Don't feel bad Suzuki, none of us really uses or needs a knife as much as we would like. In fact, seeing as how most of the people get by with no knife at all, we have to ask ourselves how much knife do we really need? We buy and collect knves because we like them. For some odd reason, we, the knife nuts of the world, are obsessed by them, beguiled by them, and are captivated by them. We can't pass by a knife shop without stopping to look, and if we go inside, we will probably buy another knife we don't need. Let's face it, we knife nuts make up the 1% of society that the other 99% think is 'weird'. And we are.
But...
On the other hand, if we collect stamps or some other non usueful objects, we wouldn't have a sharp knife available if that once in a while 'emergency' pops up. A nice sharp knife is a good thing to have on you. It's just a question of how much of one do we need, and how many. Also, you knife needs change as you get older. I was head over heels into knives, and had a nice collection of Randall's and other customs. Then I got married and had kids. Things changed a lot. Priorities changed. But I still found use for a knife. But as my children grew up, I experienced a new phase of my life. We went on files, took them camping, canoeing, canoe camping, and shooting. As my kids grew, I gave them some of my knives that seemed to fit them at that point. My son got the scout knife my dad gave me when I was 12. My daughter get a SAK, and she is a fan of SAK's to this day and won't even look at another knife for her purse.
Oddly, it was while raising my famiy that I questioned for the first time, how much do I really need a knife? The answer was not that much. Yes, I still needed a knife, but for some reason the obsession had faded in intensity. To this day, I just carry a small pocket knife for 'whatever'. When my last kid left home, I had a giant downsize of my stuff, and sold off all the custom knives and high end production. The wife and I took a counter clockwise trip around the country and spent a month on the road, just the two of us. Hit the Badlands, Yellowstone, Bryce, Canyonlands, Arches, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, and some others. Had a ball. That was years ago, and now I still only carry a small to medium pocket knife for whatever. It's been enough for even the two emergencies I've run into. In a department store the wife and I were in, a young girl got her sneaker lace caught in an escalator and her foot was being very painfully trapped. Cutting the lace instantly fixed the problem. In 1991 I had to crawl into an overturned old Datsun 210 that was starting to catch fire in the engine compartment. The lady driver was hanging upside down in her seat belt and I had to cut the belt. I used my edc pocket knife, a mundane little slip joint, and we crawled out and she was okay aside from being an idiot driver in icy roads.
So, you don't use you knife as much as you used to. In all honesty, none of us do as we get older. It's called growing up, and other things take priority. Family, jobs, career, other hobbies. Most of us go overboard when we get into knife collecting. Sometimes it does get out of hand for the real world. It's okay to back off. But I wouldn't stop carrying a knife. It's just too handy for opening package, mail, whatever. But if you run into that once in a lifetime real emergency, you may need that couple inches of sharp steel very badly. Do you need a whole collection of black tacticals? No. Do you really need those high dollar custom fixed blades that will never see the inside of a deer or any other use? no.
But if some idiot rolls their car in front of you, and crawl in and even with both thumbs can't release the seat belt, and your choking on the black greasy smoke from the burning engine compartment, you'll be thankful for even that sharp little SAK on your keychain. Contrary to what a certain knife manufacturer would have you believe, you don't need a serrated edge to cut a seat belt. Any sharp little knife will do, especially if the belt is under strain.
It's okay to let the obsession fade a bit. My own obsession for knives faded while I was raising my family and never came back fully. I still like knives, and I enjoy them. I stop and look at the displays in stores. But I don't feel the need to buy every new one that they come out with. Life is an ever changing thing. What we held as important 10 years ago, may have faded with time and now other things are important. But I do think that every man should have some kind of pocketknife on him. And it should be sharp.
single or double ended.
