What was it that gotcha..... Hooked?

RubiconSS

RubiconSS

Joined
Jan 12, 2011
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I read a post elsewhere and it got me thinking..... about what it was that "Got me hooked". I know some, You know some, Guys that couldn't care less about Cars, Guns, Knives, Gadgets and what not.
Then there are/is - Us :)

For Almost Everything I mentioned I credit (No Blame in My heart) my Uncle Bill.

Uncle Bill was a Great Guy, Great Man - My First memory of a Mentor (funny, never noticed the word Men before in there) in my Life long before I ever knew what a Mentor was or how much it would matter to me, How much it would predestine Who I would become.
Uncle Bill was a Man's Man. He had Fast cars and he drove them fast, Big Guns, Lots of Knives.
Uncle Bill had a "Man Cave" that Most Men would weep for by todays standards.
I look at mine and smile (and nod) it looks a lot like Uncle Bill's now that I think of it.
Guns and Gun Safes but built into the Walls with lights and vacume seals. Hidden compartments with boxes of Cash$$ that He made me swear never to reveal I knew, that I Had SEEN:eek: Uncle Bill leaned over and ;) and said, "We don't EVER talk about this but every Man needs his Mad Money!
I thought, "If I had that much Money I wouldn't be Mad about much...
He used to take me for rides in his Buick GS which I didn't know then (but know now) was the most RWTQ of any production car of its kind over 600 LbFt. God was that Car FAST.
I helped him wax it once and my belt buckle scratched the paint, I was mortified. Uncle Bill just leaned over and ;) and said, "We don't ever worry about this".
I loved my Uncle Bill - He taught me about Life, How to shoot long distances and How to be a Man.
He also showed me my First Knife and I was Hooked.

I remember asking for a knife for that Christmas and not getting it. I was 8.

My mind reeled. I hatched a scheme, and I stuffed $3 in my sock and I got off the school bus at the local hardware store and I bought my First Knife.
Then I tried to hatch the back-up scheme, How do I explain it so I can actually use it.
So, I go downstairs one night (after going to Bed) and I walk up to the side of my Dad's lazy-boy and wake Dad up. I say, " Look what I just found that I forgot I got as a present from Uncle Bill for Christmas".
As I watched my Dad's brow slowly draw together I remember hearing a faint whimper eminate from very close by, It sounded familiar.
WOW, Did I get a Butt whompin' for that not so tall tale AND lost the knife ta boot (didn't even get offered the $3 as I recall)
I remember sitting and watching as my beloved (first love) knife get used for all matters of nasty tasks. Pipe cleaning and finger nail cleaning and paint scraping and I just repeated to myself.... Someday I'm gonna have a Knife maybe even a buncha Knives and I'll never do that stuff with them. They make tools for that stuff!
It was painful to watch.
I don't know what ever happened to that knife.

So, That is How I got hooked. Guess it was a passion scorched into my persona from that moment on. I never got a chance to tell Uncle Bill that story because that was my First Funeral I ever went to too.
Been to many since (never got hooked on that so much)

Thank you Uncle Bill for many many things, not the least of which is my Genuine Love of - Knives.

Now, What got me Hooked on Hinderers.... that's a whole other story ;)
 
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Great story Rubi, this one of the reasons I enjoy this sub forum so much. Uncle Bill was quite a guy, you were so fortunate to have him in your life and point you in the right direction! Uncle Bill would be so proud of you !
 
Thank you my Friend - I hope so and Yes He was quite a guy. A Game Warden wore a uniform and a Gun patroled the forrests of the Northeast for many years. Tough "Buzz-cut" haircut and rarely talked. As a matter of fact most of the Adults in my family weren't all that fond of "Bill" they whispered when referring to him using names like odd and queer which was simply a descriptive term for "odd" back then.
I remembered once I got to know Uncle Bill telling him (I was hesitant to do so but wanted to know why I couldn't come visit more) I told him, "You know Uncle Bill my Dad doesn't much care for you". He just smiled and said, "It's not that, He just doesn't like that I don't sit and listen to him talk".
He was right. When we (or anybody) used to go visit all you would hear was the back door close as we came through the front door. That was "Bill" leaving to go up into the woods and wait until everybody left and then he would come back down.
Now kids were a different story.... He would spend hours telling stories and teaching survival skills, how to make a fire or how to nurse a bird of prey back to health in his private wildlife sanctuary in back of his property. He taught me the proper way to sharpen a knife, clean a weapon, make a homemade bow and arrows.
Funny story, early on in his marriage to my Aunt.... my Aunt insisted that he involve her in his life more - you know a Hobby they could share. It fell on deaf ears until years later when Uncle Bill surprised her one Birthday with a Complete Hunting Wardrobe (Head to Toe) to include..... her own Rifle and scope!! Word spread fast and the whispering turned to gasps from my Mom and Aunts and shakes of the head from Dad and my other Uncles.
Apparently, and this is the part of the story I only ever got bits and pieces of - that Fall Deer season..... out they went Uncle Bill and my Aunt to go hunting.
Day turned to evening and on there way back across a boulder field my Aunt fell and yelled for help, "Bill, I've fallen Help" well Uncle Bill being Uncle Bill he vaulted and ran (I never imagined he was in his early 60's at this point) never smoked or drank.... he is there in an instant.
"Bill I fell and....." Uncle Bill says as He arrives on the scene and surveys the situation leans over and picks up the rifle ..." It's Ok I don't think it's even scratched".
That was the end of that part of my Aunts relationship pursuit with my Uncle Bill.
My Mom wasn't all that fond of him after that.
To be fair, I knew Uncle Bill and I'm sure he saw my Aunt was fine and surely picked her up with dispatch and soothed her bruised disposition. My Aunt was a - difficult woman.
I know He would have done that because that is how Uncle Bill lost his Life ultimately, came across a female hiker that had been pinned by a boulder in a rockfall, her "friend" had left to go get help.
Uncle Bill lifted the boulder off her himself and carried her out on his back.
The next morning, Uncle Bill arose with the sun (as always) and went to his frig where the bottom shelf was always stocked with 7oz glass bottles of coke and commenced to drinking it to try and free some gas that had kept him up most of the night, when He looked at my Aunt and said that his arm hurt. When my Aunt went to call the Doc she heard him hit the floor in the kitchen.
Wasn't gas - the boulder weighed several hundred pounds and he had carried the woman several miles.
So, back-up.... for some reason several years before this happened one day (much like Forrest Gump) Uncle Bill decided He was going to start talking and Boy did he have a lot to say! He never shut up .... I guess until that morning.
Thank God, because I got to see a lot more of him and used to go stay at his house in the summer.
Those were special times. Taught me how to shoot ..... by throwing playing cards into a hat.
I used some of his "methods" many years later to teach long distance shooting and Soldiers How to throw hand grenades by playing catch (with baseballs).
Anyway...... Have stories about "Rob" too and How I came to love Hinderers!
 
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Cars, guns, watches and knives....It's all my dad's fault. From helping wrench on and wax my dad's BMW 2002 (red of course) and going on joy rides on the weekends. Learning how to shoot out in the high desert of California as a young boy and discovering the addiction of plinking with a good .22. Winding up his Seiko and listening to it tick (later moved on to swiss watches as he got promoted). To that first pocket knife my dad gave me as a young boy/cub scout and all the knives he picked up for me to add to my collection a kid...all my hobbies came from him and have really marked big events in my life since.

My 16th birthday present from dad: A 1971 Beetle that required weekly tlc to keep running on the weekends and taught me how to fix a car, keep it running and DEFINITELY taught me how to appreciate when I got my first RELIABLE car that even had AIR CONDITIONING!!! I took pride in building an engine for it that was so well balanced and tuned that you could set a glass of water on tip of the carburetor and it wouldn't spoil a drop.

18th birthday: Ruger 10/22 that I still shoot to this day.

HS Graduation gift: was putting on my tux for prom getting ready to pick up my date, dad told me a man needs a watch he can wear with anything. Gave me a Ventura auto with a capacitor instead of a main spring (always been a gadget geek).

When I got my first career level job at 19, I bought us both a benchmade knife we'd been admiring at the gun show a couple years prior. We both still have those knives in our collections though they're a little worse for wear.

The day I swore an oath and put on a badge for the first time, my dad gave a Ruger .22 match pistol (stainless) with a fluted barrel, slicked up trigger and rosewood grips holstered up in a custom leather rig. I've never lost my love for the .22.

I've been a gun/watch/knife collector my entire life and can't remember missing a San Diego auto show outside being out for training on the other side of the country one year.

My first duty knife was a benchmade....my latest is a spear point XM 3.5" Mr Hinderer and Mr Orlando were kind enough to sell me directly through their program.

I find myself looking at nothing other than Hinderer blades now.

I've got my sights set on my ultimate duty knife: the XM24 spanto. I'm embarrassed to say that I've actually broke the tip of a stout knife on duty before....prying. I was pulling dope out of a loaded car. Given I prefer a large knife and am prone to breaking things not manufactured to bomb proof proportions, I think that's going to be the perfect knife for me. I'll swap my spear point to off duty carry at that point.
 
IMO - Anyone that has been collecting for a couple years has only to see/touch a Hinderer and that is the "How I got hooked" story.

Here are my first two(2) that I bought before I ever knew any of the guys or even the forum AND my first Lottery Win (the FDE DLC 24). None of mine have ever BUT these three certainly will Never leave me. There are "stories" to these and as You may have been able to glean - I associate memories and stories to my Life and value that very much.
These knives brought me to this chapter and very greateful for that.

 
nice enjoyed reading your stories! :thumbup:

my dad and my grandfather (moms dad) brought me to knives and firearms - my dad collected knives since he was a kid - two of his uncles who worked at the same firearm and precision tool company that i had been trained at later on made stuff for him - a hand forged bowie knife and a revolver converted to .22 in particular - he still keeps telling me about those :) - unfortunately my dad sold all the cool stuff including some rare ww2 sabres and daggers when he was young... my moms dad was a several times national champion in pistol, rim fire pistol and airgun/pistol - he had a lot of guns and knives - he even had about 8 very exclusive 4inch hunting knives in the cutlery drawer so that everyone could have a sharp knife for food prep... everytime we visited he always gave me firearm books and catalogues and taught me about all kinds of firearms - he did not like any military style weapons though - he never told any stories about the war until a few years before his death where he revealed that he had been a sniper in the narvik regiment and had a hard time with some images/memories of that time - maybe thats why he did not like the same weapons as i do - always said: no - i dont like it - it looks to military...
 
You guys have some great influences in your lives, may the lessons pass on to future generations.
 
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