First knife

[Ysabel Kid]

All the recent posts on knives got me thinking about my very first pocket knife. My Dad picked up two of these, identical, during a trip to NYC in the late 60's. One for me and one for my brother. Probably not the most expensive knives out there. I still have mine, and it has a lot of honest wear. I actually saved my brother's one too (he was going to pitch it decades ago), and gave it to his son a few years back.

How many of you still have your first knife?

[GunnyMack]

I do !! I even know where it is.
I also have a little executive pocket/pipe knife that was my grandfather's and a Barlow jack knife from my other grandfather.

[Bronco]

I do! Boy Scout knife I got when I joined the Cub Scouts about 65 years ago. Sayin the just made me feel old

[Pitchy]

That`s really neat.

[Old No7]

How many of you still have your first knife?

I do! (Great post idea Jay.)

I won this when I was eight years old, as the door prize at a National Hunting & Fishing Day event at the local sportsman's club. Everyone wanted it as it was made in Solingen, Germany (by Edge). They would not let me handle or carry it, so my dear mother carried it around for a few hours with more than half the sheath sticking out of her small pocketbook. Needless to say, nobody messed with Mom!

Old No7

Edge Bowie (1) small.JPG

[t.r.]

My first knife was a Japan built skinner style with 4.5 inch blade. Brand name: Monarch. - Sherwood

[gamekeeper]

Sadly my first knife was a real cheapo and didn't survive the treatment it got from me as a small kid and quite a few other early acquisitions fared no better...
I do however have a small fixed blade knife that my sister brought back from Austria for my brother when I was about two years old, he did a pretty good job on buggering up that one too but as I got older and a little bit wiser I rescued it (hid) from him ....

[gcs]

I can't remember which one was first, it's probably still around here...somewhere.

[Bill in Oregon]

Mine was a Case pocket knife with yellow scales, probably about age 7, just before being old enough for Cub Scouts.

[Paladin]

Nope, I started proving early in life I could break almost anything.

[Old Savage]

First one was stolen, took 40 years to find this relacement.

[piller]

First one got completely worn out and thrown away. Second one was a Normark Little Swede folding single blade with Mora stainless steel. Still have it. Still a good knife. My son says eBay prices are a couple hundred bucks. If you can find one. It cost under 15 dollars back back in 1974.

[Ysabel Kid]

Nope, I started proving early in life I could break almost anything.

Y2K was like that. I should have bought stock in a hot-glue company!

[samsi]

No. It was a Pakistani mini-Bowie about 4" long overall with jigged bone handle scales and a cheap leather sheath that smelled like it had been tanned with urine. I was about 7 at the time and Dad bought one for both my brother and me from a booth at a rodeo. No idea what happened to it, but I don't recall that it was very stabby or slashy. I got a real Cub Scout knife about a year later, it's still around somewhere.

[Blaine]

Yup......Not counting a little junker paring knife I found and kept hidden, it was a Cub Scout genuine Barlow. I "sharpened" so much that about 1/3 of the blade was gone by the time I moved on to a big boy knife.
I got the Scout knife for Christmas and the first thing I did was slice my left index finger. I was so scared Mom would take it away so I kept my hand in my pocket until the blood blotch gave it away. Still have the scar.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Mine was a hand me down from my grandfather. A yellow handled three blade stockman knife which had been used a lot and had seen the stone a lot.

In those days you didn’t see stainless steel in a lot of pocket knives and we learned to sharpen our own blades when we were young boys. I think those carbon steel blades were easier to sharpen.

[Ysabel Kid]

I think those carbon steel blades were easier to sharpen.

They are, and carry a better edge too!

[piller]

Part of the edge on stainless is having the right sharpening equipment. Carbotundum stones sharpen only a few grades of stainless. 420, AUS 8, and the softer ones. The carbides mixed with vanadium and nitrogen are too hard for carborundum or Arkansas soft stones to touch. Diamond to set the edge, crock stick to polish it, and a steel to finish it. 440C can get sharper than you would believe. It is still used for scalpels for that very reason. No other steel has yet been found that is as stain resistant or gets as sharp while holding the edge. It is just next to impossible to sharpen up to its capability without the right tools. Buck made the 110 for a couple of years in 440C, but went to 420 when people complained that it wouldn't get very sharp. They were sharpening the soft steel around the carbides and leaving the carbides dull, but they didn't know that. That gave 440C a bad reputation which it did not deserve. I have a Hofner made knife with 440C, and it is slicey. I can hold a sheet of notebook paper up with one hand, hold the knife with the other. Let it go and move my hand away fast, slice through the paper while it is falling, and have 2 pieces hit the floor. I spent about 5 minutes with a crock stick.