Knife prospective from person to person long pointless post .

[Frozen Bear Trading]

I think the invention of knives was as important as fire or the wheel.
Humans are basically defenceless against larger animals, and we are dependant on knives to help process our food. Really knives should be a basic human right.

I think the problem with modern society though is the internet has made us all dopamine addicts where we seek that temp high of finding something new. And it's not just knives. I think that's why we keep seeing the negative behaviour associated with collecting such as flippers acting like drug dealers.

I read this thing where Americans under 25 right now dont like bones in their meat and they are changing the way meat is being sold.

At least knife making I have something to show for my efforts. I have a friend that plays 30 hours of video games a week.

 

[Frozen Bear Trading]

I had no influence by anyone in my life toward carrying knives or liking knives. I was always draw to them. When I was a young guy I had to stop myself from carrying a knife because I thought there was something wrong about it or wrong with me. In my early 20’s I gave in.

I had no real knowledge of blade steel or knowledge of many brands. Then I pick up my first knife magazine and it all started to change from there. That opened up the world of blades and edged tools for me. Then finding Bladeforums was the icing on the cake.

This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about

I think you were just fulfilling Primal desires from long ago. Maybe you have a blade Smith in your family 500 years ago.

 

[Frozen Bear Trading]

Lol.
After you drop $1500+ in tools, and burn ALOT of time,.....maybe.


My personal experience in knife making:
"Why buy something for $60, when you can make it yourself for $600?"

Your right it does require tools. In my case I already had them because I need them every day.

You bring up a good point I never thought about it from some one that didnt have the tools already.

 

[22-rimfire]

This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about

I think you were just fulfilling Primal desires from long ago. Maybe you have a blade Smith in your family 500 years ago.

Perhaps. I know when I shot my first whitetail buck as a teen that I wanted to scream up on top of the mountain I was hunting on. That is sort of primal, I think. I don't know about feeling primal with a knife, but knives have been very important to the survival of man worldwide. The bow & arrow may have been just about as significant.

I don't really believe in reincarnation. But I guess that is just another human mystery.

 

[GermanyChris]

I read this thing where Americans under 25 right now dont like bones in their meat and they are changing the way meat is being sold.

At least knife making I have something to show for my efforts. I have a friend that plays 30 hours of video games a week.

I'm 42 and I don't like bones in my meat, leaving the bones in means the butcher is lazy.

Your friend who plays video games 30 hours a week derives as much pleasure from that as you do from making knives.

 

[fishiker]

I traced my family back several generations. My grandfathers were listed as carpenters and farmers with several serving as soldiers. I'm sure they carried knives that they used as tools. My obsession with knives runs deeper although I can't explain why.

 

[RayseM]

This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about

I think you were just fulfilling Primal desires from long ago. Maybe you have a blade Smith in your family 500 years ago.

Maybe YOU WERE a blade smith 500 years ago. I most definitely have roots in a knife culture though, just as definitely, not my current family heritage. Don't know exactly how or when but I don't argue. My passion is deep seated - not on any intellectual level - all from the gut. Spills over too, in my woodworking and fondness for sharp edge tools. Somehow - been there and done that and now just revisiting

Glad to have found BF and you my brothers and sisters.

Ray

 

[afishhunter]

As a lad in the 1950's - 1960's, I can honestly say I did not know a single adult family member who did not carry a pocket knife.
Even my Great-Great Grandmother and Great Grandmothers had a pocket knife in their purse.
I believe my caucasian ancestors were shop keepers, laborers, carpenters, farmers, hunters, trappers, and warriors. (based on history I'd hazard a guess my Irish and Scottish ancestors were at a minimum part time warriors and farmers, with at least some of the Irish being slaves brought to "the new world" ... possibly even by some of my English ancestors before England outlawed slavery) my "Indian" ancestors were probably hunters, trappers, and warriors.
I don't know if any were full time blacksmiths. They probably just did the blacksmithing necessary on the farm.
At any rate, my family has a long tradition of having an edged tool on them, and of owning and knowing how to use a firearm.
To use Hank Jr.'s words: "I'm just carrying on a family tradition ..."
Come to think if it, I believe my Great-Great Grandmother had a break top .32 revolver in her purse, too.
Sadly, so far as I know, only one of my 6 siblings has passed the tradition on to her kids.

 

[Frozen Bear Trading]

I'm 42 and I don't like bones in my meat, leaving the bones in means the butcher is lazy.

Your friend who plays video games 30 hours a week derives as much pleasure from that as you do from making knives.

Well I know he gets pleasure from it. But as for me I like having something to show for my time. I never played video games. But to each their own.

 

[Frozen Bear Trading]

As a lad in the 1950's - 1960's, I can honestly say I did not know a single adult family member who did not carry a pocket knife.
Even my Great-Great Grandmother and Great Grandmothers had a pocket knife in their purse.
I believe my caucasian ancestors were shop keepers, laborers, carpenters, farmers, hunters, trappers, and warriors. (based on history I'd hazard a guess my Irish and Scottish ancestors were at a minimum part time warriors and farmers, with at least some of the Irish being slaves brought to "the new world" ... possibly even by some of my English ancestors before England outlawed slavery) my "Indian" ancestors were probably hunters, trappers, and warriors.
I don't know if any were full time blacksmiths. They probably just did the blacksmithing necessary on the farm.
At any rate, my family has a long tradition of having an edged tool on them, and of owning and knowing how to use a firearm.
To use Hank Jr.'s words: "I'm just carrying on a family tradition ..."
Come to think if it, I believe my Great-Great Grandmother had a break top .32 revolver in her purse, too.
Sadly, so far as I know, only one of my 6 siblings has passed the tradition on to her kids.

Those family members that were trappers couldn't just go to the store like us. So you bring up a great point that they wouldn't have had to be a blacksmith to make tools

Another point to bring up back long ago people had to make things they needed. Despite what the media wants us to believe the gap between the rich and the poor in America was way worse back then. Lots of people had to make things out not have them.

 

[K.O.D.]

The lifestyle and principal reasons come from both sides of the family.

My dad side, his dad came from a family of farmers in Iowa, guns and knives were a necessity.

His mom was Southside Irish, carried a S&W snubbie in her purse.

My mom (and I) is from Texas. And Italian. Need I say more?

My first knife came from my great uncle (Iowa side), a Wenger nomad SAK. I was 7. Then, when I was 12, after seeing how much I loved the SAK, bought me a large Case folding Hunter, backlock. Still have it.

From there it grew. However, it wasn't until I joined here that it became true obsession level.

10 years ago, spending more than $75 was hard to justify. I was a SOG fanboy since 1996, my first a pentagon elite. I remember I got a mini X-ray vision for my 19th birthday. At $77, it was a big deal. Still have it. I busted the clip and the changed the design so the new version doesn't fit.

I knew nothing about steel, what brands we're good, etc. Then I met you people. Who screwed everything up.

Up until I got sick and stopped working, my limit was $500. With one exception, which unfortunately never came to pass due to my ex putting me into debt. I had been working with Alan Davis about a very special knife, commemorating my 25th year being brain tumor free.

It's been 28 years now, and God willing, I'll be on my feet and employed in time to get a 30 year one.

For now, $200 is the absolute limit. I usually only buy once a year, depending on the cost. I don't get that much from disability, so it's difficult.

 

[Frozen Bear Trading]

W

The lifestyle and principal reasons come from both sides of the family.

My dad side, his dad came from a family of farmers in Iowa, guns and knives were a necessity.

His mom was Southside Irish, carried a S&W snubbie in her purse.

My mom (and I) is from Texas. And Italian. Need I say more?

My first knife came from my great uncle (Iowa side), a Wenger nomad SAK. I was 7. Then, when I was 12, after seeing how much I loved the SAK, bought me a large Case folding Hunter, backlock. Still have it.

From there it grew. However, it wasn't until I joined here that it became true obsession level.

10 years ago, spending more than $75 was hard to justify. I was a SOG fanboy since 1996, my first a pentagon elite. I remember I got a mini X-ray vision for my 19th birthday. At $77, it was a big deal. Still have it. I busted the clip and the changed the design so the new version doesn't fit.

I knew nothing about steel, what brands we're good, etc. Then I met you people. Who screwed everything up.

Up until I got sick and stopped working, my limit was $500. With one exception, which unfortunately never came to pass due to my ex putting me into debt. I had been working with Alan Davis about a very special knife, commemorating my 25th year being brain tumor free.

It's been 28 years now, and God willing, I'll be on my feet and employed in time to get a 30 year one.

For now, $200 is the absolute limit. I usually only buy once a year, depending on the cost. I don't get that much from disability, so it's difficult.

Wow. Thank God your tumor free. I needed to hear this today because I was feeling sorry for myself. I've never had anything serious like what you were saying happen. I've never spent 500 on a knife. I have spent 3500 on a rifle but never over 120 on a knife. Maybe some day lol

 

[Shotgun]

Maybe YOU WERE a blade smith 500 years ago. I most definitely have roots in a knife culture though, just as definitely, not my current family heritage. Don't know exactly how or when but I don't argue. My passion is deep seated - not on any intellectual level - all from the gut. Spills over too, in my woodworking and fondness for sharp edge tools. Somehow - been there and done that and now just revisiting

Glad to have found BF and you my brothers and sisters.

Ray

Every culture is a knife culture.

Humans are tool users. Knives are tools. It’s really that simple. I also “feel naked” without my wallet, phone, car keys etc. I don’t believe ancestry has any bearing on my life or the life of others apart from genetics.

 

[James Y]

I remember first becoming fascinated by knives and bladed instruments sometime around 3 to 4 years old, which would have been around 1966-67. Nobody prompted it. I was fascinated by the serrated kitchen knives, as well as the spinning blades on my dad's lawn mower. I always dreamed of finding a discarded sword or arrowhead in the canyon all of us neighborhood kids played in.

I didn't start carrying a knife until I was 13, which were Schrade pocketknives I bought at the hardware store. They sold them to me, which in hindsight is a bit of a surprise, since most places that sold pocketknives required you to be 18 or older to buy a knife. I also got a Buck Cadet at a Marine supply store.

I later bought a Victorinox Spartan and spent much of my 20s and 30s carrying that one knife when I moved overseas to Taiwan for a decade.

I didn't get into the different brands and steels until 1997, a few years after returning Stateside, when I got an unsolicited knife catalog in the mail that introduced me to brands like Spyderco, Benchmade, Kershaw, Case (yes, I never heard about Case until I was 34), etc.

My dad always carried a knife, usually a Camillus slipjoint of some sort. He later had a Buck 110, which was easier for his thick fingers to open. He always carried a knife but wasn't 'into' knives. They were simply a tool for him.

My ancestry is Japanese, and some of my cousins on my maternal side actually went to Japan and traced the family documents back to the samurai/warrior caste. *Note: Just being of Japanese ancestry alone does NOT indicate samurai ancestors; Japan had (has?) a caste system. I still don't think that has anything to do with my interest in blades.

Jim

 

[marcinek]

The Irish got a real unfair deal for a LONG LONG time.

I dont even think they technically declared independence till like 2014 or something but my history could be off but it was recent

But no one ever talks about that part of history

Talk about that here? No...we don't.

Because we are a knife discussion forum.

 

[marcinek]

Well I know he gets pleasure from it. But as for me I like having something to show for my time. I never played video games. But to each their own.

Not even Pokemon?!? Man, you are missing out.

To me the great thing about knives, and one that most people do not notice, is that even in this "smart phone" world...they are still useful.

The number of times I have used, or loaned, my SAK to my office workers and they were blown away by it's utility is amazing.

Did my great great grand pappy carry a pocket knife? Maybe. Is great great granpappy's knife a reason to carry one yourself? Sure. It's neat.

But the utility and functionality is still there. Use mine all the time.

 

[jstrange]

Irish ancestry as well. Swords and daggers back in the old country fighting the English until they lost the 30 year war in the 1670’s.
Lost all our land and headed to America in 1700. So blades were a way of life for those warriors and still a tradition to carry a knife,drink Guinness and Jameson Irish Whiskey now and then. It’s definitely in my blood.
DN

I think I only have a little Irish in me (at least Ancestry DNA says so), but my two favorite drinks are Guinness and Jameson neat. Maybe that 10% accounts for something.

 

[sailfish]

I don't really have anyone I can trace my influence to; I've just always been fascinated by small metal objects with moving parts. When I was a little kid I can remember all the time being in a hardware store or similar and picking up a little copper valve or something and I'd just have to have it. I remember we had a radio with a collapsing antenna that broke off and I'd carry the antenna around with me everywhere.

Folding knives were the obvious next step eventually. What little boy doesn't think knives and blades are cool? But with more maturity I'd also realize their practical application and it just stuck. And I'd be lying if I said I looked at things with a purely utilitarian point of view. Fixed blades are nice but they've just never come close to doing it for me the way folders do. It's the locks, springs, and pivots, man.