what did you use before "Bushcraft?"

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
27
70
south wales
SAK was the only thing with a 'label' on it that I can remember, the rest was whatever I got from the hardware or surplus shop.
 

Wayland

Hárbarðr
My first knife was one of these.

Barrel-knife-3.jpg


Barrel-knife-2.jpg


Barrel-knife-1.jpg


I was about six at the time.
 

CBJ

Native
Jan 28, 2009
1,055
0
40
Aberdeenshire
I used a Normark folder for many years, I left it behind when I moved :banghead:

I have searched and searched but have never been able to find another.

atb

Craig
 

Perrari

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 21, 2012
3,090
1
Eryri (Snowdonia)
www.erknives.com
That is a really cool knife, I would be happy to receive that on my birthday now let alone when 6 yrs old. Is that the actual one you got ?

My first knives were cheap folders picked up at the local village shop. then a fixed blade dagger with antler handle, my Mum took this off me after I had done something 'naughty' and I never got it back to this day(about 34 years later).I think it must be still in my parents house, but cannot be found.
I then had several cheap lock knives, a couple of siwss army, and a couple of locking Gerbers. Then started making my own fixed blades and using them. I still have the Gerbers but have made my own 01 scandi blade for one of them.
My first knife was one of these.

Barrel-knife-3.jpg


Barrel-knife-2.jpg


Barrel-knife-1.jpg


I was about six at the time.
 

Swallow

Native
May 27, 2011
1,552
4
London
When I was 13 I had....

draft_lens6164482module48837292photo_1248988909survival-knife.jpg


Went through about 10 of those, then I had....

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I actually quite liked that, but I had this too....

Good grief thats a familiar sight. I take you managed not to batter your fingers to pieces with the catapult or cut any off with the wire cutters.
 
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udamiano

On a new journey
Had the usual assortment of swiss army knives and old stealth knifes, then into my late teens and early 20s they let me play with these

scorpion90_001.jpg

But these chaps kept breaking them in new and unusual ways
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or wanting to throw them out of these thing
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in places like this
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or this

malaysia_jungle_small.jpg


which meant I had lots of these to lug around

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to find out why our nice shiny vehicles kept being broken, by those fellas in green, or to access if they could throw them out of whatever the next large plane they could find, or could they keep working in this environment or that, so had a few different types of blades, from leathermans to machetes depending where they sent me, usually 'borrowed' of the various military chaps we were working with at the time (if any of the guys i worked with are reading this; guys I sent them all back like I promised, honest :cool: they must have got lost in the post :p)
but they wouldn't bring them to us, so we had to go to them :( (damm warranty, small print)

Might add though the S90s were a dam fine bushcraft tool, like a big swiss army knife, alright a 90mm SAK, you could open a can of beans and cook it all at the same time LOL

anyway I digress after running around the world for a while, started using these types of blades

Woodsman_knives.png

and been happy ever since

the end :lmao:
 
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Vulpes

Nomad
Nov 30, 2011
350
0
Cahulawassee River, Kent
Hm...pipe cleaner knife at age 5, SAK soldier at age 7, maybe 4 more SAKs as well as cheap folders and multi-tools from there on... Getting an SAK was a right of passage in the family. My Dad's carried what we call EDC for about the past 50 years. First fixed blade came in the form of a K-BAR on holiday, aged 12. Loved that one, because it looked cool. Then slipped in and out of collecting other, not very memorable stuff over the years and got a 100mm Frost's carver with the wood handle and a nordic sheath, which was a step up, when I realised it was amazingly easy to sharpen! Bad thing was, it had no blade guard... Thought about getting a Bison blade, because they were visiting country shows at the time and they were about £105 for the standard model! :O In the end, I did a couple of courses and bought an F1 for £62 several years ago, but never got much use out of it. Now, much to the dislike of purists, I mostly just use a SwissTool to be honest. Fixed blades just get left in the bottom of a bag.
 
Nov 29, 2004
7,808
26
Scotland
When very young I owned a pipe knife, possibly a Richards Sheffield knife with pipe cleaning tool, I think my grandmother may have given it to me. A slightly larger 'fishing' knife replaced that when I was a cub scout, two blades and a fish descaler. In my teenage years I owned quite a nice little bone handled bowie with quite a long clip and a fine little Puma folder (the 265).

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I purchased a Victorinox Champion with one of my first wage cheques.

I went through a stage of buying Gerber knives, A survivor, a guardian, a command 2, a BMF, a couple of folders.

I considered buying a Jimi Lille Sly II, but chickened out and bought a Buckmaster 184, for the fun of owning it more than anything else.

I had a nice Camilus pilot survival knife.

I had an Al Mar Sere for a long while, a nice folding knife if a little big and unweildy and that was replaced with one of the first Chris reeve Sebenzas, I also own a Chris Reeve Shadow 3 and a Jimi Lille Grey Ghost,

I'm not sure at exactly which point my choice of knife wasn't based on 'what I imagine folks living or stuck in the wilderness did' and became 'what tools I actually need to get stuff done out there', but after a while my tools of choice were smaller, simpler and they get the job done.

These are...

An Alan Wood Woodlore, several Mora knives, numerous Scandinavian knives, a Doug Ritter RSK Mk 1 and some nice Shrade folders. :)
 
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NS40

Nomad
Nov 20, 2011
362
4
Scotland
I started with at about 7ish with a little penknife with a fake staghorn handle that I found and hid from my parents.

I probably bought my first purchased folding knife (plastic scales with a little metal shield design) about age 9 and still remember using it in class at school to sharpen pencils 'cos sharpeners were for rich kids. How times have changed.

When I was 11 or 12 I hit paydirt. My older brother had a bit of a secret knife collection which my mother found and promptly confiscated before putting it in the bin outside. I found them when taking out the rubbish so naturally recovered them but somehow completely forgot to tell my brother:). There was a Sykes Fairbairn copy, a Scout sheath knife, a few locknives, a bowie knife as well as a couple of throwing knives. I did however own up to him, albeit a few years later.

About 13-14 I bought a horrendous cheap brown plastic handled multiblade folding knife for Scout camps which had a knife and spoon attached jutting out so awkwardly that the knife couldn't really be used for anything apart from shovelling food into your gob, even then you risked serious injury because of all the pokey-out bits. I ended up taking the cutlery off with a hacksaw after which it wouldn't close properly.

Shortly after I bought a "Crocodile Hunter"...around the time of the first Crocodile Dundee film if I remember. I was a bowie style knife but ridiculously large, obviously so owners could produce it and and confidently utter "Nah mate, this is a KNIFE!"

My next knife was identical to Johnathan's below when I was 16 or so...lots of fun to be had with the slingshot but never yet had call to use the harpoon:eek:


I've still got it and recently passed it onto my youngest son as his own knife when I decided he was using one safely and sensibly. He was the first of my kids to own their own knife and as the youngest it was recognising the fact that maturity isn't just about age. He uses it when we're camping or out bushcrafting but the rest of the time it's locked away with the other kit.

In my late teens/early twenties most of my bladed stuff was martial arts related but also had an axe my uncle gave me as a gift (he made me give him a silver coin, a tradition I've continued with). My father borrowed it and I never saw it again until last year when I found it rusting in his garage I've since renovated it but may need to fit a new handle as I'm dubious about the handle and not wiling to risk it breaking in use.

Later 20's, early 30's I bought my first parang/machette/bolo type thingy (it didn't fit neatly into any category). It was also cheap cack and broke at the handle as despite having a thick blade that looked like like it could fell an oak tree, it had a skinny little tang that didn't stand up to it's first use.

Later 30's I bought a decent cold steel copy that IIRC was described as a bolo smachette? It served me well until I lost it for a few years (well couldn't find it...until of course a few days after I bought a new one...it had fallen down the back of a shelving unit where I store camping gear/rucksacks)

Last few knives were bought over the past 4-5 years. Various locknives...one for climbing, one for fishing, one multitool for the car, one for my walking rucksack. Last year I bought a Jack Pyke bushcraft knife which is solid enough for my needs until I win the lottery and can buy one of each of the lovely custom made knives I see on here as they are all stunning shiny kit and works of art. .

My little gerber locknife that lives next to my computer that's used for everyday stuff like opening letters, parcels, cutting rope/paracord is my main tool.
 
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vizsla

Native
Jun 6, 2010
1,517
0
Derbyshire
Great thread il have to sort some pics. My very first knife was a bone handled fixed blade that my dad gave me to put in my first fishing tackle box i was around 8 but i could only use it when i was with him fishing, i think it was a scam to get me fishing as i found fishing quite boring but loved playing with my knife, then i got a swiss army type knife when i joined cubs or scouts at about 9. But my favorite a old buck 110 went everywere with me from age about 11 till about 15 when my local tackle and gun shop started selling folding knives and i had quite a few. I still own most of these. Up untill about ten years ago i never realy used fixed blades just pocket knives. I got my first bushcraft style knife about ten years ago when i was 18 and i still use it now as my main fixed blade. Since then iv had hundreds of knives pass through to try but i always keep onto the same few that i love.
Thanks ash
 

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