What was your "gateway" knife?

Well, I bought a CRKT Point Guard to replace a Gerber bolt action that got stolen, but it wasn't till I bought a Benchmade Griptilian 550 that I started really getting into knives. Its been an addiction ever since.
 
I'd have to credit/blame the Kershaw Blur for this. Before that, I accrued maybe ten knives (couple of SAKs, a S&W, couple of Gerbers, a Leatherman, a Schrade slipjoint, and a Rigid lock-back). Since then, I've picked up several dozen.
 
Old timer Scharade Stockman Medium (old USA made carbon steel one) My dad bought it for me when I was a little kid.
 
Spyderco Caly 3, I had a Endura in the 90s but never thought much of it. Once I saw the quality of the Caly I was hooked
 
Mine was a Spyderco Combo edge delica in ZDP-189 with the british racing green handles. It was my first nice folder, and i got it at like $43 shipped from knifeworks.
 
Mine was a knife that doesn't get much respect. The CRKT Hammond Cruiser. I bought it at a knife shop in a mall. And I think I paid $75 for it about 10 years ago. Breaking that knife was what brought me to bladeforums in the first place, I wanted to buy ONE, yep just one, good knife at a good price. And here we are...
 
My first kabar was the first non china pos knife that got me into it, then I got a para 2, carried it for a little over a year everyday (its still a top choice in the rotation) didnt buy anything all that great until I got a delica 4 and a tenacious, been a spydie nut mostly since then (theres so many awesome knives out there it drives me crazy that I cant have them all though) but I buy something new every week haha
 
My first quality knife was a Case skinner that my dad sent me for Christmas when he was in Viet Nam. The next year I bought a Puma Game Warden for hunting. Still have both knives.

My first introduction to "modern knives" was a Spyderco Dragonfly I bought in the early 90's - been hooked on Spydies ever since.
 
I'd have to say that the Randall #11 my wife bought me for Christmas about 25 years back, was the start of my addiction.
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Before I knew about Benchmade and Spyderco was a "white whale", I was big into Gerber and Winchester.
And then Kershaw.
And then I got a Cold Steel for Christmas.
And then I bought a Griptilian.
And then a Native 5.
And lastly my Adamas.

I eased into it.
But that Cold Steel is my "expensive breakout".
 
For me it was a Spyderco Delica in the early 90's. Then nothing (EDC one of the old Gerber Multi-Pliers) for a very long time until I found the Delica in the bottom of a bag. That led to a couple of inexpensive "do I like an Axis-lock" SRM test knives and then to the Benchmade 943 I'm still carrying and (indirectly thanks to this forum) the Murray Carter neck knife I wear evenings and weekends.

My wish list has waxed and waned in size over two years of research but I tended to jump from cheap test pieces right to exactly what I wanted and stuck with it so I don't have a drawer full of unused or rotation knives.

Though I couldn't resist preordering a Wilder Forge Necker when I spotted that thread a week ago. My justification being that I'm still too in love with my Carter to take it camping and risk losing it. :-)
 
Whilst I always had SAKs as a scout and in the army, my first locking one handed opener was a 1st generation Delica. But the problems started when I got an ATS-34 Benchmade Mini Ascent and a Cold Steel small Voyager and realized there were options ....... I'm guessing it is 20 years later and I'm still looking at the options ..............
 
I've had knives for as long as I can remember, and always loved them going through scouts; then one day I told myself I'd drop $100 on a nice knife and not have to buy another one for years. I picked up a black manix2 in 154CM and I've dropped several hundred dollars on knives since. I should really go to meetings.
 
It was a Gerber Chamileon II. Something my dad got me in high school....no looking back since then.
 
I was 8 years old and bent a paper clip into a U shape and stuck it in an outlet.... that's when I got a vision of a black knife, not knowing at the time what it all meant.... I bought an ontario rd4 about 6 years ago and from there it's been Becker and esee and kabars
 
I saved and bought a Leatherman in 7th grade. 1990. I had a few cheapo folders but that Leatherman was the bees knees. In high school I bought a Boker canoe knife. There was a series of other knives and i became more and more interested in all around quality and design. When I joined Bladeforums in 2001 I bought a Sm Sebenza. That is "the" one that really fueled the fire.
 
SOG Pentagon Elite back in oh 1998 I think. ATS-34, liner lock. Then a SOG mini X-RAY Vision. Lost the Pentagon, but the X-RAY served me well for a while. Finally decided last month to buy some new knives.
 
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