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Vintage Survival Knives From The 80's RAMBO APPROVED
Sep 18, 2025
Back after a break, I’m excited to showcase some very cool vintage knife designs. This video highlights survival knife models from the 80s, giving you a close look at each old knife and its unique features. Tune in to see this collection of vintage models! Prepared Wanderer AMAZON STORE: https://bit.ly/3Jjs1iO Prepared Wanderer Patches and Stickers: https://thepreparedwanderer.bigcartel.com Prepared Wanderer WEBSITE: https://preparedwanderer.com Prepared Wanderer FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1835005976546722 Prepared Wanderer INSTAGRAM: prepared_wanderer Blog https://wanderingoutdoors.com
View Video Transcript
0:00
It's been a while since I've done a
0:02
video and I'm back and I want to show
0:03
you some very cool vintage survival
0:07
knives from the8s. Stick around. It's
0:10
going to be awesome.
0:12
[Music]
0:19
So, first of all, apologies to people
0:21
who, you know, regularly watch this
0:24
channel, subscribe. I have not been
0:26
putting out a lot of videos lately. Um
0:28
the past month, 6 weeks has been uh
0:32
pretty difficult. Just a lot of stuff
0:33
going on, work and uh we had our county
0:36
fair which our family is heavily
0:38
involved in. Um and of course I'm still
0:42
healing from my surgery uh to my hip and
0:46
it's getting better. I'm moving around.
0:48
I'm able to go out um occasionally, but
0:50
I I'm certainly can't do a lot of hiking
0:52
and get, you know, deep into the woods.
0:54
So, I have to really uh kind of pick and
0:57
choose what videos I want to do. And I
0:59
thought today I would do kind of a a fun
1:02
video. Uh something a little bit
1:04
different. I wanted to show you kind of
1:06
a glimpse of the knives that I collect.
1:09
And there is um a subject that I've
1:14
always been fascinated with. You know, I
1:16
am a child of the 80s. Uh you know,
1:19
graduated from high school in 1984. So,
1:22
you know, the movies of Rambo and
1:24
Terminator and Predator and all those
1:27
action movies from back then just
1:29
resonate with me. I love those. And back
1:33
then, those knives from those movies
1:36
became very popular and they influenced
1:38
a lot of other knives on the market at
1:41
that time. So, survival knives really
1:44
became huge after the Rambo movie and
1:48
just continue to keep growing and
1:49
growing. And of course, many
1:51
manufacturers,
1:53
Gerber and Buck and Parker Brothers and
1:56
all these other knife companies came out
1:57
with their version of a survival knife.
2:01
But one thing that is interesting about
2:03
survival knives is they are grounded in
2:06
a little bit of history because the
2:08
Vietnam pilot survival knives really
2:12
started it all. and some fantastic
2:14
examples out there of those knives that
2:17
you can still pick up on eBay and at
2:19
auctions and, you know, military surplus
2:21
stores and things like that. But, um,
2:23
those did have influence onto the more
2:26
modern survival knife of the 80s and the
2:29
early '90s. So, I just want to show you
2:31
a few knives out of my collection that
2:34
mean a lot to me, uh, that I think are
2:36
pretty cool. And maybe you have seen
2:38
them and maybe you haven't. So, let's
2:40
take a look at them right now.
2:42
So, do you remember these knives? I
2:44
certainly do. Uh, these things were
2:46
prolific in the 80s and 90s after that
2:48
Rambo movie came out. And this knife in
2:51
particular, um, is probably the closest
2:55
copy that I've seen of the Rambo knife.
2:58
It is very similar in design. Uh, but it
3:03
is also very unique in its design
3:05
because this is from a company called
3:07
Parker Brothers Knives.
3:10
Parker Brothers was a very interesting
3:12
company. U they are a Chattanooga,
3:14
Tennessee company. I think that's where
3:16
all the design was done. Uh but the
3:18
blades were actually manufactured in
3:20
Japan and they used Japanese surgical
3:23
steel, which if you know anything about
3:25
knife steel back in the 80s and '9s, the
3:27
Japanese surgical steel was uh pretty
3:31
darn good stuff. A lot of people highly
3:33
regarded it as a good steel. um it takes
3:35
an edge very well and it seems to hold
3:38
it pretty well. Now, this particular
3:41
knife, um we'll be talking about here in
3:43
a little bit. I just wanted to highlight
3:45
this thing first. But let's get into
3:48
some of the other knives and then we'll
3:49
come back to that one because there's a
3:50
lot of story that goes along with this
3:52
one.
3:54
Now, our first one here, this is another
3:56
Parker Brothers knife. This is their
3:59
Smoky Mountain toothpick, which is a
4:01
boot knife. It is a metal handle knife
4:08
and the blade is not particularly sharp,
4:11
but it's not really supposed to be
4:12
because it's a boot knife. It's made
4:14
really for penetration. And um this is
4:17
something I picked up at a I believe a
4:20
flea market. Didn't cost me a lot of
4:22
money.
4:26
It came with
4:28
a pretty nice leather sheath
4:31
in good condition. And of course, that's
4:33
always the challenge with collecting
4:35
vintage knives that have sheath. Um, are
4:38
you able to get one that has a decent
4:41
sheet that's not rotted away?
4:53
So, it has the thumb stud there, and
4:55
then you have the metal clip that allows
4:57
you to slide that into your boot or your
4:59
back pocket or front pocket. But, it's a
5:02
neat little knife,
5:04
and certainly part of that whole vintage
5:07
survival combat knife
5:12
revival that they had in the 80s.
5:18
This knife is another Parker Brothers
5:20
and this is the Parker Brothers
5:22
rendition of a pilot survival knife and
5:24
it is very similar to the Ontarios
5:27
um in the shape uh of course it has the
5:32
saw teeth on the back. Now my
5:34
understanding with Pilot Survival knives
5:36
that the saw teeth were never designed
5:38
to saw wood. They were actually designed
5:40
to saw through aircraft skin, the
5:44
aluminum of an aircraft. Um, I don't
5:47
know if that's true or not. Some people
5:50
probably have um more information on
5:51
that than I do, but this is another one
5:54
that I found on eBay.
5:57
Pretty decent condition. I did wrap the
5:59
handle with some hockey tape just to
6:01
give it some grip. It is a metal handle
6:02
knife just like the boot knife, but it
6:05
does have one interesting little feature
6:08
that is different than the traditional
6:11
military pilot survival knives is that
6:13
it is a hollow handle knife. I have
6:15
nothing in there. Didn't come with
6:17
anything,
6:19
but
6:22
it does have that feature which I think
6:24
is pretty cool.
6:40
and then the sheath is very similar
6:43
to other pilot survival knives.
6:48
You have some tie down points.
6:51
You have a sharpening stone. And this
6:54
actually came with the stone, which is
6:56
that's another rare find with these
6:58
vintage survival military knives. A lot
7:00
of times the sharpening stones, they're
7:02
gone or broken. And this one actually
7:05
had it with it.
7:12
And the sheath is in pretty decent
7:15
shape. Not bad at all. I added this
7:18
little lanyard to the bottom of it. So,
7:21
nice example of a pilot survival knife
7:23
from Parker Brothers. Once again,
7:25
Japanese surgical steel.
7:29
This knife uh is not a Parker Brothers,
7:31
but it is a Smith and Wesson. Now, if
7:34
you're a knife collector person, you
7:37
know that Smith and Wesson knives now
7:40
probably are not the same as they used
7:42
to be. This is actually a Smith and
7:44
Wesson knife that was made in the USA.
7:47
has about a 5 and 1/2 in blade. This
7:50
thing is razor sharp.
7:55
It has that thickened back and then
7:59
the swledge on the top
8:03
[Music]
8:04
and of course very nice brass guard
8:09
wood handles. But the cool feature about
8:11
this one is it's another hollowandled
8:14
survival knife. So, you have the ability
8:15
to put in a small survival kit if you
8:18
want to.
8:21
This particular knife I picked up on
8:23
eBay. Pretty decent price. Um, I've seen
8:27
these things go up for $300 or more in
8:31
really good condition. I think this one
8:33
is in excellent condition. I didn't pay
8:34
near that.
8:38
And the sheet that it comes with was
8:40
this nice brown
8:43
leather.
8:51
On the back of the sheath, you can
8:53
actually see this is the designation,
8:55
the Bowie Survival. There's also a
8:58
version of this called the Outdoorsman.
9:01
It's a little bit different. It doesn't
9:02
have the guard on it, but it's very
9:05
similar, and I just love the look of it.
9:08
It's such a traditional looking, you
9:11
know, almost like a western Bowie type
9:13
knife, but then it has the added
9:15
features of the hollow handle making it
9:19
more of a survival knife.
9:44
I mean, this thing is massive. Check
9:46
this out.
9:49
That's a 10-in blade.
9:52
10 in. And uh it has the very pronounced
9:58
saw teeth. And this is designed to saw
10:00
wood. And it does saw wood pretty well
10:02
actually. Once again, Parker Brothers
10:04
does the metal handle. And it is a
10:07
hollow handle survival knife. So we
10:10
unscrew this.
10:15
Has a compass built in. Now, the compass
10:18
uh doesn't work anymore. It looks like
10:19
there's a bubble in it. Doesn't really
10:21
rotate that well,
10:25
but really nice knurling on the cap. Um
10:28
the O-ring on it is still in good
10:30
condition.
10:32
And this one does have a little mini
10:34
fishing kit in it. And I believe this is
10:36
the maybe the original container that it
10:37
came with. But there's tons of room in
10:40
that. You could actually put a lot more
10:41
stuff. Now, the history on this knife
10:46
is pretty interesting.
10:48
This knife uh was gifted to me by my
10:52
very good friend and brother, Uncle Z.
10:56
And I've known Z for a very long time.
10:58
Um our boys grew up together. Uh we
11:02
served on a couple search and rescue
11:04
teams together and we are very close
11:07
friends and have spent many many many
11:10
nights out in the woods camping
11:12
together, hunting, shooting, fishing. We
11:15
have done a lot of stuff together,
11:16
traveled a lot of places and uh he is a
11:19
very dear friend of mine and I've always
11:21
admired this knife. He always used to
11:23
take this with him on our adventures and
11:25
I'd always drool over it and always mess
11:27
with it. And one day uh he just came up
11:31
to me and he gave it to me and he said
11:32
he wanted me to have it while I could
11:35
still enjoy it. And I was blown away
11:38
because I know the history of this
11:40
knife. This is a knife that he picked up
11:43
uh in the 80s
11:46
um and took it with him when he served
11:49
in the army and it ended up going with
11:52
him to Iraq. Um and it also went many
11:57
other places all over the world and
11:59
other conflicts and uh the different
12:02
types of military work that he did. It
12:05
has seen combat and I've even been told
12:08
it's probably seen some blood. And uh
12:11
the fact that this was entrusted to me I
12:13
think is pretty awesome.
12:17
And as you can tell this is not a safe
12:19
queen. It has been used and carried
12:22
quite a bit.
12:25
Came with this awesome leather sheath
12:28
that is really well broken in. Of
12:31
course, it has the sharpening stone
12:35
and that's his lanyard that he put on
12:36
it.
12:39
And I'm so fortunate to have this thing
12:41
and enjoy it. And now I've what I've
12:43
told him is that um in my will once I
12:47
pass this will go back to his son. So,
12:51
his son will get this
12:54
because obviously I don't want this
12:55
thing just to end up um with with nobody
12:59
or at auction or something like that.
13:01
This is a huge piece of history and we
13:04
all remember these Rambo knives and we
13:06
all wanted them as as young men and uh
13:10
the fact that he actually bought one of
13:12
these things and took it to combat and
13:15
then utilized it throughout his life as
13:18
an outdoorsman, I think, is a testament
13:21
to how well these Parker Brother knives
13:24
were actually built. I hope you had fun
13:27
with this video um and enjoyed looking
13:29
at these knives. Um, do me a favor and
13:31
leave me a comment down below and let me
13:33
know if you had some of these knives in
13:35
your collection or something similar.
13:37
Um, of course there was all different
13:39
levels of these survival knives that
13:41
came out. There was super junky ones
13:43
that you know you'd you know you get at
13:45
the gas station. They cost you like 10
13:47
bucks and they're of course just
13:48
garbage. But then there was these
13:52
that were absolutely fantastic well-made
13:55
knives that uh turned out to be huge
13:59
collectibles. And if you go on eBay and
14:00
you start looking up Parker Brother
14:02
survival knives, you will find some very
14:05
high prices on these things. They are
14:06
sought after by collectors and by kids
14:10
of the 80s, of course, want these things
14:13
and um I'm so fortunate to have mine.
14:15
So, if you like this kind of content, do
14:17
me a favor, like and subscribe, hit that
14:20
bell notification. I try to do videos
14:22
once a week. I'm trying to get back into
14:24
videos. So, it's been kind of a a break
14:26
for me, but I'm back into it now and
14:28
hopefully be doing more videos for you.
14:32
And if you're interested in prepared
14:34
wanderer patches and stickers, I have
14:36
those available. There's a link down
14:38
below in the description to my big
14:40
cartel site. So, it is a uh secure
14:44
website that sells these patches. Uh you
14:47
can use your credit card to buy them and
14:50
um I will ship them out uh usually
14:52
within a few days of receiving the
14:53
order. Um, we have a couple different
14:55
varieties. We've got the woven patch,
14:57
the the traditional original prepared
14:59
wanderer logo patch that's velcrobacked.
15:02
And then we have this new patch which is
15:05
velcrobacked but is PVC. Very cool, the
15:08
arrowhead design. And then I also have
15:10
arrowhead design stickers in the store.
15:13
So that helps support the channel and I
15:15
love seeing this stuff on people's gear.
15:17
So, as always, thank you so much for
15:19
watching and we'll see you next time on
15:22
the Prepared Wanderer.