Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades What was your first knife?

I still have mine. My pop bought me a buck small stockman when I was 13. 30 years later I still have it and it's in like new condition. It's a miracle it hasn't been lost.

A medium size Camillus stockman that my grandfather gave me when I was 6.

My first was a yellow handles Queen Steel stockman.

Camillius official cub scout pocket knife. It lacked the can opener and only had a spear shaped blade, screwdriver/ bottle opener, and awl.

Got it at age 7 when my mom bought my twin brother and me our first knives. We were cub scouts then so she didn't buy Boy Scout knives. Not sure if it was cost, concerns about not investing money in something that would get lost, or fear of us testing the can opener tool on her food stock.

Either way.. I still have mine, and carried it through college. Its a little loose and sentimental so it doesn't see much pocket time now, but its amazing I still have it. My brother lost his...

I had a couple of pocket knives that I do not remember specifically, but first real knife was a Kinfolks fixed blade with leather spacer handle when I was 12. Still have it almost 60 years later.

Wayne Hendrix model 11, birthday gift from my uncle when I turned fourteen. Still have it today.

A single blade Barlow from father on my 5th birthday.

Case small Stockman when I was about eight years old. I started hunting with dad and grandpa at that age and they figured it was about time I got a pocket knife. Grandpa took me to the local hardware store and let me look at the knives in the swiveling display case. With a little guidance I ended up with a yellow bone handled Case XX stockman. I was taught how to sharpen on a set of stones and take a few passes on the strop to take off the wire edge. I remember how I felt like I was one of the men when I'd pull out that knife to slit a rabbit or squirrel to dress out or slice garden tomatoes or whittle a whistle from a green maple branch. That knife is long ago lost but the lesson of a man always having a pocket knife of some sort in a front pocket and a handkerchief in his rear pocket stuck with me to this day. I always wonder about a guys upbringing when they don't have either one of those two items when they need it. I don't loan out mine if asked... maybe they'll learn their lesson.

Mine was a Barlow with two blades. It is long gone.

A generic single bladed lockback bought at a general store. It had a cheap fake pearl handle. I think I was only 6, but I can still remember it.

A Barlow 2 blade, still have what is left of it.

I bet your a peanut butter and jelly making mofo.

Mine was one of those celluloid handled "fish" knives picked from a cigar box of knives that my parents had. Red, main blade pointy as hell, fish scaler on the spine, probably an Imperial? I was about 10.

In many of these stories here the ages are 6-10 range and we carried them to school! Jail time now for that...........

Walden stockman

Pops thought I was too little for a pocket knife but that summer I found the remains (one blade) of a cheap folding pocket knife that had been driven over.
I used some copper tubing for a handle and drilled a hole with an "egg beater" hand drill so I could pin the blade to handle with a nail.
I carried it for a while in the watch pocket of my jeans.
He figured out I was "carrying" and I got a yellow handled Imperial two blade shortly thereafter.

Mine is the Buck 110, I bought it around 1973 and still have it.
My oldest knife.

Victorinox pocket knife I got for my birthday from my best friend (we were so young it was his family's Bday gift to me. Got it despite my parents not really approving. Didn't cut myself, but cut a lot of other things.

My first was the official boy scout knife. 40 years later and I still have it. It was used extremely hard
but I can see scout logo on it. The knife has a spear blade, can opener, screwdriver/bottle opener & awl.
Great topic, thanks for posting it.

Two blade Barlow. Carried it to school in kindergarten. There've been LOTS since then, but I have that one still.

First hunting knife was a Schrade Sharpfinger. I still have that one, too.

I don't recall exactly but believe it was probably something like this one, in a Boy Scout configuration. First fix blade was a Buck 105...

A Buck 119 Special. That was almost 40 years ago and still have it.

I remember going with my Dad on a weekend to the shop on Fort Belvoir. I was 4. The EM's were drinking Pabst from a round top refrigerator and smoking Pall Mall's.

Still remember the smell of those cigarettes.

One of the spec's reached in his pocket and handed it to me.

Said it was the last thing he had from Nam and it was time to let it go.

Knife was lost by the Mayflower moving company in 1974 when we moved to Michigan, along with a lot of other stuff my Dad gave me.

Give me a Pall Mall and a Pabst in a can, and I'll choke right up.

This! Had it since the early 70s and still have it. Two handed brisket splitter on deer and moose.

I'm impressed so many of you can remember the exact knife. Not sure if it was my first but remember the second year I was old enough to buy presents, with money from my parents, I bought my Dad a pocket knife. When he opened it I said something like he already had a knife and that I didn't. My older brothers reminded me of the story. I do remember my dad gave me the knife - and I learned proper gifting. I don't have a clue as to the make or model.

For my 6th birthday in 1958.
Unfortunately, I don't have it anymore. Found this pic online.

Same here, on both counts. Store where we got it was the general store, post office, and a mechanic's shop. I'm sure that's long gone too.

A Schrade Old Timer 3OT small lockback. Brand new in the box. The knife that started my whole collection.

I think it was a Case Trapper.Still my favorite to carry hunting.The one I have now is only 40 years old so it's kind of a new comer.

I'm 67 and cannot remember when I didn't have a Case in my pocket, thanks to my Grandfather.

Cub Scout knife about 1963 - with three younger brothers stuff got handed down - I don't have it any longer. I do have the Western Black Beauty fixed blade my folks gave me for Christmas in 1966 and the Buck 301 Stockman my grandma gave me for HS graduation in 1973.

My first real hunting knife was a Buck 110 folder I got as a Christmas present from my dad when I was 16. That knife has cleaned countless duck and geese, a dozen deer and antelope and a couple elk. Still holds an edge like crazy. It's pretty much retired now and has been replaced by many other knives but none will ever replace it!

Elk Country

My first knife was one of those brass bolstered folding lockers with the blade marked Pakistan. They used to sell them at flea markets covered in cosmoline and waxed paper. They also could be won at the county fair along with roach clips with pink or blue feathers strung from them on gray suede, cardboard framed rock band mirrors, and airbrushed cowboy hats.

These are a bit later, my little brother gave them to me 25 years ago. They've been in this old hard sided suitcase I kept all my hunting stuff in as a kid. It became a time capsule of sorts.


This one was also in there. The blade's marked STAG Ireland.

My first knife was a yellow handled Case w/2 blades in 1970. Wish I still had it. Was followed very shortly by a Boy Scout knife and two very nice fixed blades from my Grand father, all of which I still have. All of them have been used pretty hard but are still razor sharp.

Since no one was apparently going to give me one anytime soon, and I didn't have the money to buy something expensive with a name brand like "Buck", mine was the same as Kingston's, one of those cheap, brass-bolstered, Pakistan made lockbacks. I was so proud of it!

Buck 110

Barlow, the old man gave me a white handled shrade, with 2 rams fighting, lost it on a mule deer hunt in 87, wallowa oregon when I was 12. Ran a sharp finger for several years after that.

Butter, I think.

Best as I can recall, my first real knife was Puma folder purchased in the late 60's at a local hardware store for the princely sum of $15.00 or so. Unfortunately, it disappeared....

hand-me-down Ka-Bar

Buck colt 703

Toad, that's a cool old knife I've looks like it's missing the bail. I like a bail but I don't own one knife that has one. Thought about a wenger standard issue but I'm so used to the saw blade on the Swiss army farmer, I know it would be missed to much.

I did not know the hole in the bolsters was for a bail. i'll have to do some research.

ETA wow. just found a 'well used' example of this knife listed on fleabay with a starting bid of $395.00. apparently the dog's head is desirable or this guy is dreaming.
LINK

The hole may not be for a bail, I just assumed it was. Wow that is some luck. I think every thing I own goes down in value...

My first pocket knife was an Ulster BSA 4-blade.

My first fixed blade knife was German Edge Brand from the display case in the Western Auto store.

A Buck 110.

It was a tie. 1981 Dad gave me a Buck 110 folding, and my uncle gave me a Buck knife fixed blade for my birthday which fell with 3 days left of my first buck season. Sat in the cabin each night and was taught to wet stone sharpen. Must have wiped them down 20 times in 3 days. No buck was skinned that year. The next season the fixed blade saw some use.

My first knife was one of those tiny little things that come with a blunt tip blade and nail file. I found it in the dirt road in front of grandpas house. I was four or five years old. Got a spanking when mom caught me whittling a stick with cuts all over my fingers. Grandpa bought me a barlow single blade the next year.

I envy you younger fellows who can remember such things. Heck, I can't remember if I took my blood pressure meds this morning.

My first knife was one of those tiny little things that come with a blunt tip blade and nail file. I found it in the dirt road in front of grandpas house. I was four or five years old. Got a spanking when mom caught me whittling a stick with cuts all over my fingers. Grandpa bought me a barlow single blade the next year.

The first knife that came to mind was the first hunting knife I bought in 1974. It was a Buck 110 that I still have.

Reading what others have posted, I remembered my genuine Boy Scout camping knife. A Barlow style knife was very useful when working on the farm. What a trip down memory lane.