What got you interested in knives?

The Marttiini my mom bought me when I was 10 and the cheap butterfly knife I got 3 years ago combined with cutlerylover's videos.
 
russamurai said:
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?
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I was about that age when my parents gave my brother and I our own pole axes. Sometimes they would kick us out of the trailer during the summer and tell us to run off into the woods and chop something down!
 
Cub Scouts got me my first knife, a SAK style. They taught me "a good scout is never without his knife" though I didn't understand why. Then I got in trouble for bringing my knife to grade school (early 70's). That cooled me about knife carry until I attended Air Force survival training and learned the true usefulness, utility and life-saving basics of having a proper blade that can cut, pound and pry available at all times. My best friend who taught me to gut and skin a deer-how much of a blade is really needed and how to keep it sharp. I've had (at least) one with me at all times since. Getting them thru TSA sure is tricky, though. :D I'm still learning about knives, multitools, steels, and cost/value. Probably always will be.
 
My father and grandfather. Grew up a hunter and always had a knife of some sort. Still have both my grandfather and fathers hunters they carried as well as my first few. Then My father gave me a Gerber MKII. Haven't really looked back since.
 
My thing for knives started when I was around 8 or 9. I was doing something in the garage while my dad worked on his '39 ford. He asked me to get a tool for him out of the tool chest, and while looking for it I found this awesome old knife in the drawer. It had a leather sheath that looked pretty fancy to me at the time. I asked my dad about it (after handing him his tool, of course) and he said that it belonged to my grandfather, who was quite the outdoorsman apparently.
He then proceeded to tell me that the knife and sheath were both made by my grandfather, which really impressed me. I wonder if the knife is still around... If it is, I think I'll post up some pictures and see what everyone thinks.
 
This has really caused me to think. End result: I have no idea what specific event, if any, caused me to get into knives. As far as I can remember, I've always had a fascination with knives.

Growing up, my parents never carried a knife on a regular basis that I knew of, not even a little SAK...though my father always had/used utility knives and box cutters for many various tasks while working (but those never really piqued my interest). I do remember my brother having a few knives including a yellow SAK, cheap balisong, and an unknown type of lock-back. These definitely interested me, but the interest had already been there. When I was about 13, I found what I remember to be a small Spyderco folder which was subsequently lost. I don't know if it was the real deal since it was so long ago, but the blade was maybe a 2 inch chisel grind and had blue plastic handles with a Delica-type pattern.

During my late teens, I had multiple different knives ranging from a couple of Gerber Paraframe IIs, a CRKT M16 variant, a couple of fixed-edge Bucks, and a fixed-edge Kershaw Echo (I believe). When I got older and had the magical thing called a job where they give you "money" for doing things (I know, it's hard to believe...this "money" is still somewhat elusive since it disappears so easily from me). When I had this "money," I would go into Academy or Wal-Mart and look at the knives, and as such, brought home the above-mentioned knives.

I became more fascinated with the higher-end knives just a few years ago. Even though I had bought a Leatherman Surge nearly a year prior, my first "expensive" knife was a Kershaw Shallot in Sandvik 14C28 for about $55. I spent about six happy months with just my Vic MiniChamp, Shallot, and Leatherman until I got interested in the Vic RescueTool (was a vollie firefighter). Because of research into the RescueTool, I found out about Benchmade and other high-quality knives and have been lighter in the wallet since.

Long story short, I don't know of an original cause of my interest, but it has always been a presence...and I definitely have a lot of catching up to do!
 
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I know that many say the Boy Scouts got them into knives, but for me it was army cadets. I seem to remember my first folder while tenting along one of the great lakes. Another kid asked to use it and promptly opened his thumb up. These days I still have a strong interest\desire to be in the woods. It's primal and deep in me. My primary cutting tool use is hunting, fishing, metal detecting related. They just go together for me. I can also appreciate a great knife design for asthetic reasons. Why does one guy prefer red heads over blondes? Who knows, it's just part of who he is.:)
 
I always had a interest in knives, you know being a young boy? Had to have a sling shot, BB gun, pocket knife kinda thing?
But what really got me going making knives, about thirty years ago? I had seen an old man down in Mississippi named Grady Carpenter with some knives. And I asked him were he had got them from? When he said that he had made them? Well that was it for me.
I new that's what I wanted to do? Was to go make my own knives. And I have for the past thirty years. Full time for the past eight years. Probably will not stop until I'm dead...... :rolleyes::D:thumbup:
 
NutnFancy


I had always enjoyed the outdoors and similar activities, but I never gave knives any real sort of attention until I found his videos.
 
I think that because I grew up as a total city nerd , I was always attracted by all things related to the outdoors . Besides that , I can clearly remember the fruit and veggie store man slicing open a watermelon with his folder , my agriculture teacher in grade school (yes , agriculture was a popular subject in all grade schools of early 70 Israel...) cutting a Kohlrabi that we grew ourselves with his old pocket knife , the neighborhood butcher giving a new edge to his knife with a steel , a high school friend teaching me how to open a can of food with his "swedish hunting knife" as he called it - you get the idea ...
It's the magic of something primal , with the potential of being dangerous , that can have a piece of history attached to it , together with design in it's purest form , and function , do the trick for me .
 
When I was first married, we lived in a very small and rural community in Tennessee. Locals gathered at the only general store on Saturday mornings buying, selling, and trading knives. These old timers were great story tellers and most were able to whittle and sharpen an old sod buster like nothing I've ever seen. I started collecting Case knives and then moved on to different styles and customs. Having lived there and experiencing those times bring back some very fond memories and instilled in me a respect and admiration for knives.
 
My first crush for a knife would be a Blackhawk Tatang.
blame all on the games (COD Modern Warfare). since then I made the Tatang knife using some scrap iron plates and an angle grinder. I made a pretty good, copy of it but the knife is totally junk! since the steel plates that was a oil tank's. then i learned that i'd need spring steels (got plenty of it on junkyard) at least to make decent knives.

and on my road in making the Tatang I grown so much addiction in knives, how there is so many variants and technologies used in making a single piece of work. Easily, I lost appeal in continuing making the replica of Blackhawk Tatang, and up until now always loved simple and stupid bushcraft knives :D
 
New to this forum too, and actually I asked the same question to myself some time ago, while I was surfing this forum :-)
I guess I was influenced by more than one factor....
My dad always loved knives (may be some kind of professional inclination, since he's a surgeon) and he would complain so much if he hadn't the right knife for the task, or if it wasn't sharp enough (altho he was always lazy to sharpen them by himself)
Also, I live in a place with a very old knifemaking tradition, and every grown man here (in the inner land) would carry a knife for EDC. Also, it is still considered a valuable gift here to give a handmade knife, altho it has to be sold, not just given away.
Then when I got 12 or 13 I fell in love with SAK, bought my own Spartan (which I still carry and use)...and the rest came by itself.
:-)
 
Watching my father use his pocket knife. I remember being 5 and my friend had a red handled swiss army (style or real I dunno) knife. It just sat there on the table while I admired it. Peter pan (swords and daggers) Tarzan (reminds me of a Buck 120) I asked my parents when I could get a knife. 7 years old was the magic number. Still have the knife 31 years later. And of course boyscouts. Multiple reasons that got me into edged items. good thread.
 
My dad collected a few knives but I didn't really get interested in them until I was stabbed in the back by a buck 110 in a fast food parking lot. It hurt like hell and I thought, "those things do a nasty job" I took the knife from the guy (he actually left it hanging out of my back) and I had it as a collectors item for a few years until it was lost. For some odd reason, that sparked my interest in knives.
 
I recall giving myself a nasty scar on one finger trying to cut a cantalope with a big kitchen knife. I was about 3 and standing on a chair to reach the kitchen countertop. From all that, I'd say it was FOOD that started me off on knives. ;)

I got interested in brands and designs back when the local hardware store had the old time displays for Buck, Gerber, and Swiss Army knives.
 
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