What's the one knife that got away and now you regret it?

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Solomonson

Solomonson

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What's the one knife (or maybe lot of knives) which got away and you still regret it? Maybe it was a stunning deal? Perhaps it was something uber rare? Maybe something with local interest, or perhaps a knife that commemorated something special to you?

For me it was a 1918 MkI Dagger. A genuine article in great shape for 50 bucks. I had no idea what it was worth and I passed because buying it would have meant driving to an ATM 5 miles or so away. 2-3 years later I got the bug and went looking for one (still pre-eBay.) I was shocked...

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Many many years ago,while in the Navy, I got an actual Kabar version of a MK2 "kabar" along with my issued other MK2 a Camillus.
Like the good older brother I was,(back then..), when I was transferred I sent it to my little brother who was in high school. Well he and his buddies went camping and he broke it off at the hilt using it as a prybar.
Dumba@#... :mad:
So, Yeah, I regret not keeping it for my self. o_O
 
I would have to say my Spyderco delica I lost 20 years aago. lots of good memories from that workhorse. got me out of a few jams and got abused pretty hard and held up well.
 
Back in the late '70s I sent away for Adrian Van Dyk's Knife List #115 catalog ( I still have it too). In the listings there was a small photo, a very brief description, and a price for a wide variety of edged weaponry. Now you've got to understand I wasn't making all that much money and a great deal of my excess funds went to guns, ammo, and hunting equipment. I didn't have a lot left over for knives and there were quite a few that interested me at what were really decent prices. I did manage to score a great buy on a Morseth Boot Knife. There were others that I would have also loved to have (like a Jimmy Lile Boot Knife for $85, a special run Randall knife for $98, and a couple of WWI Knuckle knives that were going for around $55), but guns and hunting were my driving passion at the time so I passed on some otherwise very collectable knives.
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A few years ago I decided a Benchmade 707 would be the perfect EDC for me. Went to buy one and found that they had been discontinued. The only ones I found were going for prices I wouldn't pay. I was bidding on one on Ebay about a year ago. In the last 30 seconds or so there was a flurry of bids that went a lot higher than I was willing to pay.

A few months later I saw another one on Ebay at a reasonable price. The bidding ended in about 30 minutes and I figured it would go a lot higher at the end too. My wife and I were going out to dinner so I didn't wait until the end of bidding. When I checked it later it sold for a price I'd have paid.
 
US mil bayonets and knives. There was a flea market not far from where I lived as a kid in the 80's where some guy sold mil surplus. You could get all the 03 and Garand bayonets, carbine and M14 bayonets, M3 knives, etc. you wanted for about $10. I had a big 03 bayonet I used to throw into a palm tree. I also obtained a large box of older US bayonets from a defunct "haitian" military base in '94 (along with their Garands, uzis, etc). I had to turn in the guns, but I brought the bayonets back to the guys to dig through for souvenirs (I still have one). US mil bayonets are worth huge $ now.
 
I had a very nice, very well made and precise German automatic knife which I EDC'ed. We went away for the weekend and when I came back it was gone.

Asked my HS age son, said he didn't know. Eventually the cigarette butts in the flower pots and the beer cans in the bushes told the tale.

His party attracted kids from other towns, his answer was "it's not my fault, I didn't even know the couple in your bedroom".

Urggg! I was furious at the time, for his lying and for strangers in our room. Thankfully, nothing else was taken or broken.

He now holds a very important, very serious position. Hard to imagine it's the same person who was such an idiot when he was younger. Sadly, I was probably the same at that age. lol
 
FL-NC said:
US mil bayonets and knives. There was a flea market not far from where I lived as a kid in the 80's where some guy sold mil surplus. You could get all the 03 and Garand bayonets, carbine and M14 bayonets, M3 knives, etc. you wanted for about $10. I had a big 03 bayonet I used to throw into a palm tree. I also obtained a large box of older US bayonets from a defunct "haitian" military base in '94 (along with their Garands, uzis, etc). I had to turn in the guns, but I brought the bayonets back to the guys to dig through for souvenirs (I still have one). US mil bayonets are worth huge $ now.
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I did not even know there was an "03" Bayonet? I know of the M1892 and the M1905. I also didn't know of a carbine or a M14 Bayo?

I do know what you mean about price though. I also remember the piles of "dull knives" as a kid which were cheap. Especially when compared to today.
 
When I was a kid I had always dreamed of getting one of those Cold Steel Tanto Knives. I still regret I didn't. Now, I'm learning how to make my own knives and hope to make one myself eventually.
 
Had a Benchmade 705. Let my teen son carry it. Fell out of his pocket walking across a field in a local park. The dumb part is, one of his two buddies saw it fall out, was going to say something but then one of the other boys said something he had to respond to and his brain clicked over to that. They went back looking for it but no luck.

They come up for sale now and then on eBay. There is one on there right now, used, for $250.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Benchmade-...927275?hash=item2f5388a62b:g:iWAAAOSwnNFgBI5S

It was painful but my son feels bad to this day. I'd like to think he learned a lesson.
 
Another one that got away. Was looking at Sebenzas at a knife show. The guy's prices were very good. I liked the Axis lock better than the left handed Sebenza.... and it was almost half the price of the Chris Reeve knife. I bet if I had gotten the Sebenza it would've grown on me. FWIW this was the year 2000 or so and the guy wanted $240 for the Sebenza. The Benchmade Ares 730S set me back $135. Both were below MSRP.

No idea why the guy's prices were that reasonable but the knives were legit.
 
Solomonson said:
I did not even know there was an "03" Bayonet? I know of the M1892 and the M1905. I also didn't know of a carbine or a M14 Bayo?

I do know what you mean about price though. I also remember the piles of "dull knives" as a kid which were cheap. Especially when compared to today.
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The 03 Springfield , M14 rifle, and M1/M2 carbines were all standard US mil issued weapons, at various times between WW1 and VN. They all had bayonets. Our doughboys used them A LOT in the trenches.
 
Years ago, I remember drooling over a SOG Desert Dagger in a Cutlery Shoppe catalog. I never bought one though. But now I have another similar knife I actually like better. In fact, when I read the title of this thread it made me realize just how happy I am with the knives I own. Not that I have a ton of them--but I have ones I really like.
 
aaronu said:
Another one that got away. Was looking at Sebenzas at a knife show. The guy's prices were very good. I liked the Axis lock better than the left handed Sebenza.... and it was almost half the price of the Chris Reeve knife. I bet if I had gotten the Sebenza it would've grown on me. FWIW this was the year 2000 or so and the guy wanted $240 for the Sebenza. The Benchmade Ares 730S set me back $135. Both were below MSRP.

No idea why the guy's prices were that reasonable but the knives were legit.
Click to expand...
Sounds like low overhead and possibly slim margins to me? Maybe he moved a lot of knives and got a great wholesale price to begin with?
 
FL-NC said:
The 03 Springfield , M14 rifle, and M1/M2 carbines were all standard US mil issued weapons, at various times between WW1 and VN. They all had bayonets. Our doughboys used them A LOT in the trenches.
Click to expand...
The M1903 Springfield used the M1905 (originally "Model of 1905") Bayonet. The M1892 Bayonet will also fit the M1903, although I don't believe they were ever issued together.

The M6 Bayonet was created for the M14 Rifle.

The M4 Bayonet (based on the M3 fighting knife) was created for the M1 Carbine.

Interestingly, the long M1905 Bayonet was created largely to maintain the overall "reach" of the rifle/bayo combination as the Krag was about 5.5" longer than the '03 Springfield. With the advent of the M1 Garand, the M1 Bayonet was created -- from both shortened M1905 Bayonets and as new production, even though the Garand was just about the same length as a '03 Springfield.

I didn't ask my question in jest. US bayonets can be a confusing subject and I wasn't sure if I had missed something in my research.
 
I still occasionally look for the one I keep letting go. I could afford to just buy it, but I want to get a deal so I keep being a cheapskate. Case toothpick with Corelon scales. I can’t just order one and hope for pretty scales, and I never find a good looking one when I have money to burn. One of these days though, I will have one and it will be beautiful and it will be cheap. I don’t even really care which color of Corelon it is.

And an old school American made buck canoe.
 
aaronu said:
the guy wanted $240 for the Sebenza
Click to expand...
:what:

I'd have dislocated my shoulder getting the money out for a real Sebenza at that price!

Solomonson said:
Sounds like low overhead and possibly slim margins to me?
Click to expand...

That would have been below dealer cost at that price. If he'd picked it up at an estate or going our of business sale it is still shockingly low. That's about the only way he could make any money selling it at that price.
 
Back in the early 90’s I had a small collection of mostly canoes, one was a Bulldog brand with the two dogs etching and bone handle.

I sold whole collection to fund something else but for whatever reason I still miss that bulldog canoe.
 
I don't sell knives, and don't lust after things I can't affort, BUT I do regret gifting a knife to a young man working in my warehouse that I felt sorry for.
I gave him a Spyderco Tenacious he admired.

Not expensive or rare, but he proved himself to be a irresponsible jerk.
One day he just stopped coming to work and never answered his phone.
 
Got another one for you. About this same time as my Van Dyk venture I use to frequent a little cutlery shop that was right across the street from where I worked (convenient to say the least)! Same money dilemma, same wants but can't afford. The objects of my desire this time were both Al Mar knives: a Tanken and a Tanto. Like them both (though I was slightly more inclined to the Tanto); but couldn't afford either of them.

Fast forward some years later and as I'm leaving a gun show I happen to notice two knives of the Tanto variety on display on a table! Not only that they're the Al Mar Tantos I so longingly admired way back when! They're marked as being pre-production models and the price on them is extremely tantalizing (and affordable)! So I picked up the the lower numbered one and went home with my prized Tanto dream finally realized!
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The Buck 110 that I bought from the Ship's Exchange on the USS Mobile in 1972. It's the knife I learned how to use a stone with as I bought a Buck sharpening kit at the same time as the knife. Spent countless boring hours on deck looking at the South China Sea and the coast of Viet Nam sharpening that thing to an absolute razor edge. I didn't sell it or give it away but it's gone missing.

I replaced it with it's identical twin but it will never be the same. Especially that so well broken in belt sheath. Carried and used the '72 model for a lot of years. Gone but not forgotten.
 
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