Thread: Knife collecting

Originally Posted by MickR

Now Griz are you sayin' you only own cheap knives?!


Mick

No Mick I just have some cheap knives and let me tell you ,it's liberating, I can use a rock from the boatyard, as these things are about 3-5 bucks each,and If you have a 20lb blue or striper or anything that needs immeadiate attention,it works.
and works well,its a blue and white one thats actually been around for a while,and I dont like the sticks.Secondly,I think those thing on that guys knife might be for prying open knots in rope as I have seen some things that look kind of like that thing and thats what I was told they were.

I have no idea what that thing was Griz, but it could well be a Fid as you suggest. I use Fid's for my leather work and for untying the odd childs attempted bow in a shoelace. Bloody handy bits of kit I have to say. They come in various sizes or you can make them to suit if you don't own a shop bought. I have one of each in two sizes.


Mick

Carbide sharpeners....not even once!

Get a nice Spyderco Sharpmaker for easy yet effective sharpening. Or my current favourite the DMT aligner set. You can sharpen knives without destroying the blade you know. Those carbide sharpeners only make knives "sharp" compared to wooden knives.

On a sidenote, I got me some cool new acquisitions:

A Mcusta, a brand that I'd read about for the first time here on SRP and that sparked my interest in good knives. Took me 5 years but I finally got one:

This is a black micarta Tactility model


an A.G. Russell Bicentennial knife in Brass fom 1976


Another A.G. Russell, the 2009 Texas Ranger large folding hunter. Here shown next to my Tim Britton medium Avatar


And a discontinued A.G. Russell white bone lockback

Only Knives I own and use anymore,the case was my Dads.

Dear,

sorry my first post is not per se about straight razors.

My son and I have been shaving with straights razors for years, we both prefer vintage Solingen razors, as we primarily shave with Henckels, Bökers, Pumas , Bartmanns, etc.

Now, his birthday is coming up and I've been looking around for a good knife to give him.
We share the same sentiment regarding tools, they don't have to look fancy, but they have to be high-quality made and do what they're suppose to do and do it well. He also enjoys the historic value of his tools/brands. So I have been looking around at the brands I know from our straight razors.

But, I can't help but notice how a lot of those smaller, more local Solingen based brands back in the day , Puma and Böker in particular I've been looking at, have now become bigger, more modernized, but also less local and plenty of their products are now being produced in places other than Solingen, or that's what I've been reading.

Not a problem per se, but It's hard to determine if one of their knives is genuinely made in Solingen (Germany) or in China. Might sound like a formality to some, as long as the knife performs it performs, right? Well, not for me, I like the historic aspect of the brand, and I'm prejudiced by using vintage Solingen straight razors.

I'd like to support a smaller, lesser known, Solingen based knifemaker. What I'm looking for, ideally, is a genuinely based Solingen knifemaker that has been around for a while, but is still flying under the radar. A company that isn't a big multinational and outsources a lot of their knives. Or a newer Solingen based knifemaker looking to make his way into the world with a solid quality product would also be outstanding. Anyway I'm looking for a real sturdy genuine Solingen knife that's intended to become a workhorse made by a somewhat more "anonymous" maker to the masses. The idea is sort of a portable pocket knife, not too big, not too small. Something simple that will last a lifetime or two.

I highly appreciate and input and feedback.
Apologies if I'm asking things that have been asked ad nauseam.

They're not small. But Böker still makes a lot of knives in Solingen itself. If you buy a Böker knife and make sure it's not Böker Plus, Böker Arbolito or Böker Magnum then it's a Solingen made knife.

Other than that maybe you should look at Robert Klaas knives. They're a smaller company in Solingen. Or maybe German Eye check out this webshop: Pocket Knives Online Shop - Pocketknives Online Shop Taschenmesser aus Solingen they have all sorts of real german made pocketknives.

Im actually working on a leaf spring knife. been working on it for a few weeks when i have time so its coming along verry slowly. improvising in alot of field like using a cutting torch to get the rough shape, and building a fire and to heat it and beating it on a railroad beam for an anvil i will post pics when i get it close to being finished.

I have that D2 ^^^ as well. Freaking awesome tool. Takes a beating as well!

I just got my first fixed blade as an early Christmas present from my brother. It's a Cold Steel "GI Tanto" and I immediately took it to the bench grinder to modify it significantly (rounded the tanto point, ground off upper hand guard and added jimping where it used to be, flattened false edge, rounded area behind edge for a choked up grip). The result is something I hope will run well as a lightweight beater/survival knife. I stripped the factory black paint off the blade and created a forced patina with mustard. I also decreased the angle of the bevel and added some texture to the scales. I'm planning to build some nice hardwood scales for it in the near future. All in all it was a pretty fun project and I'm very happy with the result.