How old are you

[coolbreezy37]

Not really a Traditional fan per sé (I like all knives), but my first knife I received when I was 10-11 was a Buck 192 Vanguard. That was over 2.5 decades ago and fits all the criteria for a traditional fixed blade. I still have that knife. View attachment 2437834

 

[Phil in Alabama]

I'm 58. Knives were just knives when I was a young man, the "tactical" and "modern" knives didn't exist yet; most just never have attracted me. There are a few that I find interesting but usually it's what I'm more familiar with from experience and I would suspect that is fairly common. There are always exceptions to such thoughts though and people just like what they happen to like.

 

[davek14]

68 here.

 

[lutejones]

I’m 41. I remember always being interested in knives, both my grandfathers had some knives. I remember vividly my maternal grandfather always cutting something for me and my sister with a super sharp taramundi style friction folder that got stolen by a construction worker on a reformation they did at his place. He then kept a little 2.5” pen knife with him till he passed away at 94.

The other knife I remember from my childhood is a folding hunter 110 style that my other grandfather lend me to play with and the best game was to throw it to stick it on the ground.

After a 10-12 years gap I did a trip around Europe by train and when we arrived in Switzerland I bought a Swiss Army knife(picnicker) that reignited the fire

 

[Alex.Y.]

Approaching the thirty milestone, just a couple years left. My first knife was a no-name balisong from Italy my dad bought me more than fifteen years ago. It resembles a dragon of some sort while opened, and the "blade" is actually a recurved metal bar with only a harpoon-style end sharpened. It doesn't cut, and isn't suitable for balisong flipping because of the difference in hanlde parts' balance, but would stab well. Mostly a souvenir, though pretty well made I should say. Then (or before?) one day I bought me a chinese SAK-ish thing, but it has a sharp corkscrew point sticking out, so don't have it anymore. A bit more than ten years ago I decided to get me a folding knife to carry and ended up with Boker auto from AK series, and there it all began. Only a few years ago I became interested in traditional pocket knives specifically, realized that it was what I really like, and now I got rid of most of my modern folders, leaving only abouta dozen or so. Now I can say that American and French traditional cutlery is what I prefer the most, GEC being the absolute best possible choice aesthetically.

 

[Chui]

Not really a Traditional fan per sé (I like all knives), but my first knife I received when I was 10-11 was a Buck 192 Vanguard. That was over 2.5 decades ago and fits all the criteria for a traditional fixed blade. I still have that knife.

- cool
And, one of the very nicest fixed blades ever made

 

[not2sharp]

I am 61. I remember winning my first two knives at Coney Island around age 6 (skeet ball) and I was regularly trading for knives in class during grade school.

n2s

 

[JonMcD]

I’m 44. I grew up loving the fact that my dad carried a knife every day - a 4” stockman of some flavor - until he wore it out and went on to the next. The first knife I remember was an Imperial Barlow that I had in the fourth grade. I remember if vividly because I stabbed myself in the knuckle to the bone with it and still have the scar to prove it.

I never really picked up every day carry until I found a Kershaw flipper in the cushions of a couch at work one day that no one claimed. I edc’d it until the auto spring broke and it sent me on a mission to see what knife might replace it. That’s when I found the rabbit hole of Blade Forums, The Porch, and knife collecting.

At the same time, I found out my father-in-law had been hiding a knife hobby from me and been amassing a sizable Case horde. He gave me my first Case knife. I started eyeballing GEC’s and he gave me a 92 Eureka…and down the hole we go.

There’s good folks in these parts. It’s fun to share the insanity with good people.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

While not admitting to any particular age , I will say that I received my first pocket knife when I was about four years old (as near as I can recall). My father bought it for me at the BX at either NAS Lakehurst or NAS Glynco. (He was a lighter than air pilot.) My friend Richard's father also bought him one. My mother used to tell the story of how she found Richard and me out in the back yard playing with our knives, our "hands covered in blood". I'm sure that was a mother's exaggeration! When I was a bit older my father showed me his two Kabar USN Mk 2 knives and let me carry one around. I remember seeing his two G46 Shark knives back then, but didn't re-discover them until well after he had passed away. I had a few pocket knives in grade school, including a scout knife, and at some point a family friend gave me a Western L66. I've carried a pocket knife most of my life. My wife gave me a Victorinox Woodsman over 45 years ago, and I bought a Buck 110 about the same time. I bought a Buck 703 in the late 80s and carried it for quite a few years. I think it was 2017 that I bought a Case 6318 stockman that proved to be a "gateway drug" into "collecting," and now I have way too many knives.

 

[ZHoovie]

Closer to 40 than 30 now, (37)... Man time is going by quick
I've been around traditional knives all my life growing up, specifically my dad & my grandfather. They always had one on them & would nonchalantly pull them out to cut whatever needed cutting & put them back in the same manner. My dad gave me my first one when I was around six. Taught me how to safely handle & cut with one. It was an old Frost Cutlery jack knife, similar in size to a Case peanut, with bone handles. I still have it after all these years. I don't know how I managed that, must be a lucky knife lol
Got into more modern knives like spyderco's & such in my teens & early 20's. Now coming back around full circle to the traditionals. I enjoy the aesthetic & feel. Like an old hammer gun, they just have a certain soul/warmth to them.