What is your most special knife - A GAW

[abbydaddy]

Well I have just been too fortunate lately. I was going to wait until my usual annual GAW in memory of my brother, but fortune and giveaways have been too kind to me lately. I felt the need to host some kind of GAW to give something back.

But my challenge was that I have tried to limit my collection to knives that have some kind of meaning to me, and I couldn't afford to buy something nice to give away at the moment. That meant that my only options for knives to give away are knives that are special to me.

I have also been inspired by the creative GAWs that have been hosted recently here on the Porch. If I was going to give away a knife that I really liked, then I wanted the GAW to be something interesting and creative, but I could only think of things that other people had already done, and I know from experience that when I ask people to nominate someone else to receive the knife it really cuts down on participation. I want as much participation as possible, so I had to come up with an idea that would allow lots of people to participate, and a prize that would entice folks.

As I racked my brain for a theme, I kept coming back to the idea that all of my knives are special for some reason. I didn't want to give away any of them, so I had to think of which ones I would let go of first... TADAAH! I had my theme for the Giveaway.

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The Theme

What is your most special knife? Which knife that you own would be the last one you would hold onto if you had to give every other one away?

For me the answer is easy, it is my K. Tragbar knife that was given to me by my grandfather:


___________________________________________
The Story

That old Solingen hunting knife is certainly not the most valuable knife I own, but it is by far the most precious to me, and I will share why.

My grandfather gave me this knife when I was 11. I loved it. I carried it all over the place running around the countryside outside of Nome, Alaska . Actually, I loved it so much I would carry it around town a lot too . What can I say, I was a preteen in a place where no one batted an eye at someone carrying a knife, I just think in retrospect that preteen me really didn't need to be carrying a full-size fixed blade everywhere. Especially since I would routinely stick it in my boot for no good reason.

That habit of carrying the knife in my boot led to a minor tragedy in my life when I was 14. I went traipsing around the tundra with my trusty K. Tragbar stuck in my boot, and it fell out! I realized later, and searched and searched, but I never found it .

Fast forward a couple years. I was 17, and working at a gas station. A guy pulled up to get his truck filled, and I noticed he had an old mud-covered knife in the bed of his truck. I noticed that the pommel looked like my old knife, but it was so encrusted in muck and vegetation bits that I couldn't see much else in the way of details. I asked the man if he would be willing to sell me the knife. He replied that I could just have it. He said his kids had found it on the tundra earlier, and it was probably just a hunk of rust inside the sheath. I thanked him, and he went on his way.

I took it into the shop and started washing it and softening up the packed in muck. I was quite shocked when I washed off the back of the sheath and found the initials that I had carved into it when I was 12! I was sure the knife was going to be utterly trashed, but at least I was going to have My Knife back. I was absolutely floored when I got the knife fully cleaned up that there was no more than superficial rust on the blade (that Rostfrei really lived up to its name) and the handle was still in pretty decent shape. It was really packed with muck, I even had to clean out the inside of the handle. Fortunately it takes down easy.

Somehow, some way, that knife spent three years on the tundra and then came back to me whole.

The original sheath is long gone at this point, but that old K. Tragbar has been with me camping, fishing, and hunting from the tundra to the mojave, from the Olympic rainforest to the Appalachians, and served me well when I lived in the woods of Quebec.

I don't really use it anymore because I am saving it for my daughter (or my son if she ends up not liking knives, but she is already into them) when she gets older. Honestly, the knife is a little small for my hands these days, and I have lots of other options. I am hoping that my daughter is not unfortunate enough to inherit my size 11 paws . But if I had to give away all of my knives and only hold on to one, it would be that old K. Tragbar. It is a great and proven knife, and it came back to me. I hope it serves my daughter and maybe future generations of my family as well.

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The Loot

But what about you? What knife am I going to give away?

Well, I couldn't decide on one, so I picked two, and I think they are both well worth winning.

A Case Seahorse Whittler and a Lone Wolf Crosscurrent.

The Lone Wolf is one of the Lone Wolf Knives that I picked up a while back. Lone Wolf is the brand that I am most likely to buy simply based on the name, but I have decided to stop trying to collect Lone Wolfs since they keep getting less affordable. Lone Wolf was a truly outstanding company that sadly overextended itself, and then was bought out by Benchmade, and then closed down after a few years. The crosscurrent is from the Benchmade years, it has an 8Cr14 blade according to an old Lone Wolf Catalog (the catalog also says that it is stag handled, but it really looks like elk to me), and the all stainless steel construction makes for a very solid and well built knife. As much as I like this knife it hasn't been getting pocket time, so now I am giving it away.

The Case Seahorse has been one of my favorites ever since @waynorth gave it to me as a special giveaway prize at the Oregon Knife Collectors Association Show a few years back. But as much as I have loved looking at this knife, and occasionally coon fingering it, it is another one that I never carry. I thought it would be fitting to pass the knife along to another Porchenburg denizen. Plus, I thought this lovely Seahorse would be enough to get more people to participate.

They are both really well made quality knives. I trust they will find good homes.

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The Rules

• I want this to go to someone who participates on the Porch, so you have to have at least 25 posts in the traditional sub-forum.
• Be able to legally receive this knife (over 18, legal in your area, etc.)
• I am willing to ship to the US and Canada. If you are overseas I will send if you are willing to pay for shipping.

How to Enter

I would like you to share a picture of your most special knife (the one that would be the last one you would let go of) and a story explaining why it is your most special knife.

I would also like you to say which knife you would prefer.

Winning

I will let this run until my birthday (it's coming up in a couple weeks, but I'm not saying when). I will pick one winner randomly , and one winner that has my favorite post based on whatever criteria moves me at the time . I will try to be fair about who gets which knife (that is why I am asking for your preference).

Please enter, I like it when people enter.

 

[JohnDF]

Thanks for the opportunity, I'm in for the Lone Wolf.
They are both great looking knives and the story of your special knife was amazing.

My most special knife is my GEC #76. Last year was my oldest son's first year away at college. During the Summer we planned a great family trip, going to Disneyland, driving along the coast, stopping at a tourist town called Solvang, and visiting Santa Cruz University for my younger son. It was a great vacation with the whole family being back together after being apart for a whole year. During our stay in Solvang my wife and boys went walking downtown. When they came back my boys were excited to tell me that they had found a good knife store and that they had Great Eastern knives there. They knew that GEC was my favorite knife brand. We walked back downtown and the boys helped me pick out the only GEC I have ever bought from a brick and mortar store. I got to handle several models I'd never had a chance to handle before and we all decided the #76 was the best of the bunch. Not only is it a fantastic knife, I feel the best two blade jack GEC makes, but it will always remind me of that great vacation and the time my boys were excited to be part of my knife obsession. I've bought and sold many knives since then but that #76 will always be my favorite and will never go anywhere but in the safe or in my pocket.

 

[cbach8tw]

First I want to thank you for the story and the opportunity to participate in a fun way. I enjoy hearing the stories and why a knife is special to a person, it reminds me how friendly people who frequent this community can be and just the fun of meeting new people. Sort of like sitting around the table or counter of an old country store swapping tales, and sharing a soda (the kind in a small glass bottle from a cooler you can actually finish, 8 oz maybe?). I expect an old guy to walk up in coveralls and pull out his knife from a pocket.

The pocket knife I would be the least likely to give away belonged to my father, an engineer and and a former Eagle Scout. It is a Camillus Boy Scout camp knife. My father liked to tinker with things and like any engineer, planned and built things only after designing and thinking how it would work. He was the typical measure twice cut once kind of person. If something went wrong he could usually fix it. When I was in scouting, he would help me put together my pinewood derby cars, helping me to cut the wood block, shape, sand and paint the car and getting the wheels on correctly. He would drill out holes in the bottom and pour lead weights to get it to the right weight limit. Our pack would race the cars down a long wooden track and it was a very exciting time for a young boy in Cub Scouts and Weebelows. What made me very proud was the long wooden track used was designed and built by my dad ( I cannot remember if it was said he had help to build it), that is what I was told, and had been used by our pack when my older brothers had been in scouting. I have four older brothers, and dad kept their cars in shoe boxes and I always enjoyed seeing their designs.

I never earned my Eagle Badge (football came along when I was a middle schooler), but there are 4 generations in my family who did and I know Scouting was important to him as a boy growing up in the 30s and 40s, a time before the internet and you just did not run out to a mall when you felt like it. I believe that Scouting influenced him to be prepared, to be organized and to try his best, qualities I know influenced him as an engineer later in life, and as a father to all his six kids (5 boys & 1 girl) and which he tried to instill in us kids.

So after he died in 2009, and we were going through his things to help get the house we grew up in ready to be sold, I came across the Camillus Boy Scout Folding camp knife in his dresser bureau. It reminded me of the importance Scouting meant to him, and how such a knife could be used to tinker with, the right tool for the job, something an engineer could use.

Thanks for letting me ramble. If I have a chance to win, I would like the Case

 

[jwb01]

Very nice idea for a give away. I will apologize as I am not very long winded when typing things out, join me on my deck with a seegar and a cup of coffee and I assure you that changes.
The one knife that will only leave my possession to go to one of my boys is this Puma Bowie. It was my father’s hunting knife. It helped clean my first fish, deer, hawg, you name it.
I am 41 soon to be 42 and my father is 63. He gave it to me a couple of years ago, what a blessing. I am old enough to appreciate and cherish it. When I am 63 my oldest boy will be 24, I hope he will be mature enough at that age to cherish it ( I wasn’t, or was I).
When I received this treasure it was sharp, but not the level of sharpness that I maintain, so I locked it in the wicked edge and started gently reprofiling the edge. It was a real chore that became a labor of love. My father always kept it sharp freehanding on his old hard Arkansas wet stone, the edge was uneven and completely unique to him. No way I could replicate it. I had it locked in that wicked edge for a week gently working it to an even 20 degrees per side, taking my time. When I would get tired and want to start rushing I’d just stop, oil it up, cover it with a clean shop rag, and come back the next day. In the end it is one of the best edges I have produced on a blade ( that pumaster is good steel). But the true satisfaction came when I presented to my father to show him the new edge, he grinned, ran it down his arm and proclaimed, “Look at that! It’s never been that sharp, the hair runs from blade before it gets there like it’s scared!”
I don’t use it right now, but when I start teaching my boys to hunt and fish it will be there.
Ok so I got a little long winded.
I’m in for the Case.

 

[abcdef]

This Kent found in my father's workshop after he left. Case, thanks.

 

[Misplaced Hillbilly]

This is a 70's case daddy barlow, it belonged to my uncle who passed when I was 10. Its the only thing of his I have. I was worried that it was lost to me, however my nephew found it going through some old boxes that hadn't been unpacked in about 6 years. He immediately text me this pic with the words "found it" I was beyond happy. He's keeping it safe for me until either I get time to visit them or them me. I don't trust it to the mail.
Edit: oops, lone wolf

 

[joeradza]

Now I know why archaeology is in your blood. Who finds their own artifacts?
Your question is very easy for me to answer. Knives are just things. It's the memories that they retain that have meaning. When my youngest son was away at college he had the opportunity to spend a semester in Florence, Italy. After four months of truly being on his own and succeeding beyond all imagination, I knew that he would become the man I hoped.
When he arrived home we were all anxious to hear about what he learned and experienced. The first thing he did was pull out two small packages, one for his brother and one for me. Amid all his travelling and studies he took time to have this made for me. It means the world to me.
If this moves you enough to choose me, I'd like the Case Seahorse. Thanks for the chance.

 

[JTB_5]

Knives are just things. It's the memories that they retain that have meaning.

My sentiments exactly.

abbydaddy Your story is great. I can imagine myself at 12 and losing my favorite knife, but it is hard to imagine how elated I would feel at 17 having found it again, and in good condition.

I don't have a lot of knives, but the ones I keep were either given to me, knives made by folks I want to support, knives I've had a hand in bringing to fruition, and knives I use for particular tasks (but aren't necessarily things I like to fondle or look at).

Of all of the knives meaningful to me, there are a couple that my wife has given to me that I would never part with for any reason save a dire emergency. One is a Spyderco Dragonfly that she had seen me interested in and decided to get for my birthday. The other is a Perceval L08 that she surprised me with on Father's Day, and which I made her cry about because of my selfishness. I had been looking at the L08 for some time and had just about convinced myself to buy it, but she kept trying to talk me out of it. I couldn't understand why she was being so adamant in dissuading me, and eventually I just got angry about it and let her know. Of course, at that point she got angry and started crying and let me know that she had been planning to surprise me with it on Father's Day. Oops. What a jerk I had been. We made up, naturally, but that knife serves as a double reminded of my wife's generosity and love for me and my own temper that I have to keep under control. Since then I had to send the knife back to get the liner lock adjusted, and when I opened the return package (with my Spyderco, of all things) I accidentally cut not only through the cardboard packaging, but through the box the knife was in and into the handle of the knife itself! I guess my mouth isn't the only overly forceful part of me. So now it has the invisible reminder and the visible reminder to be careful with what I think, say, and do. I know the Spyderco is a modern folder, so I won't put a picture of it here, and truly the Perceval is more of a hybrid, but its design and purpose is traditional, in my opinion.

Here's the Perceval, before it got its scar:



I forgot to mention that I'd prefer not to enter this giveaway. However, I'll offer my entry to @5K Qs, due his own constant generosity.

 

[Fodderwing]

abbydaddy what are the odds of your long lost K. Tragbar being plucked from the tundra and almost laid at your feet years later?
This thread has already become a very moving and interesting one. Due to my recent fortune in winning TWO incredible GAW's I am most definitely NOT IN but I will participate anyway.
This horseman's knife is my most favorite and would be the last to go. The character of the piece and the history that accompanies it. I know I've shown it many times. But it speaks to me more than any other.

 

[abbydaddy]

Thanks for the opportunity, I'm in for the Lone Wolf.
They are both great looking knives and the story of your special knife was amazing.

My most special knife is my GEC #76. Last year was my oldest son's first year away at college. During the Summer we planned a great family trip, going to Disneyland, driving along the coast, stopping at a tourist town called Solvang, and visiting Santa Cruz University for my younger son. It was a great vacation with the whole family being back together after being apart for a whole year.

That sounds like some good memories! I am planning our first Disney family vacation in a couple years when I turn 40, my kids will be 6 and 3, so they should both be old enough to enjoy it.

View attachment 989351
So after he died in 2009, and we were going through his things to help get the house we grew up in ready to be sold, I came across the Camillus Boy Scout Folding camp knife in his dresser bureau. It reminded me of the importance Scouting meant to him, and how such a knife could be used to tinker with, the right tool for the job, something an engineer could use.

Thanks for letting me ramble. If I have a chance to win, I would like the Case

I have a real fondness for old Boy Scout Knives, and I actually do a BSA knife GAW every year to commemorate my brother. You can look at the last one here. I was actually never a scout, nor was my brother, but the knife he always carried was my dad's old Camillus BSA knife. I wasn't a scout (I wanted to be, but my parents would let me for religious reasons), but I spent many a day out in the woods of Oregon or the tundra of Alaska with my Boy Scout Handbook as company. That old Camillus is special for sure.

Very nice idea for a give away. I will apologize as I am not very long winded when typing things out, join me on my deck with a seegar and a cup of coffee and I assure you that changes.
The one knife that will only leave my possession to go to one of my boys is this Puma Bowie. It was my father’s hunting knife. It helped clean my first fish, deer, hawg, you name it.

You gotta love an old Puma. One of my best friends inherited a couple of his father's old Pumas after he passed, and he prizes those above the rest as well.

View attachment 989461
This is a 70's case daddy barlow, it belonged to my uncle who passed when I was 10. Its the only thing of his I have. I was worried that it was lost to me, however my nephew found it going through some old boxes that hadn't been unpacked in about 6 years. He immediately text me this pic with the words "found it" I was beyond happy. He's keeping it safe for me until either I get time to visit them or them me. I don't trust it to the mail.
Edit: oops, lone wolf

There is nothing better than a special knife coming back to you.

Now I know why archaeology is in your blood. Who finds their own artifacts?

I know right? Of course, as an archaeologist, I also find myself thinking that since the guy who found it took it out of its archaeological context, the provenience is lost and the knife is now archaeologically worthless . I guess I will just have to console myself by having my knife.

It is definitely all about the memories, and the memory of knowing that your child has become the adult you hoped is a special one I pray to have myself some day.

My sentiments exactly.

abbydaddy Your story is great. I can imagine myself at 12 and losing my favorite knife, but it is hard to imagine how elated I would feel at 17 having found it again, and in good condition.

I don't have a lot of knives, but the ones I keep were either given to me, knives made by folks I want to support, knives I've had a hand in bringing to fruition, and knives I use for particular tasks (but aren't necessarily things I like to fondle or look at).

Of all of the knives meaningful to me, there are a couple that my wife has given to me that I would never part with for any reason save a dire emergency. One is a Spyderco Dragonfly that she had seen me interested in and decided to get for my birthday. The other is a Perceval L08 that she surprised me with on Father's Day, and which I made her cry about because of my selfishness. I had been looking at the L08 for some time and had just about convinced myself to buy it, but she kept trying to talk me out of it. I couldn't understand why she was being so adamant in dissuading me, and eventually I just got angry about it and let her know. Of course, at that point she got angry and started crying and let me know that she had been planning to surprise me with it on Father's Day. Oops. What a jerk I had been. We made up, naturally, but that knife serves as a double reminded of my wife's generosity and love for me and my own temper that I have to keep under control. Since then I had to send the knife back to get the liner lock adjusted, and when I opened the return package (with my Spyderco, of all things) I accidentally cut not only through the cardboard packaging, but through the box the knife was in and into the handle of the knife itself! I guess my mouth isn't the only overly forceful part of me. So now it has the invisible reminder and the visible reminder to be careful with what I think, say, and do. I know the Spyderco is a modern folder, so I won't put a picture of it here, and truly the Perceval is more of a hybrid, but its design and purpose is traditional, in my opinion.

Here's the Perceval, before it got its scar:

View attachment 989493

I forgot to mention that I'd prefer not to enter this giveaway. However, I'll offer my entry to @5K Qs, due his own constant generosity.

I really liked this story. And I love the lessons that you learned with the knife. Knives can be great mementos, touchstones that allow us to recall specific feelings and memories. Those lessons are good ones to remember.

abbydaddy what are the odds of your long lost K. Tragbar being plucked from the tundra and almost laid at your feet years later?
This thread has already become a very moving and interesting one. Due to my recent fortune in winning TWO incredible GAW's I am most definitely NOT IN but I will participate anyway.
View attachment 989517

I am pretty sure that the odds of my knife coming back to me after years on the tundra are essentially zero. I still have no idea how it could have happened. I know from talking to the guy that he and his kids were out in the countryside near where our camp had been when I lost the knife. And I feel like the likelihood of someone else with the same initials carved into the back of their visually identical knife losing it in the same area and that one being recovered and given to me has to be even more unlikely than the knife coming back to me, but I still don't understand how it could still be in good condition. It was on the tundra for years, freezing and thawing in the muck. The tundra is vast, and when things get lost on the tundra they tend to stay lost. And the tundra is hard on objects. If nothing else I would have expected the antler handle to have degraded significantly. But somehow, by some miracle, the knife came back to me in good shape.

 

[veitsi_poika]

Cool GAW abbydaddy and crazy story of your knife! Not sure what the odds are of that knife finding it's way back to you but I'm sure it's in the millions to 1 range I take it you were filling his gas tank when you noticed it?

Anyway, I first started collecting knives mainly because I decided to change my lifestyle to get healthier both physically and mentally. I never realized how much time I spent just watching sports and drinking booze. Once I quit one of those habits and minimized my cable TV watching, I realized I had a lot of time to fill in my daily schedule LoL. Not sure why, but one day I noticed some of my old pocket knives and opened them up, looked at them a little bit and put them back down. Then I saw my Dad's Schrade 77OT... what he called the ol' "Johnny Muskrat" thanks to his trapping magazines LoL. I knew it wasn't the original Fur-Fish-Game Johnny Muskrat but he called any non-locking pocketknife a "Johnny Muskrat". It's really beat up, one broken blade tip, barely opens, etc. So I decided I wanted to get a "Johnny Muskrat" in good shape, to keep as a memorial to my Dad and his trapping days. My wife was on that online auction site quite a bit and told me to check out knives on there. So I did and I found this Parker-Frost trapper with a cool "Johnny Muskrat" etch. Again, it's not the original but I decided this is the knife I wanted.

Once I got it in my hands I was amazed at how nicely everything fit together and how cleanly it opened up and snapped shut. I realized I had never actually handled a nice quality brand new knife. It was a cool moment to say the least, my first experience of fit, finish and feel Then on the reverse side tang I saw "Schrade 1978" and couldn't believe this knife was almost as old as me It was then I realized I was on to something I was going to enjoy as a hobby. Once I started diving into the history behind Parker-Frost and Schrade and all of the other history involved with the evolution of pocketknives in the U.S. ... I WAS HOOKED Now 250 or so knives later and over 1,200 posts on BF... here I am And this is knife that started it all... I would not give this one away for the world

 

[abbydaddy]

I just wanted to give this thread a little bump.

 

[Stropping Young Lad]

Not an entry, but I’d like to share anyway.

This knife was “sold” to me by Charlie at the 2017 Rendezvous. (I say “sold”, because if Charlie broke even on this knife, he’d probably have a 1,000% markup and the margins for GEC dealers are better than we thought!) After speaking to him for a few minutes about my online shop that I had just opened that month, he gave me some words of advice, and offered me this knife as the first piece of cutlery for my inventory. Somehow I feel like it’ll stay with me, though.

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/dW9F32u

 

[gonebad395]

Really cool give away and thanks for the story. The knife I would never let go belonged to my grandfather. It was the first knife I ever used, the first knife I cut a apple with and the first knife I cut myself with.
I remember always asking my grandpa why don’t you get a new knife that one is all busted up and he would say why? It cuts just fine. I held this man on a pedestal he was my hero and my best friend and role model. When he passed it was in his change dish as it was every night. I let everyone know other then the memories I have I would love to own that knife. My uncles agreed I should have it. It sat in a drawer for years every once in a while I’d come across it hold it and smile. One day I came across it and decided to send it to @glennbad to have it redone. He did a stunning job and I know my grandfather would have loved it. This is the knife I’ll never get rid of. The knife of choice would be the lone Wolf thanks agian.

 

[gonebad395]

sorry double post

 

[scattershot]

My favorite knife was my grandfather’s, too. I can’t say it’s my favorite, since I have never carried it, but it is very special to me, amd I would never sell it or give it away, except to my son when I finally kick the bucket.

He gave me this knife before he died, when I was in Boy Scouts, and I thought ai had lost it on a camping trip.I was heartbroken, as you might imagine, but time passes, and I moved on.

Home on leave from the Army, I found it in my old chest of drawers, n use by my brother at the time, and confiscated it.

It’s this old Remington, and here is its picture. If my name comes up, I would be delighted with either knife. Thanks for the chance to play.

 

[Bigfattyt]

Grandfathers Barow. It was well used. 35 or 36? Years ago I cut my self with this knife...... after watching Grandpa trim and clean his nails with it. After he put in the change/key tray by the door, I took it and tried to trim my nails too. Did not work out so well!!!

 

[waverave]

Thanks for the generous GAW! I am in for the Lone Wolf.

I find myself in a pickle because I have a knife that is most special to me but a different knife that I would never part with for any reason whatsoever. One of them fits this sub-forum nicely but the other is an outlier. I would be remiss not to mention them both in my description of a special knife but I'll refrain and keep this traditional.
I wish I had a great story about a knife my grandfather gave me or something like that but the truth is I don't really have much there. I don't recall the specific moment I was given my first knife or several of my first knives. My grandfather did influence my love of knives but I don't have any of his...the knives that did stick around were all so beat up and used that nothing was kept at that time.
So as far as my traditional knives go, they don't have a lot of stories to tell yet. I really, really like my tortoise shells and my Peanuts but the stories and history of a knife is what makes it special.
The one knife I consider special that I would never sell or part with for any reason is the SAK I got from Randy @r redden The reason I hold this knife dear to me is because it was the first knife gifted to me for no apparent reason other than the kindess of someone's heart. I was so taken back by the gesture I wasn't really sure how to react at that moment. Every other knife I own is just a knife and may come and go over time...but I will keep and use this SAK for the rest of my days. It represents everything that I love about this community. So when asked which knife I would last let go of...this is it.


Edit - Being fairly new here, I wanted to come up with a unique way to say thank you for random acts of kindness so I asked Randy what his favorite cartoon character was...and drew it up on one of my favorite, and unique, mediums.


Good luck to everyone

 

[abbydaddy]

Cool GAW abbydaddy and crazy story of your knife! Not sure what the odds are of that knife finding it's way back to you but I'm sure it's in the millions to 1 range I take it you were filling his gas tank when you noticed it?

Yup, I was filling his tank when I spotted the knife. It was an old fashioned one pump station in a small town. Not a lot to do besides check out the truck bed while I pumped.

It really is something else the first time you get a really good quality knife (at an age that you can appreciate it). I know it certainly started a passion for me a few years back. Also, btw, your image didn't load right.

This knife was “sold” to me by Charlie at the 2017 Rendezvous. (I say “sold”, because if Charlie broke even on this knife, he’d probably have a 1,000% markup and the margins for GEC dealers are better than we thought!) After speaking to him for a few minutes about my online shop that I had just opened that month, he gave me some words of advice, and offered me this knife as the first piece of cutlery for my inventory. Somehow I feel like it’ll stay with me, though.

It's just Charlie's way of hooking us! I swear!

Really cool give away and that is for the story. The knife I would never let go belonged to my grandfather. It was the first knife I ever used, the first knife I cut a apple with and the first knife I cut myself with.

That is a cool story and a cool knife. I think it is awesome that @glennbad was able to give the old knife a new lease on life.

My favorite knife was my grandfather’s, too. I can’t say it’s my favorite, since I have never carried it, but it is very special to me, amd I would never sell it or give it away, except to my son when I finally kick the bucket.

It really is wonderful when a special knife comes back to us. Even if it was just a sticky fingered sibling that made off with it in the first place

Grandfathers Barow. It was well used. 35 or 36? Years agonizing cut my self with this knife...... after watching Grandpa trim and clean his nails with it. After he put in the change/key tray by the door, I took it and tried to trim my nails too. Did not work out so well!!!

Yeah, fingernail trimming is a little trickier than it looks I have a soft spot for those old Westerns.

Thanks for the generous GAW! I am in for the Lone Wolf.

I find myself in a pickle because I have a knife that is most special to me but a different knife that I would never part with for any reason whatsoever. One of them fits this sub-forum nicely but the other is an outlier. I would be remiss not to mention them both in my description of a special knife.
I wish I had a great story about a knife my grandfather gave me or something like that but the truth is I don't really have much there. I don't recall the specific moment I was given my first knife or several of my first knives. My grandfather did influence my love of knives but I don't have any of his...the knives that did stick around were all so beat up and used that nothing was kept at that time.
So as far as my traditional knives go, they don't have a lot of stories to tell yet. I really, really like my tortoise shells and my Peanuts but the stories and history of a knife is what makes it special.
The one knife I consider special that I would never sell or part with for any reason is the SAK I got from Randy @r redden The reason I hold this knife dear to me is because it was the first knife gifted to me for no apparent reason other than the kindess of someone's heart. I was so taken back by the gesture I wasn't really sure how to react at that moment. Every other knife I own is just a knife and may come and go over time...but I will keep and use this SAK for the rest of my days. It represents everything that I love about this community. So when asked which knife I would last let go of...this is it.
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Now...as far as stories go...I think that is a big part of what makes a knife special. My traditional knives are beautiful and meaningful but don't have a lot of good stories to tell or history behind them yet. However, this one does. It is my Gerber Big Rock. I don't remember when I bought it exactly maybe ~10 years ago but it cost practically nothing. This knife was with me for the most adventurous period of my life, to date, and has seen many miles on the trail and many days out in the wilderness. I've tried time and time again to replace it with something else that I thought would be better or nicer and always go back to the Big Rock. I can beat it up if I have to and not worry about the cost. It holds a great edge and sharpens easily. This knife has provided me food, fire, shelter, protection and utility in all kinds of environments. This knife has been to several National Parks and forests and alpine lakes and rivers and deserts and the High Sierras and the John Muir Trail and on countless adventures that bring me joy and happiness to recall. So when asked what my special knife is...this is it.
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Good luck to everyone

That Gerber Big Rock might not be the most traditional looking knife in the thread, but I do feel the need to point out that it is designed by my favorite knife designer (and actually a personal friend), Bill Harsey. I mostly got into traditional knives because I enjoyed this sub-forum so much, but the main focus of my collection is actually Harsey knives. So I certainly understand the love for the Big Rock. But most of Bill's knives are not very traditional looking, the only one of my Harseys that kind of meets the requirements for the Porch is my 90's era Gerber Air Ti. It's the itty bitty one at the top, even smaller than a peanut. It is a great little knife.

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[waverave]

abbydaddy for sure not even close to a traditional knife but I definitely could not avoid bringing it up in the conversation of a special knife. Please thank your friend Bill for the great design and accept my apologies for mixing it in with a traditional thread. I edited the post.