Your 1st knife

[outdoorman63]

My first knife was a case sheath knife I got from my grandpa in 1972, he bought it with several books of top value stamps. I still have it even thou it shows its age and how rough I was on it. First knife I bought that I remember was a buck 110 in 1980 when I started work at western auto, wish I still had it but it was stolen out of my car years ago.

 

[Gooseman69]

Old timers folding dual blade pocket knife 40+ yrs, old and still looks as new as the day it was, given to me as a christmas present

 

[Space Ghost]

Can't remember what my first knife was, most likely a Boy Scout knife.
However, the first one I ever bought with my own money... THAT I not only remember, I still have.
I was out riding my bike with my older sister. (one of the reasons I remember it so well... (THAT didn't happed often)
Anyhow, she wanted to stop and look at some garage sale, so we did. I saw a cool Bowie knife. Lady wanted $10, I told her I had $8. She said that would be fine, so I rode home for my lawn mowing money.
Wasn't long before I broke the tip off throwing it at trees trying to be Daniel Boone like on TV, but it was a cool knife all the same.
Here just a year or so back I had it re-profiled so it would be useable again, and a new kydex sheath made for it because the 50 year old leather was starting to rot. Still a cool old Bowie.

 

[27hand]

Lots of cool stories.
My grandparents came over from Germany when I was about 4 or 5. We had been here since I was 2+ in 1952.

My grandfather got a job in a home for elderly people as a maintenance man.
Earlier in his life, he was a blacksmith and my grandmother worked the bellows for him.

As people passed, a lot of their belongings were not claimed and some things worked their way into my grandfather's shop.

This knife was my very first at roughly about 8 years old.. It and the sheath were in better shape ( well, so was I).
I thought I.lost it but eventually during a house move, I found it in my garage, rusty and handle broken as in the pic.

I did a quick clean maybe 10 years ago, sharpened it and used it to gut quite a few deer.

I'll have to find #2 knife which was very similar but had a guard. I'll post that pic when I find it.

At 72, I'm surprised I still have it and it is probably older than I am.

cool thread

https://www.flickr.com/gp/101828248@N08/92iLE7
https://www.flickr.com/gp/101828248@N08/

 

[Officers'Wife]

My first knife (knives) were made by my uncle. In the pastures around Jakobee swamp he had me help look for "bog iron" which I believe was originally part of a meteorite. He smelted the bog iron then cast it into thin strips which he put in a "bath" of burning coal inside a clay and brick "box." The resulting blister steel was then folded (with me having to turn the handle for the rotary bellows of his forge) and finally shaped into a butchering set. After he "instructed" me on the use of spoke shave the set had handles made from a piece of burr oak rescued from the wood shed. He then told Dad I was good help and put the knives on the kitchen table saying they were mine.

They are high carbon steel and great care must be taken to prevent rust but unless you do something really stupid they will stay sharp through the carcass of two deer or 120 chickens. When my husband took up woodworking one of the first projects was to make a cloth lined box for them. They also got me in a bit of trouble at Fort Myer when the wife of an O6 asked me if they were really worth enough to kill someone over. My reply was that if someone was willing to die for them by breaking into our quarters it would be rude not to kill them.

 

[SteadyD]

My first knife was a junky butterfly knife back in the early 80s when I was maybe 6 or 7. Got it at a store that sold an eclectic array of goods and had a display of throwing stars, butterfly knives and the like. My second knife was a junky survival knife that could store stuff in the handle and had a compass. I thought they were both super awesome. Wish I still had them.

 

[hso]

Bog iron isn't meteorite, but it was an important source of iron for early people's. It forms by precipitation iron in solution of groundwater flowing into wetlands. Bacterial action contributes to formation of the ore.

 

[kBob]

My first has been on THR in other first knife threads but here it is for you new guys.

The bottom one with the broken off missing blade.

It was given to me at six and was quite the thing in those pre pull tab can days when men were men and beverage cans were steel.
It featured a can piercer on the back that made the perfect size and shape sipping hole!

There was also that amazing fish scaler blade that would denude a bream fish in moments and had a hook remover that could follow a line deep into the maw of the most glutinous cat fish,… AND had a bottle cap remover down near the joint end! That thing would Pop the top off a “co-coaler”, Dr. Pepper, or Orange Crush while the other boys still struggled to open their Scout type knives!

That knife blade could turn a broken off stick to a pointy stick in a flash or even sharpen a #2 Faber to get back to home work in less time than finding an actual pencil sharpener. It even carved out the pieces for a figure four trigger for a bird trap.

Did not survive being tossed at an oak tree worth a darn. Oh the blade stuck jest fine…. And what you see broke off and fell to the ground.

Daddy made me carry that knife the better part of a year to remind me to A. Not throw knives and B. listen to him in the future as he told me A when I got the knife.

When other boys pulled out their knives I was ashamed to pull out my fish scaling bottle and can opener.

Eventually My Grandfather “Papa” got me a Pearl scaled Old Timer. Soon after I got an OH Fish All Cub Scout knife and the pretty knife went in my top drawer in the cigar box of treasured things. The Cub Scout knife stayed with me and in those days got worn OPENLY to public school on uniform days with my Cub Scout uniform on my official belt hook snap hook through the lanyard bail.

The wonderful fishing knife stayed in my Cigar box many decades and the blade stayed in Dad’s jewelry box for decades, but while I still have the “handle” Mom reports the blade to be missing. I was at a gun show a decade back and saw the Upper knife in a loose display and bought it. They now share space in my cigar box.

-kBob

 

[Spats McGee]

My first knife was a small buck 2-blade folder that my dad got me when I was about 9. Good little knife, or at least 9 Year Old Me thought so.

 

[Kingcreek]

I would pay mucho if I had a chance to get it back.
Small 2 blade case stockman that went away through a hole in a pocket one day long ago.
When I was a young boy, my grandfather- a pipe smoking Swedish woodcrafter/cabinetmaker taught me to sharpen his chisels and planer blades. At first, I sat on his lap and he guided my hands. Later he watched and made corrections to my technique and would inspect and approve the resulting edges. When he thought I was ready he gave me the knife and a sharpening stone and a can of oil.
I treasured it and carried it always until it went missing.

 

[Yo Mama]

Buck Stockman I talked my grandmother into getting me. I told her I wanted nail clippers, had no idea what I was talking about, as soon as 8 year old me saw the stockman I had to have it. Begged her for it, ended up with it, cut me bad, my mom then took it. Never saw it again. My grandmother didn't do alot of kind things for us, this was a better memory I have of her.

I have no place for traditional knives. I like a lock. But every time I see a Buck Stockman I smile, one day maybe I'll grab one.

 

[John Joseph]

A Camillus Official Cub Scout Knife when I was very young. The liner lock never worked and I got cut soon after receiving it. In high school and college it lived in the ash tray of my VW Beetle and went missing when I rolled it attempting a bootlegger turn sometime back in the 70's.
I still don't trust liner locks.

 

[Mk-211]

The first knife I got was a Camillus multi tool knife. My dad gave it to me when I was a kid.

I'm sure a lot of people here probably had/have one, it looks like this.



Then when I was older and thought I was cooler... I bought the most bada$$ survival knife in the world!

Yep, it was bad alright, some of you might've had one when you were younger. Looked something like this awesome knife.



Then in the mid 80's Buck came out with the Buckmaster 184 to play on the whole Rambo thing. I don't know how he did it but my dad found one. He gave it to me as a graduation/birthday/going into the military gift. I still have it to this day, the pic below is of another one that I have.



Then while in the Army I saw what happened to be the best fighting/combat knife ever made. It's led to my obsession for them and other knives.

Ek Knives


I still have the first Ek knife that I bought, it's the one on the right in the pic. It has a few others to keep it company.

 

[Obturation]

My first was this-

SAK (cadet?). My dad had loaned me the dinkiest folding knife imaginable and ground off the tip when I was about 5. After a year of having it and showing I was responsible enough to not cut myself or anyone else and not losing it he deemed me worthy.
I had about $10 saved up and my dad said he'd cover whatever I was short.

We went to service merchandise, if you aren't familiar it was a store you looked at everything behind glass and then when you bought something it would come down a conveyor belt.

That was right around 1990. I quickly lost the toothpick and tweezers but managed to hang on to the knife all these years. Even through my 20s when I moved around a lot, drank too much and was generally irresponsible. I always had that little SAK. I still carry this knife sometimes and still is tight and in good condition.

Brings back a lot of memories and I doubt I'll be handing it down to either of my daughters, just toss it in the box with me when I'm all done.

 

[borrowedtime69]

First folding knife, when I was 10 or 11, one of those Boy Scout knives with black plastic scales and 2 blades & a couple of tools.

My first sheath knife was a Buck 119 I got when I was of age to drive & hunt on my own, 14 yo. I still have it. I don't use it like I should due to more military type ones I have, but this Buck will be handed down to my grandchildren some day along with my dads Buck 110 folder.

 

[JustsayMo]

My Grandfather gave me two knives when I was 7 - a small stockman and a Western hunting knife. Both were well used but before I got them and with them I learned how to sharpen and use knives. My Grandfather loved to hunt and fish but didn't care for field dressing which is why I suspect he equipped his children and grandchildren with knives when any interest in joining him was expressed. Good memories.

A Cub Scout knife was my first new knife. As kBob noted earlier, a scout knife worn openly on a belt clip was part of the Cub Scout uniform and I joined just so I could wear mine on Den meeting days which were right after school.

The first knife I ever bought with my own money was a Case Muskrat with about a month's worth of paperboy wages. I couldn't wait to save up enough to afford the "Buck knife" - which is what we called any folder, regardless of brand, that was carried in a belt pouch and very fashionable at the time. It wasn't until I started working summers in fish processing plant in Alaska that I bought my first 'Buck knife" and it was an Uncle Henry...

 

[jmr40]

my first 'Buck knife" and it was an Uncle Henry...

You don't see those a lot. I can remember during the 1970's when most of my friends and I carried a Buck 110 or the very similar Uncle Henry in a belt sheath pretty much all the time. Most carried the Buck, but a significant number of folks carried the Uncle Henry. There were some spirited debates about which was best at the time. Seems like some things never change.

 

[Speedo66]

My favorite uncle bought me this when I was about 6 or 7. The spoon and fork are marked stainless, the knife itself is marked Japan.

The scales appear to be jigged bone, all around it appears to be a decent knife. It had a pigskin belt sheath, but long gone through just age deterioration, 65+ years.

 

[JustsayMo]

You don't see those a lot. I can remember during the 1970's when most of my friends and I carried a Buck 110 or the very similar Uncle Henry in a belt sheath pretty much all the time. Most carried the Buck, but a significant number of folks carried the Uncle Henry. There were some spirited debates about which was best at the time. Seems like some things never change.

At the time I liked the Uncle Henry LB7 better. It was more rounded and a little thicker - and less expensive if I recall correctly. I own several iterations of the Buck 110 and Uncle Henry LB7 and LB8, plus other 110 copies including the Western 541. These days I prefer the Buck 110, especially the S30V versions.



Modern tactical knives are fun to fidget with and lighter to carry but none surpass the 110 when the task at had requires a knife. Comfortable in the hand, useful blade shape and capable, just ask Gene Moe.

 

[aarondhgraham]

My first knife was a small two-bladed folder of some unremembered make,,,
My Grandfather gave to to me (age 5) when the family moved to an island in Lake Huron.

It didn't take 5 minutes for me to close the blade on my finger,,,
It must have been a pretty serious cut,,,
I'm 70 and still can see the scar.

Aarond

.

 

[bannockburn]

My first knife, which I still have, is an Imperial Kamp-King model. Back in the day when I was in the 4th or 5th Grade
we use to sell magazine subscriptions to raise money for the school. When you finished and the amount was tallied up, you could order things from a "Prize" catalog and the one thing I really wanted was a multi-purpose knife like the Kamp-King. I picked it mainly for when we went on campouts when I was in the Cub Scouts. Couldn't afford the Official Cub Scout pocket knife so the Imperial knife took it's rightful place on my belt.

 

[Mk-211]

Hey BB, I bet the other Scouts probably liked your knife better!

 

[Spats McGee]

.....It didn't take 5 minutes for me to close the blade on my finger,,, Aarond

You, me, and about 8 million other boys did the same thing.

 

[hso]

other boys did the same thing

I've seen adults do it.

 

[sgt127]

SAK Tinker. 1972 or so. Ala Moana knife shop in Honolulu. Pre toothpick and tweezers.

I used that thing for so many great adventures. Carried it everywhere.

Sitting quietly in my save, retired.