Why are you fascinated with knives?

C

CuttnStuff

Joined
Nov 22, 2019
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75
I have been fascinated with knives since I was 8 or 9 years old. As if it was built into my DNA. It started with poorly built "jack knives" that I could buy for cheap in the 1970s at the local dime store - plastic scales, bad steels, bad mechanics. Regardless of quality, I treasured them as pocket fodder.

Many if not most people can take them or leave them. They see them as tools and aren't interested until they need one. I'll bet people come to you because they are pretty sure you have one in your pocket.

Now in my late 50s, I still get great enjoyment from knives, though maybe in a more measured way. I have a sizable collection of very nice folders. I like the innovative designs, lock mechanisms, action, handle and blade materials, etc. But at the end of the day, I think I just like knives no matter how you frame it.

What about you? Why do you like knives so much?
 
Knives, guns, flashlights, and multitools let us think that we have a little bit of control over our circumstances in this cold, dark world. Whether that is true is open to debate.

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For me there are several factors why I like, use, and collect knives.
1) knives are the oldest tool and I find the history and tradition interesting. I also admire how far evolution has taken them.
2) I like the hunt for better, more useful tools. That will perform better in a certain role.
3) My job and ethos require me to always be prepared. Having a knife on me makes me a more useful member of society.
4)I like art. I find more beauty in a piece of mechanical art that I can carry with me and use, than one I cannot.
5) I enjoy the skills of sharpening, modifying and knife making that are attached to the hobby. They give me useful skills to work at and improve.
6) They take up less space than cars, art, or guns. I try to be a minimalist where I can. Knives are my outlet.
7) I enjoy interacting and being a member of a niche, near cultlike, society. There are many great people in and around this hobby.
8)I have a addictive personality and knives are only damaging to my pocketbook not my health.
9) This hobby is pretty easy to get out of. If I ever had to sell off my stuff it would not be too difficult to do. Life is short, I like to keep my exit strategy visible.
 
Ape no knife, animal bite, scratche, eat Ape. Ape no like.

Ape knife, Ape cut, stab, eat animal.

Ape no knife, Ape no other tools....Ape sad, cold, hungry.

Ape knife, Ape other tools....Ape full, warm, happy....




Ape love knife......

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Aesthetics.

I like cars from the late 20’s early 30’s. I like monochromatic paintings. I like wrap around porches and arched doorways and windows. I like curves on...you know. I find them all aesthetically pleasing.
 
So, there are many reasons we like knives. Power/control, dark days, APE DNA, connection to our relatives/ancestors, addiction, they cut, stealth/concealed carry, hobby, job, skills, Ronald Reagan. Put those together and you have the human condition...;-)
 
Owen K. said:
For me there are several factors why I like, use, and collect knives.
1) knives are the oldest tool and I find the history and tradition interesting. I also admire how far evolution has taken them.
2) I like the hunt for better, more useful tools. That will perform better in a certain role.
3) My job and ethos require me to always be prepared. Having a knife on me makes me a more useful member of society.
4)I like art. I find more beauty in a piece of mechanical art that I can carry with me and use, than one I cannot.
5) I enjoy the skills of sharpening, modifying and knife making that are attached to the hobby. They give me useful skills to work at and improve.
6) They take up less space than cars, art, or guns. I try to be a minimalist where I can. Knives are my outlet.
7) I enjoy interacting and being a member of a niche, near cultlike, society. There are many great people in and around this hobby.
8)I have a addictive personality and knives are only damaging to my pocketbook not my health.
9) This hobby is pretty easy to get out of. If I ever had to sell off my stuff it would not be too difficult to do. Life is short, I like to keep my exit strategy visible.
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Excellent points.
 
Fascinated? Pfffttt... I haven't been fascinated with a knife in my 20 years at BFC or the decades before I joined.

Haven't been fascinated with the hundreds of knives that have passed through my hands, ain't fascinated with the dozens I currently own either.

Really don't know what the hell you are talking about.
 
I don't carry a cell phone, or most other stuff , on my person at most all times .

I do carry: at least one knife and usually 3 ; A lighter or other means to make fire ; One or more flashlights ; and Usually a firearm .

I believe these represent primal concerns for survival , obsessive on a deep instinctual level, courtesy of our species evolution .
 
I know exactly where my fascination with knives came from-

1. My grandfather carried a pocket knife and used it for all manner of tasks. I once saw him fix a neighbors car with his pocket knife. I was fascinated with the idea of carrying a little tool around in ones pocket that could be used to fix and make things. I saw a knife as something "powerful", a means to change the world around me in ways that could make my life better and easier (isn't that exactly what any tool is).

I would have been thrilled beyond description if I could of had a Leatherman Squirt P4 when I was a kid (they didn't exist back then). This is something I think about every time I handle mine.

2. My uncle was the epitome of "cool" in my young eyes. He was a hard-core biker who ran with a rough crowd. During the time I knew him he carried a few different Italian stiletto switchblades. Those knives were the first knives specifically designed as weapons that I ever saw. I was fascinated with the idea of knives designed exclusively as weapons, particularly folding knives because they could be carried in ones pocket. I saw my uncles knives as dark, sinister, and taboo. And what little boy isn't drawn to the "dark" things in life.

I was allowed to have knives as a kid, but my mother didn't want me to have any that she considered to be "weapons". So naturally when mom didn't want me to have something it made it even more taboo, and made me want it even more.

As a child I carried my "treasures" around in my pockets. My pockets were a place to keep my secrets. So pocket knives, knives that could be carried in ones pocket, were especially fascinating to me. A pocket knife was always one of the treasures I carried in my pocket, and I liked the idea that other people didn't know I had it, my little secret.

I'm 51 now, and my grandfather and uncle are both long dead. But my childhood memories of those two men are still two of the strongest influences in my interest in knives today.

The other influence is the mischievous and adventurous little boy that I was, the one who just thought knives were cool, liked to carry them, and looked for any reason to use one.
 
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