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Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread

us Offline BPRoberts

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Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
on: June 29, 2025, 02:31:22 AM
Hopefully, most of us live close enough to a nice cutlery, sporting goods, etc. store. I've posted pics a few times of stores I visited in the past, but I'm hopefully going to be heading to quite a few in the next couple weeks, so I figured I'd just make one big thread. Here are some from a visit to River's Edge Cutlery, just outside Columbus, Ohio.

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The most Spydercos I've ever seen in one place, even when I was in stores closer to Portland. Awlso a pretty impressive spread from Benchmade and other brands in that tier. I didn't bring a check list, but they've got to be carrying pretty close to full lines (minus things like color variants) for some companies.

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They have their own brand Hellbender that they make on site.

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First knife store I've ever been in with a snack/drink counter!

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us Offline BPRoberts

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #1 on: June 29, 2025, 02:40:30 AM
And a few more from REC:

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Like any good tourist, I made sure to check out some of the local flavors. (And Opinels for some reason.)

If you look closely, you can see the empty slot for the Boxer Blades (another local cutler) MUK I picked up. Looking forward to taking it out for the Nessmuk badge next month.

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And one more of their sign (I forgot to take an outside pic).

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Great store. Excellent customer service (I think I worked with Kirk) and a huge selection. Unlike a lot of other knife stores I've been to, prices were reasonable (you don't have to beat Amazon, but I've been some places pushing 150% MSRP). Knives, maintenance gear, you name it. Big names and small. Even some nice looking used stuff. Well worth a stop if you're in the area.


us Online IMR4198

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #2 on: June 29, 2025, 02:48:48 AM
   Great idea for a thread.  You should get some contributions, I would think.  I went in W-Mart today to check out their weedwackers.  Couldn't find them.  They had put a (hazardous) huge display covering a couple of aisles with fireworks.  Yikes.  They used to sell them in a trailer at the lower end of the parking lot.  Then I decided to take a photo of the knife display.  There were so many empty slots, I didn't bother.  I suppose lots of folks must be buying knives for summer?  Still had one 111mm and an Explorer.  I don't think there were a dozen knives in the display that should have held maybe 40.   Best wishes.  G
 :tu: :tu:
« Last Edit: June 29, 2025, 02:55:18 AM by IMR4198 »


us Offline ThundahBeagle

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #3 on: June 29, 2025, 07:19:15 AM
Wow.  What is this magical place of which you speak!  Cool!

Up until very recently we had a place called "You-Do-It" Electronics.  They used to carry all sorts of Swiss Army knives.  Gone now.  I'll have to check Kenmore Army Navy.  Thay had Vics and Spydies and Bucks, oh my!


ca Offline Grant Lamontagne

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #4 on: June 29, 2025, 04:10:34 PM
Good timing for a thread like this!

This isn't my local Bass Pro, nor is Bass Pro my first choice for knives, but I'm here to meet a guy from Marketplace about a Cold Steel and a Victorinox knife he had listed for sale.

Once I have taken care of that, Dash and I are going to head in and have a nice little look around.  We have a Bass Pro in Halifax (I even worked there for a time) but it's always nice to visit others when you are on the road!

Def

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us Offline BPRoberts

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #5 on: July 02, 2025, 11:51:12 PM
Took a lot of pictures the last couple days. My wife and I zipped around Northern PA and Southern NY, visiting cutlers and shops. One of the first stops was Wellsboro, PA, George "Nessmuk" Sear's home for most of his life. I found a couple independent cutlers (and a lot of outfitter shops) in the area. One of them was Balsam Ridge Cutlery, owned and operated by Dean and Carol Fry. (They have a website, its very out of date.)

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Dean was nice enough to show me all around the shop, and taught me a bunch about his process. He worked in lumber for years (his office was actually right down the road from the hospital I was born in, and he grew up in the [non-adjacent] town I now work in. Small world)  so he mostly showed me what kinds of woods he uses, how he processes them, etc. And his giant scary belt sander.

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Both of the right two on the middle row were temping. Several of the knives (especially the "Tioga Toothpicks" up top) were made to use up bits of stock from larger projects (he's been working on a pair of big Bowies lately).

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I got this little fixie. I've been interested in pocket fixed blades more lately.  I think this might be a good fishing knife. As far as mass production knives go, it kind of reminds me of the CRKT Minimalists. Chunkier, but a similar 3 on the handle, pinky on the lanyard grip. Handle is made of resined paper. Maybe a fixed blade challenge this fall?


us Online IMR4198

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #6 on: July 11, 2025, 03:11:37 PM
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     It is slim picking at the local W-Mart.  You can see how many empty slots there are.  Not really a knife store, of course, but lots of folks buy outdoor stuff here.  Best wishes.  G


us Offline Alan K.

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #7 on: July 11, 2025, 03:32:31 PM
Pretty sparse in there.  Saw a YouTube vid the other day showing off some knives bought at Wal-Mart on clearance.  Might be the time of year they sell off a bunch of stuff prior to restocking. I was thinking of hitting a couple of Wal-Marts to see if I could find anything.


us Online IMR4198

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #8 on: July 11, 2025, 03:51:00 PM
    W-mart did a remodel of the store.  I was built as a Super Walmart in 2013.  After the work, they took out lots of things.  They never did restock the knives completely, or the watches.  80% of the cheap W-mart bread is gone.  No shelf space now, and as of today there is almost no butter.  Shelves aren't empty, they just squeezed all the other stuff together and took out the butter.  Strange.  One lane open for checkout and the self-check stands.  This is a busy store too.  Parking lot stays full.  Not while I was there, since I went early. 
    See if anybody recognizes the Cheap but Cheerful multis.  The Victorinox Trekker is still there along with one 91mm.  It's the one like a Huntsman sort-of with a magnifying glass.  I forget the name.  Best wishes.  G
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us Online IMR4198

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #9 on: July 11, 2025, 03:53:25 PM
Explorer.  I had to look it up.  Did anyone see in the first photo there are two silver handled knives? One is in the $19 slot and what looks like an identical one is in the $60 slot.  Most people on here could recognize a big portion of these knives.  I can't.  G
 :facepalm:


us Offline BPRoberts

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #10 on: July 22, 2025, 07:04:59 PM
Definitely slacked off a bit there. Here are some more from the same trip. After swinging through Wellsboro, we continued north to Olean NY, home of the KA-BAR/Cutco factory and visitor center.

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Not the whole line up, but a nice assortment of KABARs (they have pretty close to the whole line at the visitor center, just in different cases.)

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Here's the process of assembling a KABAR.

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 I have one of these (I think mine is a Marbles, not a KABAR). I maintain they are the dumbest knife I've ever seen. It is technically 2/3 of a Nessmuk trio in one item though.

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Apparently there was an urban legend around the factory that a bunch of knives were stuck in a pit when they poured foundation for a new building or something. They went and found them. Pretty cool.


us Offline BPRoberts

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #11 on: July 22, 2025, 07:11:13 PM
And a couple more KA-BAR/Cutco:

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While we mostly think of their fixed blades today, Union/KA-BAR did have a solid folder range back in the day.

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And here's the main building. I forgot to take a picture of the visitor center, which is a smaller building in the parking lot.

Overall, it's a lot smaller than the Zippo/Case Museum, but it's an easy short stop to recommend if you're in the area. I think we spent about half an hour there, including a little souvenir shopping. The women working that day were very friendly and knowledgeable. Lots of good info on the early history of the East Coast cutlery industry.


us Offline ThundahBeagle

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #12 on: July 27, 2025, 06:47:11 PM
Pretty SPARTAN in there.  Saw a YouTube vid the other day showing off some knives bought at Wal-Mart on clearance.  Might be the time of year they sell off a bunch of stuff prior to restocking. I was thinking of hitting a couple of Wal-Marts to see if I could find anything.

Fixed it


us Online nate j

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #13 on: August 06, 2025, 03:44:51 AM
I had the opportunity to visit Smoky Mountain Knife Works last weekend…


us Online nate j

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #14 on: August 06, 2025, 03:56:24 AM
I have more pics but am having trouble uploading them.  Will have to try again later.

This was my second visit there, though the first was probably at least fifteen years ago.

In short, it’s very impressive, and I recommend stopping there if you have the chance.

I didn’t end up buying anything, but very much enjoyed browsing.  I also made it a point to handle one of the Microtech OTF autos.  While they seem like awesome fidget toys, I’m not convinced they are really any faster than a good manual flipper.


us Offline PitCarver

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Re: Knife/Outdoor Store Visits Thread
Reply #15 on: August 06, 2025, 07:05:31 PM
I didn't think to get any photos, when I was there, but when the Boss Lady and I were on vacation in the Western North Carolina area, I found Old School Knife Works, in the town of Otto, NC.
I was impressed with their offerings as they had the 2 things that I wanted.  Another Sodbuster Jr. And a couple Opinel #6's in carbon.  I also picked up some deer antler to make some beads with.
If you're in the area, it's worth the visit.
Addicted to sharp pointy things.


 

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