What knives would you include on an all-time landmark/watershed knife list?

Since I am rather a collector/user of non factory knives for 50 years ,
Randall #1 and #14 , Some early Gerbers and good old Victornox SAK
Marbles Boy Scout knives were my Early joys
Puma Game Wardens , earlier the better before Stainless !
Early Schrade Sharpfingers
Wyoming Skinners

hso said:

Did those precede gut hooks?

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NO they actually were the ultimate refinement of gut hooks. Replace able "razor" type blades. I must have skinned 500 Calif. wild pigs with mine, and hundreds of other things.

Puma Game Warden , first one I had in 60s was not stainless , lost it by 71 . Replaced it in 72


Same deal with Old Time Sharp Finger . They became my skinner in the early 70s . I gave my 80s Harley Davidson one to Sonny Barger a few years ago when he was pushing his Movie "Dead in 5 heart Beats " Kept the penknife tho , I had moved on to Mad Dogs Baby Rhino


What I used to use for my animal processing



I ended up using this Mad Dog Baby Rhino he made me, (you had to go hunting with Kevin in the time period I got mine #5 , and a small 4" straight drop 1/8" thick Lab Rat for the straight cut needs (lower knife pictured above)


The long slicer is my favorite MD knife and was my first ; a 9" Rezine 2000 I ordered in 1999 and got in 2000 . Very useful knife, I cut a ton of barbque meat ect with it. My wife liked a $2000 Turkey slicer

Old Dog said:

I dunno if I'd go that far, but mine (gift from Dad in about 1968) disappeared sometime in the 80s when I was on a deployment ... yeah, I miss mine, too.

HSO's list is pretty fair, for sure. I actually visited Marble's as a boy. Memories.

At least Bark River keeps up the Yooper knife-making tradition. Below (not mine, but it was my first real "hunting knife" as we called them back in the day).
View attachment 956529

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Mine has a significant sentimental value attached to it. Mom gave me that knife and passed not to long after. So yeah I would gladly give up my truck for my specific knife.

Puukko + Leuku:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puukko

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_knife

Gordon said:

Puma Game Warden , first one I had in 60s was not stainless , lost it by 71 . Replaced it in 72

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I bought my Game Warden sometime in the early seventies (mine has green-colored, checkered scales) and I still have the box it came in. The Puma is one of my favorite folders but I wish it had a clip for the pocket; I'm always nervous about losing it.

I've lost far more pocket clipped knives than ones tha go down to the bottom of pocket ! I lost two Police Spyderco's from the 80s and 90s until I learned about how when I would sit it could be forced up and out sometimes ! I replaced them with an early model from e bay auction I carry it clipped to the Vest pocket , exposed side ways . NO problems
Early Spyderco Police model ! THATS iconic and a fearsome blade ! Maybe the most fierce for it's size ever !

I tend to lose clipped flashlights like that. I usually notice it either just before it would have fallen, or when it hits the ground.

Got me going on my old police model . This is the model I currently have, paid $150 off E bay . First generation

SwampWolf said:

I bought my Game Warden sometime in the early seventies (mine has green-colored, checkered scales) and I still have the box it came in.

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Whoops, I got that wrong! My Puma folder is a Back Packer 465 model, not a Game Warden. I bought it new on 10-16-73, from a long defunct gun store in Cleveland, Ohio, for the princely sum of twenty bucks.

I'm really not a knife collector or knife expert, so this will be a layman's version. I see only a few knife designs with a gazillion versions of each.

First and foremost, at least for me and my life, must be any of the Victorinox/Wegner Swiss Army knives. To me, these are the perfect knives. Pick any version that suits you best.

The Buck 110. Probably not the first lock back single bladed knife, but definitely the most widely recognized. There are a gazillion single bladed, folding, locking knives in the world, made by thousands of manufacturers, but the only one I can actually name is the 110.

The Ka-Bar. Like the Buck 110, this is the quintessential combat knife. Universally recognized. (Thanks largely to 1960s WWII movies.) There are a lot of heavy, fixed blades out there, but everyone knows this one.

Lastly, any of the folding plier/multi-tools, but for me, that is most likely the Leatherman. Like the Swiss Army, pick any version you like.

My Svord Peasant Knife came in today. Thanks OP for the item on your list. For this type of list I have more than a few. And added more than a few to my buy list.

Who doesn't have a buck knife or a USMC KA-BAR. Or maybe a Swiss Army. My brother told me that in Ranger School early 90's when they had their field test that he sneaked a Swiss army knife along. Said their gear was searched beforehand.

So many good responses. I have almost every knife listed. The SAK. The Buck 110 (though I actually liked the Gerber Magnum and Sportsman better. A little thinner).

I’ll add the US Military Camillus pocket knife too. (And Queen, Imperial and other makers)

This is the one that started me on hand made knives...

Jimmy Lile and the Rambo series.

That movie and that knife caused an explosion in the knife industry at the time.

From absolute crap to other hand made knives, everywhere you looked, there was a sawback, hollow handled knife.


(Internet picture. Too lazy to go to the safe)

Loveless Drop point hunter. Iconic.

Wow, lots of great knives! I have a few which have already been offered up for consideration:

Gerber Mk.I

Gerber Mk.II

Kissing Crane's Italian Stiletto

Garcia/Hackman Hollow Handle Survival Knife

S&W/Blackie Collins Hollow Handle Survival Knife

Marbles Hunting Knife

Al Mar Tanken Tanto

A.G. Russell Morseth Boot Knife

Ontario USAF Survival Knife

KaBar USMC Fighting Knife

Gerber Applegate/Fairbairn Folding Knife

Schrade Folding Knife

Gerber A400 Armorhide Hunting Knife

Randall No.1 Fighting Knife

Puma Folding Lockback Knife

Gerber FSII Folding Lockback Knife

Benchmade Mini-Griptillian Folding Knife

Victorinox Swiss Army Knife

MoraKniv Companion Knife

Gukha Kukri Knife

I forgot about Moras; I had several, I suspect they moved out with my kids.......

dh1633pm said:

Who doesn't have a buck knife or a USMC KA-BAR.

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LOL. Umm. Me. I pretty much gave up on folders for field processing game. I have been thinking about adding some sort of fighting knife/bayonet, although I have zero use for one. (Heck, the Army has even dropped bayonet training.) Since I was never a Marine, it won't be a Ka-Bar.

bannockburn said:

View attachment 957118
Ontario USAF Survival Knife

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Did you dip that leather handle in some sort of varnish/shellack?

D. B. Cooper

Did you dip that leather handle in some sort of varnish/shellack?

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The leather washers were basically untreated and starting to come loose so I applied a coat of clear epoxy to them and they've been perfectly preserved for many, many years now.

Horace Kephart Bushcrafter:



https://www.realworldsurvivor.com/2018/06/12/horace-kephart/

Nessmuk Ideal knife:



http://www.knivesillustrated.com/the-nessmuk-ideal-a-knifes-history/