Those old yellow fishing knives are worth real money these days. I had one with a hook sharpening stone (groove for the hook) in the handle. Have no idea where it is now but wish I did.View attachment 915422
so I was about to start first grade, we had moved to a "new" house in a dinky one light town, and I was trying to fit in with a new crowd, and Dad decided to give me a knife that would be generally useful.
Blade long enough to clean fish...check!
Scaler, hook remover, and cap lifter (no twist offs yet)… check!
Can Piercer (no pop tops yet) … check!
He gave me only three rules.
1. DO NOT THROW THE KNIFE!
2. do not cut anything that does not need cutting (especially self)
3. DO NOT THROW THE KNIFE!
Showed off knife to local kids who made appreciative noises. Carried it a week.
Buddy shows up one Saturday after noon and commences to throw his folder in the dirt and teaches me Mumbly Pegs as played then and there (later some kids called this version "splits" , to recover knife you have to touch it with a foot with out moving other until you either can not reach or fall down,and the version where you are not to move a foot "Chicken")
Needless to say it seemed obvious rules ONE and THREE obviously did not mean tossing at the soft sod,
I was pretty good at it.
Half an hour later we decided to see if Mom had made up and Iced any powdered fruity drink stuff.
On the way in buddy says "See that grey spot on that oak tree/" and tossed his pocket knife at it. He missed by a good four inches.
I commented on his lack of accuracy as kindly as any six year old can no doubt and he challenged "Think you can do better?"
Ha my blade was stuck less than an inch from the Grey spot....and the bladeless handle you see in the bottom of that picture was laying on the ground....and Dad's car pulled into the drive and stopped with the drivers side door right there at the tree...
Dad got out of the car. Pulled my blade from the tree. Told me "Pick up your knife, be sure you have it with you from now on to remember this lesson." So I spent months with a fish scaler that had a hook remover on it and bottle and can opener while buddies had all manner of folding knives and was much shamed.
I bought the upper knife with in the last ten years at a gun show.
Dad kept the blade in his jewelry box for decades. Mom says it is not there now....maybe he took it with him when he passed?
Mom's Dad gave me a Old Grand Dad for my seven Birthday in way of a repreieve. I carried either an Old Grand Dad or Old Timer from then until Nine and got a Official Cub Scout Knife. Not only did I carry my pocket knives to school but on Uniform Days for the Cub and Boy Scouts I wore my swivel hook belt slide and the Cub Scout Knife bounced about in public...the only issue I had was boys teasing me for not upgrading to a Boy Scout Knife when I went from Blue to Brown.
When I got out of Scouts and Started High School JROTC again Mom's Dad gave me a US Army Stainless Pocket knife ….which the LTC and All the Sargeants called a Demo Kit Knife and which when I attended Demo School at Velsek Germany in 1975 was called a Demo Kit knife so don't even start. Papa worked at Moody AFB out of Valdosta at the time as a Civilian contractor and they were cleaning out a building for re modeling and found a metal flange top six gallon bucket full of the knives and dutifully offered them to the USAF supervisor who said to throw them in the trash. Papa said there were several other guys also with bulging pockets at close of business that day. When cleaning his shop 20 years later after he passed there was one still wrapped in paper in a tool drawer.
Before going off to live with Uncle sugar I had three sheath knives for carrying in the field. The first was a "Souvinier of Florida" stamped thin blade with thin stamped riveted grips I bought with earnings from a summer job in Gatlinberg Tenn on family vacation. Right bought in Tenn and I am from Florida... piece of crap but it was an OK filet knife and "beat not having a sheath knife" for a few months.
My Papa's Fishing buddy saw it on a trip down to Crystal River to get the boat wet and frighten the fish and was appalled. When we took him home, he went in and came back out with an M5A1 bayonet which was my woods companion until Uncle Sugar gave me an M7 on loan.
A couple of years later we were back in the mountains and made another trip through Gatlingberg and I bought what Was sold as a camp knife but was in fact a Hitler Youth knife or reproduction at least with out the gaudy HJ jewel mounting no idea at the time what the blade etching words meant (later on living with Uncle Sugar in Germany an old German told me the painted red and white diamond shape on the handle I described to him was how the knives were marked the last year or so of the war, giving up the closine pin being the least a 13 year old could do for the party) It was realatively flat and thin and quite concealable around town and was. I did not carry it Germany, but soon working with a German unit saw they 1970's German Army Battle Knife and acquired one immediately....same still "butter knife", thin, and forester type grip instead of bayonet grip of the HJ knife ...much the same and yet better than my old knife. Also a full tang which the HJ knife was not "My Honor is True" but my tang was not!
Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about my carry habits as a boy.
-kBob
Buddy shows up one Saturday after noon and commences to throw his folder in the dirt and teaches me Mumbly Pegs as played then and there (later some kids called this version "splits" , to recover knife you have to touch it with a foot with out moving other until you either can not reach or fall down,and the version where you are not to move a foot "Chicken")
Great story. 110 has a special place in my heart too. Bought one from the ship exchange of the USS Mobile in 1973 while we were cruising around the South China Sea. Learned how to sharpen a knife with it and a sharpening kit bought at the same time. Like you, I find them a little too heavy for EDC these days. But rest assured, there is one in my top drawer - and there always will be.That brings back memories. I was about 6 or maybe 7 when I got my first official gifted knife/tool. This would have been '87-'88. I remember it vividly. It was Christmas. Our tree always had presents under it for our grandparents or from my mom to my dad or whatnot. My stuff was always there on Christmas Day after Santa stopped by, of course. However, I remember finding something under the tree to me from Dad. It was small and rectangular, but had weight. It was the first gift I ever received that was both small and heavy...something that I have learned generally means good stuff is inside in the time since. My dad, being torturous, decided it leave it under the tree probably 2 weeks before Christmas. I'd pick it up and shake it. What could it be? Finally on the big day, he let me open it. It was the first thing I went for, bypassing all the fluff and flash of stuff the Fat Man had dropped off. What was in that damn box!
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Something like this, except it also had my name engraved with gold paint on the side. I loved it. Think of all the stuff I could do with that?
Of course, like many of you, I lost it out in the woods by the following spring. Such is life, but I will never forget how receiving it made me feel. I will never forget the, for lack of a better term, power I felt carrying it. Someone with rudimentary tools is at least in charge of his destiny somewhat. Better than tooth and claw. Better than needing something in a hurry and having it...back at the garage. In the years that followed I always carried a SAK. When Leatherman style tools hit it big, my first MT of the pliers variety was a Gerber that I bought at the local Walmart where I was going to college. Since that day, I can probably count on one hand the number of days that I have not had a multitool either on my person or more than 3' away from me. All thanks to that cheap little gift my dad got me that I promptly lost.
Other knives I had growing up were mostly cheap pieces of garbage that my grandma bought me from the junk stores. My mom hated that she did that, but Grandma always indulged me. She would also manage to pick up some beautiful old pocket knives at yard sales. She kept a little cabinet in her house where she would always stash a few things she picked up for me. When I came over, I made a straight shot to that cabinet to see what kind of treasures she found. Once again, nothing of heirloom quality, most of it from Pakistan. But 30+ years later I still remember it fondly.
The granddaddy of all knives I carried was a Buck 110. I have had and lost several, but the model always will remain dear to my heart. My dad has carried a 110 since forever. He was heavily into riding and biker culture, and of course the 110 became THE biker knife. On top of that, it made for a fantastic work knife. He was, and still is, a contractor. I remember how he used to come home soaked with sweat. His jeans covered in concrete and wet from perspiration. At the bottom of his front pocket was a worn white outline of his 110. It was always at an angle since he did so much of his work bent over finishing concrete. Now what I am calling a 110 was usually NOT a 110. It was a Craftsman model of the 110. My dad liked the fact that he could use his knife hard at work (and he did) and take it back to Sears if it broke (and it did). However, over the years I would buy him actual Buck 110s for birthdays and father's days. He usually kept one or two pristine as his "going to dinner" knife. As I got into leather work, I started making him various sheaths. Some built like brick outhouses for work, some more sleek and refined dyed black to match his Harley boots and belt. While I find the 110 just a tad too heavy and bulky for an EDC these days, I will always respect it. I bought one with my first paycheck when I joined the family business after college. Kept it for years and eventually passed it down to my little brother when he started working for the business. If I could redo our family crest, I'm sure I would work one of those old workhorse Bucks into it somehow![]()
Similar. I think mine was Kabar though and the stone was more flush with the scales.
My current lineup of knives makes my "growing up" knives look like total junk.
A blue Camillus Cub Scout knife from third grade I had up through college.
Lost it in a car wreck that totaled my '68 VW.
Not sure what happened to either of them, but, after that, I was hooked on SAK. I don't think I've owned anything other than an SAK since.
Here's a link to a site that discusses the various makers of Boy Scouts knives and axes. I don't know what kind of licensing revenue these ever produced, but I would bet that it diminished significantly once production moved offshore. http://www.scoutknives.net/index.php/boy-scout-knives-1