How did you get "hooked" on knives?

B

BAfarmer

Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
70
Everyone knows the purpose of the knife? Everyone knows what specific purpose they serve in every day life.. Just wondered what hooks an individual to become a knife enthusiast? For me I have always carried and used a knife (usually a stockman of some sorts)on the farm and hunting but not until I had internet access did I know of the wide assortment available. This may not be WAS but I just wanted to hear others thoughts on the idea.
 
For me, there is no addiction. A practical person carries a knife.

I grew up on a farm and have hunted almost all my life. Now I work in a hospital.

A knife is an essential tool to almost all activities. That is why it is included in almost all multitools. It is natural to carry a knife. Those who don't carry a knife are the goofy ones, not us.

My mom, who is now 80 years old told me a story just yesterday and said that when she was young, all kids (including the girls) carried a knife. It was no big deal.

I don't feel completely "dressed" without a knife in my pocket or on my belt.

I am taken aback at how few folks carry a knife. Most of my coworkers don't even carry a penknife.

I take every opportunity to give someone a knife. I hope to spread the "gospel of the knife" one person at a time. I am hoping for a knife "revival." This would simply be a return to common sense!

M.
 
How did I get hooked on knives?

I was born.

Seriously.

Loved them as long as I can remember.

Phil
 
Like BAfarmer, I have always had a knife of some kind, whether it be a stockman or a SAK, but never spent more than $40 or so. Then in 2002 I was on vacation and found a store that had a large selection of Benchmade and Spyderco as well as the Chinese and Pakistani junk. The salesman loved his job and we had the counter full of stuff before I picked up a Spyderco Police in VG-10 combo edge. It wasn't until I got home and found this website (and others) that I realized the world out there that I never new existed. So, yes, I also blame it on the internet.
 
Mostly I just grew up on a working farm in So. Illinois, knives were jsut something everyone carried daily as tools.

But my knife collecting was really started by my High School history teacher, he was an avid knife nut and would bring a different knife to school each day of the school year for us to see. (this was in the 80's, just imagine a teacher doing this now!)
 
I never grew up on a farm, but I always liked SAKs because they could do so many damn things. Well researching about SAKs on the net, I stumbled across knives (and this site) and the addiction started. So yea, it is mainly SAKs, the internet, and bladeforums.
 
A lot of you won't be able to relate to this, but back in '62 or '63, when I bought my first knife, there was no age-limit to buying one. My Granny and I used to walk the 3 or 4 blocks up to the corner, family-owned market together and they had a small toy rack with whistles, frisbees, water pistols etc., and a (GASP!!) knife. I kept asking Granny to buy it for me but she wouldn't. Finally one day when I was seven or eight, Mom and Granny gave me a short grocery list and told me I could go up to the store by myself for the first time. Mom said I could take whatever allowance money I had saved up and get something for myself if I wanted. Cool! I'm finally getting me a knife!

Got home, showed Mom what I got, she freaked, I cried when she threatened to take it away, and she finally gave in and said I could keep it, with the caveat that if I cut myself with it, it was GONE! Later that afternoon, it was indeed GONE, but the lessons weren't. I learned that, first, I really liked knives for some unknown reason, second, they demanded respect and, third, Mom MEANT what she said!

I don't even remember if I ever got that particular knife back, but I've had literally hundreds of them since then. I spent several years in my youthful adulthood hunting and using them the way they're supposed to be used; HARD. I spent another several years in construction where I used one every single day. Regardless of my need for them though, I have always bought and traded for many more than I'd ever have use for, and the thrill of the new acquisition is just as intense today as it was 40-some-odd years ago when I got that first little finger-slicer.

I don't know if knife-collecting meets the clinical definition of an "addiction," but it sho' 'nuff is an irresistable urge in my case. Don't most of y'all feel that way?

Blues
 
Machaira said:
It is natural to carry a knife. Those who don't carry a knife are the goofy ones, not us.
Click to expand...

Well said! I would just like to add that once friends realize you carry a useful knife and know how to sharpen it, they will either be wanting to borrow it all the time, or want you to sharpen theirs. This is kind of gratifying at first but it gets a bit old.

Like others, I just always thought knifes were cool, since being a little boy and seeing Dad or Grampa use one. They taught me to be responsible with 'em; in fact, proving you could handle a knife safely was a pre-requisite to getting even a BB gun. If I had ever threatened someone with my knife as a kid, I'm sure Dad would have "knocked me into next week" as he used to say!

Hmm... I think I better give Pops a call and say thanks once again :)
 
I grew up in my Grandfathers house. He was a carpenter/cabinet maker/upholsterer. He did a lot of work out of our house so I spent countless hours in the shop -our basement- watching a real craftsman work. He carried a pocket knife and used it all the time. None of his other tools were as fascinating to me at that knife. I started carrying a knife at around 7 and allways will.
 
My wife says my buying and collecting switchblades is either a mid life crisis, or I am going through my second childhood. :D
 
There's no denying it, I started out as a mall ninja. For me the main purpose for a knife other than a kitchen knife, was for self defense. I wasn't SO much a mall ninja, because self defense was a must back then(for me at least). I went through the tactical thing, and this sight educated me on how much more useful a knife can truly be.
 
I really don't remember a day without a knife in my pocket. But an A.G. Russel catalog and this site got me "hooked" bad. Real bad. Heroin? Pfffft. Try walkin around with a S30v monkey on your back. Tomorrow it could be a ZDP-189 monkey that bites. Then after you've gone through the one hand opener phase, you take another look at slipjoints and see them in a whole new light. Ahhh, good ole carbon steel. It's like going from heroin to opium.
 
I grew up in a very small town in a rural area. I always carried a small pocket knife (Schrade stockman) and appreciated it as the good tool that it was. I'm 45 years old and still have the Schrade stockman I bought in high school. Years later, I somehow decided to spend "big money" on a Benchmade Mini AFCK I saw in a catalog somewhere.

Once I got that knife and discovered the wonders of premuim steel, locking mechanisms and bigger blades, I realized there was a whole bunch of high quality knives out there that I had been missing out on.

And they just keep getting better!

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
I have always loved knives for as long as I can remember. I think I have gotten a knife or a sword for almost every birthday since I was 5 or so. Then again, I have always been into cheapies until I discovered this site.

Even when I gave myself a nasty cut to the finger when I was 8 (I was trying to cut open a tennis ball, someone had apparently put change inside one, then taped it up. Yes I am stupid) I still loved knives, and I always will. Why? I don't know.
 
I've always liked knives, but only owned one cheap gas station pocket knife and a cheap multitool until 5 years ago. Until that point I leaned to the mall ninja stuff. You see, In Puerto Rico (where I'm from), the dominant view is that outside the kitchen and dining room, a knife is a weapon. I habitually used machetes, and was proficient with them, but they were my dad's and they were used mostly for cutting the grass.

Three things moved me to become both a knife nut and a preparedness-minded person. The first was 911. It forced me to realize how ill prepared I was (in terms of equipment, knowledge, and skills) to protect and provide for my family in case of an emergency.

The second was reading my first wilderness survival book (The Complete Wilderness Training Book by Hugh McManners who is an ex SAS). In it I found out that the most basic/important tool you can have with you at any time is a knife.

The third was a survivalist friend in seminary who introduced me to Cold Steel knives and the More Proof video. Whatever LT's and CS's faults, it was through the More Proof video that I got truly interested in knives. That friend gave me my first real knife (a Buck 119-C) as a gift. From that point on I was hooked.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top