Remember when you didn't even THINK of your knife?

Nope, I can't.
I started collecting/using knives in about the 5th grade, and that was a very long time ago.
I've thought about knives most everyday since.
 
For my 6th birthday, my dad and grandfather each gave me a little Case trapper, and I thought I was badass walking around with a pocket knife like the grownups. Kept em in drawers and used them here and there growing up, never sharpened them. Now over 22 years later they're sitting in the safe still with adhesive on the blade and unsharpened edges from years ago. I'll never get rid of them and will pass them down. Throughout college I had a couple junk knives that I rarely carried and rarely sharpened. Within the past year, I began searching for a nice EDC folder after I started hating the gunk covered, sticky, chipped blade, hard to open, Kershaw Storm comboedge that I randomly got for free probably 5-6 years ago. I finally settled on the Benchmade 940 as an EDC and a 710 as my woods/camp knife, and instantly the bug bit me hard leading me to acquire a good 10-12 high quality folders since then. I love the hobby and love sharpening now even more so than my firearms love. My dad used to collect knives and still does somewhat, and I guess that gene finally kicked in for me :)
 
Yup. Seeing how im headed to Maine tomorrow to get a $150-$200 knife (Finally! Yes! :D), I was thinking back when a Gerber Mini Paraframe was my favorite knife.
Half of the time, I would turn down a screwdriver just to use it. As a screwdriver.
Was it sharp? Hell no. It was there to pry and scrape and drive screws.
*Sighs*
Times have changed for sure.
 
Lavan said:
"Posts 12,890"

You're a lost soul.:D
Click to expand...


I was a lot soul long before I joined here :p

I school friend of mine's father owned the local hardware store and was HUGE Case knife collector. We traded knives(cheap, or worn out ones given to us by fathers, unkles, etc..) at school about like baseball cards in the 4th and 5th grade in the 60's. Then he brought in a new Case Barlow and we all had to have one. His father helped start the Three Rivers Knife Club, and I joined a few years after high school(early 80's). Been into knives ever since then.
 
Yes, I remember those days, of about a year and 3 months ago. Where the only cutting implement with me was the blade on my Leatherman Squirt (and Leatherman Juice in my bag), and I hadn't ever sharpened (or used) either of them.

The only actual folding knives I owned were a Buck 110 and a Schrade 78OT that I had bought in the 70s and had been languishing in a tool box in the storage room for about 20 years, and a Gerber Bolt-Action from the early 80s sitting in a desk drawer, also never used and probably never sharpened.

My gateway drug was EDCForums, not this place. I picked up a few basic knives - couple of Bokers, couple of Kershaws. But I was basically content, until I stumbled across Bladeforums. Added a couple more Kershaws and a Spyderco and then made the mistake of wandering into the Traditional forum here. Been a downward spiral into a slipjoint-induced haze ever since.

But after who knows how much money spent, I've found the lovely Victorinox Cadet, which has been helping me break the buying cycle and just settle down to carrying what works, and forgetting the rest. Thank you, Switzerland.
 
I remember mine, my first "real" knife, a Gerber Gator with a nylon belt sheath. Early 1990's. I still have it somewhere. When I think about what I did to that knife I honestly think I owe it an apology.
 
Knives were always a big deal to me, and men in my family. Argentine rural traditions have a lot to do with that, having good knives to show off, a nice well trained horse and a reputation as a guy who can handle himself on the saddle were important things.

Back then I didn't have any "scientific" knowledge of steel or heat treatment, but instead relied on what could be called folkloric knowledge and bought blades from well known German or English makers (mostly Herder and Böker).

I had some cheap crap as a kid, but my dad got my some nice SAKs and a custom fixed blade by a well known maker when I was around 10.
 
I remember I was 10 we were living on Guam my dad was a pilot in the Navy. A marine friend of my dads gave me his case.
 
I cannot remember the time before the love for knives. I had a cheapy slip joint(first knife, still have it) in cub scouts and was later given an old bucklite 422(new at the time) which I carried around when I was growing up. I've always loved knives(even got me in trouble a couple times. lol), but only within the last several years did I ever worry about blade steels. I just kept with the tried and true companies and it always worked out well.
 
Not really. I never carried junk knives because my dear father started me off with good steel and taught me how to maintain a blade and how to assess quality. Nothing fancy, mind you, just well-made knives that took and held a good edge. As a kid I was, like now, the guy people went to to get something cut.
 
All I know is I absolutely loved that first SAK that my dad gave me back when I was... probably four (I can remember my parents having a conversation about giving knives to all three of us kids at once given the age difference. I cut my knuckle open on day 1, but never since. Yes, it's one of my few memories from that era. Nearly three decades later I still hate polysporin).
That knife was an integral part of my daily life for a long time, it's hard to get LEGO apart if you're a nail biter.
 
I've been seriously into knives for about six years. Before then I didn't know the difference between G10 and S30V.
 
Like some people already stated, I laugh to myself when I think about how I used my old cheap knife about 10x harder than I do any of my more expensive knives today. And the nice ones are built specifically to handle harder work than cheap stuff and keep its edge as well.

The way I use my "fancy" knives today I probably don't even need a sharpener. The factory edge would last so long in my light uses that IF it ever does dull I could pick up another out of the drawer and repeat for YEARS until I get back around to the first knife. But where's the fun in that? Sharpening is therapeutic and give me some pride in getting a very sharp edge.
 
I remember many many years ago carrying an Imperial and wishing I had a Case or Buck like the boys at school had. I did say school and I can't remember not having a knife in my pocket from probably the sixth or seventh grade on. I remember buying my first Uncle Henry with money from odd jobs and my paper route, a big 2-blade hunter that was too large for my pocket and had a busted leather sheath that I carried for years. My most carried was a Normark Little Swede. I remember the excitement at finding it in a display at a local sporting goods store marked 50% off. I carried it everywhere as a teenager because I knew stainless steel wouldn't rust like carbon and I could always take it apart for "maintenance" if needed. I still have it but haven't carried it for years, scared I would loose it now.
 
Wow, that original post is an absolute classic. I related to every single word as if I had written it myself. I was actually thinking about many of those things recently, and wondering how I got from there to where I am now. Whatever, it is what it is. :).

Another symptom I've encountered since I've gotten very proficient at sharpening (thanks to this forum) is I'm often reticent to use my knives that I've just put a hair whittling edge on. I wanted to cut some sausage the other day and pulled out my Millie that I had just put a screaming edge on and hesitated then grabbed a cheap dull kitchen knife because I didn't want to tarnish that beautiful edge. That is bordering on lunacy! :D. I think I need one knife that is my designated "novelty edge" knife so I can relax a little with the rest and just use em! The whole sharpening thing really brings all my OCD tendencies to the surface!
 
Sadly I cannot say I have. My obsession started when i was barely old enough for cub scouts. however; i do remember thinking that certain 440C, AUS8 & the buck knives 420steel were the super steels of the universe, still feel that way some times towards the Buck 420. Even though i didnt quite get the sharpening down I did know what the out come should be.

I've always had that shiny eyed love for knives. not sure why, but its there
 
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