All About Pocket Knives

bestgear wrote:Doug hurt my fragile feelings 10 of the dirty dozen were repurposed from prior POS Roundtables. Maybe I should have seeded at least one gem in that otherwise steaming pile of S@^* decisions....decisions

Tom -Perhaps I found the seed. Is it from Syracuse?

So I convinced myself that the seed is the Syracuse jack knife. I had three that were in the running.

But the real hidden gem was the strait razor. I used it to disassemble the Syracuse for re-scaling. I could not find my utility blades.

So below documents the efforts so far on this venture.

terryl308 wrote:POS jackpot, Thanks Goldpan, I don' t know how you got 31 pos's in one priority box but you did! I like the Western muskrat and several others too. What a pile! Terry

I'm glad you like that pile of POS! 6 and 1/2 pounds of poo dipped from the septic tank! Its definitely the Mother "Load "

You found the needle in the haystack Doug - I had total faith that you'd make a silk purse from that sow's ear. That should make a fine EDC when you are done, please share when you are ready. Tom

I went the other direction - I wanted to find the worst knife in the stinky pile I was sent. That turned out to be easy. By far, the worst knife in the pile was also the newest and shiniest. It is this Frost Cutlery Muskrat. It is a monument to what the Frost company has done to the cutlery business. Opening this knife is simply painful. Somehow, they managed to get the blades on both pivots to be incredibly gritty and there are several places where it catches - it feels like the pivot is made out of 40 grit sandpaper - and this is AFTER I oiled it and worked it for several minutes. One of the blades has no snap on closing. The synthetic handles appear to have been taken directly out of the mold and put on the knife. That's not jigging, those wormtrails are simply part of the mold and there was no attempt to smooth the sharp edges. The tang stamp cracks me up - if you can't even get your own logo to be stamped cleanly, what hope is there for the rest of the knife??

There are several other knives that are in far worse condition than this one - BUT - I know those other knives were once (at least) reasonably good knives. This Pakistani POS was a POS from the moment is came off the line!

bestgear wrote:You found the needle in the haystack Doug - I had total faith that you'd make a silk purse from that sow's ear. That should make a fine EDC when you are done, please share when you are ready. Tom

May have to wait until next weekend before I have the finished results. Had to buy more shipping charges - I mean nickel silver pin stock from Jantz

rexstubbins wrote: Had to buy more shipping charges - I mean nickel silver pin stock from Jantz

They sure don't have a customer friendly shipping option do they Doug? If my memory serves me correctly, the most economical shipping option they have starts at $18.95

Received my stinkers from thestretch71 (Ken) yesterday; nothing too serious although the dog would not come into the house until after dark. Eleven of the usual suspects, ready for next year, plus a bizarre Chinese switchblade that is kinda likeable in its own way . One one side, in microscopic print, it says "powerfud" (not powerful). And... a MINT BUCK Washita stone in box, and... a MINT Victorinox SAK which my wife has run off with. I am delighted!

tongueriver wrote:Received my stinkers from thestretch71 (Ken) yesterday; nothing too serious although the dog would not come into the house until after dark. Eleven of the usual suspects, ready for next year, plus a bizarre Chinese switchblade that is kinda likeable in its own way . One one side, in microscopic print, it says "powerfud" (not powerful). And... a MINT BUCK Washita stone in box, and... a MINT Victorinox SAK which my wife has run off with. I am delighted!
IMG_2642.JPGIMG_2643.JPGswitch001.jpgswitch002.jpg

Cal
So sorry to hear that your wife has left you!! LOL

Cal
I am glad you are pleased.
I literally have not 1 singe Schrade in my possession or I would have set it along.
The King Albert promo Old Timer was as close as I could get. Of course it's bound for someone else next year I'm sure.

Ken

I got the POS package from Jerry D (jerryd6818) the other day. After opening the flat rate box, I found that he had sealed the contents of the package in thick black plastic. (Was he trying to stop the smell from leaking out or was there a toxic liquid that needed held back). Using a Junk knife I started slowly cutting into the plastic when my Female Eclectus let out her alarm/warning call. Eclectus can hit 124 decibels. At that point I was a mess and wondered what she had picked up on. After Putting her in another room I finished opening the package. Only to find a large Elk Ridge and a Large Ka-Bar liner lock in like new condition. A sweet little Hobo by Colonial, small flash light and a Mini LED Microscope. Along with a Case XX Peanut and a few mixed brands that would be good for parts.

Thanks for the Great POS Jerry. I'm in for next year

You're welcome Gary. Sure took you a long time to find something nice to say about that load of crap. You shouldn't have bothered.

I stuck in the 24 knife folder in case you had other knives that needed to be quarantined.

Got my box from mumblypeg today. first out of the chute was the red Chinese one, I threw up in my mouth a little when that hit the counter. Then came a Camco opener/corkscrew, since I am an opener collector I have a place for it. Then came a dandy little tux made by magnetic. Who wouldn't want a "holes incorporated" advertiser. A metric tape measure, I'm takin' that to Europe. there's a nifty little cabela's multi-tool for the tackle box. one handle on the St. James hotel knife fell off in shipping so I guess I have an insurance claim at the post office. What do you think, should I go for the whole 50 cents? And last but not least an Imperial that goes stag handles one better by actually having stags on the handles. Thanks Ken
Bruce

You know, the only thing worse than a small, cheap POS knife is a BIG, cheap POS knife...

Bruce, glad you found some redeeming value in that pile! The handle on the Saint James Hotel advertising knife was loose already - guess the journey did it in. BTW if you're not familiar with that hotel you should google it. Quite an interesting historic old place to visit - lots of famous old west characters and outlaws stayed there. Cimarron NM was a wild place!

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote:Cimarron NM was a wild place!

The home of Philmont......Cimarron IS STILL a wild place!

jerryd6818 wrote:You're welcome Gary. Sure took you a long time to find something nice to say about that load of crap. You shouldn't have bothered.

I stuck in the 24 knife folder in case you had other knives that needed to be quarantined.

Jerry, my wife kept reminding me , that you spent all that time and shipping cost to send that POS package half way round the world the least I could do is reply.

bestgear wrote:

Mumbleypeg wrote:Cimarron NM was a wild place!

The home of Philmont......Cimarron IS STILL a wild place!

Yessir it is. And some of those characters that stayed at the St. James frequented places that are now part of Philmont. Once spent a couple of hours one afternoon hiking up Turkey Creek Canyon to get to our campsite at Black Jack Ketchum's hideout. Once you got there you could see why he chose that spot for a hideout. The only easy way to get there was up that canyon which had hardly a tree in it more than 6 ft tall. You could see anyone coming for a loooooong ways.

It hailed and snowed on our camp that night - in July!

Ken

Philmont. Is that the national Boy Scout camp?
Bruce

Philmont Scout Ranch is the Boy Scouts of America's premier High Adventure™ base, challenges Scouts and Venturers with more than 214 square miles of rugged northern New Mexico wilderness. Backpacking treks, horseback cavalcades, and training and service programs offer young people many ways to experience this legendary country.

The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, often shortened as Summit Bechtel Reserve (SBR), located in Fayette and Raleigh Counties, near Beckley, West Virginia, is one of four facilities managed by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The Summit Bechtel Reserve is the current home of the National Scout Jamboree, the Paul R. Christen National High Adventure Base, the James C. Justice National Scout Camp, and the John D. Tickle National Training and Leadership Center. The reserve comprises properties totaling over 14,000 acres. The facility's opening event was the 2013 National Scout Jamboree.

Mumbleypeg wrote:

bestgear wrote:

Mumbleypeg wrote:Cimarron NM was a wild place!

The home of Philmont......Cimarron IS STILL a wild place!

Yessir it is. And some of those characters that stayed at the St. James frequented places that are now part of Philmont. Once spent a couple of hours one afternoon hiking up Turkey Creek Canyon to get to our campsite at Black Jack Ketchum's hideout. Once you got there you could see why he chose that spot for a hideout. The only easy way to get there was up that canyon which had hardly a tree in it more than 6 ft tall. You could see anyone coming for a loooooong ways.

It hailed and snowed on our camp that night - in July!

Ken

Great place to visit still. Ted Turners buffalo ranch just down the road, The NRA range a little further down the road and Valle Vidal drive, a rugged dirt road that goes through some of the most pristine wilderness you can imagine. Great area.

My POS package arrived while I was away on a road trip to Florida to get fresh oysters. Today was the first chance I had to photograph my treasures. Knifeslinger sent me three knives, only one of which I'd qualify as a POS. I'll start with the biggest one, a Camillus jack with French Ivory handles. It's a big ole knife that still has a lot of use left in it. The only real issue I noted was a secondary pen blade that's not very snappy. Otherwise it's a great HOK.

Next is a nice little wooden handled jack with an unreadable tang stamp that came with its own leather pouch. I believe the handles are rosewood, although I'm not 100% positive of that. They might be ebony but I'm betting on rosewood. Whatever the handles are, this is a fine little knife. It has obviously been used but it's still fully functional and I like it enough to put it in my pocket and pack it some.

The third POS in my package turned out to be worthy of the title POS. I'm calling it the Angel Of Death. It is a little no name pen knife with lovely Christmas Tree celluloid handles that are outgassing badly. The bolsters are turning brown where they border the handle material, the shield is totally browned down, and the tops of both blades show corrosion damage. I'm not sure where this one will end up, but it's not going into storage with the rest of my collection. No way, not how!

When I unwrapped the first two knives, I wondered if Paul understood what POS stood for. After opening the third one, I had no doubt he did.

Thanks Paul, this was fun.

You did good Philco, especially that little wood handle one you chose to carry. It should be carried.

A few days ago I received my POS box from the far frozen North land. Of course it arrived frozen so it took me a few days to thought out. I wasn't really sure what kind of POS to expect from Ken since he lived in Alaska I thought the POS may have come from a caribou, moose, deer or bear: there are many sources of S_ _ _ (scat) in Alaska so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It turns out they must have a S_ _ _ shortage in Alaska because Ken had it imported from sources across the pond, though admittedly not as far away from him as the are from me.

The only real POS was the skinning/gutting fixed blade the in the leather sheath. I once owned a crowbar that was sharper and the finger groove in front of the ring absolutely works for nothing except to make sore spots on your hand! This really is an HOPOS (honest old POS)! I believe this instrument was once used by an old sourdough who tried to skin Sasquatch, obviously unsuccessfully. Thank you Ken!
Ken missed the POS mark with the other two; the Stihl knife would actually make a good toolbox/tackle box knife.

The other flat object in the box had me mystified at first, but I believe it may be that I have the only known the example of a knife that just might be made by Pablo Picasso! Looking at it certainly brings to mind Picasso's style of art known as Cubism. I thank may possibly have the only Cubist knife ever made! I can't wait for the next knife show, I will make a display case and display the only known possible example of a knife may be made by Picasso or one of them other Italian or Spanish guys.
This was way cool Ken and lots of fun, thank you!