Back in the day

[Artfully Martial]

Someone had recently asked what we would pick between a minigrip, a delica and a mini presidio. I found myself saying "while I've owned both kinds of natives and 5 or 6 minigrips..." and I was suddenly hit by a memory from quite some time ago in high school. My two best friends and I, lead by me, were shopping for our first decent knife. We had essentially no money...we really had to scramble to get together the 40 or so to buy our knives, and knew that it meant not buying anything else for 6 months.

Well, I ended up with an M16, the small one with AUS8 and aluminum handles, one friend ended up with a Spyderco Centofante and the other with a Kershaw Storm. None of those knives are in service today. After years of dedicated service, I loaned my M16 to a close friend who promptly lost it. The Storm's pivot was adjusted so much that eventually he stripped it out and that was that. The Centofante was accidentally left in a junkyard and never seen again.

But I'm reminded of how far I've come, and how lucky I am, looking back at those humble beginnings. Now I have to really think about what I'm going to carry...is it the MUDD, the Ti Tyrade, the Offset, the Dodo, the Morpho (etc)? It's easy to forget a time when I lusted after a minigriptilian but felt that $55 was simply an insane, unobtainable sum for a knife.

 

[thejamppa]

Thanks for sharing the story :thumbup: I still got my very first victorinox. I am new to folder's like Spyderco's and my first ever quality folder was Spyderco Tenacious. I mostly carry Spyderco Sage 1 or Spyderco Bob Terzuola in town and BM Griptilian or Spyderco Gayle Bradley in woods.

Still, remembering the humble origins of my very first quality knife was Victorinox Spartan I still have. Besides scale change to new scales after old broke its in service. Your story made me remember it and I should carry it again. Thanks :thumbup:

 

[Joshua J.]

Ah yes, back in the day.

Dad got me a Voyager and Mora when I was 14, though it was mostly on the advice of my brother.
Both are excellent knives, even by today's standards. Unfortunately I have committed some heinous crimes against that knife (the Voyager), it is still very functional, but doesn't look quite the same (I rounded the tip and ground out a groove for opening). It currently resides on my workbench for cutting sandpaper.