So, what made you decide to carry a knife?

I was with my dad one day at wal-mart and he bought this one shrade with a big blade. I can't think of the model, but he bought me a smaller shrade. Ever since, i've been hooked.
 
When i was a kid my dad would take me to a big military surplus place that had everything...and i mean everything. This place had a tank out front, it was the coolest thing for me as a kid. I would always get him to buy me a cheap pocket knife when we were there. Just because they were cool.

They were all Spyderco and Buck knock offs but they were still pretty cool. The first one that i can remember was a 110 type knife. He engraved my name and "From Dad" into the bolsters.

The first "real" knife i bought was a Mora i guess, but i didn't carry my knives with me, just fool around with them in the back yard and carve up sticks.

I started to carry one when i was about 15, CRKT's.
 
I Grew Up In A Hardware/ Paper Poducts Store. There Were Boxes To Open, And Rope To Cut. My Boyscout Knife Handled It All. I Sharpened It On The Sidewalk. At 13, I Was Given A Few Military Knives By A Cousin, And I Was Hooked.
 
It's man's most basic tool and I've carried one since I was about 10. Of course I'm from the sane generation, no paranoia about "knives ". I won the wood shop medal in the 8th grade and I didn't do that by being afraid of tools !!!
 
I was either 12 or 13 when I bought my first knife (Buck 110) from a classmate for $5. Later I found a local Martial Art school that sell knifes and I brought a balisong from them. That was when I started to carry. I carried it back then because I thought it was cool; I carry now because I like them, I use them and I still think they are cool.
 
MikeH said:
where I came from, a boy carried a knife. It was just expected that he would have one. If he didn't, he was looked on as "strange". It was just a natural part of growing up in the country.

To this day, I refuse to capitulate to the idea that I must respect rude questions about why I carry one and must explain myself. my attitude is, "if you don't carry one, what is wrong with you?"
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Same here. I can't remember NOT carrying one. And I can't imagine a man leaving his house without a knife of some sort.

My earliest memory of a knife is watching my Dad sharpen his Navy issued folder on a big flat stone that came in a wood case. He'd put a drop or two of 3-1 oil on it and go to work. After all it had been thru and done he could still have that knife like a razor again in no time. It has a hand tied lanyard he made that I thought was even cooler than the big marlin spike the knife has on the other side. There's not a single more valuable knife in the world to me than that one.
 
MikeH said:
where I came from, a boy carried a knife. It was just expected that he would have one.
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Same here. I don't remember ever being without one, about the time I was old enough to go outside by myself (with my little brother tagging along! :D) -- which means at least by 6 years old.

My mother really never liked my knives but Dad always made sure I had one. :D
 
I started doing more lab work in college and needed a general purpose tool, so I got a Vic Tinker and a belt pouch. Still have the pouch and steel that came with it, but the Tinker walked off at a job site. I got a replacement immediately and have always had a SAK on me.

Later on while comparing multi-tools I stumbled into bladeforums and the hook was set completely. I EDC a Mnandi and I recently purchased my first custom knife.
 
It is part of my DNA. My mother said that she had to take pieces of broken glass away from me when I was a toddler. The first knife that I found and kept for a few years was when I was about 6. It wasn't so much that having a knife was a "man thing" when I grew up (in the 1050's) having a pocket knife was a "boy thing". One of the first merit badge activities in the first (Wolf level) Cub Scout manuals was how to sharpen your Cub Scout Knife (kids didn't have SAK's they had "Scout Knives"). When I got a cheap Scout Knife and learned to sharpen it (and the family kitchen knives) I was hooked. Having a knife was OK, but having a razor sharp knife that I sharpened myself was like having a secret power. It also became part of an ingrained "be prepared philosophy that was as close as I ever got to being a Boy Scout". I got the motto from Tom Lehrer who was referring to always carrying a condom.

Sometime around when I was 12 my mother gave back to me 3 pocket knives that she had confiscated from me when I was under 6 years old. I didn't even remember having them. So I have litteraly been attracted to knives since before I can remember. PS. My dad was an English Professor and never carried a pocket knife. Other than my Grandpa, I don't remember any grown up men I was exposed to in my youth who carried a knife. They were all professional types who purely worked with paper.
 
I just liked them and went for one once I had the bones to spend on a decent knife. It took me a while to start cutting with them, knowing at the time I had no idea as to how to sharpen it. It's a different story now. And there is always something that needs cutting, especially in urban environments. Thanks to the burgeoning consumer goods packaging industry for this need.
 
I've just always liked them and found them handy for doing everyday things - opening boxes, blister packs, cutting apples, etc. It just works for me to have such an appropriate tool with me all the time. Mind you, when I was younger they were never $200 tools, just the cheap variety store type. My world has changed (for the better, but not cheaper, I think! :) )

idj
 
So, what made you decide to carry a knife?

Decide? I don't ever recall being without a pocket knife from the time I was a little boy growing up in Germany.

And as a very wealthy, very cultured gentleman client told me over lunch many, many years ago: "A gentleman always carries a knife."

Bless you, sir.
 
My grandfather influenced me and I've been carrying one ever since I was 8 years old. It's become a very handy but more importantly a necessity in my life, I don't know what I'd do without one.
 
scouting instilled the value/ importance of a knife even one with a "bail"

:)
 
I can't really remember a time when I didn't carry a knife. I've always thought of a knife as being one of those things that you should always have with you. Knives are too practical not to carry. When I see people tearing into things, I wonder why they simply don't carry a knife.

When I was little, I usually carried a SAK. I remember watching MacGuyver and being fascinated whenever he used his SAK. I never remember sharpening a knife when I was young, but I can't recall even having difficulty cutting things.

I stick mostly to utility/tactical folders and fixed blades now, but still carry a SAK from time to time.
 
Hey Guys..

I guess for reasons like today as I stood there with my nephew(chuckling) watching my sister in law carve a turkey with a plastic knife...

I handed her my waved Spydie Endura...

She even washed it for me afterwards....

ttyle

Eric....
 
some of my earliest memories are of looking up at my father and seeing that big black poutch on his belt that held what seemed like a folding sword to me the big buck 100 brass wood and razor sharp steel. I feel that is my influence for carrying a knife its sheer utility is my justification. I have carried a victronix huntsman since highschool and have been carrying it and a spyderco endura for about 15 years now the good spydercos with the plastic clip that I cant find anymore :( I dont like scratching the paint on my vehicles. The worst thing is feeling like I am naked in a church when I have forgeten one of them or are unable to carry them.
 
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