What got you interested in knives?

As a kid I was always interested in my dad's knives, a Buck, a Schrade, a Case, an old Gerber Multi-Plier, a very nice wood handled Mora, a WWII bayonet. He also is responsible for my addiction by giving me some of my first knives - Some crappy American Camper Multi-Tool, a Mora #2, and a combo-edge, liner locking Schrade that I picked out and he bought me for my first Boy Scout campout. I would love to have those knives in my collection today, no matter how crappy, but unfortunately I lost all of those knives as a kid, however those first knives I ever owned sparked an interest in me thats still as strong as it ever was. And I wouldn't want it any other way :thumbup:
 
I never really thought about it before, but I honestly have no idea. My best guess is that the interest came about as a secondary result of reading my Grandfather's copies of Sports Afield, Outdoor Life and Field & Stream magazines that he kept archived in his basement. All of those stories about hunting probably are what created my interest in guns, knives and hunting.

My Dad hunted as a child to help feed the family and he had a few guns, but by the time I was born he had stopped hunting because of crippling wounds he received in Korea. He only took me squirrel hunting once as a kid, but either that must have been enough or it worked in combination with all the reading to make me a lifelong outdoorsman.

There's also my appreciation of mechanical things that I've had ever since I can remember as well. I was the kid who took his toys apart to see what made them work, so I've always had an interest in mechanics and engineering. I can appreciate well-designed and executed mechanisms. That may explain why I'm more interested in folders than fixed blades, even though I realize a fixed blade is almost always the best choice.
 
I've always liked knives, but didn't know much about them, or really care. If it was cheap, it was good. I had a neighbor who was in to martial arts, and he showed me a "Balisong" knife, and he told me "This is quality" I was never without a pocket knife of some sort from about the age of 12 on. Fast forward about 10 years and I found a Smokey Mountain Knife Works catalogue when I worked for my Chemistry Professor in College. He was big into hunting. That's where I discovered modern folders. Wasted some money, and a few years later, after discovering the internet, I found this web site. I rediscovered Benchmade, and the butterfly logo, and that was the end of innocence.

Funny thing, though. I have no knives from before I went to college, but I can remember each and every one that I have owned for my whole life, including where I got it, and how I lost it, or who I traded/sold/gave it to.
 
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Just being a kid , playing in the woods , camping, causing mischief :D! The things most of today's kids don't do cause of the Xbox and what not !!!
 
When I was a youngster of 13 I spent summers at my Grandfathers farm in the country. He taught me about many things that a city lad never even thought of. He showed me how to skin squirrells and rabbits. I learned how to prune peach and apple trees. I learned how to cut grapes off the vine. I cut twine on bales of hay. I learned how to cut deer meat. I learn how to remove splintesr after a long day of replacing fence.
I learned that my Grandfather was a simple man who did a lot of work with few tools. His knife, a Case Trapper that I still have today. He had one knife and used it well.
 
as much as i was joking about natural instinct, now thinking about it its not all that untrue. As far as I can remember I just always thought it will be nice to have few tools around me. I tried carrying all sorts of things but I guess I've settled with few things atm
1) knife, 2) lighter and 3) flashlight. Why? The way I see it is: essential tools. The most fundamental elements that will help a human get through the shittest situations.

Then again... it might be all gibberish and my mind playing games with me, who knows?:confused: maybe after all, I haven't fully evolved yet;)
 
I was in Boyscouts from 12 or so and went all the way to Eagle. Going camping all of the time you learn to appreciate a good knife. I also taught lashing and pioneering and you use a knife alot for that kind of task.

When I was 16, I worked in a gas station/Deli (first job) and the owner had a Kershaw (some kind of automatic, I don't remember the model.) I used to borrow it from him to open and cut up boxes, and I fell in love with it. I'd say thats when I really began to demand a higher standard in any knife that I used and not just some throw away or cheap flea market buy.
 
My grandfather was an apple farmer and always carried pocket knives, mostly Camillus and Shrade, and like the poster above taught me how to use and sharpen them...so I started getting them for birthday presents around 7 years old. My first REAL knife was a Buck 110 I received in in '63 for getting my First Class badge in the Scouts...and I haven't looked back. Now most of my knives are Benchmades and I still like to collect new ones.
 
andrix12345 said:
Great question, I dont know why I became obsessed I just did, in boy scouts I got a swiss army knife and ever since then I have hooked.
Click to expand...

You turn tricks at Boy Scout meetings? Does one of the councillers pimp you out? I didn't know there was a "streetwalker" badge. Yikes!
 
I usually carried a SAK or Leatherman Micra before, but wasn't really into knives other than that. I saw the Case display case at Bass Pro Shops one day, and bought a Stockman, then a couple other Cases followed that. Still didn't know what Kershaw or Benchmade was.

Was on Badger and Blade for a while (still a DE shaver :) ) and there was a long OT thread about pocket knives, which just fascinated me. The Kershaw Leek seemed to be a favourite among a lot of the guys there, so I took the plunge and bought a Rainbow Leek, and it went from there.

A bit surprisingly, the Leek didn't really appeal to me that much once I got it. Great knife, but the design and feel weren't my cup of tea, as I found I prefer stockier knives, like the ZT0350 and Benchmade 755 MPR.
 
I had a pair of combat boots with a knife pocket on the collar. It went straight downhill from there.
 
It wasn't so much a specific knife as needing a tool for a task. I love the outdoors, and try to spend as much time up in the mountains as possible hiking, fishing, hunting, etc, etc, etc. A knife is one of the most important tools that you need to carry in that environment. - - Also, I spent my high school years living on a farm, and a pocket knife was one of those tools you had with you all the time. - - I don't remember exactly what my first knife might have been. Coulda been a Boy Scout knife or some kind of multi-blade slipjoint pocket knife.
 
Your question is bringing up all kinds of deep philosophical questions for me.

Such as--- should your father give you a Randall Model 18 to play with when you're 10 years old?

He had bought the knife in the 60's (twenty years earlier) on a whim and had no idea the value or appreciation of this knife when he sent me out to explore the local canyons with it.

Or maybe he did know exactly what he was doing.

I cherish and respect that blade and it is still in perfect condition after years of use.
 
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In the 50's and 60's, when I was growing up, most men carried a pocket knife. I started carrying one when I was ~8 and never got out of the habit.
 
Well I have always been fascinated with knives. cheap one when I as young. one of my first was an old buck lock-back for Christmas from my grandpa. (awesome gift).
When I was around 11 my dad got a new knife cause he wanted some serrations. I got his old one... A Benchmade. talk about awesome. somehow I lost it (I think my mom took it). last year I got back into it due to a Appellation mountains knife from lowes. Now I got some Benchmade's again. Its all down hill from here
 
I was just a young lad going backpacking up a local Mountain with some friends. We had stopped for a snack break and an older backbacker stopped with us and started eating an orange whiched he quartered with his SAK. After looking at that SAK and asking some questions, I decided that I needed to get one of those. Since then I decided I needed about 100 other knives.
 
My parents divorced when I was five and I went with my mother. Dad was always around though. One day we were messing around with his boat and he asked me for my knife. When I told him I didn't have one he was shocked. We got into the truck and went straight to the hardware store, and I came home with an Old Timer lockback, the smallest one that came with a sheath.

I lost that knife not long thereafter after a day or rope swings, but I've been hooked ever since. I think I was maybe 7 or 8.
 
I got interessted in knives, when I was a boy at the age of about 7 or 8 years. My father took always a pocket knife with me, as well my as my granddad did. I got my first Vic from my father during holidays in switzerland. I still own that knife. Later, when I went to school it was cool wearing butterflys and balisongs. I wore my Buck 110 ;)

When I earned my first money, I bought a leather jacket (biker style) and a second Buck 110 (lost my first during beeing camping in the woods). Both I still own today. That was when my interest in knives started...

Kind regards

BTW: The leather jacket is already a little bit small, but I still wear the jacket... The Buck 110 is still in the right size.
 
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