How did you first get into knives?

My love of knives probably comes from my scout days and the SAK. I had a SAK in my pocket every day from as long as I can remember until just recently when I picked up a leatherman juice, having a hard wire cutter in my pocket is a god send at work. But I still love my SAK’s not only do I have a sizable collection but buying those opened up the door for me to collect a boat load of other knives.
 
Summer, 1981: just happened to get an old Case single-blade Hunter in a trade with a friend. Traded it for a knife in better condition later, then the "fevah" just kinda got worse & worse...

thx - cpr
 
when i was 11/12 my older brother bought me my first folder. now im bigger older and wiser and i own a Boker Trance, i carry when were outdoorsing, and a small Buck for everyday.
 
I was 9 when the Japs (EDIT: pardon for the possibly offensive term) attacked Pearl harbour on my birthday. Before this, i did not even know what "war" was, all I knew is that my Dad had been part of some group of men shooting guns at a time before myself or my brothers were even born. (He fought in WWI, and had his leg gunned off by some trench Krauts (again, sorry for possible offensive term)).

When WWII became a household name, I remember my dad giving talks to my older brothers regarding knives, and how important it was to "always have this in case you need it". I never really knew what he meant at the time, but as I grew up, I realized that knives were ultimately an extension of the hand. I grew up as an "East-End Greaser" in the late 40's, and toted a few knives in my teens, mostly for show, but my dad never knew of this. He would have belted me right quick for carrying a knife in the community; to him , a knife was meant for times of war only, and not for showing off! Where I really became familiar with knives, however, was when the Canadian forces were about to be shipped off to Korea in the early 50's. My brothers were in the Navy, and while our oldest brother died on the HMCS Fraser during WWII, it never deterred us younger kids from jumping on the military bandwagon... well, except for me, that is. Instead I became quite fascinated with military tactics, but instead chose to focus on advisory positions, and instructional self defense, cold-water survival training etc. It was then that I really got into knives, because I had an instructor who would maintain that he "could be dropped anywhere in the world with only his underwear and a good knife" and would be able to survive. I found this intriguing, and therefore made it a point to learn various survival and combat techniques using only a knife. I was only in my early 20's at the time, so this was real hero stuff for me! I soon discovered how a knife was the ultimate tool that would let you build other tools you need. From that point onward, a good blade has always been my focal point of any wilderness survival kit, day pack, or automotive emergency kit. Many see a knife as a weapon that kills, while true knife aficianados know that a good blade is what keeps you from dying.
 
When I was a kid, the department stores in downtown San Francisco had sporting goods departments that included guns, knives, fishing equipment, etc. The Roos Brothers store (later Roos Atkins) on Market street even had a couple of gunsmiths in the basement. They all had nice collections of fixed blade knives and folders for sale. Took the Hunter safety course at the Roos Brothers store and got my first hunting license at the minimum age. Abercrombie & Fitch had a real nice sporting goods department back then too.
 
My dad from being raised by a father who hunts, fishes, scouts and having friends when I was young who were from families that either hunted, fished or camped.
 
For me it was from being born a hillbilly, down in a hollar, in southern West Virginia.
 
T.K.C. said:
My Mom got me into knives .... It has been MY pleasure to be able to get my Mom some really nice knives to use. She also always carries a knife.
Click to expand...

Your Mom must be way cool.

As for me, I grew up in my grandfathers house. He always carried and used a pocket knife. This fascinated me to no end. In '72 my mom and dad gave me a cubscout knife for Christmas. I've been heavily into knives ever since.
 
I grew up semi-rural and my dad, uncles, and grandad were always sitting on the front porch whittling, talking religion, etc. My dad worked in a hardware store and was the 'knife specialist", he'd sharpen a KaBar folder, shave his arm, then whittle some iron shavings off a 16d nail, then shave his arm again! He sold a lot of knives that way. I got a KaBar folder at about age 9 (1954), and have EDC'd a knife ever since. In Vietnam, I EDC'd a small stainless Itallian stiletto. Those were the days when "stainless steel" was about the hardness of cheese, and would hold an edge almost as well.

About 1976, that danged AGRussell came out with his 'Sting' (as Lycosa mentioned) and I was transformed from casual knife user to avid collector.
 
Always had a small knife collection, mostly folders my Dad got from work with the company name on it. The only one I ever came close to EDCing was a Vic Classic. I remember admiring my brothers full size swiss army knife, thinking he must be able to do anything with it.

A few years ago I started paying attention to the BudK catalogs my older brother had sent to the house. Always attracted to ninjas etc, I eventually ordered a few swords, throwing knives and folders with one of my paychecks from an old job. I taught myself how to throw the throwing knives and had some fun, broke one of the swords chopping wood and was rather unimpressed with the folders.

I originally came here looking for a better folder to carry on a daily basis, one that didn't feel like it would break in my hand. I tried out a Spyderco Delica and didn't like how it fit my hand, but otherwise liked it. I also had a CRKT M18-02 I believe it was. It wasn't bad, but not something I'd carry today. Went through a lot of cheap pocket knives like Opinels and Swiss Army Knives, eventually coming back around to Spyderco once I understood knives a little better. Somewhere during all this I learned how to sharpen by reading posts in the maintenance forum. Since then I've just been reading and experimenting to learn more and more about knives.
 
In the Cub Scouts during the early 70s my dad got me my first real knife a Camillius Cub Scout knife and I was hooked. The funny thing is it took about another 20 yrs. for the addiction part of knife collecting to kick in:confused:!
 
Always had been around them. Hunting, fishing family. Had a knife since about age six.

Live in the Suburbs so I sort of forgot about them.

Bought a paraframe at home depot. First one handed opening knife I had seen.

Having recently quit smoking I used my extra discretionary income on pocket knives. They are great to keep your hands/mind busy. Also great to look at and choose owning awesome knives over smoking cigarettes.

I now own 2 Sebenza's, about 10 CLB designed bokers (LOVE EM) Around 15 spyderco's, 3 kershaws. A couple of buck knives. 3 Benchmades. A sog powerlock tool, a leatherman skeletool. A dedicated woodcarving knife. A spyderco sharpmaker, a leather strop i learned to make here. A secondhand beltsander. a mousepad convex sharpening system i made.

And the beauty of it all is. They didn't cost me a dime. (Free from money saved by quitting smoking) WOOHOO!
 
my first knife was a abc magizne swiss army cheap-o when i was 5 8 years later she had no idea what she had started
 
After seeing a Cold steel ad in a Pistolero magazine in the early 80's. It was the Urban skinner i think...I was ten and I looked like the geek in the ad.

Sorry but thats how it started for me...but i'm developing a taste for better knives but still lacking the cash to buy them.
 
It was Higonokami dad handed me when I was about 6 years old.
At home there was a Japanese traditional water stone and sharpening higonokami
on it was relatively easy, even 6 years old kid could obtain a razor sharp edge.
This gave me an idea how sharp a hand-sharpened edge can be
and I came to be affected with cutting tools.
 
A Case scout knife caught my eye at the local Army/Navy store when I was about 12 or 13. I was working in my uncle's grocery store so I saved up some money and bought it. Found it was a little too big and heavy to comfortably carry in my pocket, so I saved up again and bought a Schrade Stockman. That was my one-and-only for a long time, until I fell for a pretty little Benchmade Mini-AFCK I saw in the A.G. Russell catalog.

Then, I fell in love with the fancy ATS34 stainless steel in that Mini-AFCK. That led to a full-size AFCK, then more interest in knife steels and knives of all kinds.

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
I grew up with pocket knives. As far back as I can remember, I always carried a pocket knife. To this day, I do the same. The knives have changed, but the appeal has never left me.

I really never considered a custom knife until my Brother in Law showed me a couple Randall's, a Moran and a few other big knives he owned and used. I got my first custom by trading a 22 magnum rifle for it around 1990. I still have that knife. More blades started appearing after that including several Randall's, and othe customs.

I still like factory knives. I have far more of them. The old EK knives from the 1980's had a lot of appeal to me as well.

But, I carry a SAK and a SOG Mini-Vulcan pretty much every day now.
 
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