sunday mornings, wishing I had a knife like him. I started carrying a plastic toy knife in my swim trunks when we went to the local pool where we had a membership during the summers. That was the earliest memory I had of liking knives. After asking about a knife for so long, my dad finally got me an imperial Frontier double eagle, looks like a slim 110 with wood handles. I placed it, with its sheath, in a leather draw string bag and tied it to my belt, as I thought Tarzan would do, and went to the creek near the house and climbed trees and followed trails.....and got poison ivy...and had a grand time.
 
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