What turned everyone on to switchblades?
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What turned everyone on to switchblades?
Mine was the first time I saw The Outsiders, Johnny had a leverlock.
MegaD, velcome and happy birthday to you. Missaman posted a thread called "So what got you started" back in April when he first joined that kinda mirrors your question. Its 4 or 5 pages back. Mr. Edge actually mentions The Outsiders in his reply as well. It was a decent movie and a better book. The first switch I remeber seeing was as a very young teenager. It was a 9" picklock in the hands of a greaser and I thought about killing him to get it. (I'm not psycho anymore). There seems to be something dark and mysterious about these blades that some find fascinating. You mention your locale as Sin City. Are you from Lynn, Ma.? As in "Lynn, Lynn, City of Sin." (A Big Red Machine T-shirt logo).
All the best, Shiver.
All the best, Shiver.
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Stone Knife
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another childhood experience...
It was some neighbor kids... we were all about 7 years old at the time- their dad was an Oregon State Patrol officer, and he had confiscated (what I know now to be) a little italian stilletto, must not have been more than a 3" blade, and with a busted spring... he'd given it to them for the afternoon to show off.
So they came right over to my house with it. Because of the broken spring, it had turned into a 'wave-gravity' knife- you'd have to push the button and give it a wave, then out would come the blade into lockup.
I was immediately enamored of this broke-ass thing. How can I get one? Oh, forget it! they're illegal they said, running off with the forbidden fruit that they had anyway.
That was one five-minute period several decades ago, and I'd wanted one ever since.
I am working hard to rectify that condition now. Funny, though- one didn't do it...
So they came right over to my house with it. Because of the broken spring, it had turned into a 'wave-gravity' knife- you'd have to push the button and give it a wave, then out would come the blade into lockup.
I was immediately enamored of this broke-ass thing. How can I get one? Oh, forget it! they're illegal they said, running off with the forbidden fruit that they had anyway.
That was one five-minute period several decades ago, and I'd wanted one ever since.
I am working hard to rectify that condition now. Funny, though- one didn't do it...
Mr. MegaDave,
Welcome to our forum. I love that scene in the Outsiders. I still want a real shell puller because of that. My thing for switches, starting with regular folding pocketknives, grew out of my interest in pocket cutlery. Being shown a stiletto as a young kid probably had a lot to do with it also. Movies also showcased them well and were/are one of the switchblades best sales pitchers. Growing up with no real access to automatics made them an unobtainable 'forbidden fruit'. I'm still amazed at the way things are now. Internet access to auto's from all around the world, all sorts of domestic suppliers and US manufacturers. I never even dreamed this big as a high school kid 22 years ago.
Welcome to our forum. I love that scene in the Outsiders. I still want a real shell puller because of that. My thing for switches, starting with regular folding pocketknives, grew out of my interest in pocket cutlery. Being shown a stiletto as a young kid probably had a lot to do with it also. Movies also showcased them well and were/are one of the switchblades best sales pitchers. Growing up with no real access to automatics made them an unobtainable 'forbidden fruit'. I'm still amazed at the way things are now. Internet access to auto's from all around the world, all sorts of domestic suppliers and US manufacturers. I never even dreamed this big as a high school kid 22 years ago.
I went to a catholic school, a poor one. We had some arrangement with the local high school and shared their school busses. I met a lot of influential kids who were evil; girls with teased hair and sexy outfits, kids who swore and smoked, and some of them even carried transistor radios. It was a year (around the 5th grade I think) I discovered girls, rock & roll, etc. One of the sleazier guys on my bus had stiletto switch, let me check it out a few times. Lucky I didn't know anyone who did heroin. I thought Link Wray must surely carry one.
It would have been enough to have me flogged by the nuns if I'd been caught with one, so naturally I wanted it more than anything. I finally got a 5" or 6" (I think it's called a picklock) in jr. high, and felt I was in a most exclusive club. When other kids told me they were illegal, I said it was OK because I was 1/2 Sicilian.
So, rebellion was the reason, all things considered, plus the interest in a really cool mechanical device.
TR
It would have been enough to have me flogged by the nuns if I'd been caught with one, so naturally I wanted it more than anything. I finally got a 5" or 6" (I think it's called a picklock) in jr. high, and felt I was in a most exclusive club. When other kids told me they were illegal, I said it was OK because I was 1/2 Sicilian.
So, rebellion was the reason, all things considered, plus the interest in a really cool mechanical device.
TR
Is it...Tomorrow....Or just the end of time?
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J-man
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mr.bigg, I had to read that book in School. Johnny had a LL in the movie based on the book. Two-bit also had a Balisong and was really good with it. Anyway, Something about a year ago brought it up and I was thinking about the cool knife. Looked up switchblade and I ended up here. I also found an old Stiletto of my dads down in the basement one time when I was alot younger, but didn't think of it much till about a year ago.
Wow, Thanks for the replies everyone ! I went back and read the old messages like you said. It's amazing how we all became facinated with the blades...I live in Las Vegas and I can buy them at the swap meet but I just bought a custom skull swing-guard from our buddy Nemo, What a knife !!! I love customs and He turned me on to this forum and I think it's Great! I stop by at least twice a day. Thanks again,
Dave
Dave
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Plastered Bastard
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Welcome, MegaDave.
When I was a kid in the '60's, it seemed that many of the toys, TV action heros, and bad guys had gadgets with a weapon that popped out at the push of a button. The Green Hornet had a car (The Black Beauty) that had a laser gun and rockets that popped out the front. Speed Racer's car had switchblade saws on it.
I had a "Secret Sam" James Bond style briefcase toy gun complete with silencer and attachable stock. The briefcase had a hole for the gun to fire out of, and a spy camera that flipped out at the push of a button. I also had an "Agent Zero" spy camera that folded out into a gun when you pushed a button.
I remember almost all boys back then carried a pocket knife. It was nothing for an 8 year old kid to have an old folder given to him by his dad or grandpa, with him at all times for throwing, carving, and whittling.
So naturally, with my fascination for gadgetry, when I heard of a knife that the blade flies out when you push a button, I became obsessed with getting one or just *seeing* one.
I would see them in the movies and I'd always hear about an older brother of so & so bringing one back from Mexico or Germany but never actually got to see one in real life until a friend showed me his father's gun display case which had 3 old Italian stiletto picklocks laid out behind the glass. It just killed me that I couldn't touch them but I gazed at them as long as I could everytime I went over there. They were the most beautiful knives I'd ever seen. The fact that they were illegal just added to my fascination.
I was beside myself with excitement when I won a switchblade comb at the county fair. But still, I wouldn't be satisfied until I had the real thing.
The 'older brother bringing one back from Germany' story finally came true and I bought a nice mint 11" Wandy transitional with black horn handles for $25 from a guy needing money for weed. I've still got the knife in mint condition. I worshipped that knife (and it's still my fave). That seemed to open the door and I was able to find one here and there over the years.
But of course, now, with the internet it's Switchblade Heaven!
I'm more obsessed than ever, now.
When I was a kid in the '60's, it seemed that many of the toys, TV action heros, and bad guys had gadgets with a weapon that popped out at the push of a button. The Green Hornet had a car (The Black Beauty) that had a laser gun and rockets that popped out the front. Speed Racer's car had switchblade saws on it.
I had a "Secret Sam" James Bond style briefcase toy gun complete with silencer and attachable stock. The briefcase had a hole for the gun to fire out of, and a spy camera that flipped out at the push of a button. I also had an "Agent Zero" spy camera that folded out into a gun when you pushed a button.
I remember almost all boys back then carried a pocket knife. It was nothing for an 8 year old kid to have an old folder given to him by his dad or grandpa, with him at all times for throwing, carving, and whittling.
So naturally, with my fascination for gadgetry, when I heard of a knife that the blade flies out when you push a button, I became obsessed with getting one or just *seeing* one.
I would see them in the movies and I'd always hear about an older brother of so & so bringing one back from Mexico or Germany but never actually got to see one in real life until a friend showed me his father's gun display case which had 3 old Italian stiletto picklocks laid out behind the glass. It just killed me that I couldn't touch them but I gazed at them as long as I could everytime I went over there. They were the most beautiful knives I'd ever seen. The fact that they were illegal just added to my fascination.
I was beside myself with excitement when I won a switchblade comb at the county fair. But still, I wouldn't be satisfied until I had the real thing.
The 'older brother bringing one back from Germany' story finally came true and I bought a nice mint 11" Wandy transitional with black horn handles for $25 from a guy needing money for weed. I've still got the knife in mint condition. I worshipped that knife (and it's still my fave). That seemed to open the door and I was able to find one here and there over the years.
But of course, now, with the internet it's Switchblade Heaven!
I'm more obsessed than ever, now.
A Smith & Wesson Beats Four Aces ~ American Proverb
Plastered B.
Plastered B.
Plastered B.
Your story sounds amazingly similar to mine. The exception is that I never got a real one as a kid. The nonfunctional button manual models were the best that I could do.
On a humorous note, the first time I heard people talking about a switchblade I asked what a switchblade was. My interpretation of the answer that it is a knife where the blade flies out when a button is pressed was that the blade became a projectile. Imagine the amusement of the other kids and my embarrassment when I asked if the blades could be reused.
I occasionally did get to hold and fire one that a friends older brother owned. That so close but so far away feeling fueled a long-term desire for switchblade ownership that wasn't satisfied until I did my fateful Google search and found the old orange and brown predecessor to this forum. Since then, however, I have been making up for lost time.
Jim
Your story sounds amazingly similar to mine. The exception is that I never got a real one as a kid. The nonfunctional button manual models were the best that I could do.
On a humorous note, the first time I heard people talking about a switchblade I asked what a switchblade was. My interpretation of the answer that it is a knife where the blade flies out when a button is pressed was that the blade became a projectile. Imagine the amusement of the other kids and my embarrassment when I asked if the blades could be reused.
I occasionally did get to hold and fire one that a friends older brother owned. That so close but so far away feeling fueled a long-term desire for switchblade ownership that wasn't satisfied until I did my fateful Google search and found the old orange and brown predecessor to this forum. Since then, however, I have been making up for lost time.
Jim
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sammy da blade
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