GT, what a fun GAW! Thanks you for the opportunity.
First, congratulations on your two years on the porch anniversary! From my perspective, you've always been here. I appreciate and look forward to your contributions here and I hope that you'll be a fixture on the porch for many, many more years.
I've been holding off on entering because I still have my first knife, but haven't had an opportunity to dig through our various earth quake preparedness kits to find it. But, time to enter is running out, so I'll describe it from memory.
My first knife was a Victorinox with way too many blades. I don't remember the exact model, and I can't find a current production picture that looks just like it. I do know that it had a saw, a punch, a cork screw, a couple of spear blades, the usual bottle and can openers, and a few other implements that I never did figure out what they were for. I bought it in six or seventh grade with my own money that I'd saved up over what seemed like a very long time. Oh, I had fun with that knife, cutting down bamboo stalks near a creek in a park by where we lived, sharpening them up, and trying to spear fish. I never came close, I suspect.
There are two lessons that from that knife that still influence my tastes today. They may seem contradictory at first, but I don't think they really are.
1. You don't need a ton of blades and gadgets. As I mentioned, there were several things I never figured out the use for. Part of the reason I was excited about that knife was because a friend who I thought was cooler than me had one and was really into all they gadgets it had. Over time I've come to value quality over quantity and simplicity over complexity. When I look at a knife that has a lot going on I sometimes think back to that gadget-packed knife and ask myself whether the extras really bring anything to the table. I've also learned that I don't need to keep up with the Joneses. Although that can be challenging here because you all post such lovely knives.
2. It's nice to have a few blades. I don't need a ton of blades, but that knife did show me that it's useful to have a selection. My lambsfoot is starting to teach me that a single blade can be remarkably useful, but my ingrained default is still that two or three blades is the proper complement for a folder.
Thanks again for the GAW. I applaud its originality. Good luck to all of the other entrants!
Edit: I'd neglected to include a photo. This is not the exact model, but this image from the manufacturer's site is the closest I could find:
:thumbup: Thanks for your entry, and good luck!
At the bottom of the post are two random sequence generator results, the first giving me a random rearrangement of the numbers 3-30, representing post numbers of entrants (and well as some not-an-entry posts and some responses, bumps, etc.) and the second giving me a random list of the 10 knives in the prize pool. So post 27 wins knife 7 and post 3 wins knife 3 (Coincidence, or Grand Design???).
