Definitely a lot of threads seeking recommendations or people seeking opinions on the knife they just purchased. As someone mentioned, they are mostly seeking validation. Knife purchases tend to be plagued by buyer's remorse.
I think some of the purchasers need to be "propped up" after they get their new wonder knife. Their lives didn't really change any; their hair is still thinning, they can't hike any further than they used to, splitting wood isn't nearly as fast as with an axe, the knife is a little bigger than you thought, no one else seems to be "aroused" like you are when you pull your knife out (in fact the all famous nemesis of BF, the dreaded "sheeple" may even make fun of how much you spent), the knife isn't perfect like every single other person you read about that has that knife and in fact has a couple of nagging problems just short of causing you to send it back, and you can't find enough
useful things to use the knife on to qualify buying it.
Sure, you can pull that handsome big boy out of your pocket and open your mail, cut a string, and yup, cut that sandwich right in two at lunch. No more messy letter openers, simply pulling a string, or using a plastic knife for your lunch. And yet, it still seems unsatisfying. You have to think sometimes... "man... did I really need S30V or Elmax to cut up an apple or my son's shoe lace?".
Worse, while fondling your new 8" bladed log splitting ultimate survival knife, you see on the news where a 9 year old Boy Scout lived in the woods with one piece of gum, some Pop Tarts, and drank stream water and ate a few bugs until he was found. No knife needed. But, you get some happiness out of knowing that if
you were lost, you could have made a shelter. Then you think to yourself you need to put "practice shelter making" on your to do list. Then you read on the subject a bit and realize that having a great knife has almost nothing to do with survival and rescue. Nuts.
Finally, you realize how little you actually use your knife. Sure you substitute it for tasks that might be well suited to other tools (like the guys that go to restaurants and use their knives to cut their meat) and you do open those heavily taped FedEx boxes, but over all, you find yourself being careful with the new knife. So when it goes woods walking, or camping you carefully use it so it doesn't have to go to the spa. After you get it good and dirty, you take some quick pics for BF, then run in and clean it up as quickly as possible. After all, it cost more than any of the other knives you have and you can't risk any damage to it! This was a big decision; when could you afford another one? So you carry your old knives too, for those dirty tasks that might come up.
Then when carrying your old knives, you realize that all knives do pretty much the same thing... ouch...
Robert
