I’ve only ever seen this one “in the wild” And only ever seen them for sale once in a catalog for a knife dealer(Smokey Mountain Knife Works)… And they had them listed as “remeber these?” and they didn’t have them again after that, that I know of, or anyway the next catalogs I got didn’t have them. That was 7 or 8 years ago now.. Apparently these were super popular as giveaways/advertising knives in the 70s/80s? Called a Flip-It if I remember correctly.
I’ve had this one for 3 years. Dad had it for ~15ish before that… It was old when he got it used, and I almost got it myself then!
We were at a yard sale one summer(I can even still remember Exactly where that sale was at, the road and the house! funny how you remember little details..) I looked at it on a table, picked it up… Mulled it over… It was folded up at the time and I couldn’t figure out what it was. Put it back. Dad finished at the other table, walked over, looked it over, opened it up(I didn’t see that at this point) And asked the lady what she wanted for it. I think she said $2. Maybe she said $1.. Dad countered with $0.50 I think… can’t remember for sure… I know he didn’t pay more than a buck for it… I asked him why he wanted it and what it was… He opened it. AHA! Damn! I missed it! Tried to con him out of it with a “but I saw it first” . Ahh, Nope; FYI, that doesn’t work too well when you didn’t know what it was and put it back… 😉 (hey, I was 9 or 10… it was worth a shot!!
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I actually don’t really care much for the knife itself as a knife, other than its a cool rarity… I’ll never use it I’m sure… But its such a cool memory of Dad with it, such a clear memory, especially for so long ago, the visuals I have of that event, I wouldn’t part with it for all the world. 🙂
They are called “Slide Blades” or a “Slide Blade Pocket Knife”. You can still buy them in bulk with your company logo on them. I wonder if they just went out of style because less men carry knives now. For instance, my work does not prevent me from carrying a pocket knife, but I am not allowed to use it for any purpose at work.
Here is a website that still sells them:
**Link removed for security.**
Google Flip-It knives and you can find sources–Administrator.
Ah, cool!
Yeah, Iwent back and looked at the dealer I had previously seen them at, and they have them again. As does several other knife dealers. Seems they are back in vogue again..