How have your knife preferences changed over time?

Hickory n steel said:
The biggest one would be having switched completely to traditional knives.
I've also grown to really appreciate knives which are much smaller than I ever thought of as adequate.
And I've started to frequently carry belt knives which is not something I was comfortable with before.
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This reflects my evolution. My evolution was circular..... starting with slip joints as a kid and not generally preferring smaller slip joints. Movement has been toward smaller slip joints in general.

I have no plans on buying another modern knife at this point. But these kinds of things are whimsical and I float around. The fixed blade thing has really set in for me however which is a total change from the past..... and I mean since I was a kid..... I never owned a fixed blade knife other than for kitchen use for the first 35 years of my life. I just never saw the need. I still don't "need" a fixed blade but I have grown to like them quite a lot. They have always appealed to me, but I never used the ones I owned for much of anything until recently.

I carried a "110 sized" folding belt knife for work for years, but see little need now as a fixed blade replaced the "hard use". I use a Condor for abusive tasks.
 
I used like large fixed blades when I first started collecting knives, still do like a good sized blade, but my tastes have grown to include more traditional or historical pattern knives, large and small. GEC really has my attention on some of their patterns. I also like small fixed blades such as bird and trout knives for small chores, I am not a hunter or fisherman, but they are very handy. I still like a good looking knife, less tactical and more good lines and a nice blade shape. Am starting to like some foreign traditional patterns. I like some of the offerings of new modern stainless steels, but I also have come to appreciate that the old steels still work, even if they do not keep as long an edge, they are still around for a reason....they still work. With the smaller fixed blades I like, i started to look how to horizontal carry them.
Edited: also am liking thinner blades.
 
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I don’t think my preferences have changed as much as I’ve been exposed to more options and many more options are available now than there were 25-30 years ago.
 
3fifty7 said:
I don’t think my preferences have changed as much as I’ve been exposed to more options and many more options are available now than there were 25-30 years ago.
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There is certainly this aspect as well. With fixed blades, I have always liked them but I never saw a need. For years, knives were purposely purchased to use and use all the time as needed. Fixed blades were something that never entered the picture as I couldn't see spending the money for something I knew I wouldn't use. My Dad had a bird & trout sized fixed blade he took deer hunting, but mostly used a folder for small game and general purpose use. I was not open to just buying a knife because it caught my eye. I owned a couple knives total.

In more recent years, the options have increased and fixed blades entered the picture, all sizes, but for use.... 4" or under for the most part. I often carry a ~5" fixed blade in the woods, but this is not something I do every day or every week.
 
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22-rimfire said:
There is certainly this aspect as well. With fixed blades, I have always liked them but I never saw a need. For years, knives were purposely purchased to use and use all the time as needed. Fixed blades were something that never entered the picture as I couldn't see spending the money for something I knew I wouldn't use. My Dad had a bird & trout sized fixed blade he took deer hunting, but mostly used a folder for small game and general purpose use. I was not open to just buying a knife because it caught my eye. I owned a couple knives total.

In more recent years, the options have increased and fixed blades entered the picture, all sizes, but for use.... 4" or under for the most part. I often carry a ~5" fixed blade in the woods, but this is not something I do every day or every week.
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I feel 4 inches is a good all around blade size, however I like my bird and trout knives or small fixed blades with blades about 2.75 to 3.75 long to be ideal for my needs. I like my JK Hurley Creek, but I gave in and now getting one in thinner and steel upgrade.
 
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I began my 'knife journey' by simply wanting to upgrade my personal swag: a nicer wallet, a decent quality watch, and a better pocket knife. I liked small folders that carry comfortably loose in pocket. Still do. But now I also like clipped one-handers, so I carry one even though I don't really use it much.

Best carry option I've found so far is a CRK Sebenza 21, an alox SAK, and my little Vic Rambler on my keychain--nice balance between form and function, IMO. I probably use my Rambler the most for the tools, to be honest.
 
Before BF, from the ‘70s until well after the turn of the century, my purchases were infrequent, mostly SAKs and Opinels, with only a few outliers. Actually, I started branching out before BF after getting a couple of knives as gifts. Then I got a Mora, and came to BF to learn a little more about them.

In the Traditional section, I started reading about slipjoints, which I had pretty much ignored for most of my life. Now I have a shelf full, mostly Case, RR and GEC. Since then, my tastes have diversified. Lots of ethnic blue-collar working knives: Antonini, MAM, Marttiini, Okapi, Svord, Mercator, the kind of knives you find at Baryonyx. Lots of machetes, including some Condor choppers. An array of fixed blades, nothing too expensive, geared toward camping and yard work.

Recently, I binged on Green River and Old Hickory knives, which recall the trade knives of the mid-19th century. The Becker Kephart got me to look at Ethan Becker and his approach to knife design. I bought another of his knives, and will probably try a couple more.
 
How have your knife preferences changed over time?

I want better ones. Better steel, better blade geometry, better ergonomics. BF has been an invaluable resource. It's enabled me to have a more critical eye and appreciate excellence where I couldn't see it before.

I knew my needs in fixed blades for decades at work but it's taken me a couple of years to discern what I really want in folders and add to that with new knowledge of competitive details across a wide spectrum of makers.
 
I started to really get into knives at the time of the “built like a tank” ZTs ;)
I was kind of into flippers from the beginning and on the hype of the titanium frame lock on bearings tacti-cool stuff ;)

After some times really using and sometime abusing my knives I have evolved to more manual folder on washers with a lighter/slimmer profile

I also carry my knives more often.
At the beginning my EDC was a SAK and I was taking my ZTs for hicking or during holidays
Now I still edc a small SAK but I also have a main folder :)

the tacti-cool ninja kid inside me sometimes still order a knife from time to time ;) but I think my tastes have evolved


Just for fun, my present collection
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I know that the biggest factor of my change of taste was the aging process.

From my 20's to my 30's I didn't see much change, if any. From my 30's to my 40's I saw some little changes here and there. Mostly in size to a slightly smaller size of the same. Like from a Buck 301 stockman to a 303 cadet stockman. From a 4 layer SAK to a 2 layer SAK.

From my 40's to my 50's, a bit more change from a harder view of things I was slowing down on. Like backpacking to ultra light backpacking and more fishing instead of hunting.

The biggest change was going through the 60's toward the 70's. The dawning of the consciousness of thing I am never going to do again. At the age I became an official old fart and started collecting social security and living off the government, I realized that I was never going to see real wilderness again, so I had zero use for any big choppers or so called 'survival' knives. Hell, even when I was still backpacking into the boonies, I never really. needed those big choppers. When my wife and did the last tour of Yellowstone, we did the tourist bus to all the big scenic sights, and sat on the veranda of the Yellowstone Lodge sipping cocktails while watching Old Faithful erupt. Same kind of trip to Yosemite, the senior citizen chauffeured around trip with a guide. Dinner at the restaurant with real cloth table cloths. No big cutlery needed.

So the old man uses the 'old man' pocket knives now. Good enough to whittle a hot dog stick for the granddaughter, opening a bag of mulch for the gardening, or opening the Amazon packages for the better half. Now in my 70's I know I just don't need that much knife, and my wife and I don't want to be bothered by a ton of possessions as we go traveling a lot. A small SAK or pen knife is good enough, and my wife has a small SAK on her keyring. If we need more knife, my Buck 102 is in my pack, and Karen keeps a Mora fixed blade in her purse right next to her airweght S&W revolver.

Sometimes looking back on it all, it was like some sort of temporary insanity that only getting old cured. Now, in retrospect, I sort of regent buying all those knives I never really needed. The passing of the years did more to change my taste than any other factor.
 
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