Oddest place you've found a knife

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Battleborn27
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Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2022 3:00 pm

Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by Battleborn27 »

Working outside most my life you run into some interesting and just out right weird things.

Last week I had the task of removing these big metal panels off an awning in the side of a warehouse. I was about 25' to 30' up. This is in Nevada btw, where the wind blows more sand around than an intern at a DNC convention.

There's about 3 or 4 inches of sand and as I'm moving along the edge I see this metal something sticking halfway up. Being the eyes always on the ground looking for a cool rock guy and my curiosity piqued I pulled it out to reveal a metal handle with some mechanisms inside.

As I turned it over i saw the blade and immediately thought I had found a switchblade. As I looked at it more I saw that there was no side opening but just a gap on the top of the handle. Then I realized HOLY SH**$ I just found a spy knife! Because up until 2 days ago I didn't know the official OTF name. So then I started wondering where this knife came from and why was it 30 feet up on a 10 by 20 awning, buried under sand and grit like it has been there for years... So.. I took the murder weapon home, cleaned it up real nice, put a fresh edge on the blade and started the researching. Which led me here. Oh and one last thing, the body of the handle was whole until I tapped it to remove some stuck dirt haha. It broke exactly at the same point on both sides! I thought you all might enjoy that true story that happens just last Wednesday in Sparks Nevada.

P.s. and as far as I can tell it's a super automatic? And missing at least 2 of those tension brackets. I would love to restore her! I definitely have the brain the tools and the want! Let me know what I should do! Thanks guys and gals.
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Bill DeShivs
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by Bill DeShivs »

The handle is die cast zinc and it's not repairable.
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sammy the blade
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by sammy the blade »

Some one was probably running from the police and didn't want to get caught with it so they threw it up on the roof. The knife is a cheapo, I'd just throw it away.
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Jay Blade
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by Jay Blade »

Cool find with interesting story of finding it. I'd just keep it, fun conversation piece.
Battleborn27
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by Battleborn27 »

Can I buy replacement parts? like the handle and i think im missing two little brackety looking things as well. Is there blueprints anywhere for these?
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Killgar
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by Killgar »

Battleborn27 wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 6:18 am Can I buy replacement parts? like the handle and i think im missing two little brackety looking things as well. Is there blueprints anywhere for these?
You could always keep an eye on ebay. I've seen parts for older, cheaper model OTF's put up for sale. But it looks like you would be replacing almost the entire knife. Don't get your hopes up.

And after being exposed to the elements for so long, I would expect the spring to break fairly quickly if it were ever put back into service.

The fact is, those knives were never high quality knives to begin with. Just inexpensive toys with a limited life span.

You found the remains of a cheap, junk knife. It's entirely possible that it was discarded by someone after it stopped functioning properly. I think it's destined to remain what it is.
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Mario
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by Mario »

Battleborn27 wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 6:18 am Can I buy replacement parts? like the handle and i think im missing two little brackety looking things as well. Is there blueprints anywhere for these?
My friend Adam Archer has some spare parts for these NATO OTFs. Perhaps he could hook you up. He’s “thenextarcher” on YouTube and Instagram.
Johnnybooch
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by Johnnybooch »

Metal detecting I found an old ww2 ammo box with a few silver coins and 3 knives one of which was an old Latama picklock.....all the knives were pretty much shit, but it was a cool find
sammy the blade
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by sammy the blade »

Battleborn27 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 3:17 am Working outside most my life you run into some interesting and just out right weird things.

Last week I had the task of removing these big metal panels off an awning in the side of a warehouse. I was about 25' to 30' up. This is in Nevada btw, where the wind blows more sand around than an intern at a DNC convention.

There's about 3 or 4 inches of sand and as I'm moving along the edge I see this metal something sticking halfway up. Being the eyes always on the ground looking for a cool rock guy and my curiosity piqued I pulled it out to reveal a metal handle with some mechanisms inside.

As I turned it over i saw the blade and immediately thought I had found a switchblade. As I looked at it more I saw that there was no side opening but just a gap on the top of the handle. Then I realized HOLY SH**$ I just found a spy knife! Because up until 2 days ago I didn't know the official OTF name. So then I started wondering where this knife came from and why was it 30 feet up on a 10 by 20 awning, buried under sand and grit like it has been there for years... So.. I took the murder weapon home, cleaned it up real nice, put a fresh edge on the blade and started the researching. Which led me here. Oh and one last thing, the body of the handle was whole until I tapped it to remove some stuck dirt haha. It broke exactly at the same point on both sides! I thought you all might enjoy that true story that happens just last Wednesday in Sparks Nevada.

P.s. and as far as I can tell it's a super automatic? And missing at least 2 of those tension brackets. I would love to restore her! I definitely have the brain the tools and the want! Let me know what I should do! Thanks guys and gals.
Go to grindworx and get a lightning otf. Run ya around $30 and probably last you awhile. The knife you found is pretty cheaply made anyway. You ain't got no prize there!
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jerryk25
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by jerryk25 »

I once found a Japan lockblade (saguaro cactus ears, or pagoda ears)
outside a police station side door where prisoners were admitted.
It was kicked off into a gravel pile, which i uncovered setting up a small ladder.
I was painting signs on the walls. . . buzz to enter, stand back 10 feet. . .Restroom. . . .

The broken NATO shown above is not particularly old,
Identified by looking at it's long oval crossguards (ears) that sort of angle inwards.
There are no pins in the guards.
All of the older NATOs had visible pins . . and are considered more rare and more collectible.
There are a few NATO mechanism knives that have all ABS plastic and polystyrene plastic bodies.
If you found the proper plastic, you could carve a new plastic body.
and maybe build a cool looking letter opener. . .
but don't try to stab open cans of beans.

Shown is an all plastic modern Super-Automatic.
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Tom19176
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Re: Oddest place you've found a knife

Post by Tom19176 »

Interesting all plastic one !
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