What does a knife mean to you?

Some great points indeed!! As dumb as it seems using and stroping my knives is a zen thing. It's very calming. I am in sales and like everyone else I have a stressful job. I can't tell you how many times I've been on a stressful call and I just picked up a knife and started stroping it. It really calms me down. Like most people in sales I am ADD and I get board really quickly so I grab a dowel and start carving when my mind starts wandering. It helps me focus on the call.

But before all of this I was always into knives and just liked the look and feel of them. I would just carve stuff for the fun of it. I did a lot of hard core camping and whitewater rafting in the mid to late 90s and I ALWAYS had at least 2 knives on me and another 2 or 3 in the bag. My buddies didn't really get it until it started to rain and I would baton a log to get to the dry wood and start a fire. Or I would use a firesteel to start a fire off the spark off the back of my buck knife. Now days I still camp and go out into the woods but not as often however I always have at least 2 knives with me. Even my wife gets it after some explanation, though she's still not sure why I need SO many knives. But that's another topic. I also appreciate the materials, design and the details of what goes into knife making. I love trying out and comparing new knives to the ones that I own or have used. I HATE getting rid of knives unless it's a gift to a good friend and even then I have some internal turmoil. They are my tools and they are my toys much like my shotguns and my guitars & amps. I guess this makes me a knife knife-oholic.
 
Riz did a fantastic job summing up what a knife means to most of us probably and he did it very well .

My father always had a knife in his pocket and always instilled in me that a knife was the most handy tool you could have with you . He always kept anything of his that had an edge razor sharp and before I was given my own knife I would often use his . When I finally got to where I only had a Bandaid on one finger at a time , he gave me my own knife . I was like 6 or 7 "maybe" . Many years have passed since then and I have carried a knife every day of every one .

All the things mentioned in earlier posts like memories , feelings of adventure , feeling naked if I forget my knife (I'll actually turn around and go home to get it) and so on are certainly true for me also . But I think if I had to say what a knife means to me in a word it would be .... prepared . Prepared for what you might ask ? ANYTHING !
 
I can definitely relate to the sentiment in this thread. I rarely sell a used knife. I have good intentions to 'thin the herd' but then I'll pick it up and get to remembering a hunt somewhere, or maybe cleaning fish with a buddy. It's pretty hard to put a price on that. The unused ones are much more likely to find new homes if it becomes necessary to move something.
 
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Since my last post in August 2015 in this thread, my tastes and hobbies have changed. I am still into knives, more so than ever, but I have gone into bushcrafting as a hobby and as a form of relaxation. I find that with bushcrafting I get to use my knives extensively and truly get to appreciate what each of my knife can or cannot do. It gives me something to do with my knives and in return I get to appreciate, trust and love my knives more. Now most of my knives are mainly bushcraft style knives with scandi grinds but I am getting slowly into convex too. This knife hobby is so addictive. My initial thought was to buy a knife for use with my frequent camping and hiking trips and just call it a day, but looking at what some of these manufacturers put into their knives (mainly custom and handmade) I just couldn't resist. Over a short one year plus I have accumulated about 40 knives, of which some are budget friendly Mora which I too love dearly. So what does knives mean to me? A whole lot. They are tools, they are toys, and they are what keeps me visiting the outdoors and getting myself some needed exercise and breaks from this city life which I am in. I too tried to thin the herd but just couldn't bear to do it whenever I thought about what actually attracted me to the knife and how it has performed the given tasks. There's a whole lot of sentiments involved when you are a knife guy and I am sure many of you here can relate to.
 
I'll tell you for a couple years I did nothing but research different types of steel ,blade shapes, brands etc. Just figuring out what I actually like, reading reviews never once got boring for me . I always wondered if I would ever find someone who shared this same obsession . I was so thrilled to find bf it is like a never ending smorgasbord of info . So anyways to me every knife I have purchased has been through the rigorous process of me deciding to finally purchase it and then talking myself into something else that I thought I wanted (needed ) more and then finally pulling the trigger when I'm a hundred percent sure that this is the one ! Every knife I own is a perfect work of art that can only be fully appreciated by me , ( or so I thought ) every last detail of it . And like others I feel that they all must be used at least once so I can be able to speak of their performance
 
How about a video to illustrate?

[video]https://youtu.be/psYHK_F1zls[/video]

P.S. Rated R

P.P.S. Don't try this at home, unless you are related to me!
 
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Mike-The-Knife said:
Riz did a fantastic job summing up what a knife means to most of us probably and he did it very well .

My father always had a knife in his pocket and always instilled in me that a knife was the most handy tool you could have with you . He always kept anything of his that had an edge razor sharp and before I was given my own knife I would often use his . When I finally got to where I only had a Bandaid on one finger at a time , he gave me my own knife . I was like 6 or 7 "maybe" . Many years have passed since then and I have carried a knife every day of every one .

All the things mentioned in earlier posts like memories , feelings of adventure , feeling naked if I forget my knife (I'll actually turn around and go home to get it) and so on are certainly true for me also . But I think if I had to say what a knife means to me in a word it would be .... prepared . Prepared for what you might ask ? ANYTHING !
Click to expand...

Pretty much sums up my start in knives. I recall camping with my grandpa and getting to use his buck knife to whittle a small stick. I may have been 6. I closed the blade on my index finger, basically splitting it end-wise. It hurt (I can still feel it, over 40 years later) but what upset me more was knowing for sure I wouldn't be able to use his knife again (for a long time, probably forever, I thought). That was awful.

Got my own lock back buck knife for Christmas when I was in the 4th grade. I already had one pocket knife for carving, if I recall. I lost that knife on the playground in January after Christmas break. In the snow, playing football. Someone turned it in to our 4th grade teacher, and he held it up in front of the class and asked, "Which one of you boys lost his knife?" I raised my hand and he had me come up and get it. He then said, "You boys need to keep track of your knives. It's important to have 'em when you need 'em". Different times. I cannot imaging if that were to happen today. I'd have to go to the home for wayward boys or something.

Always have one or more on me, every day, even sitting here in my sweats lounging around the house....
 
To me a knife is a tool with deep meanings attached to it.
It was the first thing the grown up men let me carry and use that was a sign of growing up/ rite of passage kind of thing, along the lines of being able to carry my first .22lr on a squirrel/rabbit hunt. Later it was a trusted tool for daily use on the farm or in the woods if I had a good day. Then it was the pursuit of the perfect knife which really turned into 20 great blades-LOL. Nowadays just getting out in the field with friends and family showing/learning/teaching what a good knife can do to the younger folk is what makes them special to me. Looking back almost every good outdoors memory I have has had a knife along for the ride.
 
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