Any knife collectors here?

I have a knife that I've been carrying for more than 30 years and it is in pretty rough shape now. I use to sell and collect knives and once owned hundreds of them but divested of them a long time ago. This was my favorite carry knife though and I would like to replace it with another just like it.

It is a Fight'n Rooster. It may have been called a 3 blade congress or maybe a 3 blade whittler. If any of you know of anybody who collects and sells Fight'n Rooster knives, please let me know.

I have a knife that I've been carrying for more than 30 years and it is in pretty rough shape now. I use to sell and collect knives and once owned hundreds of them but divested of them a long time ago. This was my favorite carry knife though and I would like to replace it with another just like it.

 

It is a Fight'n Rooster. It may have been called a 3 blade congress or maybe a 3 blade whittler. If any of you know of anybody who collects and sells Fight'n Rooster knives, please let me know.

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109684

I collect knives... along with everything else it seems... but alas no Fight'n Roosters...

http://www.jaysknives.com/fightingrooster/FightNRoosterBuffHornLockWhittler.jpg

How the heck could you have the same knife for 30 years...???

I'm lucky if I can hang onto one for 30 days....

LOL....some things just hang around. I've been carrying the same pen for almost that long.

As for the knives, I used to buy and sell a lot of them. Usually kept a couple hundred at a time. Mostly new stuff and I had accounts with all the major distributors and bought some directly from the manufacturers. Started out on the cheap selling Parker Frost Japanese knives. They actually weren't bad knives and were coming out with new "collections" almost every month. From that though, I got into the higher end knives and sold a lot of Case, Puma, Boker Tree Brand, Hen & Rooster, and my favorite, Fight'n Rooster.

I was working at a power plant in Texas at the time. Every morning I would get to work early and would have three or four knife rolls with me. There were several hundred people working there and they would come in when I was sitting in the break room before work and drinking coffee and ask "what do you have today". I would unroll the knives and they would start picking through them. Sold a LOT of knives during those days.

When I left that job, I also left that customer base so sold most of my remaining stock to another guy that I worked with and I assume that he kept the business going.

Over the years, I have gradually sold or given away the ones that I had hung onto. I may have 6 or 7 laying around now but nothing really worth anything.

Freebird, I understand your attachment to your old friend the Fighting Rooster. I carried an old Craftsman like the one pictured below for more than 30 years. That old knife field dressed more than a hundred deer and never failed at a task I asked it to do. It had been sharpened so often that the blades were worn to about half the width they were when new. It was worn and beat up, just like your Rooster, but it was my constant companion. I lost my old friend last deer season between a kill site and the barn. I spent 3 days looking for it with no luck. It still brings a tear to my eyes thinking about. Now the good news---my daughter and favorite hunting companion presented me with a new Buck similar to the old Craftsman for Christmas. I guess when an old relationship ends a new one begins.

I have my Dad's old pocket knife. But his buck knives and related knives, were stolen when Mom died. I was livid. He made it clear those were mine to have and she was saving them for me. I managed to find his pocket knife in their bedroom after whomever in the family ransacked the house had overlooked it.

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Freebird,

There a 5 or 6 serious knife collectors/dealers that do the NEO gun show circuit. I buy/sell/trade with them regularly. One or all of them probably have exactly whet you are looking for.

The next show is Aug, 26-27 at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds in Berea.

I set up at that show as well. If you come out, stop by my table. Custom Carry Concepts.

I would love to do that but it's not likely. My weekends are pretty full right now with running the stairlift business on the side.

I'll look around the show for you. Do you have a model name or number of a specific knife you want?

I posted a picture of it in the first thread. It is 3 blade congress. Stag handles. Pinched or "crown" bolsters. About 3 1/2" closed. The main blade is a sheepsfoot.

I have a 3 Dot Case Canoe that I purchased in 1977 brand new. I still carry this knife everyday. 40 years.

Well looky looky what I found. Wasn't easy but it's on the way.

Well looky looky what I found. Wasn't easy but it's on the way.

See all ya gotta do is ask.....

And... I wonder if you sent the old one off to FR with your story and asked them to recondition it they would?? Rebladed and a buffing and you might have two.... One to show and one to go...

Asking wasn't the answer. More than a few hours of searching and emailing vintage knife dealers is what worked. I emailed a lot of them and finally found it. He didn't have it on his website but had a couple that were similar so I emailed him and he replied that he had one. Actually two, the other one is smooth bone though. I like stag.

Frank Buster, the founder of Fight'n Rooster passed away a few years ago. He son kept it going somewhat for a while but only produced a few knives a year. From what I understand, they are out of business now.

I found a few that were made by Soligen in Germany. So thought they were still being made and imported. The few that I did pay attention to had the FR logo on the blade. So maybe someone bought the name and has Soligen making them?? No matter. I'd never heard of the name before, but now I think I'll pick one up and add it to the collection just because...

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[TD=bgcolor: #FFFFFF]Fight'N Rooster Cutlery Co. Knife

"Green Swell End Screwdriver Jack"

Made in Solingen, Germany

Order #FRGSESDJ[/TD]

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Soligen is actually a city in Germany that is renowned for their knife makers. You will find a lot of German knives that are from Soligen. Fight'n Rooster hasn't made a full line of knives in several years, not sure how long. After Frank Buster passed away, his son Sterling Buster sort of partially kept the company going but all they actually made was a couple of special editions per year I think. If you search, you can find some Fight'n Roosters out there but they are all either new old stock or used. There are quite a few on Ebay but finding this particular one was difficult. I was told by a collector that this one is a 3 blade Congress with "Crown" bolsters. He also told me that it was the first production run and would be difficult to find. I think I got lucky. I know it was a Congress, I had always heard the bolsters called "pinched". I had no idea it was the first production run. I guess you can tell that by the design of the shield. The shields changed over the years.

By the way, here is the place that I found the one that I bought. It was not listed on his page but I emailed him and he had it. If you look at the brands in the left menu, you will see a number of German manufacturers and many of them are made in Soligen.

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/catalog/index.php?route=common/home&member_id=51&store_mode=standard

By the way, here is the place that I found the one that I bought. It was not listed on his page but I emailed him and he had it. If you look at the brands in the left menu, you will see a number of German manufacturers and many of them are made in Soligen.

 

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/catalog/index.php?route=common/home&member_id=51&store_mode=standard

I'm glad you found what you were looking for. I did have trouble trying to come up with a name for those bolsters. Notched..Etched..Groved?? 'Crown' is very fitting. I have several knives that were made by/in Solingen.. Always nice quality for a mass produced knife.

As for the knives, I used to buy and sell a lot of them. Usually kept a couple hundred at a time. Mostly new stuff and I had accounts with all the major distributors and bought some directly from the manufacturers. Started out on the cheap selling Parker Frost Japanese knives. They actually weren't bad knives and were coming out with new "collections" almost every month. From that though, I got into the higher end knives and sold a lot of Case, Puma, Boker Tree Brand, Hen & Rooster, and my favorite, Fight'n Rooster.

 

I was working at a power plant in Texas at the time. Every morning I would get to work early and would have three or four knife rolls with me. There were several hundred people working there and they would come in when I was sitting in the break room before work and drinking coffee and ask "what do you have today". I would unroll the knives and they would start picking through them. Sold a LOT of knives during those days.

 

When I left that job, I also left that customer base so sold most of my remaining stock to another guy that I worked with and I assume that he kept the business going.

 

Over the years, I have gradually sold or given away the ones that I had hung onto. I may have 6 or 7 laying around now but nothing really worth anything.

Where in Texas did you work? The only reason I ask is because my dad worked at TU Electric in Glen Rose TX when I was very young.

I was an electrician at TU Electric in Monticello, TX. Lignite fired power plant. 3 units. I actually had an opportunity to transfer to Glen Rose just as they were finishing construction on it but ended up turning it down.