The online community of knife collectors, A Knife Family Forged in Steel
How about a thread of knives found at flea markets, estate sales, garage sale, or even pawn shops.
Only real world person to person transactions, no online purchases!
You know an actual purchase where you actually got to touch and examine the knife before you bought it and were actually able to haggle in person over the price.
Here are two knives I landed for around $30, one is a Coleman "Collector Edition" fixed blade hunter with a burl wood maple handle and the other is a Swiss Buck Advantange. Both came new, in the box. I bought them at Swap-O-Rama in Alsip Illinois from a guy said he had been a distributor for Buck Knives for 13 years. He told me the Coleman Collecotr's Edition was made in Buck's China Factory. I don't know about that but it was sweet looking knife and razor sharp!
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That is an interesting Golf Knife. Actually don't think I have ever seen one! OK I get the divot tool but I am stumped by the other tool? Something to hold your smoking stogie?
I believe the smaller fork like thing is a cleat tightener and the spine mounted doo-dad is "tee punch" Supposedly the sharpened end of the tee isn't good enough to punch a hole in the ground??!?! Apparently the tee punch is also used to clean crud out of the grooves in your golf clubs!
Or the mud out of your cleats I think. After you said "golf knife" my memory kicked in, (one of my older brothers was a PGA teaching pro/coach, so I spent lots of time on golf courses in my youth...as his slave/caddy). Some courses have hard soil, so the spike (tee punch) can be used to start a hole for your tee in hard ground, and the forks can also pry a tee out of the ground if it's stuck, (and tighten cleats). Also, as mentioned, the divot repair tool is the larger "fork". Of course it also has a blade in case one of your foursome cheats!! Most important of all is the bottle opener for the golfer's best friend, a beer on the 19th hole.
Oi, you're making me remember how much I hate golf!!
Tobias Gibson said:
I believe the smaller fork like thing is a cleat tightener and the spine mounted doo-dad is "tee punch" Supposedly the sharpened end of the tee isn't good enough to punch a hole in the ground??!?! Apparently the tee punch is also used to clean crud out of the grooves in your golf clubs!
Syd and Tobias,
Thank you for telling me what all that was for I honestly had no idea. I tend to think the bottle opener may be the most useful piece
It's been a long time. I didn't really look at that knife when I got it, it was just a .75 knife to me at the time. After Tobias said something I took a closer look at it, then had that "oh yeah" moment.
The smaller SAK clone is Chinese like the golf knife, and surprisingly well made. It has a sharp, tight lil' blade, good snap, and both the toothpick AND the tweezers are there. I have had numerous & various Victorinox SAK's, and I honestly think some of these Chinese clones are their equals. The tweezers and toothpick the PRC versions come with are definitely superior to the European originals IMHO, and I can't think of a single original SAK I've used much that didn't end up having those two items either missing or broken. Of course nowadays ANY German/Swiss knife might come from the PRC anyway, who knows anymore?
Both are now in my "giveaway" pile, I might still know a golfer or two who could use one. After schlepping big bro's clubs around I lost my taste for the sport, so I have no earthly use for it.
Jan Carter said:
Syd and Tobias,
Thank you for telling me what all that was for I honestly had no idea. I tend to think the bottle opener may be the most useful piece
Dunno what it is, but they just keep on comin'. Not exactly a flea market find, but a find.
I stopped by the thrift where I found the Hermes Schlumberger corkscrew knife, and while talking to the owner about whether he had any more knives he said, "come out and look what I just found in a house they just wanted cleaned out", he reached into a box in the back of his truck and came out with this, still in it's original plastic bag. Another SAK clone, no markings other than the "A" on the handle, and "stainless" on the master blade. Complete and unused, and like other clones I've seen, of reasonable quality. The master blade is sharp and tight, and the springs are very tight & strong on every device.
I asked the guy how much he wanted for it, & he just handed it to me and said, "I got it for free, so you can have it, thanks for being a customer". Now that is what I call customer service!
So I guess I collect SAK clones now.....at least I seem to have a collection of them all of a sudden.
I need to get to the flea market!
Don't forget thrift stores and yard sales. At yard sales people sometimes don't have knives out because they are easy to steal, same at swaps. I ALWAYS ask "do you have any pocket knives?", that's how I got the vintage Camillus Marlin Spike above. In fact I wouldn't have been given that SAK clone today if I hadn't asked whether he had any pocket knives or not.
You can't find if you don't go look, and often times don't find if you don't ask!!.
Tobias Gibson said:
I need to get to the flea market!
Another swap meet Sunday.
None of my "regulars" were there today, maybe because it was Mother's Day, I dunno. I did found one guy with a glass case full of old US-made pocket knives though, and like a moth to a flame I fluttered over to that light. Most of them were Imperial or similar, most all-metal handled, a few jigged synthetic handled, in various degrees of decrepitude, most rusted up pretty good or generally just "parts knives". However, in that bunch was a couple of decent knives, the one pictured below, a Craftsman 9470 stockman-type frame, (Camillus?), and a small whittler-type Camillus. The Camillus had nice bone scales, but the blades were all sharpened down to nearly nothing. The guy knew a little about what he had, and was asking premium prices for all of them, (about what I would have been asking had I been the seller). He wanted $25 for the Camillus, and $20 for this Craftsman. I did my usual trick of walking away acting disinterested, and came back a little later hoping the light crowd had fostered some desperation. When I came back I offered him $10 for the Craftsman, but passed on the worn out Camillus. He balked, but being a slow day he was a bit desperate so he came back with $15...I decided to take it.
Not the best deal of the month, but not so bad either. The knife is in what I consider "very good" condition, with some staining on the blades, but no pitting or nicks, and the handles are perfect with a great jig pattern. The blades are tight, and the springs are what I would call "average" with an acceptable snap. It sharpened up very nicely when I got it home & cleaned it up, so now it can go with my late brothers Craftsman 95232 4" folding hunter that I now have. Not sure if the handles are bone or Delrin, (looks like bone to me), but either way an acceptable deal IMHO. I'll do some research and see if I can identify the manufacturer, (Camillus probably), and perhaps can learn what materials the handles are made of.
Next weekend will be another swap meet, and there is also a large annual "flea market" at a seniors-only gated community nearby. I'll be there early scanning for sharp objects.
Any info any of you have regarding old(er) Craftsman knives please speak up. All I know is that they had knives made by various US manufacturers over the years. Whoever made this one, I'm happy with my latest "flea market" find.
Looks very much like a Camillus #78 Stockman Is it a 4 inch frame? Nice find Syd!
Yes it is 4" Tobias, and as always, thank you for that info. I'm happy to hear that it is likely a Camillus, now I can research that pattern; cool. Other than staining on the blade, the knife seems little used.
I realized after I posted originally that I forgot to include it's length, sorry about that. Delrin handle material I suppose?
Tobias Gibson said:
Looks very much like a Camillus #78 Stockman Is it a 4 inch frame? Nice find Syd!
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