Let's See Your Custom, Rare, or Classic Knives

SmokeStack Lightning said:
I bought this Tapio Wirkkala 'Puukko' knife back in the early '80's for $40 out of a catalog.

I've read that they are pretty rare these days. Last one I saw for sale about 2 years ago went for $350 on eBay.

I used to carry it when camping until a fellow camper noticed it and informed me it was a rare knife and worth lots more than what I paid, so I put it away.

EDIT: After taking the pic and posting, I looked at Google and found the little bro of this knife on ebay for $200. Mine is the larger model. I don't know which is more desirable to collectors.
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Funny, just before I read your post, I was scouring my photos, trying to find a decent pic of my knife to post. My photo fu is weak, and you have saved me the trouble of posting one of my lousy pics.

My knife is the same as yours, or maybe the smaller version, I can't tell. I bought mine from a catalog as well, probably Brookstone. I carried it around in a motorcycle tank bag for many years. It didn't do a lot of work, just carved some steaks, and sliced some salami and cheese around the campfire. Then I put it away for a while, but only recently found out it might have some collector value.

Cold Steel makes an inexpensive puukko modeled on the Tapio Wirkkala, but the real thing is a much more satisfying objet, with a bakelite handle and brass bolsters.

Wirkkala was not a knifemaker, but a designer. His puukko is obviously a successful piece of design, as it caught my eye in a catalog, and yours as well. It is very nice to handle and to look at, and it cuts pretty well too.
 
vrichard said:
Had these a long time.
Dick
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Top is a NEMO (Buck USA) Bottom is a 124 (Buck 124 USA)
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Sir, I believe you have a fixed blade(second from top on left) that may have been made by the same maker of my "mystery" folder. They have similarities in bolster, shape of blade and handle.
Do you know the maker? My father was given the lockblade folder in the 60's and passed on in early 70's.
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Thanks much, Jim
 
This Randall Model #1-8" is one of five that I had made to commemorate the heroes of 7 December 1941.
The handle material is the actual teak from the deck of USS California, the flagship of the battleship fleet in Pearl Harbor.
This is the only one of the five that I scrimshawed.
The work depicts Ford Island and battleship row as it appeared on that fateful morning of a "day which will live in infamy".
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Old TexMex said:
Sir, I believe you have a fixed blade(second from top on left) that may have been made by the same maker of my "mystery" folder. They have similarities in bolster, shape of blade and handle.
Do you know the maker? My father was given the lockblade folder in the 60's and passed on in early 70's.
72c1d081769178ffedef4cce10a89ae3_zps6fc39989.jpg

Thanks much, Jim
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I can't see a lot of detail in the photo, but it looks like either a Browning or a Gil Hibben custom. Good reason they look alike, he designed Brownings line of early knives. My impression they still used them into the 1970s. My Browning B78 BiCentennial included a Hibben in the set.
 
rburg said:
I can't see a lot of detail in the photo, but it looks like either a Browning or a Gil Hibben custom. Good reason they look alike, he designed Brownings line of early knives. My impression they still used them into the 1970s. My Browning B78 BiCentennial included a Hibben in the set.
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I think it's the Browning folder designed by Hibben.
 
SmokeStack Lightning said:
I bought this Tapio Wirkkala 'Puukko' knife back in the early '80's for $40 out of a catalog.

I've read that they are pretty rare these days. Last one I saw for sale about 2 years ago went for $350 on eBay.

I used to carry it when camping until a fellow camper noticed it and informed me it was a rare knife and worth lots more than what I paid, so I put it away.

EDIT: After taking the pic and posting, I looked at Google and found the little bro of this knife on ebay for $200. Mine is the larger model. I don't know which is more desirable to collectors.
Click to expand...



I remember those. Haven't seen one for awhile.

Which knife replaced it as your "user"? Just curious.

Seems that almost every pretty good knife becomes collectible in a few decades, if only for nostalgia.

I've mostly quit worrying about it and just use the knives that I like, but take care of them.

I think I paid $12 for a Puma Hunter's Pal in a discount store about 1970. Retail "list" was about $18. In box with sheath, that model is now being offered for as much or more than $350.

There was a time when men actually carried and used knives by Loveless and by Dietmar Kressler. Kressler told me that his customers who hunt preferred his 154CM blades to Damascus, as the edges sharpened more uniformly and didn't rust. But who hunts with a Kressler knife on his belt today? He was already pretty famous when the German edition of, "Playboy" ran a major article on him, with superb photos. After that, I think the knives were so desirable that anyone there who carried one put it in a safe and started carrying a Puma or a Randall, etc.

Loveless got similar publicity, if never in such a major magazine, and prices for his and other famous "handmades" shot up so much in price that few would carry and use one.

I've even seen Buck knives only 15 or so years old selling at shows for much more than you could buy a new one for! I did pay more than "list" for a couple of Model 120's, but only because that model was largely discontinued. I think they now make it only in occasional special runs for major distributors.
 
None of the following would probably qualify as being classic, custom, or rare, but I've collected a few that I just plain like.

The second one from the top in this picture is one that my oldest son made from a kit and an elk shed that he found, then gave it to me one Christmas. Made from AUS 8 steel and is one great, hefty tool. Almost boned out an entire bull elk with it without having to touch it up.
ChipsgunsandBrig046.jpg


In this next picture, the Bowie knife at the top has the words "...and the wrath of the Lord shall descend upon them," engraved on the other side of the blade.

The large Bowie that is fourth from the top has the words, "And my vengeance shall fall upon thine enemies," engraved on the flip side.
ChipsgunsandBrig045.jpg
 
RBscrim said:
Here is my favorite creation from Bob Lovelass.
Has anyone else seen one?


Loveless41_zps6f27701f.jpg
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Yes, I've seen just one. I was looking at it at a Dallas gun show, and the dealer tole me he'd bet I didn't know what it was. When I told him it's a Loveless modified M 41 and that very few were made, he was a little embarassed.
 
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