Back when I was a young 'un and had a lot of hair, I remeber the Imperial fishing knife that used to be sold everyplace from sporting goods stores to the local gas stations.

One model had a descaler and a long sweeping cutlass like blade a little over 3" long. The other had just the blade with a brass liner lock to keep the blade from closing back on your hand. I don't remember if the liner lock had a scaler on the back of the blade or not as I bought the knife because of the shape of its blade.

Not having much money in those days, I never looked at the high end knives like Camillus or Shrade (It was Shrade that made the Imperial line.). There were many good American knife makers back then and Buck did not exist (I am not a fan of Buck knives because the shine of their blades reminds me of cheap steel.) back then.

Except for a couple of Italian switchblades that I owned back then, liner lock, pin lock, and back lock knives were not highly sold.

Maybe they were, but my financial status, and the blade designs I preferred might have made me unaware of them.

What do any of you 50+ olds remember about what was available then in a liner lock and from which companies, and at what prices.

The old Imperials sold for less than a dollar and for the money they were good little knives.

Bountyhunter

When I was a kid- we're probably in the range of 4 decades ago- I remember at the "sports" section of some department store (they were different then, before malls) examining a "Swiss Army knife" that had a liner lock on at least one blade. The scale was not recessed for it, instead it had a rounded tab that stuck out to the side, and it was made of thin brass sheet that inspired zero confidence.

I remember it well because I had to figure out how it worked to close the knife, never having seen anything like it before. I doubt that it was Victorinox, but at that age I didn't know one SAK from another. Don't remember the price, but anything above $5 was out-of-sight ridiculous at the time, so it probably wouldn't mean much today anyway. I seem to remember that you could get those flat German "cat" folders for about $1.75, and a nicer lock-back for about $2.50.

The Imperial knife also used a brass sheet lock mechanism. It was sufficiently strong for its purpose, and if you did want to abuse it, even in a damaged state it would not have allowed the blade to fold back on your fingers.

Damn, now that I write about and remember it, I am going to have to go out and find one to buy again.

I wish they had as many knife shows in Wisconsin as gun shows to increase my odds of finding one of those oldies but goodies.

Bountyhunter

My old (gee, it was brand new when I bought it in the 1960s! Why is it old now?) Cub Scout knife has a rounded brass lock tab, but it's for the awl or the screwdriver/bottle opener (which was so stiff I couldn't get it open as a child), not the spearpoint cutting blade. Never made sense to me that the blade didn't have a lock, but the tools did. Mine is by Ulster or Camillus, I think (can't get to it to look at the moment).

BTW, Buck has been in business for over 100 years, so they probably were around back then... :-)

David