Your image of 1990s knives

Hashishiin

Hashishiin

Joined
Dec 29, 2021
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So, when I think of a quinticenttial 90's knife, let's say a folder... I might picture an assisted action, blocky, drop point with a sabre grind. Black FRN type materials. I was not really around buying knives during that time period however, and my only knives from that period are a Spyderco Military and a Spyderco GIN-1 Snap-It model with the rubber inlays. Also, an old Civilian.

Sort of see 90s era folders like I would Emerson. I don't know why this is exactly though, where I picked up these preconceptions. Advertisements from the period, perhaps?

What's your idea of what constitutes a very "90s" knife, be it a fixed blade or folder? New ideas that were good being introduced? Silly ideas that were improved upon or nixed later on trying to give a knife all the bells and whistles? I am interested to how we came from the only options on a folder being traditional patterns, SAKs, the Buck 110 or a Japanese switchblade to the flourishing of the knife market to where we have the choices we have today - stylistically, materially, any way you like.
 
Spyderco Renegade and Benchmade AFCK.

renegade-1994-1600.jpg


benchmade-afcks-1600.jpg
 
^^What I picture when I think back on nineties knives: Black G10, tip down pocket clips, ATS-34, partial serrations, etc. In other words anything and everything “tactical.”
 
the image of the buck 110 is deeply etched in my mind from that time period because my dad used to take me to the santa cruz pier for fishing a lot in the 90s and i would always see buck 110s in the fishing boxes and gear of many of the other people who were fishing on the piers
 
My first quality folder was a Spyderco Police, then an Endura, both fully-serrated. These were the game-changers.
Before those, I also had a Gerber Gator, some kind of cheap Schrade linerlock, and a Buck 110.
Of course, some SAKs and a couple of Old Timer traditionals from my grandfather.

Many fixed blades.
 
jfk1110 said:
Agreed. Add in the SOG tomcat, which I thought was the best looking knife out there after All Mar sere's!!!!
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I second this. Man, I wanted a Tomcat but never got one.

In the 90’s I gravitated to Zytel handled Gerbers, most usually carrying a Bolt Action with the guthook blade or a Magnum Jr. lockback.

I also had a little Timberline Timberlite with the Neely Lock.
 
I was in middle-school in the ‘90’s so the knives I liked at that time were found in Smokey Mountain Knife Works and Bud K Worldwide. Probably not the “quintessential ‘90’s knives” exactly, but because of my age and what I was into, I tend to think of those Gil Hibben fantasy knives…
 
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I turned 18 in 1990 and carried a Benchmade Emerson CQC7 for almost the whole decade…
Titanium liners, G10, chisel grind, 4” bead blasted ATS-34 blade, pocket clip, jimping and thumb disk - practically science fiction at the time. :)
 
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scdub said:
I turned 18 in 1990 and carried a Benchmade Emerson CQC7 for the whole decade…
Titanium liners, G10, chisel grind, 4” bead blasted ATS-34 blade, pocket clip, jimping and thumb disk - practically science fiction at the time. :)
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I had one of them also. I also had a titanium blade version of it. I had the SOG Tomcat as well. I was working the gun show circuit on weekends and had a good part time job as well as my state job so I could buy and trade to my hearts content. I could find pretty much anything within reason as the knife dealers were great about helping each other out. I met some talented custom knifesmiths as well.

Commercially during the late 90's early 2000's there weren't that many carbon steel folders around. They were difficult to find after Imperial closed/moved production to Ireland.
 
70s - early 90's I was in the Army. We usually carried a Gerber folder bought at the PX. I had a friend - a Captain - in the 80's who collected knives. They were cool but all fixed blade, which I wasn't into. But I started to think of higher end knives because of his collection.
 
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