The old days, knives

[jimbo123p]

I was wondering. Thinking back fifty years to when I was a trainee gamekeeper I had a knife. It lasted me well. It was not expensive, at £2-10/- a week it could not be. Two and a half inch concave blade. It did everything from making snare pegs to dissecting red deer. Easy to keep sharp. No locking blade. Still got the stab would scar on my leg from peg making incorrectly. Tried to find one on the net but nothing comes close. Do we now fixate on if it is not expensive it is not good enough?

 

[pilgrimmick]

I like shiny things and toys as much as the next man. I have quite a few knives and carry one every day around the estate. Even though I have a custom made knife by JLT knives and a couple of other expensive knives the one which had spent more time on my belt than any other lately has been the Deerhunter knife set that was bought from a member on this site.
When something does the job you do not need anything more!

 

[jungle_re]

There's hardly anything worth doing with a knife that can't be done with a Mora and at under £10 I don't think you can grumble.
Excellent tools an take some beating.

 

[rigboot]

I'd be lost without my Opinel, from peeling oranges to peeling deer its done the lot, think my first one was about £4, last one I bought was £7, billy bargain!

 

[deerstalker.308]

I'd be lost without my Opinel, from peeling oranges to peeling deer its done the lot, think my first one was about £4, last one I bought was £7, billy bargain!

2nd that, I've also ways got an opinel in the truck or in my pocket, they are brilliant, my very first knife was an opinel with a blade about 3cm long, god I managed to cut myself with that thing, but it still holds fond memories (and no, I'm into any weird sh*t before anyone says it) brilliant knives.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I'd be lost without my Opinel, from peeling oranges to peeling deer its done the lot, think my first one was about £4, last one I bought was £7, billy bargain!

2nd that, I've also ways got an opinel in the truck or in my pocket, they are brilliant, my very first knife was an opinel with a blade about 3cm long, god I managed to cut myself with that thing, but it still holds fond memories (and no, I'm into any weird sh*t before anyone says it) brilliant knives.

Have to agree lads I to have carried an opinel No8.for many years which has been used for
many tasks. Don't know how well the new Outdoor line will take off.
I'm not so keen on part serrated but think they'll be hard to loose.....!

 

[bewsher500]

I remember Opinels when they were marketed by Malcberry!!
had one in no.6, No.8, No.10, even No.12!!

sliced the tip off my right middle finger at the first joint when I failed to put the locking collar on enough and in twisting it snapped shut neatly slicing through to the other side...

ahhh memories!

to me wielding a Mora makes me feel I should be in white wellies behind the counter in the fish shop

 

[Uncle Buck]

I remember Opinels when they were marketed by Malcberry!!
had one in no.6, No.8, No.10, even No.12!!

sliced the tip off my right middle finger at the first joint when I failed to put the locking collar on enough and in twisting it snapped shut neatly slicing through to the other side...

ahhh memories!

to me wielding a Mora makes me feel I should be in white wellies behind the counter in the fish shop

I to have been there a long time ago those carbon blades are sharp !
You in white wellies Bewsher, now that would be a sight........

 

[finnbear270]

I to have been there a long time ago those carbon blades are sharp !
You in white wellies Bewsher, now that would be a sight........

Could be just the ticket for the weather right now!Google Image Result for http://www.5starweddingdirectory.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Hunters-enamel-768x1024.jpg

 

[rigboot]

I remember Opinels when they were marketed by Malcberry!!
had one in no.6, No.8, No.10, even No.12!!

sliced the tip off my right middle finger at the first joint when I failed to put the locking collar on enough and in twisting it snapped shut neatly slicing through to the other side...

ahhh memories!

to me wielding a Mora makes me feel I should be in white wellies behind the counter in the fish shop

I too was taught a valuable and swift lesson in the respect of knives courtesy of an Opinel No3 I think it was.

Early eighties - family holiday - me lusting after my first real knife - father ok with it - mother against the idea - father gets his way - new knife in hand - leave shop - get in MK1 escort - blood on the roof of the interior - Mother going nuts - lifetime reminder to be careful.....

Still adding to the scars to this day..you'd think I'd have learned

 

[Taff]

Many a deer sorted with a number 9, but knives are a habit , the feel of a good knife in the hand is a joy to work with. Most of the so called hand mades are for show only.

 

[Rake Aboot]

I have an Case, Whittler that is with me everywhere, everyday, and at the end of the day, it is as capable as any other at dressing out an animal if it`s all that I have at hand.

Then straight back in the pocket and removed to cut an apple up later, hygeine ,,, Pah ! I scoff at such modernitys

 

[rigboot]

........Then straight back in the pocket and removed to cut an apple up later, hygeine ,,, Pah ! I scoff at such modernitys

Slightly off topic but I mind the days digging in dung heaps for brandling worms for the sea trout, 1/2 hour later getting battered into plain bread pieces without the thought of washing **** (& slime if it was a good day) off our hands...I too scoff at such modernitys

 

[User00035]

Personally I'm not sniffy about buying cheap, its just that nowadays 'cheap' usually means a foreign copy made without care or skill from shoddy materials. There are honourable exceptions, Mora being one. Also Arthur Wright Their lambsfoot pocket knives are good old fashioned no-nonsense affordable tools.

 

[JabaliHunter]

I was wondering. Thinking back fifty years to when I was a trainee gamekeeper I had a knife. It lasted me well. It was not expensive, at £2-10/- a week it could not be. Two and a half inch concave blade. It did everything from making snare pegs to dissecting red deer. Easy to keep sharp. No locking blade. Still got the stab would scar on my leg from peg making incorrectly. Tried to find one on the net but nothing comes close. Do we now fixate on if it is not expensive it is not good enough?

The numbers may be completely wrong (I was a post-decimalisation child ) so I'm guessing that £2-10/- was the equivalent of around £40 now. So if a Mora costs £10ish now, then would an equivalent back then have been 12/- ? Or a £5 opinel 6/- ?

The thing that has perhaps changed the most is that the 'minimum wage' is maybe £250/week (?) and not £40/week, so all else being equal, the same person that could have bought a 12/- knife back in '63 might now be looking at a £65 knife...

Whether they are getting the same, more, or less for their money is a whole different issue!

 

[kev.rem700]

Personally I'm not sniffy about buying cheap, its just that nowadays 'cheap' usually means a foreign copy made without care or skill from shoddy materials. There are honourable exceptions, Mora being one. Also Arthur Wright Their lambsfoot pocket knives are good old fashioned no-nonsense affordable tools.

I have a lambs foot knife i use every day on the farm. It dose everything from cutting bales open to cutting water pipe. I have had it that long the blade is about half the depth it should be.

Regards kev

 

[bogtrotter]

I was wondering. Thinking back fifty years to when I was a trainee gamekeeper I had a knife. It lasted me well. It was not expensive, at £2-10/- a week it could not be. Two and a half inch concave blade. It did everything from making snare pegs to dissecting red deer. Easy to keep sharp. No locking blade. Still got the stab would scar on my leg from peg making incorrectly. Tried to find one on the net but nothing comes close. Do we now fixate on if it is not expensive it is not good enough?

Off topic but started as a trainee about the same time as you , maybe a couple of years later my first weeks wages purchased a pair of horse hide boots cost my whole weeks wages, but they were the best boots that money could buy at the time, a top quality pair of boots still cost around a weeks wages so not that much has changed.

 

[Lovatscout]

i have a jacklore knife made by a lad on youtube and its an amazing thing bushcraft blade like a ray mears but 1/10 the money i have a ontario quartermasters knife for the gory stuff and my edc is a swiss army farmer the one with the double thickness blade..dont let anyone tell you you cant gralloch a deer with a swiss army knife not good practise but can be done
cheers
scout