My love for knives, and my fiancée's slow but steady understanding and appreciation.

Heartland_edc

Heartland_edc

Joined
May 4, 2015
Messages
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I remember way back when I met my now fiancée and the day I attempted to explain my fascination with fine cutlery. She had barely known me for 2 weeks. But at some point, I knew I had to tell her something along the lines of "Hey listen, I've got about 30 folding knives and fixed blades in my room. But it's nothing to worry about, I'm a collector." She was unsurprisingly a little shocked, but It didn't bother her nearly as much as I thought it would. Fast forward a year or so, and my hobby, to her, was more of an annoyance. I would sit on the couch and flip my knives open, check them over meticulously, take them apart, clean them, sharpen them, etc. The phrase I heard most was "Stop playing with your g**d*** knives!" She had held them before, and never really showed much interest. In fact, she had suggested I sell them a time or two! :eek::barf:. But the day I got my first Hinderer, I attempted to explain to her why it was such a big deal for me to finally own one. She asked to see it, and I told her the flipper on the back was the mechanism used to deploy the knife. Well, I'm sure you can all guess how that went. She pushed in on the flipper and the blade barely deployed a half inch. She pushed the blade back into the handle and tried again. Same thing. "It doesn't even work." she said. I explained "You have push inward on the flipper, build up some energy, then slightly down at an angle. The force will fully deploy the blade." I showed her and then handed it back. She tried again, and again, and again. At this point she was just really pissed off that she couldn't do it. I had started watching TV, but I could still hear her trying to flip it with the occasional "damnit!" filling the living room. About 20 minutes went by, and she scared the crap out of me by yelling "I GOT IT!!!" I looked over, and she was holding the knife above her head in victory, fully deployed. That was a big moment for me. My girlfriend had just fully deployed an XM-18. I was one proud dude. I didn't want to waste the opportunity to share this love, so I grabbed another folder. One with a simple thumb stud deployment. Same thing, she took it, played with it, and eventually successfully deployed it. That went on for about 2 hours. She LOVED figuring out how to deploy my knives, and when she finally got it, it made her really happy. Fast forward to now. She loves it when I get a new knife. Now that she has handled multiple, not only does she still enjoy figuring out the deployment of each individual folder, she has started to appreciate the beauty that comes along with them. The colors, blade shapes and blade finishes are all starting to attract her. She even has her own s30v Kershaw Blur now. (This was her favorite, because it was by far the easiest to deploy from my collection.) Just last night, I showed her some pictures of the Medford Marauder I am waiting on, and she was fascinated by all the different vulcan finishes that come on some of his knives. I felt so warm and fuzzy inside. My fiancée was legitimately enjoying my hobby with me. Just wanted to share this story with everyone. I'm sure plenty of you have had similar experiences, or may be struggling to help your significant other understand. I believe anyone can enjoy this hobby. It just takes time, and some hands on experience! Same with anything I suppose :D. Please feel free to comment or share your own stories!
 
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Nice story, best outcome there is from such a starting point where she suggested you to sell...

Enjoyed the read right before the weekend :thumbup:
HAGWE!
 
Always fun to hear! My fiancée is certainly no collector, but she definitely appreciates a good knife these days. My Izula 2 was permanently lost and now finds it's home either around her neck or hanging from her rear view mirror. Although, now she's started teasing for a pink Native 5 Lightweight.

So be careful, you may create a monster. ;)
 
Don't fool yourself about having converted her to your hobby. Sitting on the sofa opening knives is distracting when she is watching TV, and while she thinks she sees what you find fun about it, her earlier instinct that you spend way to much time and money on your toys isn't going to go away. Women can understand shopping and collecting, but they really don't get the playing thing.

If this relationship is important to you, tone down the knife stuff. Knives will seem totally unimportant when she leaves.

And don't buy her an expensive knife instead of something she actually likes. No guns or bowling balls, either.
 
I completely agree. She's a book nut, and that's where the fair trade off is. She reads and I tinker. I never pass up an opportunity to get her the new book she's after :)
 
Little Miss Susie will never understand my obsession with firearms, but because her father likes knifes she doesn't roll her eyes as much. She getting frustrated with the fact that I think we do need a couple of 1,000 lumen flashlights just for the living room area.

Your girl is a keeper.
 
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That was great to read OP! My wife is also a book-nut and my enjoyment of knives often conflicts with her enjoyment of reading in peace :rolleyes: She does fieldwork often so she has appreciated the Delica I bought her and it's been nice to see the use that thing has gotten in a short time! I often suggest knives she may like, but she is a user only so one will do for now lol.
 
Good for you OP. Nice to see yall enjoying something together .

My wife isn't crazy about knives, she appreciates a good sharp knife when she needs it and I'll hear the occasional "that one is bad ass" from her .

Do her a solid and show some interests (not saying you don't already) in some of her hobbies . As a family we will make a weekend or a day out of our hobbies.

We live about 70 miles away from a huge brick and mortar knife store . Well get up and make the drive and hit the store . Wife will find something to look at but she let's me do mY thing at the knife store.

After the knife store it's off to fabric and hobby stores ,wife loves to make our daughter clothes and hairbows etc. I tag along and show some interests in it because she does the same for me and my hobbies .

After the fabric store it's to the toy stores for the kid. Everybody wins .
 
Heartland_edc said:
I remember way back when I met my now fiancée and the day I attempted to explain my fascination with fine cutlery. She had barely known me for 2 weeks. But at some point, I knew I had to tell her something along the lines of "Hey listen, I've got about 30 folding knives and fixed blades in my room. But it's nothing to worry about, I'm a collector." She was unsurprisingly a little shocked, but It didn't bother her nearly as much as I thought it would. Fast forward a year or so, and my hobby, to her, was more of an annoyance. I would sit on the couch and flip my knives open, check them over meticulously, take them apart, clean them, sharpen them, etc. The phrase I heard most was "Stop playing with your g**d*** knives!" She had held them before, and never really showed much interest. In fact, she had suggested I sell them a time or two! :eek::barf:. But the day I got my first Hinderer, I attempted to explain to her why it was such a big deal for me to finally own one. She asked to see it, and I told her the flipper on the back was the mechanism used to deploy the knife. Well, I'm sure you can all guess how that went. She pushed in on the flipper and the blade barely deployed a half inch. She pushed the blade back into the handle and tried again. Same thing. "It doesn't even work." she said. I explained "You have push inward on the flipper, build up some energy, then slightly down at an angle. The force will fully deploy the blade." I showed her and then handed it back. She tried again, and again, and again. At this point she was just really pissed off that she couldn't do it. I had started watching TV, but I could still hear her trying to flip it with the occasional "damnit!" filling the living room. About 20 minutes went by, and she scared the crap out of me by yelling "I GOT IT!!!" I looked over, and she was holding the knife above her head in victory, fully deployed. That was a big moment for me. My girlfriend had just fully deployed an XM-18. I was one proud dude. I didn't want to waste the opportunity to share this love, so I grabbed another folder. One with a simple thumb stud deployment. Same thing, she took it, played with it, and eventually successfully deployed it. That went on for about 2 hours. She LOVED figuring out how to deploy my knives, and when she finally got it, it made her really happy. Fast forward to now. She loves it when I get a new knife. Now that she has handled multiple, not only does she still enjoy figuring out the deployment of each individual folder, she has started to appreciate the beauty that comes along with them. The colors, blade shapes and blade finishes are all starting to attract her. She even has her own s30v Kershaw Blur now. (This was her favorite, because it was by far the easiest to deploy from my collection.) Just last night, I showed her some pictures of the Medford Marauder I am waiting on, and she was fascinated by all the different vulcan finishes that come on some of his knives. I felt so warm and fuzzy inside. My fiancée was legitimately enjoying my hobby with me. Just wanted to share this story with everyone. I'm sure plenty of you have had similar experiences, or may be struggling to help your significant other understand. I believe anyone can enjoy this hobby. It just takes time, and some hands on experience! Same with anything I suppose :D. Please feel free to comment or share your own stories!
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Oh, young love. I remember those days. My girlfriend was the same way - now she is my wife of 23 years and doesn't even question my knives. They're just part of the family, like her shoes. :D
 
When I met my wife and started to date her, everything was great until we actually got married and started to live together.
Once my gun and knife hoard was now in "our" home it was a little difficult for the wife.

She would find guns and knives ( and all the things that go with them) all over the house, I remember her complaining about it all the time.

It took years to break her in.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
Always fun to hear! My fiancée is certainly no collector, but she definitely appreciates a good knife these days. My Izula 2 was permanently lost and now finds it's home either around her neck or hanging from her rear view mirror. Although, now she's started teasing for a pink Native 5 Lightweight.

So be careful, you may create a monster. ;)
Click to expand...

My lady has somehow gotten four of my knives, I know what you mean by creating a monster :p
 
stonproject said:
My lady has somehow gotten four of my knives, I know what you mean by creating a monster :p
Click to expand...

Yeah, I managed to reclaim my blue Benchmade 530, but I've lost a damascus Shallot, the Izula 2, a CS Ti-Lite and she's "borrowed" my blue Skyline repeatedly. Luckily my workhorse folders are all G10 and she finds that too dry feeling which is, I think, the only thing that's saved my Skyline.
 
Fortunately my SO doesn't mind my knife hobby or the fact that I like to open and close a folder while watching the tube.

I even got her a few small knives so she can share in the fun.

But I've learned not to push it. She gets the "eyes glazed" look if I talk about it too long :)
 
JPD1998 said:
When I met my wife and started to date her, everything was great until we actually got married and started to live together.
Once my gun and knife hoard was now in "our" home it was a little difficult for the wife.

She would find guns and knives ( and all the things that go with them) all over the house, I remember her complaining about it all the time.

It took years to break her in.
Click to expand...
LMAO, I've heard that more than once! :D

I'm glad to hear that you finally got her broken in, though. It's a good thing when a wife finally realizes that she is powerless against this knife thing and surrenders. My wife gave up on me a long time ago. She knows there's no hope of turning me into a "civilized" man, let alone a "decent" one. She accepts me for who and what I am; I do likewise for her, and I try to make her patience and acceptance worthwhile.

At the end of the day, there's a whole hell of a lot worse, uh, "hobbies" that a married man could spend his time and money on than knife and/or gun collecting. Any rational, thinking woman will understand that.
 
My wife isn't at all interested in knives, but she supports my hobby of making them. She's never had a problem with "guy stuff."

Then again, if I suddenly rolled up to the house on a Harley, I think we'd have a problem.....
 
RX-79G said:
Don't fool yourself about having converted her to your hobby. Sitting on the sofa opening knives is distracting when she is watching TV, and while she thinks she sees what you find fun about it, her earlier instinct that you spend way to much time and money on your toys isn't going to go away. Women can understand shopping and collecting, but they really don't get the playing thing.

If this relationship is important to you, tone down the knife stuff. Knives will seem totally unimportant when she leaves.

And don't buy her an expensive knife instead of something she actually likes. No guns or bowling balls, either.
Click to expand...

Amazing you know the OP's wife so well and exactly what he should do in his relationship.
 
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