All About Pocket Knives

Hi! I need help finding a knife for my father.
My dad carries a pocket knife with him everyday. When I was 6 I bought him a pocket knife at a garage sale with my own dollar (yep a whole dollar and I think it was an Old Timer!) this started the tradition of me buying his knives. I've bought him a couple through the years as he's loss them or the blade or handle broke but I've never been able to afford anything other than a Buck from one of the department stores.
Well he just lost his last knife and now I can afford to get him a nicer pocket knife. Looking around I see there is a HUGE price range in pocket knives. I'm looking to spend around $60-80. He uses his knife regularly and likes the 3-4 blades. I like the look of the bone but a hard wood might be nice as well.

I'm hoping y'all can give me some recommendations and links.
Thanks so much!!

~C

Welcome!

3 blades sounds like a Stockman pattern. There are lots of knives listed in the member stores right here to look at and price out. Just go to the top of the page to Buy/Sell...click on AAPK Club Member Websites and then click on View Existing stores...where you can jump in and out of the stores and peruse a bit for some ideas. Or, you can view by brand names on the left menu. Stop back with any questions, as most of us will be glad to help you once you narrow the search a bit.

Bill

Well, 3-4 blades to me mean a congress (4 blade), a whittler (3 blade), or a stockman (3 blade). Ooops I see Bill has some input for you.
There are member stores as he says and I think the 3 mentioned are great. Stockman or whittler have 3 blades, a congress will have 4.

The stockman or the congress are 2 very popular patterns. Check out the AAPK stores. For me either of these 2 will make excellent knives to carry.

Look around and decide on handles and go fom there until you see a brand/pattern you start to admire. I have my own thoughts a far as brand go, but so will 2000 other members. Check out what you like as far as handles go and then work your way from there. Besure to ask about quality, members here will be happy to help you out.

Thank you so much! Now I at least have a "type" of knife.

Can you tell me what a stag handle and a match pull blade is?

welcome, daddy'sgirl. cool tradition you have going.
stag refers to deer antler. the best is sambar from india. elk, domestic varieties, etc. are also used and are very good handle materials.
match striker pull refers to the serrations cut into the opening nail mark, ie. the long or half-moon cut in the blade used to open the knife. can be used to strike a match.

You will find a lot of good info here on knives. Welcome to the forum.

this pic i found in another post shows a stag handle and matchstriker pulls.

Welcome,
There are lots of nice knives on this website.

You might also look at Sheperd Hills Cutlery, http://www.shepherdhillscutlery.com/ if you are looking for a Case.

http://www.collectorknives.net/ has several nice selections to choose from.

There are many good sites. Good luck wiyh your shopping.

Magoo

Classic Case wrote:this pic i found in another post shows a stag handle and matchstriker pulls.

That is beautiful! Who makes it??



are there any manufactures that I should stay away from?

I bet she loves the HEART on it too. It is a Bulldog Stag 3 blade congress.

If I may I think your dad would love this knife from Bryan's store here at AAPK for only $66.00.
It is a Canal Street Dark Amber Congress 4 blade.
The most knife you can get for the money. Very well built and will hold a sharp edge for a long time. In fact it is all most to good to use.
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... -8973.html
Just my opinion of coarse and trying to help you get the most for your $$$.

Click on photo for a close up.

I admit that a Canal Street Cutlery in a Stockman or a Congress came to my mind. They are 420 stainless like many other manufacturers. The reason I did not mention it is because I've heard folks new to knives complain about finish. The way Canal Street Cutlery knives are finished is that they are highly polished on the mark side but not on the pile side. That is how they should look and someone new to knives needs to know that going in. I do collect Canal Street knives and regard them highly, but don't forget about the Schatt and Morgan made by Queen and others that are just as good.

Just my .02 on Canal Street Knives, I think they are great, but a buyer needs to know how they are finished, that being on only one side, the mark side before buying.

The knife in the picture was an older Bulldog Brand with stag and has 4 carbon steel blades. It looks like a BKC 277, 1 of 288, released in 1984. It would be hard to find one, books around $180.00 and may find it on ebay for about 90-100 or so.

Thanks Hukk for pointing the one highly polished side.

She said "Buck from one of the department stores."
Be very sure you are buying a USA made knife even when buying Buck now days. Your Dad just won't be pleased long with week steel that most CHINA knive use...

justold52 wrote:Thanks Hukk for pointing the one highly polished side.

She said "Buck from one of the department stores."
Be very sure you are buying a USA made knife even when buying Buck now days. Your Dad just won't be please long with week steel that most CHINA knive use...

You're welcome, I still like my Canal Streets a lot in fact. But the one pictured is 4 inches closed, about 9 inches total with large blades open. I know Bryan can get other CSC knives at a great price. I know the Schatt guys like thiers also, rightly so. They are very fine knives and I need to get a couple Schatts for myself. Everyone will have a valid opinion on what brand to purchase.

The trick is to find what you and what you think your dad will like and ask in this forum what we think of a particular brand. Keep in mind that pearl knives can be absolutely gorgeous and natural materials are the best in my pinion. I agree with Ken, stay away from Chinese made and Taiwan made knives.

... Hukk said it all "Everyone will have a valid opinion on what brand to purchase."..

Let's see if this helps her ok Hukk.

Ok here is my low cost but very good user knife. Again in MOP..

Coleman made in Japan NOT the CHINA ones. They cost about $28.00
and will be a real good user. Well made and will stay sharp too.

What do you mean by only polished on the mark side? Does that mean the other side is a matte finish?

Thanks for the tip on China made. I try to buy American whenever possible... but that's a whole 'nother discussion

and yes Ken, I like the heart but I really like the look of the handle. "Organic" is how us bead makers would describe it. Thank you for the recommendation. That is a very nice looking knife. I may just go with it.

I am very glad to hear I helped you out some.
As a bead makers I am sure you know what a highly polished piece of silver looks like. Then you have dull looking silver too. If you look at the Canal Street knife click on it. The blades are so polished that you can see your self in it. That's only on one side of all the blades. Just to show off the shine. The other side of each blade will look like the Coleman blades that you can NOT see your face in.

Now you will have to clear some thing up for me PLEASE...
I too am a bread maker .. ..by this I make the money in this house hold... ...

Just one more thing I need to say now. If you Dad has a problem with loosing knives you might want to get him a YELLOW handled one next time. Case started making Yellow handles for this very reason. If the knife were dropped then you could find them easier.
I like YELLOW knives...

Gotcha on the polish thing! Thanks!

I'm a BEAD maker. I take rods of glass and melt them with a torch and wrap them around a piece of metal, decorate it with more glass and viola a bead. LOL It's called lampworking and it's sooo fun but my "real job" (besides Mom) is a doula (birth attendant)

Yellow seems logical but it's just not as pretty as the stag or bone



Are German Owl Head knives not desirable? I see several going for cheap on ebay which of course makes me think they aren't a good quality...

hey daddy'sgirl, i do stained glass.

the german owls are made in china. a lot of these chinese knives have german or american names. i believe this to be a deceptive trade practice. most here on this site would recommend the u.s. made knives or true german or english. not to say there are no good oriental knives. that's a whole nother subject.

I'll recommend this site because it has Case, Queen, Canal Street, Schatt and Morgan, and Moore Maker, all American knives, some that fit the $60 to $80 dollar budget. Queen I believe made some Moore Makers and Schatt and Morgan. There are some beautiful knives from Queen and others here with some nice pearls and some stag.

http://www.cumberlandknifeworks.com

There are a few I there I wouldn't mind getting for my birthday. I like doing business with Bryan, but I've done business with Bill and Brenda Horn many times. There are some very nice knives for the money and they are American made. I figured you can get some good ideas from this site.

WELL... ...I'll recommend this site because it has Canal Street, Schatt and Morgan, Queen, Case, and Moore Maker's in AAPK STORES.

This is my way of helping out fellow AAPK people....
So many of them have helped me in the past like you to mention one Hukk...

Getting one for your birthday or do you have her get 2 of the same?
Well you got me there Hukk... ...I don't have a wifey that gives me a knifey...

justold52 wrote:WELL... ...I'll recommend this site because it has Canal Street, Schatt and Morgan, Queen, Case, and Moore Maker's in AAPK STORES.

This is my way of helping out fellow AAPK people....
So many of them have helped me in the past like you to mention one Hukk...

Getting one for your birthday or do you have her get 2 of the same?
Well you got me there Hukk... ...I don't have a wifey that gives me a knifey...

Well Bill does not have a store here, but he is a member, Mint Set Man, who brought us all those pictues of the GEC knives. But how many sites are out there where you can easily view all of these under one site? Not many, that's why it's there. But can always check our stores to see if it's cheaper, if not - Oh well!

The actual congress that was pictured earlier, the 4 blade Tennessee Walking Horse made by Bulldog Brand is an excellent knife.
There is the same first generation model for sale in an ebay auction, the pictures are lousy, like a flash was used. Funny, you just don't see these very often.
Here is a link and a picture. It may go a bit over $80.00.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... otohosting

Upon further consideration, I'm editing this out because I feel it was wrong.

Sorry to all.

Bill

Kool I will wait untill she lets use know what she bought.
Do you have other Coleman knives too from Japan ?
That a real good deal I fell.

That's the only Coleman I have, as I mentioned to you (Ken) once before. I'm not a dealer for any brand. Just an accumulator of knives over the years. If I don't have what she wants, I'll bet one of our other members here at AAPK will. That's why I suggested OUR STORES, instead of one particular brand. As Hukk said, everyone will have their favorite, and that's often quite confusing to a non knife collector. Let her look and compare right here, we will help with questions. JMO.

Bill