Those Memorable Moments That Changed Things...

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YellowSwiss

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Sep 28, 2015
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A friend asked me about my fascination with knives...stating that he would have assumed I was more "into" firearms that knives. I told him that as much as I love my guns, nothing to me seems to have the same "spirit" as a blade. Yeah...hokey I guess.

I told him that a gun can do what it does very well....it shoots....some better than others, but that is its purpose. A knife can protect you, feed you, shelter you, cloth you etc etc. I don't know...it is just something I have a passion for.

While talking I recounted a couple of stories that I thought I would share and would love to hear from others about some of their past experiences.

When I really started carrying a knife - Despite the fact that I come from a family of outdoorsmen, and the fact that I always seemed to own a knife, I rarely carried one when I was little (ok, it was a different time and a kid with a knife didn't cause society to wet its pants).

At a family reunion when I was about 7, I noticed several of the boys walking toward the woods near my uncle's farm. I joined them and saw that one of my older cousins was showing the boys how to make whistles out of willow branches.

Pretty soon all of the boys were whittling away making whistles and I asked one of them if I could borrow his knife to make one for myself. Everyone just stopped and stared at me. One of them asked, "Where is YOUR knife?" I told him I had one but it was on the dresser in my bedroom. They kinda chuckled at that and one of them said, "It ain't gonna do much good sitting there."

I remember that day because when I went home I put my knife in my pocket and I have felt naked without one since that day. It is funny how a little moment like that can cause such a change in behavior.
 
Choosing the right steel -

My next memorable moment came a few years later. I was still quite young at this point. Although I carried a knife regularly at this time, I had never really thought much about the steel the knife employed. Heck, I thought steel was steel so what's the difference?

That fall, my brother and I both took good sized bucks during deer season and when we were cleaning them I pulled out a fancy new knife I had bought. I was more impressed with the way the knife looked than anything else. I lit into the task at hand and before long noticed that I was having one heck of a tough time with skinning the deer.

Luckily I had another knife with me and finished up quickly. Even after I finished, I noted that second knife was still pretty sharp. That incident made me very curious so I started studying more about knife steel types. Understand, this was before the internet so they hid good information inside books to make it harder to find. I started getting more interested in steel properties, the makeup of steel types and different heat treats.

We live and we learn...
 
YellowSwiss said:
Choosing the right steel -

My next memorable moment came a few years later. I was still quite young at this point. Although I carried a knife regularly at this time, I had never really thought much about the steel the knife employed. Heck, I thought steel was steel so what's the difference?

That fall, my brother and I both took good sized bucks during deer season and when we were cleaning them I pulled out a fancy new knife I had bought. I was more impressed with the way the knife looked than anything else. I lit into the task at hand and before long noticed that I was having one heck of a tough time with skinning the deer.

Luckily I had another knife with me and finished up quickly. Even after I finished, I noted that second knife was still pretty sharp. That incident made me very curious so I started studying more about knife steel types. Understand, this was before the internet so they hid good information inside books to make it harder to find. I started getting more interested in steel properties, the makeup of steel types and different heat treats.

We live and we learn...
Click to expand...

I actually had that very same moment about 30 years ago. I was carrying a generic German fixed blade knife on a hunt and both me and my father shot bucks.

I was able to field dress both of them , but could not finish skinning the first deer, the knife dulled. I had a Case Sharktooth folder as a backup and finished the job without a hitch.
Later, a few swipes on a steel, brought the edge on the Case back to razor sharp. So I knew back then, that steel type mattered.
 
Your comment about "where's your knife?" is precisely the kind of thing my Dad would have said after I got around 10 or so. Before that, I don't think he would say that. Once I started hunting, knives were always on me. But I carried a pocket knife long before that point in my life. It was part of the "uniform" for folks living out in the country. I had no conception of what city kids did or thought. High school was in the city and before that it was small town stuff. I was comfortable in my own skin.

Big knife moments probably focused around my future brother in law as he would bring his knives with him when visiting and we often spent hours sharpening our knives together and talking. I never really saw an expensive knife until that point in my life although I knew they existed. I just never had the need beyond a Case jack knife day to day. Expensive to me was $20-$25 then and his blades were $100's each.

I remember the day my brothers and sisters were climbing trees and I was cutting on a limb with my Case Barlow. The main blade broke and I was heart broken. They were very expensive for me at the time, but Case sent me a new one. That was a significant moment in my life. I think that was also the same day my one sister who was way up in a tree wanted down and "just left go" and fell bouncing off limbs on the way to the ground. She was skinned up, but nothing broken.
 
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I got my first switchblade at 19... A LUDT from TADgear before they were called TADgear.

After popping it the first time, I had 2 groundbreaking ideas.

Everyone should own one of these. I should carry this every day.

Fast forward 17 years and I still carry a UDT.
 
I just like collecting things and manly things at that. Knives are manly. That's all.

My dad always taught me how important and dangerous knives are. But I really never much cared about them until recently. I've always had a knife or two, but never carried one. Not until about a month or so ago. Now I carry two or three. Lol

I'm sure it will get old soon and I'll not give a rats tush anymore. I've never needed a knife, there's always something around that can be used and I'm pretty solid at improvising.

Boxes don't need knives to open, just push in at the top edge right where the seam is and voila, the tape or glue pops open at that point. Grab the free edge and run your hand under the taped or glued portion and it's open. It's actually much quicker than using a knife. I learned this trick when stocking shelves at a grocery store in my highschool years.
 
This will sound simple and made up, but it really was a changing moment when I joined this forum. :cool: I had used knives and bought one from time to time for 50+ years but never really got into brands (except Cold Steel-around 20 yrs. ago), steels, variety and addiction :mad: until finding here the wealth of differences and the enjoyment of collecting them. I was collecting firearms and swords (real ones), but not knives; :eek: that has now completely reversed itself. ;) Thank you all, this ain't cheap but it sure is cheaper. :D
 
I used to have (but rarely carry) cheap crap knives. One time, I had to pull out my knife for some mundane cutting task at a 70’s era barn party. I was a white collar slave who had no need to carry a knife, so I can’t remember what the task was. Anyhow, I pulled out my Barlow-style knife (an awful Pakistani or Chinese piece of gun show garbage) and an acquaintance who was an old school career butcher (the kind who broke down sides of beef) looked at me with disbelief and said “You should be shot.” After that, I upgraded (?) my act to the level of lower end Case and Schrade knives. At that time, having a knife that didn’t need a full resharpening every time I cut a bagel in half with it was a revelation for me.
 
I grew up in suburbia in Toronto and only had a knife at the cottage when I was a kid. Whatever cheap 110 or Trapper knockoff my dad or grandfather had lying around.

I never really got seriously into good knives until I started spending a lot of time in the woods a few years ago and realized that my Home Depot clearance Winchesters and Walmart/Canadian Tire Gerbers/Ozark Trails were garbage.

My first OK knives were clearance Chinese Kershaws. That led to a Spyderco Tenacious then it was all downhill from there once I found BF.:mad:

My only regret is that I now have about 80 knives. I could do without about 1/2 of them at least. Still cheaper than a gambling or drug habit or owning Harleys or fixing up old cars. :thumbsup:
 
I'm 62. I was told at a young age that a gentleman wears a hat and carries a pocketknife & a handkerchief.
 
katanas...:thumbsup:
Since I'm a new age man of the old school, I've moved up to a pack of tissues....
We share.
 
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