When did you first get into knives?

when I was 8-9 years old, I used to get these Johnson smith catalogs, they were out of Michigan, they sold gags ,novelties, had some cheap pocket knives, for 1.98 I bought an imperial 2 blade knife, which I still have,this is going back to 1972 just gravitated towards them, thought they were cool.
 
While I can't remember my first knife, I do remember that every man I knew wouldn't be caught without one. I went to flea markets with my grandpa alot when I was a kid, he bought me alot of knives, so maybe that was the beginning. I also had an uncle that gave me and my cousins knives for every Christmas and birthday. It was most likely my dad, he always carried a pocketknife (still does), and always had alot of knives for hunting/fishing/whatever. I do remember him teaching me how to properly sharpen a knife, a skill I'm very grateful to have.
But I really can't remember ever not having a knife.
 
I was into them at about the age of five, when I saw people sharpening pencils with them. Got my first one at the age of nine. It was a Webelos thing with blue jigged plastic.
 
Bought my very first knife in the second Grade which is when I started getting an allowance. It was all down hill from there. :D Actually, I really only ever had a couple knives up until I joined Blade Forums. BUT, I always had a knife from that time forward. Many years...
 
1971. A gift from my father. "Well, your starting first grade. I guess you need to carry a knife." It was some type of two blade Case.
 
When I was 3 I found a red vic classic on the ground at an amusement park, and my mom told me she'd be putting it away till I was old enough ( she still hasn't dug it out for me ).
I knew that if mom wouldn't let me have something then it must be awesome, and I've been fascinated with knives ever since 😁
 
I genuinely don't know when I first became infatuated with knives as it's further back than my memory goes. One of my earliest memories is from just after my 3rd birthday when I went to stay with my grandparents for a week. I got in trouble my second day there for stealing one of my Grandfather's knives out of the tool shed and whittling on a green twig I'd found. It must've been sometime before that.

That image would've set Twitter on fire today. A 3 year old playing with a knife. It couldn't have been the first time I'd used one either as I knew to cut away from myself already.
 
When I was 12 or 13 if not younger but here is the moment that I think really got me. My father for many years sold mostly firearms with a military background to collector's, hunters, or gunsmiths needing military Mauser action for custom builds. Along with that he would sell other types of firearms and at times other interesting military items. One time I was with him in the car to deliver a WWI Knuckle Duster trench knife to someone that had been looking for a really nice for over a year. I pleaded with my father to get him to sell the knife to me. Which I had a paper route and actually could have come up with the money. In fact I think I already had it. But my father refused citing my age and he felt my mother would kill us both. I think that is the moment and knife that really hooked me.
 
I first got into knives when I was probably four years old and walked with my dad squirrel hunting and he let me carry his Buck fixed blade. Then it just progressed more when I started looking through SMKW catalogs with him and he got me and my brother these small Kabar fixed blades (which I still have) and I was hooked.

Fast forward a several years and HK released a USP knife and I remember showing the SMKW catalog entry for it to my dad. My birthday rolled around and guess what I got haha. I still have it and I blame this knife for REALLY getting me into knives to the point I started learning about them and basically made it a hobby.

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Bought a tiny folder at Mt. Rushmore as a souvenir when I was around six or seven. Was in Scouts all of my childhood and a pocket knife was a given. Grew up in the 80's watching ninja movies so edged weapons always had an appeal. Martial arts stores filled with butterfly knives and katanas. Who could resist? Late teens and through my 20's knives were just tools I had. But later as the edc bug hit the interest rekindled. So pretty much for as long as I can remember.
 
My grandfather got my younger brother into knives at a young age when he would cut us up apples or be sharpening them in his recliner. I was always fascinated with the "freehand sharpening" process and how he did it.

He would always buy us a knife at a flea market or pull one out of his collection to give to us. Though most of them weren't the best of quality he did have some Case's and Boker's from back in the 50's and probably earlier.

I didn't actually start to buy more expensive knives until my brother talked me into buying a Spyderco Wayne Goddard olive green sprint run after he had a Tenacious and a PM2 and probably a Military.

So far we've expanded all the way up to Hinderer's and CRK. Don't know what the future holds though. I would love to start making my own
 
I had a Benchmade auto on me since I was young. But I did only have two knives and never did appreciate them. I started to really like them and appreciate them around 25ish. I have learned A LOT since then, as well as bought, sold, and traded tons of knives!! Amazing it has only been a little over 5 years since then! I went all the way up to high end customs, and worked my way back down to production, and my favorite, mid-techs and low priced yet quality customs.
 
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