Knives .

[Jeff H]

Was watching "Bearded Butchers" on the Utube a while back and decided to try the knife they use most; a Victorinox boning knife. Have had it a little over a month and so far, like it.

Kitchen knives that are winners IMHO are Shun and F. Dick.

Hunting knives are Case, Buck and Randall.

Have a tiny little folder made by Beretta that is about 35-40 years old and has cut everything I've ever asked of it. I've never had to sharpen it.

I have a Vic' boning knife and large chef's knife in the kitchen and love them. A friend shopped hard for a set of "good" knives for his boy when he graduated chef's school, and paid stiff a premium. He admitted himself he'd have preferred the Vic's over whatever he ended up buying, but "status" was an important consideration. The Vic's are very affordable and are wonderful knives.

 

[Jeff H]

.....

Until a few years back I was unaware that the standard off the shelf Buck knife you buy these days isn't a made in the USA tool, ......

I've reviewed a few Chines-made knives, and my EDC, as of this spring, is Chinese-made as well.

I've seen some extremely well-made knives, with good steel and good HT come out of China. We build an impression of Chinese goods based on what we see at WM, HF and the various Dollar-this and Dollar-that stores, but as someone mentioned recently, the Chines are perfectly capable of making top of the line stuff - perfectly capable of EATING OUR LUNCH.

The first Chinese knife I reviewed was a goofy-looking thing with a huge hole where the blade pivot was supposed to be, had rather gimmicky styling and was just pretty grotesque in overall appearance, BUT the steel and HT in that blade made for a tough, easily shapened knife that held an edge extremely well better than any of my old US-Made Schrades (also made in China now) did.

A few others were fixed blades and even LOOKED good, with well-done, comfortable leather-washer handles. The folder I carry at the moment is a $28 Ruike (somehow associated with Fenix flashlights) and it's a whole lot of knife for the money. I bought it for the features and the price, so objectively (this is the scary part), it beat out a lot of other stuff, like an Ontario Rat and a couple Benchmades, for my EDC. I don't carry this one because it's a cheap knife I can beat up, I carry this knife because it's what I want and it's quality. Scary stuff to me, but I need what I need and a name or how much I paid for something is not going to make up for functionality.

 

[Snakeoil]

I looked for some pics I had but cannot find the one with all of them laid out... But I found a few favorites.

View attachment 28561View attachment 28562View attachment 28563View attachment 28564

I shot with a guy at a local club when I was a young kid who had retired from the Navy. WWII vet and then stayed in until retirement. Somebody brought up Buck knives one day and he said Buck used to sell his handmade knives to sailors when he was in the Navy. He said the handles were birchwood at the time and I imagine that Buck was just getting started in the knife business. I would love to at least see if not own one of those today. My guess is there were never marked so chances are they were all lost to time.

 

[smokeywolf]

I've seen some extremely well-made knives, with good steel and good HT come out of China. We build an impression of Chinese goods based on what we see at WM, HF and the various Dollar-this and Dollar-that stores, but as someone mentioned recently, the Chines are perfectly capable of making top of the line stuff - perfectly capable of EATING OUR LUNCH.

Compete with the Chinese? No problem. All you have to do is find millions of talented, trained tradesmen who want to work for $2.00-$3.00/hr and no benefits.
End of story!

 

[Bret4207]

My Dad was a butcher. He worked for A&P. When the FDA banned wood handled knives, all the stores got new stainless knives with plastic handles. The old knives were discarded and needless to say, they never made it to the trash can if Pop was around. I have a large selection of Dexter knives from big carvers down to small boning knives. All are carbon steel. All hold a great edge and a quick run over my Nicholson steel will restore an edge in seconds. The only downside was at some point A&P started using commercial sharpening services that were not what you would call kind to these knives. The produce knife in the photo below shows the effects of more than one trip across their grinding wheels. I have a similar knife at home that is more like a sharp needle than a knife. I also have several Sabatier French dicers that I suspect came here when my Grandparents immigrated from France at the turn of the century. Lastly, I have a full set of Chicago Cutlery that I bought 40 years ago when they were still made in the USA. Those are great knives as well. Love carbon steel knifes.

We are at our summer place, so I only have a few here that are extras/duplicates of knives we have at home. Knives are self-explanatory with the exception of the one on the bottom. That one is a bread knife. There were two like this in my Grandparents house. I suspect they were made sometime long before WWII. Very thin spring steel blade with a scalloped edge. It is without a doubt the best bread knife I have ever owned. Goes thru the hard crust of French or Italian bread with ease.

View attachment 28574

"The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company", the A+P! Had one in my hometown of North Creek NY. Still remember the smell of the "Eight O'Clock" coffee being ground right there at the checkout counter. And the "Ann Paige" store brand (A+P, get it?) stuff. Good memories.

 

[Bret4207]

Working field knives:
Top are Helle Norwegian sandwich steel blades that I completed as knives.
Second row L-R Micarta Handled knife from Blind Horse Knife works, A.G Russell clone of a Loveless Hunter, The rest are all from a home state maker, Bark River Knives. I made most of the leather.
As you can see I am partial to knives on the small side. Blades from 2 3/4" to 4". I field dressed and quartered a rather large Whitetail buck with that little 3" blade Stag handled Bark River. I see no need for larger blades in th e field nor for skinning. For butchering deer I use 5" curved and straight flexible blade Victorinox/Forster boning knives.

I have a very short blade knife my Dad made, sort of a sideline in the gunshop. The blade is maybe 2 1/2" long and the handle is black micarta in a sort of roundish shape. Great knife, and plenty for the woods.

 

[Jeff H]

"The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company", the A+P!....

I never knew that! I was wondering what that mark on the knife was, as well as wondering when the last time I saw an A&P.

 

[Bret4207]

I wouldn't be afraid to carry any one of those into the deep, dark bush. I'd prefer to have an axe too, but I'd still defer to the smaller knives.

I am also partial to smaller knives, very similar to those in your pic. I've had a few of the same ones actually.

The only large knives I've gotten along with are an ancient Marine Corpsman's knife (two pounds), which was a childhood toy, and the Skarama 240, which eventually supplanted it. That one is amazing for shelter-building, if one is deficient an axe, but 99% of everything else gets done with blades 4" and under.

I had a BRKT Golok, and it was SCARY. Not enough handle to control it and too much mass ahead of the handle. The handle on the Skrama, even though it's ugly, black plastic-rubber sorta stuff is a work of art in handling. Hatchets have alwasy scared the crap out of me. A whole axe or a really big knife is preferable for me, but neither displace a solid 4" and under knife.

I have a USMC Ka-Bar. Good knife for what it was made for- Cutting and hacking where an E-tool is too big or clumsy. An E-Tool makes a much better tool for decapitating BG's though, Hollywood legend notwithstanding.

 

[Jeff H]

Compete with the Chinese? No problem. All you have to do is find millions of talented, trained tradesmen who want to work for $2.00-$3.00/hr and no benefits.
End of story!

Not quite the end of the story - there's more...

They are exploiting technology too and they aren't fooling around about it. I'm just saying it's a mistake to think they are only capable of making cheap junk - best we not be complacent about their capability. They're doing now what we did a hundred years ago, regarding labor, environmental resources, etc., but they are also very serious about exploiting technology in manufacturing.

 

[Jeff H]

I have a USMC Ka-Bar. Good knife for what it was made for- Cutting and hacking where an E-tool is too big or clumsy. An E-Tool makes a much better tool for decapitating BG's though, Hollywood legend notwithstanding.

I traded my Play-Skool, black, foldiong, D-Handled job I was issued for a genuine WWII-era e-tool with a wooden handle and a PICK on it when I was in the PNW. HOW one of those managed to stay in the system and get issued to post-Vietnam troops is a mystery, but when it came time to turn it in, I turned in a Play-Skool model I found in the field, left by a hapless soldier who wasn't taking very good care of his gear.

I keep one of those old ones in each of the Jeeps and gave my daughter one for her Jeep just this year.

 

[Snakeoil]

A&P started out as just that, a tea company. My Dad told me that when the Chicago fire happened, there were starving people in the city and the A&P had the ability to bring in groceries thru their shipping infrastructure. They set up tables in the ruins and distributed food. They realized that there was a business to be had and entered into the grocery business. But I just found a wikipedia article that does not mention that. But it does say that A&P did look to expand in Chicago right after the fire had occurred. Could be the details were lost to history.

The company was owned by the Hartfords when my Dad first went to work for them. He would come home and say that Mr. Hartford had been in the store that day. This was downtown Albany, NY. Mr. Hartford had a limo that took him to all his stores. Pop said he knew the name of every employee that had any time with the company. My Dad was a meat dept. mgr and Mr. Hartford would ask how things were and if there were any issues. If Pop had an issue, he would tell Mr. Hartford and his assistant would write it down. A few weeks later, the issue would be resolved.

A&P went downhill when they took on a corporate structure. It all became about the bottom line and if they could not grow it with sales, they grew it by cutting costs which meant people. I worked part-time my senior year in high school. On a Sunday, it was me on the register and the Mgr in the office and that was it. People loved A&P and their products. But the degrading service finally drove them elsewhere.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Going back to that knife that had been ground away that Snakeoil displayed, that reminded me of an old friend.
He had a brother that was a chef on Nantucket. In the off season he would bring the knives to my friend and get them sharpened. A few of them looked like that ground down knife.
I asked why he didn't just replace those old knives?
The answer was threefold: 1. The old steel was highly prized and the chefs would hang onto them as long as they could.
2. Once you became acustomed to a handle, you didn't dare change it.
3. Money, good knives were costly.

My friend would put a good edge on all of the knives without grinding them down to steel toothpicks and his brother would take them back to work.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I traded my Play-Skool, black, foldiong, D-Handled job I was issued for a genuine WWII-era e-tool with a wooden handle and a PICK on it when I was in the PNW. HOW one of those managed to stay in the system and get issued to post-Vietnam troops is a mystery, but when it came time to turn it in, I turned in a Play-Skool model I found in the field, left by a hapless soldier who wasn't taking very good care of his gear.

I keep one of those old ones in each of the Jeeps and gave my daughter one for her Jeep just this year.

The wooden handle, folding head, E-tools are handy. I keep a couple around, including a Swiss one that is a bit shorter than the old U.S. ones. (takes up less space when folded but is a PITA to use).
The best one I've found is an old East German fixed head shovel. I have no use for communists but I'll give credit when it's due. That little shovel has served as a pry bar, hammer, brush blade and even a shovel on occasion. After I beat the first one up, I found a new (newer) replacement.

 

[Bret4207]

Not quite the end of the story - there's more...

They are exploiting technology too and they aren't fooling around about it. I'm just saying it's a mistake to think they are only capable of making cheap junk - best we not be complacent about their capability. They're doing now what we did a hundred years ago, regarding labor, environmental resources, etc., but they are also very serious about exploiting technology in manufacturing.

They're also pretty serious about exploiting their ability to steal tech. They have the capability to make good stuff, but why would they make good stuff to sell to the enemy, that would be us!, when crap sells fine and makes them billions?

 

[Bret4207]

A&P started out as just that, a tea company. My Dad told me that when the Chicago fire happened, there were starving people in the city and the A&P had the ability to bring in groceries thru their shipping infrastructure. They set up tables in the ruins and distributed food. They realized that there was a business to be had and entered into the grocery business. But I just found a wikipedia article that does not mention that. But it does say that A&P did look to expand in Chicago right after the fire had occurred. Could be the details were lost to history.

The company was owned by the Hartfords when my Dad first went to work for them. He would come home and say that Mr. Hartford had been in the store that day. This was downtown Albany, NY. Mr. Hartford had a limo that took him to all his stores. Pop said he knew the name of every employee that had any time with the company. My Dad was a meat dept. mgr and Mr. Hartford would ask how things were and if there were any issues. If Pop had an issue, he would tell Mr. Hartford and his assistant would write it down. A few weeks later, the issue would be resolved.

A&P went downhill when they took on a corporate structure. It all became about the bottom line and if they could not grow it with sales, they grew it by cutting costs which meant people. I worked part-time my senior year in high school. On a Sunday, it was me on the register and the Mgr in the office and that was it. People loved A&P and their products. But the degrading service finally drove them elsewhere.

Wikipedia is not a reliable source for information, but it's the first thing that pops up- always! Just took a little "Duck Duck Go" work to find a site that mentions the Chicago fire- https://www.company-histories.com/The-Great-Atlantic-Pacific-Tea-Company-Inc-Company-History.html

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I have a USMC Ka-Bar. Good knife for what it was made for- Cutting and hacking where an E-tool is too big or clumsy. An E-Tool makes a much better tool for decapitating BG's though, Hollywood legend notwithstanding.

I also
Like the K-Bar and kabar k ives. They have quite a history as well. I have a few.



I also have the combat knives but everyone has seen those.

I have a couple Camillius brand same or similar style I like allot. Stacked leather handles same construction as WWII combat knives.

CW

 

[Snakeoil]

Wikipedia is not a reliable source for information, but it's the first thing that pops up- always! Just took a little "Duck Duck Go" work to find a site that mentions the Chicago fire- https://www.company-histories.com/The-Great-Atlantic-Pacific-Tea-Company-Inc-Company-History.html

Thanks. Much more complete history. It would appear that the grocery business was already well entrenched when they helped after the Chicago Fire.

Something that stood out was that family ownership ended in 1957. I was only 5 in '57. I wonder if Mr. Hartford stayed on after incorporation because I seem to remember Pop talking about him when I was a bit older. Again, it could be him reminiscing out loud and me remembering it as being real time. Memories are never as good as we think they are. At my 70th party back in March, I had a friend telling everyone a story about something I did back in my 20's that he said was one of the best moments of his life. I listened to the story and had zero recollection of every doing it. I don't even remember what it was now. I asked if it might have been someone else and he was sure it was me. Not sure which one of us is confused. He's a few years older. So it must be him.

 

[Snakeoil]

Okay, back to knives. This is my daily carry knife. I've carried a jackknife of some sort since high school. When working in 3rd world countries, I carried the biggest jackknife I could put in my pocket. I think it was more for a sense of security than an actual self-defense weapon. Since then, assisted opening knives have replaced those old jackknives. Kenny Onion's Kershaw design is my favorite, although I'm not a big fan of some of his blade designs. Then I was in TSC one day and found this in a blister package on their big sale table of stuff at the front of the store. It was only $14 so I figured it was worth a shot. Made in China by prisoners, plastic scales and stainless blade. But it is light, thin and opens with the flick of my finger. Holds a decent edge and easily touched up with a good steel.

This is my second one. Broke the tip off the first one using it as a tool. Ground it back to a point, but it always bothered me. TSC did not have them any longer. But I quick search on the web found one and that is the one you see here. There is a pocket clip that I have removed since it adds no value to pocket carry for me.

 

[Jeff H]

"Since high school,..."

I carried a Schrade "Improved Muskrat" from the time I was in seventh or eighth grade, through six-plus years in the Army and for a while thereafter.

When we started seeing some of the locking folders of today, I got interested again and tried several over the years and liked them a lot better. I still have a handful of old Schrade slip-joints, and carry a Queen Barlow when on campus, but otherwise, I really prefer today's pocket knives, even if they're ugly and don't have that "feel" and that sense of class.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I have a couple "EDC knives I like to carry. I always carried two. One for "everything" and one for eating or "clean needs".

I mostly carry a Buck 845 folder and a Cold Steel hideout I modified to be legal.

The CS is a dbl edged "neck knife". The law reads cutting surface not blade length. So I cut scallops from both sides of blade removing cutting edge.



Here is the Buck.