KNIFE superstitions, eccentricities, and can't explain..

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Great start on the replies, and exactly the type of stuff I was looking for.

I have always heard/subscribed to the money with edged weapon thing also. But the curious twist for me was that the tradition was never really explained to me in detail-I was just told.."it's bad luck to gift a sharp edge without inluding a coin." but never given a reason / history as to how that came about.

I also really liked the one where the gent won't use a knife if someone other than he or his wife has touched.--it is amazing how we as humans can sometimes grandize or make an item almost..talismanic in our own minds.

Big dates on serials--yeah-that's big with me..I have safed/sat on a microtech utx-70 because it has a #001776 number on it-lol- so I know all too well how this one goes..-lol

Someone once remarked that certain songs remind them of certain time periods...I guess I have also done this with knkves I have carried. When I came across one I hadn't seen in a few years in a shop the other day, it reminded me of one I had when I was much younger,& some of the memories of that time/era in my life. I think I will always associate a certain Benchmade with my college days, etc...
 
Interesting about the coin thing. The thinking goes that they will pay you for the knife with the coin? But don't they also keep the coin?
 
I have no superstitions with knives, or anything else in life for that matter. Never have.

Many here in the south(and maybe other places) won't close a knife opened by another person, and vise versa.
I've always thought that was just as silly as not walking under an open ladder, or opening an umbrella in the house, etc...
 
I don't consider a knife mine until it has tasted THE BLOOD OF MEIN ENEMIES.

Or pizza sauce. Whichever comes first.
 
9blades said:
There is an old superstition that if you gift a knife it will sever the friendship, so you must always gift a coin along with the knife so the recipient can pay you for the knife....also in the UK it's tradionaly a silver coin. So yeah that's mine haha!
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I've always held to this, but never included a coin - they had to "pay" a coin of thier own, no matter what the denomination. someone ELSE could give them a coin, but I couldn't give them one as that cheats the system.

The myth was that if you gave a blade it would sever your friendship. Also the tradition goes back to the Vikings - friends would "sell" eachother a blade extremely cheap [say one copper piece - like a penny], but if another man gave you a blade it was an insult - as if saying "you can't get a piece of steel good enough to kill me with, so I have to give you one". It was the viking equivalent of "Your mother - you wanna step outside?" as I understand it.
 
I've got two superstitions:
1)When a knife bites me, I coat the blade in my blood and let it dry. Then it's mine :)
2)Knives get sad if they sit in the safe too long
 
cncpro11 said:
I don't consider a knife "mine" until I sharpen it.
Nothing to do with superstition, just that they seem to fetch a better price / trade on the X if they have factory edge.
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I prefer to buy ONLY folders that have a factory edge. I seldom sharpen a knife because I seldom use a knife enough to get it dull. So, Yeah, I like factory.
...and I did pass on a knife that had ser no of three sixes. But I would buy a 911 knife because I love this country and want to keep her free from terrorists.
 
snow and steel said:
I've always held to this, but never included a coin - they had to "pay" a coin of thier own, no matter what the denomination. someone ELSE could give them a coin, but I couldn't give them one as that cheats the system.

The myth was that if you gave a blade it would sever your friendship. Also the tradition goes back to the Vikings - friends would "sell" eachother a blade extremely cheap [say one copper piece - like a penny], but if another man gave you a blade it was an insult - as if saying "you can't get a piece of steel good enough to kill me with, so I have to give you one". It was the viking equivalent of "Your mother - you wanna step outside?" as I understand it.
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Thank you for some back story! I already new the tradition but never new the orgins of it...
 
My uncle was stationed in India in WWII and he related a story to me about the Gurkha guards he met then. He kept asking one he befriended to show him his Kukri, every time he refused. Finally my uncle wore him down and he did. When my uncle handed him back his kukri, the Gurkha rolled up his sleeve, took the Kukri and cut a line across his arm. My uncle said there was several lines across his arm. It shocked my uncle and he asked "WHY"?!? The Gurkha said it would be an insult to Shiva to unsheathed the Kukri without drawing blood. I don't know if my uncle was blowing smoke or it was a true story. He was not one to tell whoppers.
 
Snow and steel - thank you for relaying that. I have never heard that,& enjoyed learning it.

Andrew Carlson - coating after a bite, I have heard of this before, in the Philippines, but I am curious of how it came about with you, sir.-was this a tradition/superstition that was passed on to you, or something you picked up and developed on your own?

Also- a different tangent of the coin i heard through my dad. I Mentioned this thread to my father-he said as a boy in the Phillipines, that if you were to consider buying a balisong/butterfly knife, that often to demonstrate the makers quality of goods, he would take one of his balisongs and take out a coin. the maker then would spin the coin on a wooden surface/cutting board, and while the was spinning he would flip open the Bali and lock it open. When the coin stopped the maker/seller would pierce the coin with the Bali. My father said that this would demonstrate two important features: 1- it demonstrated good steel quality/tempering, and 2- that it could be manipulated smoothly and freely.
I thought this was a cool side note, so I thought I'd drop it in.
 
Coconutfilipino said:
Snow and steel - thank you for relaying that. I have never heard that,& enjoyed learning it.

Andrew Carlson - coating after a bite, I have heard of this before, in the Philippines, but I am curious of how it came about with you, sir.-was this a tradition/superstition that was passed on to you, or something you picked up and developed on your own?

Also- a different tangent of the coin i heard through my dad. I Mentioned this thread to my father-he said as a boy in the Phillipines, that if you were to consider buying a balisong/butterfly knife, that often to demonstrate the makers quality of goods, he would take one of his balisongs and take out a coin. the maker then would spin the coin on a wooden surface/cutting board, and while the was spinning he would flip open the Bali and lock it open. When the coin stopped the maker/seller would pierce the coin with the Bali. My father said that this would demonstrate two important features: 1- it demonstrated good steel quality/tempering, and 2- that it could be manipulated smoothly and freely.
I thought this was a cool side note, so I thought I'd drop it in.
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Its my own little ritual. There's no real backing for it, but I guess it's my version of the old "forged in the blood of mine enemies" legend, but kind of opposite. I think it just kind of takes an accident and makes it into a "bonding experience" :D
 
I prefer a knife that's already lived a long life before I got ahold of it. The ones that see the most pocket time are all old, and came from either a family member or an old friend.
 
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