What is Your Most Sentimental Knife/Knives?

Here's my Pakistani 110 ripoff. Posting about this got me to pull it out, straighten the tip, and begin putting an edge on it. Reminds me of the good old days of working in my dad's shop (he was a blacksmith).

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I love the story by Derek. What an inspiration? There's a couple that is most sentimental to me. One was the first pocket knife that impresses me when I was a nine year old. My dad got this Wenger which was eventually passed to me when he passed away. Someday it will be passed to my son. Another SAK Wenger was a gift from a DIY shop when I bought a Swiss Tool some 20 years ago. I gave it to a friend whose family was very hospitable towards me during a recent visit to Vancouver BC and he loves it.

My 1973 Wenger SAK above a recently acquired Victorinox Sportsman.
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And the Wenger Classic which I gave away...may it serves the new owner well for many more years.
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Cheers!
 
I get attached to just about anything I make or modify myself, but true sentimentality usually requires more history or stronger association with other people.

This thread made me dig into my knife box and realize a few things.
My dad has given me a number of folding knives over the years. He's not exactly a knife nut, but he used to do a lot of hiking and whatnot. Usually he'd bring a knife back from France after a trip to Europe. We have a bunch of Opinels etc.

I don't exactly have usage history with any of these, but I've had them for a number of years. They don't get carried or used a lot, but they came from my dad and I'll never part with them for that reason alone. After digging them out for this post, they all went on the stone and got a waxy-rag wipedown. About as much attention as they've had in 10 years.

From Right to Left:

1st: Yes, that's a leather-handled Kabar. This was my dad's boyscout knife. He grew up in NYC, so he probably never cut anything with it! In fact, I've never been able to get a useable edge on the damn thing. But since y'all made me dig it up, I sno-sealed the sheath and handle to keep it from drying out any more than it has. It's not very useful, but there it is. Probably a collectible.

2nd: Victorinox folder with a bottle opener I can't open without a pocket prybar.
This one takes a pretty good edge and I carried it occasionally years ago. It's a nice classy knife. A bit big.

3rd: a genuine Inox Laguiole: my only true gentleman's folder. Holy crap, this thing is beautiful. Look at the brass inlay on the handle and the filework on the spine and bee spring. The cork puller is also really hard to open! This is a slim, but big knife. The open blade is about 4" and all the brass makes it heavy. My cousin has a similar one that she carries everywhere in her purse (it required a little personal attention with the sharpening steel this summer....).

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It occurs to me that I've never given my dad a knife. After all, these have always traveled one direction. But now after a year of making you've made me realize it's time to return the favor. (yeah, I'm slow.) It should be in the spirit of the established pattern and something he can use for years. I'm thinking the Cherry A2 Day Hiker below - one of the best knives I've made yet. I made it for myself, but have been carrying another one instead. Maybe I just figured out why. Hopefully one day (let's say 30 years, knock on wood!) it will come back to me, and then it will be truly meaningful.

Is this my dad's knife? I think it is.:

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-Daizee
 
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my paw paws knife I still carry it it's a old scharade
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the 3 blade is a Kabar that my pawpaw always carried and the black wood handle was my paw paws fathers knife
 
Here's mine. I imagine it was about $5 at a gas station... Says "Stainless Pakistan" on it. But, when I was a 10 year-old boy (almost 35 years ago), it was the coolest knife ever. My grandfather gave it to me during a visit. My dad was in the military, and seemed to get stationed in either the south west (California, New Mexico, Arizona) or Germany -- Germany by choice because my mom is German, and he always wanted to be near her family. When he'd get transferred from one to the other, we'd drive across the country, either from the west coast to NY, or vice versa, and visit family along the way. On one of those visits, to Wisconsin, my grandfather (really, my step-grandfather, but he was the only grandfather I ever knew) gave me the knife, and also gave me the compass. I think that was the same visit where he let me have some "chewing" tobacco, without telling me that you don't actually chew it. That was the last time I gave "chew" a try. :) Grandpa is gone, now, but these little reminders of him live on.

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Yeah, chewing dip isn't a good idea.
My grandpa's knife is here somewhere, need to find it. Case pen from the 70s.
 
Well, if any thread deserves to be resurrected, it's this one. I don't have it as my father had a reputation of giving away the few knives he bought over the years to very ungrateful individuals whenever he visited the Old Country. Even worse, he practically gave away (though he'd claim "invested") far too much money to count to other equally ungrateful individuals who never paid him back a cent, so they could start businesses and soon become very financially successful in a poverty stricken nation.

The "it" mentioned above is my father's old Buck Duke model. The traditional one. It was probably the highest quality out of all the knives he owned over the years, and lasted the longest. I often played with it as a child as I knew the hiding spot where he kept it. He was just cautious. I was a very responsible kid. I loved that knife.

Sadly he passed away in late May of 2017 in the Old Country. According to the very same ungrateful scumbags, his mind had started to go. Hate to admit it, but they're probably right about that. He was a machinist who could create ANYTHING with his hands. About the only thing left that he created from scratch is a.... Well, you know those little spreading knives made for smearing butter onto corn? Dad made one of those. Only with a slightly longer handle and "blade." So I guess that counts as a knife.
 
The ones that have “meaning” to me are my:
First knife, Kamp King
First “real” SAK, don’t even know the model, but given to me by an aunt originally from Germany and it was a European model.
First big Becker, BK-1 Brute.
 
Benchmade is in dire need of a regrind.
 
Hadn’t read the post. Just went by the picture and my personal preferences.
 
This would be mine. I was given it when I was in elementary school (and young enough to not understand that you don't drag your thumb lengthwise along the edge). I learned that though.

Fantastic! Somewhere, my first knife: 58mm Victorinox Companion (without keyring) exists... (I hope.)

Can't find it. Should be somewhere at the family home - or else, I may have given it to a former girlfriend - thinking it was the honorable thing to do since I'd moved up to a Huntsman...

I'm hoping it's at the family home - and that I find it...
 
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