Unexpected skills from knives?

dkb45

dkb45

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Dec 16, 2012
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What are all of the skills you guys thought you would never get, but you find you now have since your knife obsession? I'm talking things you started doing because of your knives that you normally wouldn't do.

For me it is first aid (and keeping completely calm with injuries that should see medical attention, like cutting your finger to the bone) and slightly steadier hands with much better fine motor control.

What about you guys?
 
Patience, sound mind, an eye for detail, a willingness to put myself into situations where people need help, and confidence. I wasnt lacking in confidence before, but Ive gained more ever since I started carrying knives. I just feel more capable and useful with a knife in my pocket.
 
I dont Think im dying by defult when i start to bleed anymore, befor i started to mess with knives blood made me freak out, now its no problem, be exposed to something enough times, and it stop beeing creepy!
 
Knives have gifted me so much I'll never be able to list it all!

An appreciation for detail.
Patience.
Improvisation. (Finding/making a better suited tool)
Different techniques/grips for different tasks/knives.
Gaining knowledge (mainly trial & error) of the loss/benefit of certain designs
"Upping" the quality of selection for other tools.
Being more helpful to myself and others.
Being considered "the expert" in my community. (Haha)
Learning all kinds of sharpening mediums/techniques.
Learning (or trying to learn) about metallurgy.
Learning about different materials: alloys, composites, screws, pins, springs
Learning Leather/Kydex work & gaining appreciation for certain designs.

Man I'm sure I could go on and on!
 
The ability to sharpen free hand.
A better knowledge of different metals/metallurgy.
How different blade designs are distinctly made to do different jobs.
How engrossed one could become in blades.
Another example of how learning is fun as well as being a blessing.
 
Like you, I don't panic around blood anymore, especially after getting a balisong. :(
 
Through use of knives, I have picked up the common sense needed to not cut any fingers to the bone with them.

Also that knives, both folding and fixed, don't fold on their own accord.

I also now know what a Bowie knife looks like.
 
I've had to do sharpening of seriously dull kitchen knives with very limited tools. I appear as a magician when I am successful.
 
I now have a greater appreciation for a knife as a multi use tool outdoors. The deeper I go into this the more that I am amazed. An example is watching a video were Mors Kochanski splits logs with a small knife. The trick is using the knife to fashion other tools such as splitting wedges. There are many, many ''thinking out of the box'' tricks like this. And if I have any new unexpected knife skills, I have to actually practice them. Sometimes it is one thing to watch a video or read a book and think '' big deal, I can do that''. When in reality it isn't always immediately so. Some skills take real effort and time to be viable. I know, as I certainly need practice in some areas. And by challenging myself to make a natural materials fire with a ferro rod, in the cold or wet, it is 10x easier to do on a warm summer evening.
 
As a city person. It brought me more appreciation for nature and got me into the whole bushcraft thing and trying to be as self sufficient as humanly possible.
 
I learned to eat cheaply because that last knife purchase dug a little to deeply into the food budget.
 
My obsession changed over a number of years .. from finding a knife that would meet my needs to giving up the chase and learning to make my own knives instead .

I learned first aid .. burns and cuts . I learned the art of dealing with well meaning social worker type folk when they find out that ok yeah Im a foster carer and I make and sell knives . no foster kid should be in a house that has a knife in it apparently... takes some reasoning at times , but so far so good .

Teaching kids respect for and safety regarding knives .. again , the social worker thing too .. a kid isnt going to hold up a service station with a knife they spent a week or more making , more likely they will steal a $2 one from the grocery store and use that if the kid is that way inclined ..

I guess my knife hobby has meant I have learned a lot of extra metal working skills , and a lot more people management skills than I would have ever predicted .
 
I'm learning salesmanship. I keep buying so many darned knives that I have to sell other knives to pay for them. Kind of a losing proposition, but I'm enjoying it.
 
SchweetGuitars said:
Opening boxes.
Click to expand...

Glad to see some people are learning really valuable skills here. On the serious side, I have also learned how to open a box since carrying a knife. I use to attack it like a monkey, yelling and ripping, but now I know to just cut the tape and it comes right apart. I would call that a definite unexpected skill.
 
I can open a knife with one hand really fast and it doesn't seem like such a big deal until I hand one to a non-knife person and watch them struggle to.
 
As a chef Ive already honed my hand skill.

But I'm used to 12" blades, not 3" blades. When I try prepping food with a sebenza its comical at most.
 
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