All About Pocket Knives

I did some digging through some of my knives the other day and brought out this Al Mar SERE knife that Al designed for the US Army Survival, Evasion, Resistance & Escape (SERE) school. The knife was produced in 1986 or early 1987. The 043/200 number on the back of the blade was Al Mar's numbering system. The first 200 knives off the production line were numbered 001/200 up through 200/200. There were certain customers & collectors to whom Al assigned numbers. 043 was my number when I managed a cutlery store up until 1991. I only wish I had been able to purchase every new Al Mar knife that was introduced between 1985 & 1991!

Slick outfit. I would have carried one of those back in the day.

That's stellar Dale!!

NICE ONE DALE!!!! I have always liked Al Mar knives and was lucky enough to get two of them for very short money.I had a third one(a Gunstock model;don't know it's actual name)that I gave to a friend and two weeks later saw an identical one sell on e-Bay for over $400!
The two I have are an Osprey that I found in a box of cheap knives and paid $4 for. The real score was an Al Mar SERE folder for $20! Never sharpened but it looked like someone had hammered on the spine of the blade.I left it just the way I found it.Here is a pic.

I have a bunch of Al Mar knives, though I gave my boys both one of the numbered fixed blades (different patters than the SERE) as graduation gifts.

I only have one Osprey. It is not numbered, but it was a gift to me from Al Mar.
I stopped carrying it after Al died. I bought an Eagle last year but can't find a picture of it, though it really doesn't fit the fixed blade forum.

However, this knife, the "Wild Hair" is a fixed blade. Al had quite a sense of humor!
I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Dale:
Always enjoy looking at knives no matter what they are.Those Al Mar's you have are very special;thanks for posting them.I love the Wild Hair;that is priceless!I wonder if that was his commentary on the proliferation of switchblade combs back then?
I was trying to post a couple pics of some new ones I picked up yesterday but I guess my computer is on strike again.Got a nice '84 Remington R1303 Bullet and a very unusual Simmons pen.Will try to post pics in the Q&A section later.

knife7knut wrote:Dale:
Always enjoy looking at knives no matter what they are.Those Al Mar's you have are very special;thanks for posting them.I love the Wild Hair;that is priceless!I wonder if that was his commentary on the proliferation of switchblade combs back then?
I was trying to post a couple pics of some new ones I picked up yesterday but I guess my computer is on strike again.Got a nice '84 Remington R1303 Bullet and a very unusual Simmons pen.Will try to post pics in the Q&A section later.

I think the Wild Hair was made to hide in plain sight. When I picked it up at Al Mar's office, Al took it out of the box and showed it to me. He said, "You can just put it in your pocket and everyone will just think it is a comb, that way they won't harass you in the airport or some place like that."
This was in the 1980s, many years before 911 and airport body searches!

Just because you like them Ray, I will post some more of my Al Mar collection.
This knife is one of only 2 I have purchased since Al died (circa 1991). The new owner of Al Mar knives changed manufacturers. In that regard they are like Old Timers made in China to me; they might look similar, but they are not the originals. This knife is one I was satisfied that it was made prior to Al’s death.
It is an Eagle, 5” closed, with micarta handles and a false edge.
Here are some of my lockbacks This pic shows the back sides of mostly the same knives & you can see the numbering on most of them.
The knife with the lighter is called the Executive. It holds a Mini Bic.
This knife is the second Al Mar knife I owned. Al gave me an Osprey and later I bought 2 of these early lock backs from a dealer; one for my dad and one for myself. I had our initials engraved on the bolsters. The jeweler who tried to engrave then said those bolsters were nearly as hard as the blade. Apparently even the carbide tool could barely scratch the bolsters! When I showed it to Al he laughed about the jeweler and wanted to replace the knives. He said that was made by an early maker and was not nearly the quality as the ones then being made in Seki Japan by Huhey. Since it was an older one and I had our initials on them I declined his trade-out. I am glad now that I did as I hardly ever see the old ones these days.
As you can see this knife was an EDC for a few years.

I acquired this last year. Frequently carry an Al Mar Eagle Ultralite.