Going Gold Giveaway

[JTB_5]

I started visiting here back in October and have been contemplating getting a membership since December. My main concern was that I wasn’t going to be able to give much time to posting, or, conversely, that I’d get so distracted by the forum that it would take away from other things in my life that are priorities.

The latter concern has been the more likely one, because “the Porch” has shown me what a lovely community of folks congregate here. The friendliness and genuine human kindness is refreshing and I’ve decided to go ahead and buy a membership and support Blade Forums for providing a place like this to continue.

Since it has been the kindness more than the knives that have impressed me (which is saying a lot because folks here own stunning knives!), I’m going to inaugurate my membership status with a giveaway.

The knife I’m giving away is an Otter Messer large anchor knife. I bought it as a knife to use in the back yard but after one day of using it I decided to keep it for everyday carry. I haven’t carried it much because of the size but it is such a classic knife and the anchor symbol has special meaning to me as a symbol popularly used by Christians during the early church period prior to Constantine, when they had to avoid persecution and relied on symbols to identify themselves. I hope the winner will enjoy it, or pass it along to someone they know who will.

Here are the rules:

1. Members only: since the giveaway is prompted by my decision to support BF I think it fitting that a BF supporter should have the knife. One entry per person.

2. Enter by telling the story of what brought you to “the porch” and led you to purchasing a membership.

3. I’ll let the giveaway run until the end of the month as and then randomly select a winner from among the entries.

Here’s a very bad picture of the knife:

Good luck and thanks to everyone who has been so welcoming to me during my brief time here so far!

Edit:
Here is a better picture:

 

[abbydaddy]

I'll go ahead and burn the first spot.

Thank you for the generous giveaway. It is in fact the generosity of this place that brought me to the porch. When I started getting into knives again a few years back, I rather quickly had my initial modern folder needs/interests satisfied, but I found that I really enjoyed hanging out on the forum, and I knew that I was going to start teaching soon, so I decided to take a look at traditionals. I came onto the traditional sub-forum and asked for a recommendation for a first traditional to try out. Immediately EyeDog stepped up and offered me a lovely S&M Barlow. After that I was hooked on the porch. Then after participating in the forum knife design process for the 2015 knife I was totally hooked.

View media item 393The Barlow the EyeDog sent me to start my traditional habit.

 

[black mamba]

Thanks, Joshua, and congrats on your paid membership, I'll enter.

I first discovered BladeForums by a google search into steel types and alloys for knife blades. I have hunted and fished since I was 8 years old back in the '60s. Always had a fixed blade hunter and a fillet knife, and since junior high school always carried a pocket knife. So once I found this place, I just gravitated towards the traditional subforum, since that matched my experience. I now enjoy modern OHO knives as well, but my traditionals outnumber my moderns by about 30-1. When I realized that I would be gaining so much knowledge and entertainment from the "Porch," I felt compelled to pay up. Gold is the way to go.

 

[JTB_5]

I’ve added a better picture.

 

[SVTFreak]

These have interested me since i first saw one. Sure, I’ll go in for this one!

Thanks for the opportunity! And welcome to gold membership.

Also, thanks for not hiding your Christianity, brother. But these people here make it easy to not hide it by not persecuting either. Just one more reason to love this little corner of the internet.

 

[JTB_5]

These have interested me since i first saw one. Sure, I’ll go in for this one!

Thanks for the opportunity! And welcome to gold membership.

Also, thanks for not hiding your Christianity, brother. But these people here make it easy to not hide it by not persecuting either. Just one more reason to love this little corner of the internet.

Thank you, brother! I’m glad for such a place as well. Good luck on the giveaway!

 

[abcdef]

Not a purchasing member, but thanks for the gaw.

 

[Henry Beige]

Before I found my way to Bladeforums I had been using Opinels and SAKs for a number of years, owning multiples to carry on my several motorcycles to supplement the tool kits and to use in camp. I picked up a few other knives over the years, but would not have called myself an enthusiast, much less a collector. I was vaguely aware of the collector interest in traditional slipjoints (“jackknives” to me), and even more vaguely aware of the newfangled one-handed openers that were beginning to appear. My wife gave me a few knives as gifts: a Ka-Bar USMC knife and a Griptilian were the ones that stood out.

Then I learned about Moras. They appealed to me in much the same way as the Opinels did, simple, cheap, effective, and classically elegant. Wanting to learn more, I found my way to Bladeforums, and necessarily to the Porch, where such knives were discussed. Once here, I read Jackknife’s tales of the peanut. Once I finished those, I was on my way to being hooked. The friendliness and generosity of the community made it an easy place to stay.

I have always liked the Otter Messer anchor knife, which I came across first while researching marlinspikes, and again while looking into Mercator. I would love to have a chance at one, so thanks for your generous giveaway.

 

[EyeDog]

I'll go ahead and burn the first spot.

Thank you for the generous giveaway. It is in fact the generosity of this place that brought me to the porch. When I started getting into knives again a few years back, I rather quickly had my initial modern folder needs/interests satisfied, but I found that I really enjoyed hanging out on the forum, and I knew that I was going to start teaching soon, so I decided to take a look at traditionals. I came onto the traditional sub-forum and asked for a recommendation for a first traditional to try out. Immediately EyeDog stepped up and offered me a lovely S&M Barlow. After that I was hooked on the porch. Then after participating in the forum knife design process for the 2015 knife I was totally hooked.

View media item 393The Barlow the EyeDog sent me to start my traditional habit.

So glad I had a small part in launching you knife addiction.

 

[JTB_5]

I’ve enjoyed the responses so far, thanks! I’d love to hear more stories from folks, even if you don’t want an entry on the knife giveaway.

 

[5K Qs]

Congrats on the gold membership, JTB_5 , and thanks for the generous GAW! I'm also a big fan of the GAWs that have entrants telling personal stories of some kind.

I recently told HFinn that his Ankermesser was iconic and impressive, so I'm definitely interested in entering your GAW! I like "international" knives and the anchor on the Otter has always appealed to me, although I didn't realize it was an early Christian symbol. (Rough Rider and Case both have at least one model with the "ichthys" fish symbol also used by early Christians, and I intend to get one of those some time.)

Here's my story (basically cut-and-pasted from posts in which I've told it before for one reason or another).

My first knife was a Colonial Forest-Master scout knife I was given about 1960 and used every day for the next 9 years.

I became re-interested in pocket knives almost exactly 4 years ago (after 45 essentially knifeless years that followed this farm kid going off to college). The knife below is a small (3.125" closed) Imperial serpentine jack that I found at my place at the kitchen table in January 2014 when I came back into the house after a couple of hours of snow-shoveling during a blizzard. My wife had found it in a box of her old things, and is quite sure her dad gave it to her back in the 1970s (after carrying it for years himself) when he got a new knife. I spent an afternoon cleaning it up and getting it functional and decided that I was going to start carrying a pocket knife again like I had as a kid back on the farm where I grew up. Within a month, I had discovered Blade Forums and The Porch, and life has been different ever since!

I didn't officially register at Blade Forums until July 2014, but I think of January as my "anniversary". As I thought back over my first year, I realized how much I'd learned from this site, what nice folks I'd "met" here, the amazing amount of generosity of various types I'd experienced here, and how much enjoyment I get from logging in here probably at least a couple of times most days, and it was a no-brainer to "upgrade" to gold in January of 2015. (Plus, I kicked a 40-year cigar habit starting on Christmas Eve 2014, so the savings there easily covered the minimal cost of a membership upgrade. What does a gold membership cost? Less than a dime a day, for sure. Even though my monthly knife budget is relatively small, I can certainly handle the cost of a paid membership!)

Good luck to all the other entrants!

- GT

 

[JTB_5]

Congrats on the gold membership, JTB_5 , and thanks for the generous GAW! I'm also a big fan of the GAWs that have entrants telling personal stories of some kind.

I recently told HFinn that his Ankermesser was iconic and impressive, so I'm definitely interested in entering your GAW! I like "international" knives and the anchor on the Otter has always appealed to me, although I didn't realize it was an early Christian symbol. (Rough Rider and Case both have at least one model with the "ichthys" fish symbol also used by early Christians, and I intend to get one of those some time.)

Here's my story (basically cut-and-pasted from posts in which I've told it before for one reason or another).

My first knife was a Colonial Forest-Master scout knife I was given about 1960 and used every day for the next 9 years.

I became re-interested in pocket knives almost exactly 4 years ago (after 45 essentially knifeless years that followed this farm kid going off to college). The knife below is a small (3.125" closed) Imperial serpentine jack that I found at my place at the kitchen table in January 2014 when I came back into the house after a couple of hours of snow-shoveling during a blizzard. My wife had found it in a box of her old things, and is quite sure her dad gave it to her back in the 1970s (after carrying it for years himself) when he got a new knife. I spent an afternoon cleaning it up and getting it functional and decided that I was going to start carrying a pocket knife again like I had as a kid back on the farm where I grew up. Within a month, I had discovered Blade Forums and The Porch, and life has been different ever since!

I didn't officially register at Blade Forums until July 2014, but I think of January as my "anniversary". As I thought back over my first year, I realized how much I'd learned from this site, what nice folks I'd "met" here, the amazing amount of generosity of various types I'd experienced here, and how much enjoyment I get from logging in here probably at least a couple of times most days, and it was a no-brainer to "upgrade" to gold in January of 2015. (Plus, I kicked a 40-year cigar habit starting on Christmas Eve 2014, so the savings there easily covered the minimal cost of a membership upgrade. What does a gold membership cost? Less than a dime a day, for sure. Even though my monthly knife budget is relatively small, I can certainly handle the cost of a paid membership!)

Good luck to all the other entrants!

- GT

It is amazing how childhood loves can get lost only to resurface later in life. Thanks for your story and good luck in the GAW

 

[Ramrodmb]

I would like a chance to enter your giveaway! That anchor knife is very cool!

I found my way here after being a member of another site for several years. I quickly realized what a wealth of information and knowledge were available here. Someone made a comment that stuck with me, years ago, about BF being the college level of knife collecting and knife information compared to the Jr high level of some of the other sites.
After joining, I came to realize how many nice people were gathered here, and that is what has kept me coming back year after year.
Thank you for the nice giveaway!

 

[JTB_5]

Two days left and only six entries so far. I'll echo what I said earlier: I'm interested in your story of what led you to join BF as a paying member, even if you aren't interested in entering the giveaway.

Thanks!

 

[Jack Black]

Congratulations on going Gold Joshua A very generous giveaway, those Ankermessers are great knives



When I first started posting on BF, there were no paid memberships. It took me a while to find my way To The Porch, but soon after I started posting here regularly, @Blues , one of the guys who set up this fine place, quietly gifted me a Gold membership. I have been renewing it ever since, and even though I don't trade on the trading forums, I consider it very good value for money. I'd encourage everyone to pick one up

Not an entry please, but good luck everyone, and thanks again Joshua

 

[JTB_5]

Congratulations on going Gold Joshua A very generous giveaway, those Ankermessers are great knives

View attachment 838951

When I first started posting on BF, there were no paid memberships. It took me a while to find my way To The Porch, but soon after I started posting here regularly, @Blues , one of the guys who set up this fine place, quietly gifted me a Gold membership. I have been renewing it ever since, and even though I don't trade on the trading forums, I consider it very good value for money. I'd encourage everyone to pick one up

Not an entry please, but good luck everyone, and thanks again Joshua

Thanks for sharing, Jack! I'm sure it has been an adventure watching the forums grow over the years you've spent here (I'm assuming paid memberships go a way back, but perhaps I'm mistaken about that?).

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Not an entry because I just recently won a knife in a GAW on the porch but I'll never pass up a story about how I came to be here.

Back in the early to mid 90s I was part of a BBB site called recknivesdotcom. There were a lot of familiar faces there back then, among them the likes of Kevin & Mike, from here Steve from Tactical knives and folks like Gus and Esav were some of the names that were hangin' together on the earlier BBBs and it was like one long post/email back then. A lot of those guys back then started hangin' out at WOW World of Weapons a place to buy and talk about edged weapons and stuff, all kinds of stuff. Some stupid and some pretty thought provokin' although I must admit that late night Friday and Saturday the subjects tended to wander, a lot .

As time went on the ownership and direction of BFC became a subject of discussion, what it was and what the powers that be wanted it to be. In the end Spark's vision won out and BC became the largest knife forum on the internet. Now a bunch of old geezers who liked to talk about knives and have hung out on the internet before on smaller pages got together in this one place and we called this place home.

Many of the makers and shakers back in the day noticed the people hangin' out here were a substantial portion of their market and were hangin' out here already. We were a captive audience with money.

I've been here since before the beginning and I've contributed in one way or another since I had to redo my membership in 2000 or '01 I forget. Been a payin' member at one level or another for as long as I can remember bein' here . I've known some of the fine folks on the Porch for 17+ years. When I look back on it, some of the folks here have known me since I was in my 20s and I've know some and even watched their kids grow up, get married and have kids of their own.

This place is full of family, folks I've known, some for over 15 or more years, people I've met and became friends with because of a common love for knives and the small community of knife enthusiast makes it easy to become closer friends with many over all the years and across the globe. One of the reasons I've always been a payin' member was a way to give back to the community and meet some of the greatest people in the industry. Where else do yo get to discuss knives with the likes of Sal Glesser, Tim Reeves, and the countless custom, mid tech and production makers and manufacturers out there.

I've been a fixture here as long as I can remember. I don't think my Avatar/Profile pic has changed at all in the last 15 years here makin' it one of the more recognizable avatars on BFC, I've seen many friends come over to hang out and over the nearly 20 years here lost many to old age, illness and accidents.

I'd like to think over the years I've earned a place here on BFC's lifer list, the folks who've been here so long we're known as the OBs, (orignal bastids)

 

[JTB_5]

Not an entry because I just recently won a knife in a GAW on the porch but I'll never pass up a story about how I came to be here.

Back in the early to mid 90s I was part of a BBB site called recknivesdotcom. There were a lot of familiar faces there back then, among them the likes of Kevin & Mike, from here Steve from Tactical knives and folks like Gus and Esav were some of the names that were hangin' together on the earlier BBBs and it was like one long post/email back then. A lot of those guys back then started hangin' out at WOW World of Weapons a place to buy and talk about edged weapons and stuff, all kinds of stuff. Some stupid and some pretty thought provokin' although I must admit that late night Friday and Saturday the subjects tended to wander, a lot .

As time went on the ownership and direction of BFC became a subject of discussion, what it was and what the powers that be wanted it to be. In the end Spark's vision won out and BC became the largest knife forum on the internet. Now a bunch of old geezers who liked to talk about knives and have hung out on the internet before on smaller pages got together in this one place and we called this place home.

Many of the makers and shakers back in the day noticed the people hangin' out here were a substantial portion of their market and were hangin' out here already. We were a captive audience with money.

I've been here since before the beginning and I've contributed in one way or another since I had to redo my membership in 2000 or '01 I forget. Been a payin' member at one level or another for as long as I can remember bein' here . I've known some of the fine folks on the Porch for 17+ years. When I look back on it, some of the folks here have known me since I was in my 20s and I've know some and even watched their kids grow up, get married and have kids of their own.

This place is full of family, folks I've known, some for over 15 or more years, people I've met and became friends with because of a common love for knives and the small community of knife enthusiast makes it easy to become closer friends with many over all the years and across the globe. One of the reasons I've always been a payin' member was a way to give back to the community and meet some of the greatest people in the industry. Where else do yo get to discuss knives with the likes of Sal Glesser, Tim Reeves, and the countless custom, mid tech and production makers and manufacturers out there.

I've been a fixture here as long as I can remember. I don't think my Avatar/Profile pic has changed at all in the last 15 years here makin' it one of the more recognizable avatars on BFC, I've seen many friends come over to hang out and over the nearly 20 years here lost many to old age, illness and accidents.

I'd like to think over the years I've earned a place here on BFC's lifer list, the folks who've been here so long we're known as the OBs, (orignal bastids)

Thanks for sharing your story! I can tell you've got a lot of others you could tell as well. I'll have to come up with some creative questions to prompt you

 

[lambertiana]

I'd love to enter. I have wanted an Ankermesser for a long time.

I found Bladeforums in 2000, after spending a few years on recknives. Although I have many modern folders, I grew up using traditionals and they are still my favorite.

I originally became a gold member so that I could sell on the exchange. Now I rarely sell anything but I like the idea of supporting the forum.

 

[JTB_5]

I'd love to enter. I have wanted an Ankermesser for a long time.

I found Bladeforums in 2000, after spending a few years on recknives. Although I have many modern folders, I grew up using traditionals and they are still my favorite.

I originally became a gold member so that I could sell on the exchange. Now I rarely sell anything but I like the idea of supporting the forum.

Thanks for sharing! Good luck on the giveaway!