Sentimental value

[Kwon Kwang]

Anyone here have knives with sentimental value? I have a few, but first I'll talk about this one.

This titanium Cold Steel Ti Lite has been with me for a few years. The anodizing wore off and it went from blue to purple. Bittersweet memories; it was one of the few knives I had which my ex took interest in. I offered it to her but she ultimately refused, as she did not have a safe place to keep it. Some heavier stuff happened (not directly related to the knife) that isn't appropriate for this forum.
I couldn't look my Ti Lite without it reminding me of her. I only carried it once or twice. This is primarily because when I first got it, the blade was almost too dull (previous owner must have put it through tons of car hoods) to cut much of anything, and I was not proficient enough with my sharpening to put a proper edge on that VG-1 steel.
I just now put a hair shaving edge on it (with 100% of the credit going to Spyderco, I'd be SOL without my Sharpmaker), and I'm determined to carry it frequently and make positive memories with this knife to outweigh the negative. Sure as hell not going to run away from my problems by getting rid of it.

 

[Danke42]

A couple traditional ones from my grandfather that'll get passed down when it's time. 1900s Sheffield.

 

[blades&wrenches]

Three Spydercos all gifted to me by my wife:
Manix 2 S30V FFG
Native 5 G-10
Delica Titanium Damascus
I would keep those three over any...along with my XM. 4 would be the absolute minimum if (hypothetically) I had to decide.

 

[strategy9]

Nope. Unfortunately, the only 3 things I ever owned that were truly "sentimental" to me were my first teddy bear, which I still have, sitting on a shelf in my bedroom all dilapidated... An old keylock and key from Germany that came off the gate of my grandmothers house in Germany, which i still have, displayed on a nic-knack shelf, and my American grandfather's wwII ronson lighter which I never got back (amongst other "stuffs") from my exwife after our divorce.

Like the old song says though, " two out of three ain't bad."

As per knives, my son will certainly have his fill of sentiment to choose from...

 

[Ernie1980]

I have two, both made by Chris Reeve Knives. One is for my daughter's birthday, and the other is from my wedding day. I was fortunate that I actually got married on a Tuesday (Long story lol) so I was able to get a unique graphic sebenza with the exact date of our wedding! I wasn't so lucky for my daughters birth, but got one as close as possible

 

[Railsplitter]

A former EDC from a very special friend of the family. One of the finest men I've ever known.

 

[Comeuppance]

Closest thing I have to a sentimental knife is the Cold Steel Eland that I managed to almost take my thumb off with. I had one previously, but since gave it away because most of the memories were attached to my now-ex-girlfriend who destroyed her mind with street drugs ("bath salts" - please, no zombie jokes. The true nature of these drugs varies, and, in her case, caused vivid lifelike hallucinations of her family being murdered before her eyes, hearing their screams for help randomly throughout the day, imagining entire conversations between her and I, losing long spans of time, speaking complete nonsense in a very matter-of-fact tone...)

 

[Halfneck]

A couple.

Spyderco Remote Release - carried it on my web gear while in the Army
Benchmade 975 - carried it during my time in the Army.
Benchmade 330 - in the pocket of my scrubs during the birth of my 1st son. He'll get it when he's older.
Benchmade 940 - in my pocket during the birth of my 2nd son. He'll get it when he's older.
Spyderco Calypso Jr. - Father's Day gift from my wife & 2 sons a few years back
Great Eastern Cutlery French Kate - Christmas gift from my wife last year.

Those are the main stand outs. This point in my life though most of my knives have some good memories associated with them.

 

[rcb2000]

Yes, the Leatherman Wave that I had for 14 years,,, and was lost to the TSA today.
I was in a rush and forgot it was in my bag, I asked if they had a place to ship it to myself in the airport and they said no.
Such a bummer,,, but at least I have an excuse to get an updated version

 

[GronK]

These two. They were gifts from my older son. After a long, difficult history we now get along fine, getting together for breakfast every couple of weeks and taking a road trip this week together.

 

[rcb2000]

These two. They were gifts from my older son. After a long, difficult history we now get along fine, getting together for breakfast every couple of weeks and taking a road trip this week together.

Glad to hear that brother, family is all you got

 

[Officer's Match]

There is no specific story to get sentimental about for this one, but this CQC-10BTS and I have done a lot together; it's an old friend for sure. As such, twice it's real market value wouldn't come close to buying it. Like other Emerson's it still has the single-sided "chisel" edge, but now that bevel is a convex that is tough and a cutting fool.

 

[nwmetalbug]

A Buck Vantage Pro that I got from the factory when I went on vacation to hang out with my brother. Paid way to much for it but we had such a great time on that trip and it reminds me of it every time I use it.

 

[NinjaStar19]

This folding knife has sentimental value to me because its my very 1st Spyderco knife I ever bought

Spyderco Cat

 

[stevekolt]

I have 3. The Busse TGLB combat grade that my wife braved the trough for at Blade Show years ago and won us a chance to buy it, a Hinderer XM 3.5 with one of two dragon scale titanium custom scales (to allow for lefty tip up carry) and a custom Bud Nealy knife that I commissioned.

 

[leghog]

My grandfather's last pocket knife. I used to carry it everyday but quit doing that a long time ago.

Swiss Champion given to me by an old U.S. Army then CBS combat cameraman who seved in Vietnam and Cambodia. He gave it to me in Cambodia in 1992 while my team was searching for and recovering some of his compatriots who were captured and killed in 1970.

 

[Lee48]

I have several.

First is my father's little Schrade Old Timer. It's a stockman design but I don't remember the model number--the knife is locked away for safe keeping. I remembered it as being a "big knife" when I was a kid. I was quite surprised when I found it in a box of old tools and discovered it's actually about the size of a current Case Peanut. It's still in pretty good condition. Cleaning the decades of grime off the knife and getting it sharp again, it could be put back into service. My dad died in 1966 so the knife suffered almost 50 years of neglect. It's a treasure to me.

Second is the Puma White Hunter I've owned since 1975. I originally bought one in 1971 but the knife broke in half due to a manufacturing defect and was replaced by Puma in 1975. It cost the princely sum of less than $30 when I bought it. Look up the current new prices. The Puma is pretty beat up now. It accompanied me on countless camping and backpacking trips and is the only knife I own that ever served in an emergency. On one backpacking trip I injured my leg. I used the White Hunter and chopped down a small forked tree to use as a crutch to hobble my way back to my truck. While I don't camp or backpack or hunt anymore, the sentimental value of the Puma means I'll keep it forever.

Next is the Spyderco Endura I carried for about 10 years, probably longer. It's one of the first Clipit models with the molded plastic clip and mine has the fully serrated edge. At least the edge used to be serrated. Today the edge is just kinda wavy due to the number of times it was resharpened on the older model Triangle Sharpmaker I bought at the same time as the Endura. I cannot even begin to remember the number of times that knife came into use and abuse over the years. I replaced it years ago with a newer model Endura but the newer one never felt as right as the original.

There are a number of others but these are the top three.

 

[Quiet]

This knife (the top one):

This Seb 21 Insingo was my first "nice" knife, and it was purchased for me last year as a gift from my wife for our seventh wedding anniversary. I tie a new lanyard every year, and denote the anniversary year of the gift by using a shifter assembly nut from a car that meant a LOT to me, and that my wife and I had a lot of road-trip/car show adventures in. As you can see from the lanyard, this is the second year, and next year, I'll tie a new lanyard, and there'll be nine total years represented.

This knife will never be sold, and on days I'm not carrying it in my pocket, it still comes along for the ride in my day bag.

 

[Charlie Mike]

I can't afford to put sentimental value on "things" ... everything has a price. Something about not having anything in your life that you can't walk away from in 10 seconds.

 

[A.L.]

Olde vintage Hartkopf & Co army knife I found from Berlin marketplace for 20€ with my girlfriend this summer. I know it's just six months ago but it already has greatest value I have ever had for a knife, for the knife and the memories it sort of holds.