All About Pocket Knives

I have had some luck lately with some great finds in Pawn shops... much to my surprise, because I had a long stretch (several years ) of hardly finding anything that cuts in a pawn shop that I thought was a good enough deal for me to pull out some cash and make a purchase. In fact I stopped going to pawn shops because it seemed like a waste of time.

Then a new pawn shop opened by a friend's house and had a "grand opening" sign and offering 20% off so I went in and found a couple of old pocketknives I didn't need at a great price... next thing you know I was "back in the game" of visiting pawn shops and buying more old knives that I can't keep track off and can't keep sharpened... But, such are the ways of a true "Knife-Nut"

Anyone out there have much luck at pawn shops? Love 'em? ... Hate 'em? ... Own one... or two? If you own a pawn shop, what about all the knives that come in? It must hard to resist not keeping WAY TOO many...

Here are some pictures of my two latest "Pawn Stars" which are strangely sort of tied into other threads... but that as they say "is another story" ...

Nice!! I love Pawn shops. Sometimes they’re way over priced, and other times they have deals like you can’t believe.

In one of the pawn shops I frequent in Sioux Falls, the workers there only know Case and Buck knives. I asked to see their "junk knife box" and found this American Shear whittler for $5.00. Sadly, several pawn shops here have closed recently.

Ive never so much a seen a pawn shop! cept on TV.

When I was a boy, 2nd Avenue North in Birmingham had a tree block stretch that was predominantly pawn shops.

It was heaven fof an adolescent boy.

Wish I had known then what I know now.

Oh wait. That would have required money, wouldn’t it?

The only pawn shop I have been in had nothing but junk Chinese made knives. I went in to see if he would be interested in trading some German Eye knives that I have but there wasn’t anything in there I would want. So I asked him if he would be interested in buying some German Eye knives but he said they would never sell because they are so expensive. Apparently he thinks his customers won’t spend more than 20 bucks on a knife. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. Kind of soured me on trying pawn shops.

Those 2 you scored look great, Dog, and they're Randall and Al Mar makes, WOW!
Unfortunately, anything I could find in a pawn shop would be the same as anything I can but elsewhere, only more expensive and used.
Now, to visit pawn shops in Vegas or some of the big cities I'm sure would produce good results, especially Vegas, think about it!

Sharpnshinyknives wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 9:03 pm The only pawn shop I have been in had nothing but junk Chinese made knives.

That's probably the sort of luck I'd have. Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

I love going to Pawn Shops! There are several I go to every 2 or 3 months here in Denton and then if I'm out of town and I spot one I just might stop in. I always ask "you got a bucket of old knives?" and most of them know exactly what I'm talking about. More often than not If I make the rounds I will find a Kabar, Utica, Camillus or something else, all the Buck and CASE knives seem to be kept under glass. One time I even bought a pawn shop salesman's personal knife. We were talking and he pulled out a Buck Stockman, I made an offer and he accepted. Anyway down here pawn shops are pretty good places to look every now and then.

royal0014 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 9:15 am I have never had any luck at a pawn shop.The ones around here always want
more than retail for clapped out garbage! Any tool that's trade related is probably stolen. . . .

Probably not stolen. Pawn shops are required to hold any merchandise they buy for x number of days before they can sell it depending on state law. Police regularly check stolen lists against pawn shop bought lists and remove items as evidence.

My buddy and I hit them fairly regularly, but since Covid they seem to all be empty. Went to Ft Worth the other month for Blade Show and figured the big city pawn shops would be more full… wrong the 3 we hit were nearly empty. My buddy did get the score of a lifetime at one though and picked up a small Willam Henry for less than $50!! The owner didn’t know what it was or who made it and my buddy didn’t know anything about it either but could tell it was well built and had a MOP inlay on the thumb stud.

I've generally been very lucky in American pawn shops and have come away with full pockets... I'm just not sure where to buy the other chess pieces.

British pawn shops, however, are very different... Most of them have adult magazines, marital aids, costumes and other such bedroom paraphernalia, but rarely do they have anything that even resembles a pawn and those are still the battery powered kind with multiple settings.






OK, I'll get my coat....
TBH, I think most UK pawn shops focus on Argos catalogue stuff and electronics. Knives probably just get chucked by most people, or handed in at the local cop shop.

No need to "get your coat", Tasky, your post was just as interesting as any of the others.
Besides, how else would a red blooded Canadian boy like me get to know how things work over in jolly old England if you didn't tell us?!
In Canada we have pawn shops for goods, and sex shops for "bedroom paraphernalia" so the 2 never get confused!
It's our lack of proper knife laws that's the problem, not ever where to get knives as they are still plentiful.

The pawn shop I visited yesterday had all of one knife: a Spyderco Endela with gray-blue (as best I could tell, given the lighting) FRN handles and a K390 Wharncliffe blade. It looked like it had seen little to no use and had its box and paperwork. I'm not familiar enough with K390 steel to say if the $99 asking price was fair.

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 7:09 pm In one of the pawn shops I frequent in Sioux Falls, the workers there only know Case and Buck knives. I asked to see their "junk knife box" and found this American Shear whittler for $5.00. Sadly, several pawn shops here have closed recently.

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O.C. that is an amazing find for $5! I have found the same thing to be true in some shops Case XX and Buck (and Old Timer it seems) go for Top Dollar+++ and in the "El Chepo" bin sit Western Knives, Ny. Knife Co., Sheffield England knives, Seki-Japan knives etc...etc...

Madmarco wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2023 12:12 am No need to "get your coat", Tasky, your post was just as interesting as any of the others.

Nah, it was a terrible pair of jokes, and the latter only works if you understand a British accent!!

royal0014 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 9:15 am I have never had any luck at a pawn shop.The ones around here always want
more than retail for clapped out garbage! Any tool that's trade related is probably stolen. . . .

Working in a rather small county, trips to surrounding towns and cities were always part of the drill to pick up parts, material, etc. I had gone to a tractor company in a town 25 miles east to pick up some parts and stopped at a small pawn shop on the way home. At that time, I was looking more for guns than knives and of course a look at the power tools was always a must. Looking through the power tools I found 3 tools that belonged to the school board. They were not valuable enough to have a been assigned a property number so no way to prove they came from the school district. The pawn shop owner gave me the name and number of the man who had sold him the tools. I contacted him and he was very up front and said he had bought them while traveling through our town at a yard sale by the highway. I knew who it was but had no proof. We did keep an eye on the individual which was a bad experience knowing we were working with a thief. The same individual later checked out on a workers comp injury that was also a fraud. Investigators don't do their jobs.
Treefarmer

Best pawn shop find ever for me was a stainless Randal that I was able to get for $50.00.
They don't buy knives anymore at my local big chain pawn shop so I quit going in.

Rotten wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 11:36 pm Best pawn shop find ever for me was a stainless Randal that I was able to get for $50.00.
They don't buy knives anymore at my local big chain pawn shop so I quit going in.

...... Now is a true "Pawn-Star!!!!

Here are todays' "Pawn Stars Pick-Ups: "