My Manual Folders!

[Madmarco]

Yes they are Sam, and the ones that are coming are also somewhat different than the standard stiletto. That knife in the top pic is a very solid knife, yet so simple.

[Madmarco]

I have these 2 big honk'n monstrosities to post today guys, and I'm sure you all realize they're strictly novelty knives! They're both described as "pocket knives", but I certainly can't see anyone using either as such. In the bottom picture I included the regular sized 8 1/2" counterpart for emphasis. The 1st large model is a Timber Rattler 18" OAL lockback folder/SS clip-point blade with nail-nic,(personally I think this knife would look much better with a spear-point dagger blade)SS bolsters, brass liners and pins, and some sort of burnt wooden scales with engraved ABS inlays. As you can well imagine this knife's blade can be started out of the channel about 25 degrees and then with a firm flick of the wrist opened and locked. The 2nd big knife is also by Timber Rattler and is an 18" OAL lockback as well/SS clip-point blade with nail-nic, SS bolsters, brass liners and pins, and black/white Pakkawood scales. This one also can be flicked open. Both knives have nicely engraved lock-tabs, and weigh-in at about a pound. The only markings are the Timber Rattler stamp, as well as stainless steel and Pakistan stamps. The more reasonable 8 1/2" OAL lockback folder is by Rite Edge and has a SS clip-point blade also with a nail-nic, SS bolsters and liners, brass pins, and black/white Pakkawood scales. It's only markings are a Rite Edge and stainless stamp. With this knife one would likely lose a digit or two when trying to flick it open, since it's backlash is extreme. All 3 came shaving-sharp. These knives produce plenty of "oooos and awwws" when first seen! I suppose a use could be found for this type of knife, although I've yet to think of one, other than for display!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

I think those could double as a machete, but I bet they wouldn’t take the abuse a bush knife would have to endure. I’ve never gotten bit by the big knife germ. I don’t collect Bowies or any big bladed knives. The biggest, non kitchen knife, that I had was an A.G. Russell Cattaraugus fixed blade but it was only 12 inches OAL. I ended up selling it because it took up too much room in my display case. Every time I looked in that case it bothered me for some reason I can’t explain.
The smaller one next to that one in the bottom picture really puts those into perspective, wow.

[samb1955]

Both of those would be nice if they were around half that size. Keep out of deep water if you have one of those on you, lol.

[Madmarco]

I totally agree Mark, I doubt either of these big knives would hold up to any kind of even mild abuse. They're so big that I didn't consider putting them in with my regular folders in their display pouches, so I hang them on the wall with my fixed blades in the open position. Strictly conversation pieces! I'm happy that my desire for big is pretty much behind me, and the ones I own already have their place in my collection. The smaller knife is very well built, and would make for a good EDC, and it was ideal for showing the size difference!

[Madmarco]

Half the size sounds just about right Sam! Fortunately my days of deep water are well in the past! lol!

[Madmarco]

I have 2 more traditional manual folders to post today guys! They're nearly identical in appearance, but were built by 2 different companies, and 2 different lengths. In the top pic is a Kriegar 9" OAL lockback stiletto/SS bayonet blade with nail-nic, SS bolsters liners and screws, and dark wood scales. Weighs about 3 oz.'s and arrived shaving-sharp. This piece is marked "Kriegar" on the front tang, and "KG 148" on the rear tang. The 2nd knife is a Benchmark 10 3/4" OAL lockback stiletto/SS bayonet blade with nail-nic and blood grooves on both sides, SS bolsters and screws, brass liners, and also has dark wood scales. This one's a little beefier at 4 oz.'s, and also arrived sharp. It's marked "Benchmark" on the front tang, and "BMK035" on the back tang. I saw a Youtube video of a guy that could open these manual knives with only 1 hand, by holding the knife with his thumb and 1st finger and depressing the lockback release with the knuckle on his 3rd finger, and using a jerking down motion the blade flew open and locked. He could close it in the same manner. When I tried this, the knife went flying out of my hand, and I wasn't interested enough to put the practise in! I included a 3rd picture showing the difference in length. These are actually pretty nice knives, and certainly satisfied me before I was able to acquire the real-deal!

[samb1955]

I'm kinda partial to the stiletto style too.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

I like that style too Mark. Very nice.

[Madmarco]

Thanks Sam and Mark! This is also my favorite style of knife, preferably as an auto, but the manuals are pretty cool as well!

[Madmarco]

I have a pair of Italians to post today guys, and I made a minor modification to both. Some of you traditionalists out there may be a bit upset with my mods, but I collect knives to keep and enjoy, and not to re-sell, so I want them the way I want them, and this is what prompted me to alter these. They are A.G.A. Campolin 9" OAL manual lockback swing-guards that I removed the S/G's from to make them "icepicks", because I've never really been a fan of S/G's. These knives are built to the exact specs of their automatic counterparts minus the auto mechanisms. I currently have the auto version on my radar to buy, and yes, when it arrives I'll remove it's S/G as well. They have SS dagger blades with no nail-nics, NS bolsters, brass liners and pins, and Cocobolo and Ebony scales respectively. They weigh about 4 oz.'s apiece, and came with only the bottom edges sharpened. Due to them not having nail-nics it's necessary for me to use a nail to start the blades out of the channels, but once that's done I store them on display cards in the open position, so to have to open them in this manner doesn't happen very often. According to the builder there were only 125 of each blade grind produced, so someday these will be rare knives, but mine won't fall into that category due to my mod, but as I stated, my knives are strictly for my enjoyment while I'm here on planet psycho, so that fact doesn't affect me in the least! My apologies though to those who feel what I've done is sacrilegious!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Not sure I understand how the blade is deployed on these two. I understand about taking the swing guard off, I have seen several knives for sale that have them removed. I don’t mind a swing guard on a knife. Although I do think it isn’t going to help protect the user much from harm. Not completely sure how swing guards got started, that would be an interesting piece of history.

[samb1955]

Your knife do what you want with it but I'd keep the guards cause you just never know.

[Quick Steel]

Marco, there is method to your madness. With the impressive variety and number of your knives and with a wide range of quality you are developing a unique and highly interesting collection. I would find it interesting to know the country of origin for each knife.Anyway, well done sir.

[Madmarco]

Mark! Because the knives have NO nail-nics it's necessary for me to insert any type of steel nail,(finishing nail, roofing nail, etc.) the tip of another knife, or even a small screwdriver into the blade channel at the bottom, and gently lift the tip of the blade out enough to grab it with my fingers, and then just pull it open the rest of the way. If the S/G's were still on, you simply grasp them while the blade is closed, and since they aren't on there tightly but still attached to the blade, they kind of "float", so when you pull on them they bring the blade out of the channel. Think of it as if it were a thumb-stud, and instead of using your thumb on the hand that's holding the knife to push on the stud to bring the blade out, you would use your thumb and first finger of your other hand to grasp the stud and pull on it to bring the blade out. That's the scenario IF the S/G is on the knife, but since I removed them there's nothing to grasp onto, so the blade must be pried up from the bottom with a nail, etc. until it's out enough to grasp and pull out the rest of the way. If I had any straws I'd simply slip the end onto the tip of the blade and pull it up, but since I don't have a straw I just use a nail or screwdriver. Another way to look at it would be, if I had rubber gloves I could just grab the blade and pull it out, but since I don't, my fingers just slip off the blade as I try to pull it out. As I stated, once the knives are open I put them on my display cards in the open position, so opening and closing the blade isn't an issue, but, if the knives were daily users it would be extremely inconvenient to have to open them in the way that I do. I too don't know who started installing S/G's, but the reason I believe was as finger protectors, since stilettos are stabbing knives, so one wouldn't want their fingers to slide up the handle and make contact with the sharp edges on the blade. Some guys claim that S/G knives have a completely unique sound and feel when they open, but never having owned an auto S/G myself I couldn't vouch for that. I'll do some research to see if there's a history of how S/G's got started. I'll do my best to show what I just explained in some pics!

In this pic, I would be grasping the S/G, if it had them, to pull the blade out.

In this pic, I've used in this case a small screwdriver to lift the blade up enough to grab it and pull the blade open. Hope this clears it up for you!

[Madmarco]

Yes I did keep the guards Sam, for just the reason you stated, "you just never know"! Should it be necessary to re-install them, it's a simple matter of inserting a small pin and then peening it!

[Madmarco]

Thanks for your kind words Garry! I wish I could provide you with country of origin for each knife, but unfortunately many of them have absolutely no markings so your guess is as good as mine. I think it would be a safe bet to assume that many of the cheap knives likely originate in China, but that's simply a guess on my part!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Mark, that explains it well. I thought from your post about how you open this, that is what you meant, but I thought surely it wouldn’t be that inconvenient. But it is. I would think that using a nail would run the risk of dulling the blade. Like when my wife runs the blade of a kitchen knife over a fork. I cringe every time I have to use a knife pick to open a blade. I try to be extremely careful not to scratch the metal. I’m probably the obsessive one when it comes to marring a surface. That’s also why I park my car way out in the parking lot away from all the other cars.

[Madmarco]

I have a 7-pack of pretty nice Italians to post today fellas! I ordered all 7 together so it seemed fitting to post them together. The 1st. knife is an 8 3/8" OAL brass-body slip-joint folder handmade by M. Fraracco in Italy/SS spear-point blade with nail-nic, SS pins, no liners since the knife is only 3/16" at the widest point, and an extremely strong pull on the non-locking slip-joint action. Weighs a paltry 1.5 oz.'s and arrived extremely sharp. Has "Siciliano/made in Italy" etched on the front blade, as well as a logo and "INOX" and "M. Fraracco" deep-stamped on the front tang. In the 2nd. pic is the identical knife as the 1st., but for it's SS body. The 3rd. pic is an 8 3/8" OAL slip-joint folder/SS spear-point blade with nail-nic, SS bolsters liners pins and bail, and white ABS scales. Weighs-in at a more respectable 2.5 oz.'s. Similar markings and stamps with an additional logo and "M.Fraracco" stamped on the bolsters. In the 4th. pic is a 9 1/2" OAL from tip-to-end of bail slip-joint folder with all the same specs, markings, and stamps except for it's black ABS scales and 3.5 oz. weight. In the 5th. pic is a carbon-copy of the 4th. knife, but for it's brass bolsters. In the 6th. and 7th. pictures are the big brothers of the knives in pics 4 and 5, only longer at 11 1/2" and weighing 4.5 oz.'s each. And finally in the last 2 pics are the 2 brothers together to show the size difference. All 7 knives have very strong pulls, and even with the application of Q.R. oil they're still very strong but a bit more smooth. Any one of these knives would make for an excellent EDC! The entire order cost me US$158. including the shipping, which I thought was phenomenal for such well-built knives!

[Madmarco]

Mark, that explains it well. I thought from your post about how you open this, that is what you meant, but I thought surely it wouldn’t be that inconvenient. But it is. I would think that using a nail would run the risk of dulling the blade. Like when my wife runs the blade of a kitchen knife over a fork. I cringe every time I have to use a knife pick to open a blade. I try to be extremely careful not to scratch the metal. I’m probably the obsessive one when it comes to marring a surface. That’s also why I park my car way out in the parking lot away from all the other cars.

I'm with ya Mark, it bothers me to no end to risk scratching the blade with another metal object, and that's why I mentioned a plastic straw to just slip over the blade tip and pull up. Although, I'm very guilty of dragging my knife across my fork to clean the food off of it. In the pic I used a very small Phillips screwdriver and the tip of the blade just slipped into one of the notches on the tip of the Phillips and didn't slide around so it worked, but it was still a risk. It certainly is inconvenient to have to do this, but fortunately I only need to do this on rare occasions. What is a "knife pick", is that a special tool to use when one needs to open a blade in this manner, or were you just speaking in general terms? I'm pretty obsessive too when it comes to damaging a nice shiny surface, and, I think it's brilliant to park away from the other vehicles to help avoid dings, cause so many people just fling their doors open with no regard for the cars beside them. Glad I could explain this for you!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Mark, A knife pick is used for opening blades. A.G. Russell has the best one. I have 4 or 5 different ones that were given to me over the years and the A.G. Russell one is the best of the bunch. Except they call it a steel thumbnail. Which makes it very hard to find when you search their website. If you don’t have the correct name it doesn’t come up in their search field. One thing they don’t show in this photo is how there is an angle to this so that if it’s not working in one direction it will if you flip it over. So narrow nail nicks don’t cause it to slip off and scratch the blade. A very smart feature.

[samb1955]

Mark, that explains it well. I thought from your post about how you open this, that is what you meant, but I thought surely it wouldn’t be that inconvenient. But it is. I would think that using a nail would run the risk of dulling the blade. Like when my wife runs the blade of a kitchen knife over a fork. I cringe every time I have to use a knife pick to open a blade. I try to be extremely careful not to scratch the metal. I’m probably the obsessive one when it comes to marring a surface. That’s also why I park my car way out in the parking lot away from all the other cars.

I'm with ya Mark, it bothers me to no end to risk scratching the blade with another metal object, and that's why I mentioned a plastic straw to just slip over the blade tip and pull up. Although, I'm very guilty of dragging my knife across my fork to clean the food off of it. In the pic I used a very small Phillips screwdriver and the tip of the blade just slipped into one of the notches on the tip of the Phillips and didn't slide around so it worked, but it was still a risk. It certainly is inconvenient to have to do this, but fortunately I only need to do this on rare occasions. What is a "knife pick", is that a special tool to use when one needs to open a blade in this manner, or were you just speaking in general terms? I'm pretty obsessive too when it comes to damaging a nice shiny surface, and, I think it's brilliant to park away from the other vehicles to help avoid dings, cause so many people just fling their doors open with no regard for the cars beside them. Glad I could explain this for you!

Try pushing down on the lock on the back of the knife, might take some pressure of the blade and you may be able to open it with your thumb and index finger. Worth a try.

[Madmarco]

Thanks Sam, a very good idea, but I just tried it and the blade is far too slippery to get a good grip on. I think I'll get one of those "knife picks" or "steel thumbnails" that Mark just told me about. Thanks anyway, it was a good thought!

[Madmarco]

Mark, A knife pick is used for opening blades. A.G. Russell has the best one. I have 4 or 5 different ones that were given to me over the years and the A.G. Russell one is the best of the bunch. Except they call it a steel thumbnail. Which makes it very hard to find when you search their website. If you don’t have the correct name it doesn’t come up in their search field. One thing they don’t show in this photo is how there is an angle to this so that if it’s not working in one direction it will if you flip it over. So narrow nail nicks don’t cause it to slip off and scratch the blade. A very smart feature.

Thanks Mark! I had no idea there was such a useful tool like this available. I'll have to get myself one. Besides using it to lift the blades out of the channels on my 2 knives, I'm assuming that one would also use it to open blades on knives with nail-nics that have extremely strong pulls so as to not break fingernails, right?

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Mark, A knife pick is used for opening blades. A.G. Russell has the best one. I have 4 or 5 different ones that were given to me over the years and the A.G. Russell one is the best of the bunch. Except they call it a steel thumbnail. Which makes it very hard to find when you search their website. If you don’t have the correct name it doesn’t come up in their search field. One thing they don’t show in this photo is how there is an angle to this so that if it’s not working in one direction it will if you flip it over. So narrow nail nicks don’t cause it to slip off and scratch the blade. A very smart feature.

Thanks Mark! I had no idea there was such a useful tool like this available. I'll have to get myself one. Besides using it to lift the blades out of the channels on my 2 knives, I'm assuming that one would also use it to open blades on knives with nail-nics that have extremely strong pulls so as to not break fingernails, right?

Yes Mark but you have to practice a bit to make sure you don’t scratch the blade. I find that putting my finger on top of the blade while I hold the pick in the nail nick keeps it securely in the nick and you have to get use to moving it slowly up with side and top pressure. Takes practice but it’s easy to master. I keep one of these on my key chain and one on my desk and photo booth. I have soft thumb nails and they turn back very easily so it’s very handy.
I will include one in your next box of knives that I will be shipping out to you next week. I have a small stash of these that I give away. I think it’s a better gift than an inexpensive knife. It’s way more practical for me anyway.