What got you to this point in your hobby??

R

rjsterling

Joined
Oct 7, 2012
Messages
28
Im sure that this subject has been explored many times in this forum before so sorry for repeating things if it has been.

The first knife that I bought was a $10 Smith and Wesson from a sporting goods store and I remember looking at the what I thought at the time was the "high class knives" like $70 CRKT's and some Sogs and thinking that it was crazy that people would spend that kind of money on a knife.

Then I bought a CRKT and kinda got hooked on knives right there thinking that my new knife was top of the line. Many other CRKT's followed. Then I learned about companies like Benchmade and Spyderco and that didn't help with my obsession.

After buying my first Benchmade I started getting into learning about steels and other materials used and what was good etc.

From thinking that $70 for a knife was crazy to owning knives like Sebenzas, SNG's, Microtechs, a couple Les George knives and other "Mid Tech" knives now starting to make my own knives throughout the years I have learned a lot.

One of the great things about knives for me is that it feels like the more I know the more there is to know, and that keeps it interesting. I was just wondering what got others into the knife "hobby" it would be interesting to hear form others and people that are more established or have been into knives longer than I have.
 
I've been involved and around knife making my entire life. Started out similar to you with a purchase of a relatively cheap knife when I was just a young boy at a Houston knife show in the mid 90's. even though my dad and grandfather are knife makers I could have asked either to make me a knife, I was still proud of my purchase. I continued to buy better and better quality knives until I started making knives almost 2 years ago. My collection has dwindled down as I have given some away to family and friends but I still have a few and still lust over customs. My attention has just turned more towards making instead of collecting.

I contribute where I am today as a knife maker is having 2 of the best teachers I could ever ask for my dad joe Pardue is just a few miles away from where I live and my grandfather Melvin is just a phone call away. If I have any problems or questions with anything they both can help me. Nothing like a combined 70 yrs experience to help you when need it. 2 of the best people I know. Glad to be following in their footsteps.
 
Actually, this forum has gotten me to this point (not blinking on spending $400 on a knife, learning about steels, ordering customs direct from makers). I was always into knives but a $50 Benchmade was the nicest knife I'd ever seen until I discovered Bladeforums. Learned a lot on here.
 
I just got a point of looking away from big boys and into tools with many "hands and legs".
Particularly the SOGs and Leathermans.

What's next? getting rid of what i don't use and spend less time on the forum. Wee!
 
I have had an unbridled fascination and love for blades since before I can remember. I spent a lot of time on a farm as a youngster and they were such an important tool.

As an 80's child you also had stallone and arnie who always had sweet blades in their movies. They were co-stars to me (or maybe even the true stars of the movie)..

I have sharpened butter knives just so I have a blade (when I was about 10 or 11). Weekly visits to the local disposal store to look at the Buck 184 (age 13-18).

I still get more excitement from knife purchases than any other purchase.

What I really enjoy now is owning and appreciating custom knives where you can see a craftsman has put time and effort to create something beautiful.

I got my first custom knife here from TK and there will be more purchases in future.

Seeing how makers bring out the beauty in a wood or steel really flicks my switch... I am a huge fan of wooden handles and hamon...

I can't explain why I have such a constant and strong love of knives.

But its great to be able to share my thoughts with people that share my passion.
 
For me, it was the Spyderco Endura just over a year ago. Prior to that, I was an avid camper, but carried random, junky knives. Finally, one day when I was trying to carve a spear, I thought that knives should work better than this butter knife I used. Did a little research, and finally picked out the Endura. Eye opener. Couldn't believe how sharp it would get, and how sharp it would stay. Since then I've just kept going. Wanted more knives, but didn't have the money, so moved towards knife making for the cheaper and more customized makes. And I just love making a knife, so I'm slowly making new ones, although school really hurts that process.
 
For me, I was a member ( still am) of the Straightrazorplace forums. And I was very active there. One respected member there posted about this knife he'd had for a long time that he really liked and which he said was a really good knife.

It was a Mcusta.

So I started looking into those...and the more I did the more I learned about knives untill one day I discovered that you can actually make your own knife (The idead had never crossed my mind before). Now I'm a hobbyist knifemaker and smalltime collector/user.

And yesterday I finally got that Mcusta! (Awesome knife bytheway. I can see why he liked it so much)
 
I loved camping as a kid, and would never have dreamed of going on a trip without my Swiss Army knife. I even carried it in my backpack at school and to church. (schools were different then!)I stayed with the cheaper academy knives until my brother gave me my first "high class" knife- a crkt. Then I was hooked. I bought some benchmades and some other crkts, and lusted after chris reeves. One of the first things I bought when I got my first big boy job was a Sebenza, followed shortly by my first 2 Emerson's and one of the hollow handled aviators that I had admired for years.
 
Before I started school I would stand in front of the knife displays in our local hardware stores and dream of buying those "expensive" knives that I saw in there. Every hardware here had mostly Schrades and Imperial(German) knives, mostly stockmen, muskrats etc. For Christmas in 1967 my grandparents gave me a Canadian Centenial knife. It was a single blade slip joint knife but which brand it was I can't remember. So at 8 years old my collecting bug was started. I would only buy occasional knives until I was in my mid forties but I always looked and dreamed. Now I tend to buy 2 or 3 knives a month but I am trying to cut down the number and get better quality. It doesn't always work out that way but it is fun to try.
 
I have to say AG Russell. It's all his fault:D. For years and years I was content with Kershaw, Buck, and Gerber (preFiskars). Somehow this cool knife catalog from AG Russell showed up. Ordered a couple of knives (AGR Brute, Al Mar Hawk, and a set of AGR toothpicks with G10 and CF handles), then it was all down hill from there.

Ric
 
This forum :p

I was seriously into Cold Steel, and knew next to nothing about any other maker. As soon as I found you guys, I branched out into Kershaw, then Spyderco, then I made the jump into 100$+ knives with a used Esee-5 which taught me the value of high end knives. Now I have a ZT and I seriously want a Tops .230, a Spyderco PM2, a BM Griptillian, and maybe even a Sebenza some day. I've also picked up a few customs, and I have to avoid the makers market around payday now (or else I spend money I shouldn't :p)
 
I have been around knives since childhood. Some of my fondest memories are going out in the woods with my dad and brother for some hiking and campfire cooking because the first thing we did when we got out of the truck, at the edge of the woods, was break out the knives! It was something we looked forward to all week. Now I'm into collecting higher end production knives and I'm starting to get into customs. Hopefully within the next couple years I will start forging my own fixed blades and leatherwork.
 
When I was 5 I received my first knife a case that belonged to my Grandfather. I've been hooked ever since. Started buying dollar store knives when I was young and word got around to my relatives that I was a avid knife collector from then on just received them as gifts and every spare dollar I made went to knives. Then I found a forum with a LOT of sick individuals like myself !!
 
+1 for A.G. Russell.

After growing up with mid-level production knives I ordered a camp knife from Pack River Knives (Steve Mullin) back in the day through A.G.'s catalog.
This purchase began several decades of custom knife acquisitions.

Z
 
I actually did not get into knives until a few months ago. Prior to that my exposure to knives (none of my friends carry a knife or even EDC) were from a very young age as my dad used to baton knives for fun. Then the knives went away when I move here to the us.

Then a while back all of a sudden I wanted to buy a tool belt. I just thought it was the coolest thing to have your immediate tools all on you when you're working on something. Then I got into multi tools because I liked the efficiency of them.

Then I thought the blades in multi tools weren't a good long term choice in terms of a primary blade. My first knife technically were sanrenmu knives that cost me nothing as I thought spending over $40 on knives was insane. Then I educated myself in everything that are knives. From steel type, handle material, ergonomics, size, type etc. so in came spydercos, sogs, kershaws, crkts, benchmades and I'm already looking into crk's.

I think what I love about knives is the never ending search for that perfect knife because as much as some knives can look fairly similar, they're all different. There are so many combinations of blades shapes and length. Then there are handle shapes, type and length. Then the type of steel. Theres so much to uncover! Hench why knives are so fun because of that. So you search for that perfect knife.
 
Like so many, I just grew up with a pocketknife of some sort. A general interest in Viking-age and medieval weaponry and whatnot soon followed. I was a Conan fan when he was still only in comics and pulp novels. Somewhere in my early-mid teens I stumbled across Bill Bagwell's articles in SOF, and various custom knife books at the local library and it was all downhill from there.
 
I guess it all started with the first Victorinox I got as a kid. My Dad always had (and still has) a couple of those lying around.
Also coming from a butcher's family (mothers side), there were never any dull knives around me, so I learned early how to handle sharp things.
What brought me to the next level though, was definitely the internet and forums like this one. Otherwise I'd probably be happy enough with an SAK and a Leatherman. Would be much better for my bank account, too :grumpy:

P.S. Flashlights are evil money-suckers, too
 
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