All About Pocket Knives

Last fall I lost my Cold Steel Terminus XR while I was winterizing my RV. I obsessed over it all winter and this spring I went over the area with a metal detector with no success.
Then a couple days ago while restocking the RV I noticed this. Somehow when I was moving my bug-out bag from the RV to my Cherokee for the winter, the pocket clip grabbed onto the bag.
I was elated to have it back!

That's like an old dog coming home that's been missing for a month or two.
Glad you found your knife!
Treefarmer

ken98k wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2026 3:17 am Last fall I lost my Cold Steel Terminus XR while I was winterizing my RV. I obsessed over it all winter and this spring I went over the area with a metal detector with no success.
Then a couple days ago while restocking the RV I noticed this.
SOG Bugout.jpg
Somehow when I was moving my bug-out bag from the RV to my Cherokee for the winter, the pocket clip grabbed onto the bag.
I was elated to have it back!
SOG TERMINUS XR.jpg

A similar thing happened to me. While doing yardwork my knife (a tactical knife similar to yours) caught on the fence in my backyard and later I went in the house, checked my pocket and looked everywhere... ... unable to find it, I gave up. About 4 months later I was out in the backyard, and I looked at the fence ... and there it was! No worse for the wear, after being exposed to the elements for all those months

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2026 4:02 am

ken98k wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2026 3:17 am Last fall I lost my Cold Steel Terminus XR while I was winterizing my RV. I obsessed over it all winter and this spring I went over the area with a metal detector with no success.
Then a couple days ago while restocking the RV I noticed this.
SOG Bugout.jpg
Somehow when I was moving my bug-out bag from the RV to my Cherokee for the winter, the pocket clip grabbed onto the bag.
I was elated to have it back!
SOG TERMINUS XR.jpg

A similar thing happened to me. While doing yardwork my knife (a tactical knife similar to yours) caught on the fence in my backyard and later I went in the house, checked my pocket and looked everywhere... ... unable to find it, I gave up. About 4 months later I was out in the backyard, and I looked at the fence ... and there it was! No worse for the wear, after being exposed to the elements for all those months

treefarmer wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2026 3:32 am That's like an old dog coming home that's been missing for a month or two.
Glad you found your knife!
Treefarmer

Happened to me also. I had an old jacket that I wore when working in the garage. When I took it off, some raggedy threads at the bottom edge "grabbed" my Gerber 450 and it hung in the closet until a couple of months later when I found it.

I know you’re glad that turned up undamaged, Ken. I left one outside while on the coast one time. Found it two weeks later. The salt air had totally taken away the mirror finish on the stainless steel blade. Looks like an acid wash now.

Re-acquainted with an old friend, ken.

It is always nice when one turns up. It has happened to me a couple of times. Once I lost a pocket knife for a couple of years, then my daughter found it in my SUV after I had done what I thought was a thorough search.

Congrats I found a old John Primble in my suit pants the other day didn't know it was lost but was glad to fine it.

It drives me nuts when I lose something, especially a knife. Ken, I'm glad you got your back. Looks like a goodun.

I know that feeling of losing and after some time finding. Glad you got reunited Ken!

It's a GREAt day when a prodigal knife returns to its rightful place after a period of time being lost. Some for a day, some for weeks, months and many for years.

Wrote this six years ago based on another member finding his prodigal knife after five years. I know this will speak to many a wondering minds...Where did I go?

WHERE DID I GO?

I slid out of his pocket as he moved about on the seat
He didn’t have a clue as I accomplished my feat
I was part of his life, because he used me each day
I would miss my companion, for here now I lay

Tucked under the seat and finally hitting the floor
Maybe I’ll fall out, as he opens the door
But alas, it’s not so, he doesn’t know I’ve been lost
He’ll fret and he’ll worry, great emotional cost

For I was a gift from his loving wife
Presented to him for his love of the knife
We were close and compatible, his EDC
I loved the feel of his hand, and he loved me

I can only imagine how he looked to and fro
Constantly wondering, “Where the heck did you go?”
I wish I could tell him, he’d be in great luck
If only he’d return and look inside the truck

But it wasn’t to be as time went on
Giving up hope, considering me gone
So I just laid around, my destiny was so
Year after year, where else could I go?

And then one day, after five years free
The father of my owner happened to see
Laying motionless right there on the floor
In that old truck, as he opened the door

Well, there you are, you old son of a gun
There’ll be smiles today, as I tell my son
He’ll be happy to see you, very pleased as well
And if you could talk, what story you’d tell

After all these years of being out of sight
I’m no longer in darkness, into the light
My master and owner, he’ll be sure to see
That I once again, become his EDC

There have been others, lost just like me
Some will be found, others never to see
Some are brand new and others are old
Some got new owners and others are sold

Some are tainted, soiled and abused
Not taken care of and terribly used
Some are still shiny, sparkly and new
Some are still mint, but those are few

Many of us lost to the wilds unknown
Buried beneath the weeds overgrown
While hunting and camping, we’re stuck in a tree
Forgotten and lost, in a sheath we should be

Many of us live in a toolbox for life
And soon do not look like a usable knife
All rusted and broken, blades tarnished and worn
No longer pretty, like from the factory when born

But many owners take great personal pride
Putting us in pockets or strapped to their side
They show us off with pride and joy
“Look what I’ve got, a brand new toy!”

So if we’re lost, we may come back one day
Or maybe we won’t, who is to say?
We may end up with somebody new
Or we might just end up back with you

Whatever the destiny may be as a knife
Five, Ten, Twenty or 100 years of our life
May our fortune be to assist you each day
In whatever endeavors may come your way

And if you ever lose us, please try to find
Our whereabouts if you truly don’t mind
For being with you is part of your life
Returning to you, your prodigal knife

Ken LJ © March 2020

So glad you found your knife, Ken.
I lost a Case trapper for many months until my young son found it.
It's so nice to get them back.

Glad you found it!! I lost my Victorinox Spartan Lite about a month ago. I obsessed myself trying to find it I still have not. But I know how hard it is to not find one. I give up for now on the Vic. But who knows, maybe it will peek up at me one day!!

Yesterday I reached for my pen and and it wasn’t there. Sunday I had the same overalls on and had been cutting 3’ tall Johnson grass around a pond edge with a yo-yo(idiot stick as my dad called it), so I figured I lost it there. I’ve had this Parker Jotter pen 15 years so I went back to hunt for it. As luck would have it I found it within 5 minutes.

I was looking in the couch cushions last night for a Case 2 blade trapper that fell out of my pocket after I dozed off. I found a Marbles 3 blade Sleeveboard whittler
Shrugged and went to bed.

Found the trapper this morning after a few hours sleep and some coffee.

THats a great story ! I am still waiting to eventually find a couple sentimental knives that were lost over the years ... maybe one day I'll be lucky like you

ThatWeirdKnifeGuy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2026 7:51 pm I was looking in the couch cushions last night for a Case 2 blade trapper that fell out of my pocket after I dozed off. I found a Marbles 3 blade Sleeveboard whittler
Shrugged and went to bed.

Found the trapper this morning after a few hours sleep and some coffee.

.... If only there was a way to reverse engineer the "Couch-Effect" ... you lose a Chinese made knife under the cushions and later find a Case XX in the same place....