Knives .

[Snakeoil]

CW, that Cold Steel remind me of a guy I used to shoot with. It was almost like watching Maxwell Smart when you asked him how many knives he had on him. He was a short man with way too many lbs (which eventually killed him) and wore a tan tactical vest most of the time. He would start pulling knives and setting them on the bench. They came out of every nook and cranny on that man's body and from under or within that vest, not to mention his belt and pants. It was more like a scene from some movie doing a spoof on some Ninja kinda guy. But he was armed to the teeth with blades all day and every day. I often wonder how much money he had wrapped up in knives and what happened to all of them when he passed.

 

[Bret4207]

Laws vary from state to state. NY says no daggers, which means double edged. You can have a full blown dagger as long as one side is dull as a hoe. Makes zero sense to me. And you can't have a switchblade unless you're hunting, fishing or trapping. Well, I can be on my way to go fishing 24/7/365! My late FIL left me a switchblade that would do any Mobster out of a 1930's film noir flick justice, but honestly, it's useless despite having a blade about 9" long!

I bought a Cold Steel Tanto from a NYS En Con officer who was a great source of toys, him being single and having the attention span of Daffy Duck. Got a LOT of good buys from him! Anyway, this was just the right size to fit down on my boot, pretty much like my scuba knife did when diving. I took a lot of ribbing over that knife but I cut up a lot of deer, pizzas, hacked off exhaust systems dragging under peoples cars at o-dark thirty in the morning and did a mess of other stuff with it. Never once had to use it as a self defense weapon and I'm very happy to say that I don't regret that one little bit!!! I've been semi-stabbed/cut a couple times, (thank God for vests and half hearted attempts!), and those brushes convinced me that knife fighting just isn't the nifty pastime it's made out to be in the movies.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I also really like
Cold Steel knives. They have a few lines from "junk" to very hi dollar.

I have a mix of them here.

 

[Bret4207]

Always wanted one of those Gurkha knives 'cuz, well, 'cuz they're tough little guys, great soldiers and the knives just look cool. I can't honestly think of what I'd use it for, but I've got a buncha stuff that I bought without really having having a need/use for. In that sense, knives are kinda like fishing lures- built as much to catch the fisherman as the fish!!!

 

[RBHarter]

Well my guy says he wants to try some new to him steel . Might even end up with real Damascus . Far too good for a clodhopper like me . It'll be a while, he's a few ahead of me and it a little warm for him to run the forge .

Settled up on a 5" blade with a full tang . Don't know if it'll be everything I hope and as useful as I want , but for the price I can't kick any . Might even add a brass butt I have a couple of naval brass plates around here somewhere .

 

[MW65]

For cleaning critters, a set of Gerber knives does most of the work... a couple of Kershaw for search and rescue/ems detail is always in my kit. Benchmade as well. My dad's old us navy knife was on his hip for cleaning fish... a few scandi grind knives are also available depending on what task is at hand... pics tomorrow.

 

[Winelover]

Been carrying and using a single blade locking Buck Duke so long that, I had the blade replaced (NC) by the manufacture. That's in on the extreme right in my field dressing kit. The Wyoming knife is my preference for gutting deer. The Buck is used for severing the windpipe. Saw for opening up the ribcage. Butt Out tool is so you don't have to split the pelvis. Dental floss for tying off the intestine.



My idea of a Bowie is a Randall #14.







The #14 alongside of a slimmer #1 Randall All Purpose Fighter.




Randall Skinner, ordered with a compass installed in the butt.

 

[Snakeoil]

I also really like
Cold Steel knives. They have a few lines from "junk" to very hi dollar.

I have a mix of them here.

View attachment 28602

Hi, my name is CW and I have a problem.

 

[twodot]

"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.

..................... that sense of class.

here's mine, slightly used.
..

 

[Jeff H]

View attachment 28608
here's mine, slightly used.
..

twodot! That's IT!

I had to go peek in the safe to see if you'd been in there!

I retired it - don't want to lose it after all it's been through with me. I even had to clean Mt. St. Helens volcanic ash out of it once, and damned near died in that crater in a newfangled Blackhawk helicopter. That knife was in my pocket.

I lost it once, plowing in the fall - mid-seventies. Found it when disc'ing the following spring. Opened it up and snapped the spring on the main blade and my heart snapped as well. I sent it off to Schrade with a letter asking that they repair it and I'd pay whatever it cost - I just wanted to save that knife. They fixed it and returned it and wouldn't take my money.

 

[Jeff H]

@RicinYakima , I was coming from Moses Lake to Fort Lewis that evening. It was a year to the day after the big blow, which I watched from a safe distance in Olympia. We watched on the news as Yakima was like a blizzard at noon - with volcanic ash! One year later, and less tha 24 hours in Moses Lake and everything I had with me was infiltrated, to include my Pentax K1000, in a ziplock bag, in a waterproof bag, in my ruck.

 

[Snakeoil]

@RicinYakima , I was coming from Moses Lake to Fort Lewis that evening. It was a year to the day after the big blow, which I watched from a safe distance in Olympia. We watched on the news as Yakima was like a blizzard at noon - with volcanic ash! One year later, and less tha 24 hours in Moses Lake and everything I had with me was infiltrated, to include my Pentax K1000, in a ziplock bag, in a waterproof bag, in my ruck.

Sounds like the dust in Saudi. We kept cameras in ziplock bags, inside camera bags, inside closets.

Had a sand storm blow thru one night. All the windows in my villa were taped shut and had been that way for years. We taped the door openings when we heard the wind coming. Next morning, I got up and walked to the kitch and I left blue footprints in the rug because it was now tan with dust.

 

[RicinYakima]

OKAY, want to do personal knives?

First is a Case Canoe given to me by my Dad the week before I shipped out to Ft Polk in 1968. They let me keep it in Basic, AIT and Viet Nam. Opened mail, a hundred C-Rats and used several times a day. Stropped it on the toe of my jungle boot. Used it up until about 1980 when I retired it.


Next is its replacement, a Buck knife made by Ray Sanderson. He was a good friend of Buck Sr. and he would buy parts and make knives for firefighters and police officers. Used it until I retired from the fire department.


Lastly, when I moved to the West in 1973, I need a hunting knife. So I bought this at a flea market and used it for almost thirty years. A Forgecraft "Hi Carbon" knife that held a great edge, paid I think about $2. Used it for salmon, trout, steelhead, halibut, bass, perch, and a couple of deer and elk. Thirty seconds on the pocket steel and it was good for another 10 minutes.

 

[Snakeoil]

You old hunting knife looked familiar. I am not sure where this knife came from. Might have been from our old camp. Pretty much identical to yours, but stamped EKCO Forged USA in the same place where yours is marked. Might be one of those knives that a company made for others and stamped whatever they wanted stamped on them. 2 rivet handle is a sign of an inexpensive knife.

 

[Winelover]

When I was a teenager, I worked part time in a warehouse. They filled orders for household good, as well as tools. They stocked every Channellock imaginable. Those ECKO wooden handled knives were very common and inexpensive.

I'm partial to Robeson Sure Edge frozen heat USA (blade etch) The two pictured are from my Mother's estate. The upper one was her all purpose slicer. The bottom one was her dedicated noodle knife.............yep she made her own homemade noodles. They will hold a edge, second to none. I'm guessing early 50's vintage. That's when we moved from Pennsylvania to Michigan.

When I was setting up my own house keeping, I purchased a complete line of Case kitchen knives. Big mistake..........they are very hard to sharpen and harder to hold and edge. Still have them but hardly use them. Switched to German manufactured J.A. Henckles Professional "S" ICE HARDENED no stain.



I'm a serious knife collector. CW only suffers from a touch of the affliction. I'm what they call a pattern collector. I basically collect one pattern of one discontinued knife design................the CLASP pattern. Accumulations totalling well over 100 different examples from, Case, Schrade, Kabar & Winchester. All with different handle materials and blade etches. All are mint/unused.

 

[RBHarter]

Wine ,
That is almost exactly the blade shape I gave him . It may be exactly it when finished .

How long are those ? I'm looking at about a 5" blade about 9-1/2" finished .
It's in that not a butcher , clip point , or Bowie but hopefully useful as all 3 , receptive to animal fat coloring , and rust proofing .

 

[Winelover]

The large Robson slicer has a 7" blade, 12 " OAL. The other has 4" long blade. The clasp pattern has a 4.5" blade...................pictures reflect that.

 

[twodot]

Winelover,
Do those CLASP knives lock open?
edit to add picture
looks kind of like my Old Timer.
..

 

[RBHarter]

I got fixed on the blade shape ...... Also the the "Vote for me" stick got dropped in the auto filter kid noise damping loop .

That is almost exactly what I have in mind .

 

[Winelover]

Winelover,
Do those CLASP knives lock open?

The only locking Clasp, that I recall, was the Case Boss..........a locking version of the Case Buffalo. It was the last version of that pattern before it was discontinued in the 80's. Handled in brown packwood.

BTW, that Old Timer, (made by Schrade) is of the Folding Hunter pattern. The blade of the Clasp pattern is about twice as wide as the folding hunter pattern. So much so, that it resembles a cutlass. The large clasp is far from a pocketable knife. In fact, the Boss came with a leather belt pouch, in a cardboard container. The older versions (Bulldogs & Buffalos) came in wooden felt lined boxes. Here's a picture of the Case Buffalo, also handled in brown packwood.