Show your blades!

[Mike_S]

See how well this goes over. Show what you got, give up the story if there is one.

I have, and have had, entirely TOO many knives, they are all some sort of favorite for one reason or another.

First up, a pair of military scout/camp knives. The boxed one is till wrapped in the original oiled plastic wrap, it comes out a couple times a year to be admired, then goes away. The one showing off is a never been sharpened or carried Desert Storm era (stamped 1991) that I recently got to replace the 1990 model that I requ'd from supply while in the sand. The 1990 model recently went to my daughter, also born in 1990, along with a custom sheath made for me by a Marine brother.

20230502_081315.jpg

I had been totally enamored of camp knives for their utility and relative robust nature, but the kicker was always the can opener. This was the first maker that I used that had a can opener that actually worked as well as a John Wayne. So...

Now I get to break in a new (and damn is it new and stiff and all!) 40 year old scout knife! Gotta love it!

[Mike_S]

Ok, so found pics of the other US scout knife and the Iwo Jima knife.

This one was a dedicated user for quite a number of years. Now I get to break in a new one.

1990 Camillus with sheath.jpg

This one stays wrapped and boxed. Came across it by accident and never even paused to think about it. Love it, will never use it.

Iwo Camillus.jpg

[BrokenolMarine]

I have a number of knives that have seen a lot of use. One that I used for more than a decade was issued to me when I first went out into the Squadrons as an Aviation Electrician in the Corps. For some reason it was designated a TL. Made by Camillus. The blade was Razor Sharp, and the locking blade served as a screwdriver.

Marine TL.jpg

When I graduated from the Academy after leaving the Corps, I was carrying a SpiderCo Folder, a nice enough Duty Knife, but the Chief decided I had promise and pulled me aside and showed me HIS EDC Benchmade. I saved for a month or two and bought one, I still carry it nearly three decades later. A Benchmade Folder.... The Elishewitz 875EBT Sentinel... it's no longer made and one NIB is supposedly fairly rare and collectable. MINE was used daily.

benchmade Elishewitz 875sbt Sentinel.jpg

As a former Marine SNCO, I have a few KBARs in the collection and a Sword or two of course. A few bayonets, and then a couple dozen fighting knives and some other duty type knives. A few are very special, but for sentimental reasons....

[Mike_S]

TL 29 rings a bell...

Ours were in the tool boxes - I level didn't carry their tools on the flight line. Not in country anyway. When we were deployed it was a whole 'nother clusterphuck.

[BrokenolMarine]

TL 29 rings a bell...

Ours were in the tool boxes - I level didn't carry their tools on the flight line. Not in country anyway. When we were deployed it was a whole 'nother clusterphuck.

When I first joined the squadrons, the individual techs at the organizational level were issued the TLs and a pair of safety wire pliers; your last name was engraved on them. The locking blade on the TL would open most inspection hatches and of course we safety wired everything... About five years later personal tools were outlawed, except for the knives. EVERYONE had a knife... but you had to put it in your locker on arrival to work. Then ALL tools were checked out at the tool control center.

[BrokenolMarine]

Back on subject: The two sentimental knives...

1. Miss Tina was running calls for two rescue squads since she was a stay at home mom and an EMT. Often, she would respond to the scene with her Jump Bag since we were rural, and the squad would meet her there with the driver and assistant. One day there was a call for a possible Cardiac Arrest at the state park. We lived three minutes from the boat ramp at that lake. She was on scene and with the patient in less than five, and began CPR in seven minutes after the call went out. They told the patient that without that quick response he would have died. (He had come up to hunt deer in the park with a relative who lived in our county, he did that every year.) The following year, he brought her a handmade knife and a thank you note. Both live in the gunsafe... Every year until he could no longer hunt, he would drop off a leg quarter on his way out of town...

Tina's Lifesaving Knife.jpg

One of my Marines, a Protege', went on to become a successful lawyer. He emailed and asked if I could make him a humidor. I didn't think I could but told him I would try. I had some very nice wood, and the only thing I asked is that he pay for the expenses. I had to buy some particular cedar to line the case to kill bugs, and the hinges he picked out, other than that, I knocked it out in about a month. He was thrilled, but I wouldn't quote a price, just sent him the receipts for the cost of materials. Didn't charge him for the wood I had on hand.

He had a knife and sheath custom made and sent it to me. The next time I saw one like it, Chris Pratt was wearing it in Jurassic Park. Yup, this one lives in the safe as well.

knife 2.jpg