Did You Ever Lose Your Knife?

[Miller Bro's]

I was cutting some fresh rhubarb a couple weeks ago, that was the last time I seen my knife I figured someone found it and kept it, looked in my box of junk and found another cheap knife sharpened it up and I was on my way.

Kept thinking about the other knife because it held a good edge and the pocket clip was tight, this new one was loose because the clip was bent due to improper hardening. Asked everyone in my family if they had seen it, no dice it's gone forget about it.

Yesterday I was working on a project in the garage, I went outside and placed a tool on a wire rack outside the front wall, I look up and there's my knife! I completely forgotten I had placed it there when I was cutting some heater hose, during the two weeks it was missing we got about 2" of rain! The wood was a little dull but the rest of the knife is stainless steel so nothing rusted. It's a cheap Chinese made knife and I won't lose any sleep over it if I lose it again but I did miss it when it was gone, that's why I don't carry my good American made knives when I am working. I would be sick over it if I lost a good American made knife

Let's hear your story good or bad about losing your knife

[doglegg]

Miller Bros, I have lost several that never surfaced. While working for the City of Grand Prairie I lost a hammer and found it the next year on top of a school flasher cabinet. Lost a leatherman once and found it inside a traffic signal head I had been working on. But I found both hammers and a leatherman in the street so I broke even. But good knives never seemed to resurface.

[claywall]

I've only lost 3 knives in my life, and I can remember where each one was lost and which knife (I'm 63, now). Climbed through a barbed wire fence in the woods when I was a kid and lost my old, cheap fixed blade (I think it was made by Imperial). It fell out of the sheath as I went through the barbed wire, I theorize. Went back and looked and looked to no avail. Second one was after I was grown and visited a man's office. Had to wait in the outer office in some low-slung chairs placed there for visitors until he could see me, and the Camillus trapper (yellow delrin handle slabs) slipped out of my pocket (Dockers were notorious for letting that happen because of the way the pockets were made). Called the secretary later that day after I missed the knife and was over a hundred miles away. Of course, she knew nothing about it and nobody had reported it. Third, and last so far, was a Case Russlock with red G10 handles my wife bought me. Oops! Staying in a hotel room one night on business and draped my blue jeans over a chair. The next morning I grabbed them and foolishly turned them upside-down to fold them and throw them in my overnight bag. The knife had to have fallen out on the carpet without a sound. Stupid me! Again, after traveling over a hundred miles, I realized my mistake and called the hotel desk. Nobody knew anything about it and nobody had turned the knife in.............Oh, well, I tried. Trying hard not to make a fourth memory along these lines!

[Tony_Wood]

Kicked back in the recliner one Sunday afternoon, and my dressed pants coughed up my knife. I, of course, did not find out until later that my knife was gone. After retracing my steps from the day, the recliner graciously returned my pocket knife.

A couple of years ago I lost a pocket knife while hunting. It was the last day of the season, and somehow the knife came out of the pack I was using, as I never trust thick clothing and cold hands with my small knives. The next season I went back to the same tree, and after a morning hunt, while packing up my stand I spotted my knife under the leaves. It was rusted and ruined, but still it returned.

The most memorable loss was a Case that my children gave me for Father's Day several years ago. It left, never to return. The next knife that my son picked out for me came in two of a kind: one to carry, and one to keep. He learned that from me as I bought him Hotwheels. I bought two of a kind: one to play with, and one to keep.

The use of a good knife outweighs the potential loss, so I carry them.

[willc]

I’ve been pretty good about not losing knives over the years.
As of now the only knife that may be lost is a Super Blue Spyderco Delica but I do have 2 GEC’s that are MIA, a TC single spey and a 65 canvas micarta fish knife.

The GEC’s are around somewhere as I know they were in there tubes last time I saw them.
They most likely are in some random box.

At work I carry mostly inexpensive knives and that seems to work like a charm cause I have yet to lose one on a job site.

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Yup I lost my favorite knife - a little Buck 506 "white Knight" that I had carried on & off for about 20 years. That knife had survived several trips through the laundry and had been misplaced a couple of times - but this last time it is gone for good. I have no idea where it went. One day it was just gone. I recently bought another one - but it's just not the same...

[zzyzzogeton]

Since receiving my first knife in 1961, the knives I have lost have been fortunately limited to ::

- a small, half-worn out, single blade peanut my father gave me in 1962. It was lost in 1966 in the San Gabriel River east of Granger TX, where I fell in harvesting fossilized giant gastropods.

- a no-name all-stainless steel single blade lockback I lost when my tackle box failed a "float test". A 3 foot wake from a house boat flipped the 12 foot jon boat a friend and I were fishing from on Lake Travis, NW of Austin Tx.

I'm still hoping this one is only "temporarily misplaced" - a Buck 484 is taking an extended vacation somewhere in the layers of insulation of the 4000+ sq ft attic of my house. It slipped from my pocket while reinsulating the house 5 or 6 years ago. I actually know where it is - somewhere in a 1500 sq ft section over the living room/ dining room under 6 inches of pink insulation. I kinda half-ass search for it every time I make a foray into the attic.

I have several knives that are known to be "hibernating" somewhere on the farm. I've got boxes of stuff still to be to be unpacked and sorted through out in the shop, warehouse, garage apartment, equipment shed, old brooder house, gardening shed and garage, in addition to the house.

A knife that was thought lost to posterity a long time ago but eventually turned up again was the second knife that I thought I had lost. It was the replacement for the knife lost in the river... a Kutmaster 2 blade Pioneer Seed Company advertising knife that my father gave me after I lost the peanut in the river.

In 1969, the knife went missing. 27 years later, in 1996 my parents were getting rid of an old sofa bed. When we opened it and took the mattress out to lessen the weight, that little Pioneer fell out. I still have it in a drawer somewhere.

[kootenay joe]

In 2010 Jerry Halfrich posted a knife for sale on Bladeforums. I think it was the only folding knife he ever posted there. A "Small Woodsman" 3 5/8" shadow, jigged bone; re-defined the meaning of "smooth as glass" when opening or closing. And, sharp, Halfrich was said to make the sharpest blades of any maker of traditional style knives. I was about the first to see his post and jumped on it; $625.
I'll type more later, got to get outside now.
kj

[Quick Steel]

I never lost a knife until just a few weeks ago, a large Ulster Stockman. It immediately became a favorite knife. Losing it is a great disappointment.

[Doug51]

I've only lost two. The last one was a small fixed blade. A Bark River Little Creek. I was shoveling corn inside of a grain bin. The leather sheath never gave the knife good retention and I heard something rattle in the auger, wich it turned out to be my knife I figured after I discovered it was missing. It would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack to find it.
Anymore I'm very conscious about putting my knife away securely after I have used it.

[jmh58]

I seem to think that I have lost 4 over time.. Of those.. I have replaced 3.. 1 more to go!! John

[Cletus Awreetus]

a couple decades ago I'd fallen in love with the Microtech UDT and mini UDT. I thought these were as good as a work knife could get and they were probably the first 'expensive' knives I'd ever bought. anyhow I'm working in an attic running cable and as is not unusual crawling around in tight spaces my mini got drug out of my pocket. It's happened before and I would backtrack and retrieve it. Not this time. I'm 99% sure which section of the house I lost it in but I could not find it and once the job was finished ops to locate it were over. 20 yrs later, I get married and move into a house around the corner from where I lost her and every day I have to drive past that house on my way out of the neighborhood. I'd love to find one of these for sale, for old times sake.

[tongueriver]

I have had some knives over the years that are gone, but I am not sure whether they were actually "lost" or not, as such. As a cub scout I had a blue 'scout' knife, then what was probably a little 2 blade 'leader' knife. My next knife had yellow handles, possibly a CASE stockman. In about 1959 I was sitting in the seat of the Fallon County Fair and Carnival ride called the BULLET. The operator, or carny, as we called them, would run the cockpit up in the air, then give it a few shakes with the patrons inside, and their pocket contents would go raining down into the dirt. We are talking billfolds, pocket change, including real silver dollars, and, of course, pocket knives. The operator's shill would come rushing in, grab the loot and disappear into the crowd. Next was my maiden voyage as a newbie hunter at 12 years of age. On opening day I legally shot a mulie doe and a nice whitetail buck, then headed into town. Lo and behold, there was a nice pronghorn buck, which fell to my gun (we are talking the first 45 minutes of opening day; my hunting season was over.). Here is where I left my Dad's Estwing hatchet, not to be seen again. Probably the same year, Dad snapped the clip blade off his Western Boulder stockman trying to press through the pubic bone suture on a little whitetail buck (I never do that anymore). The next knives to disappear were a 154 drop point Schrade hunting knife and a Russell Canadian type hunting knife ordered from Herters. Who knows? Then I bought a Boker USA big congress knife which I carried daily for at least 15 years before it was so worn out I threw it away. Bought a big Schrade 158 OT stockman in stainless which I did not like, and it disappeared somewhere. Starting in 2007 I began to accumulate knives in a disturbed manner (the collecting thing; you know?), rather than just users, which of course I still had. A big favorite was a CASE/BOSE dogleg jack. I was at the landfill, tarping a load of compost for the garden and laid it on the fender of the trailer. That was the hardest one to lose, both economically and emotionally. Boo Hoo. I still have some knives.

[cody6268]

I know its somewhere around the house:

Boker 9229
Wenger Microlight Esquire (it got lost before, finding its way under the car's upholstery, where it stayed two years before I fished it out), then the batteries for the light corroded while in my pack for a couple days, a year later I fixed the damage and got it working. Then it gets misplaced somewhere around the house two months ago.
Case Mini Blackhorn "John Deere".

Probably lost for good:

SOG Micro Toolclip (the original, Japan made version), clip dislodged, probably at Food Lion. Checked the car, parking lot of another business I was at before, gate in driveway, and mailbox--nothing.

Later found out got stuck in a safe deposit box without my knowing

Rusted out WWII era USN Mark II fighting knife, found under a shed.
Pilot's Survival Knife (fixed), my great-uncle's, also in kitchen drawer
NIB USA Schrade USA 34OT--woodgrain box.
And I wanna say a couple others.

'
Often, I'll come across knives I had as a kid, but my grandmother didn't think were suitable back then, including an old Imperial fixed blade I found in the kitchen drawer.

[cody6268]

I was cutting some fresh rhubarb a couple weeks ago, that was the last time I seen my knife I figured someone found it and kept it, looked in my box of junk and found another cheap knife sharpened it up and I was on my way.

Kept thinking about the other knife because it held a good edge and the pocket clip was tight, this new one was loose because the clip was bent due to improper hardening. Asked everyone in my family if they had seen it, no dice it's gone forget about it.

Yesterday I was working on a project in the garage, I went outside and placed a tool on a wire rack outside the front wall, I look up and there's my knife! I completely forgotten I had placed it there when I was cutting some heater hose, during the two weeks it was missing we got about 2" of rain! The wood was a little dull but the rest of the knife is stainless steel so nothing rusted. It's a cheap Chinese made knife and I won't lose any sleep over it if I lose it again but I did miss it when it was gone, that's why I don't carry my good American made knives when I am working. I would be sick over it if I lost a good American made knife

Let's hear your story good or bad about losing your knife

And that's the joy of Rough Riders. The Sodbuster Work Knife (Coal Miner) and the Classic Carbon Folding Hunter have got a ton of use around the farm.

[whitebuffalo58]

From the time I was about 15 or 16, until I was 35, I carried one knife almost everyday of my life. A Schrade 8OT. It had cracks on both handles at the center pin and all three blades were about 1/2-2/3's worn, but it was my "OL' FAITHFUL" and we went on many adventures together over the years. Finally one summer morning, just about daybreak, we were running limb lines for the final run of the day. One of the lines had met it's match with a Gar and in the interest of leaving no footprint, I whipped out ol' faithful and cut the line loose. The willow branch whipped up and caught that knife just right and off into about 20' of fast flowing river it went. There was no monetary value what-so-ever, but I can't imagine missing a knife anymore then I did that one...for quite a spell.

I said a little prayer over the poor thing, it deserved a better fate, but eventually I resolved myself to knowing I'd never see it again and life went on.


WB

[kootenay joe]

A couple of months after receiving the Halfrich Small Woodsman i decided to carry it that day. But as i was about to exit the house to do numerous jobs around the property i thought that it was not the best day to bring it as i would be moving around a lot. Rather than take the knife back to the safe i tucked it near the back door (which is the only door i use), out of sight as my daughter, then 5 lives with me.
Life was busy and i did not get the knife to put it into the safe for 2 months. I wasn't worried, i never get visitors, the knife is safe in my house. Finally i did go to retrieve it but it was not where i thought i had put it. No time to search, but that's o.k., it's in here somewhere.
I have looked high & low, checked all pockets in every pants, shorts, shirt, vest & jacket. I have looked through every drawer that stores knives, every knife storage roll. I have checked the couch 4 times.
With much help i built this house in 1980-81. We are a 1 hour drive to the nearest place you can use money so all building supplies etc you need to bring in yourself. Now after 38 years there is a lot of 'stuff' in this house, all things that might be needed one day and save a trip to town. So it is not a simple search because there are piles of things (useful of course) here & there.
I am here for a week or so at a time in the winter when there are many fewer jobs to do. I have spent entire winter days on the Halfrich search but never worried because it's in here somewhere.
The years have gone by, to now 8 years since i misplaced the Halfrich Small Woodsman and i have yet to find it. But i am not worried, i know it is here somewhere ----.
kj

[Mumbleypeg]

First knife I ever bought with my own money was a small 2-blade Case, maybe a 6233 or similar. I was in 4th grade. "Lost" it to a 6th grader on the school playground in a game of mumbleypeg.

Saved my money and replaced it with a small Ulster 2-blade jack that I carried for a couple of years, until I lost it on a Boy Scout camp out. Not sure what happened to it but when I got home it was gone.

I don't recall that I ever lost another one since then, although I've had a few go AWOL for a few days days to several months, found later anywhere from laying on a workbench, between car seats, in the washer, or in the pasture (that one was gone several months).

Ken

[JACK OF ALL TIRADES]

I built a Green River knife kit in the 70s and lost it a few yrs later. I knew basically where but never found. Someone may think its 200 yrs old with the leather and frills.

[Miller Bro's]

But i am not worried, i know it is here somewhere ----.

I know the feeling Roland

[kootenay joe]

Actually i have been confident that my Halfrich folder will show up for the now 8 years that it has been lost, but now am beginning to wonder if my memory is correct. What i know for certain is that when i first realized it was missing, i was 100% certain it was inside the house. But was this a 'false memory' right from the beginning ?
We tend to think of memory as a video with sound being played back but it is instead being altered every time we recall the memory.
I might have thought "leave this knife in the house" and am remembering this thought. Then i might have said to myself "oh, take it and be careful" and done this but not made a memory of it or at least not a memory that entered long term storage which is in a different area of the brain than short term memory (up to 24 hours).
The significance is when there is doubt as to what general area a knife might be, one's searching becomes less thorough.
If i ever sell this house i will include a clause that says if Halfrich knife is found they must return it to me or my estate. There would of course be no guarantee that new owner would do this, but i would feel i have been as 'complete' as possible in my search for the "Small Woodsman".
kj

[Lansky1]

I've lost more knives that I care to count over the years ... I've only ever found one that was lost for a long period of time - a nice Case single blade blue bone peanut - was a very nice surprise to find a lost knife under the seat of a car when I was cleaning it to turn it in.

[Old Hunter]

Schrade Old Timer 108OT, small Stockman. Carried that knife daily for about 18 years, lost it on a jobsite in Fayetteville NC in the summer of 2005 - realized it was lost when I got in the truck to leave - I went back in; with my co-workers help we searched the entire job, never found it. I stopped at a hardware store, that I sold building materials to, in order to buy another Schrade 108OT - it was then I discovered Schrade USA was no more and the new knives were made in China. I didn't want one so I bought a Case 6225, dark green jigged handled Small Coke Bottle (for double the money) and dropped it in my pocket - that experience turned me into a knife collector; as I traveled I stopped at every hardware store and building materials yard I passed and bought every Schrade USA knife I could find - finally quit buying Schrades and switched to older Buck and Case - still doing that. Losing that old Schrade 108OT has cost me a lot of money! OH

[Miller Bro's]

That's a great story Bruce, you took a negative and turned it into a positive

[Drukai]

I’ve been pretty good about not losing knives over the years.
As of now the only knife that may be lost is a Super Blue Spyderco Delica but I do have 2 GEC’s that are MIA, a TC single spey and a 65 canvas micarta fish knife.

The GEC’s are around somewhere as I know they were in there tubes last time I saw them.
They most likely are in some random box.

At work I carry mostly inexpensive knives and that seems to work like a charm cause I have yet to lose one on a job site.

Damn a TC single Spey that's like pretty much my Grail knife! Hope you find it!