Just curious, what made you start collecting knives and learning about them? I think Im attracted to them because there are so many different types, makes, models, etc. and they each have a different use. They are as varied as cars, people, etc. so they are fun and easy to collect.
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Why do you enjoy knives?
- Thread starter Goatman88
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Well, for me, my Mom got me interested in knives. Knives to me, are useable art! The designs of the handles, the blade shape, it is just amazing to me!! What folks can do with metal just amazes me!! I just really appreciate the work that someone puts into designing and creating a knife. I just LOVE knives!!
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I love them because I know how useful and important they are, the more you learn about them the more obsessed you get.
It's genetic. My Grandfather always kept a cigar box of knives that he would show us kids. He also gave me my first pocketknife.
Since then I've always loved knives, starting with small slipjoints and later expanding my horizons to include hunters, bayonets, khukris, and anything else with a blade and handle.
-Bob
Since then I've always loved knives, starting with small slipjoints and later expanding my horizons to include hunters, bayonets, khukris, and anything else with a blade and handle.
-Bob
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- Feb 21, 2005
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- 2,662
My love of knives arose out of my need for one. My grandfather started me on this insanity 18 years ago when he put a Buck 110 in my hand and taught me to use it.
From that moment on, when we were fishing, or doing something that needed a knife, I had one. It just became second nature to have the knife.
Back then there were only two knives in my collection, that 110 and a Camillus Stockman. I still have both... the 110 is in excellent condition for its age (made in 1973) and considering that it was given to a six year old (me) in 1987; the Camillus is a little worse for wear... one of the scale pins is long gone and the backspring on the main blade has no snap left (with enough force you can wrist flick the main blade open). The other two blades walk and talk like it was made yesterday and all three are still wicked sharp.
I think using knives as tools early on has led me into a more utilitarian mode of collecting. I only buy knives that I know will get used. So I've never been interested in the cheap fantasy knives or in the insanely expensive art knives (sure, they're nice to look at, but I wouldn't use one). A custom, working slipjoint is probably in my future somewhere, however.
From that moment on, when we were fishing, or doing something that needed a knife, I had one. It just became second nature to have the knife.
Back then there were only two knives in my collection, that 110 and a Camillus Stockman. I still have both... the 110 is in excellent condition for its age (made in 1973) and considering that it was given to a six year old (me) in 1987; the Camillus is a little worse for wear... one of the scale pins is long gone and the backspring on the main blade has no snap left (with enough force you can wrist flick the main blade open). The other two blades walk and talk like it was made yesterday and all three are still wicked sharp.
I think using knives as tools early on has led me into a more utilitarian mode of collecting. I only buy knives that I know will get used. So I've never been interested in the cheap fantasy knives or in the insanely expensive art knives (sure, they're nice to look at, but I wouldn't use one). A custom, working slipjoint is probably in my future somewhere, however.
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2005
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- 27
I ran out of room to store my guns 
Knives seem more personal for me. I can chose or change my EDC depending on what I'm doing or where I'm going. I get a great deal of satisfaction looking at my knives, coveting others knives and spending time on the various forums reading and learning.
Traderdell
Knives seem more personal for me. I can chose or change my EDC depending on what I'm doing or where I'm going. I get a great deal of satisfaction looking at my knives, coveting others knives and spending time on the various forums reading and learning.Traderdell
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- Dec 27, 2004
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- 1,500
In my case, there were three people or things that sent me down this enjoyable but expensive path....
It started with my grandfather, affectionately known in my clan as "Pop". My parents were Mr. and Mrs. Suburbia; it was Pop who took me into the woods, taught me to fish, taught me to shoot, and taught me that a gentleman should never leave the house without a good, sharp knife in his pocket. Without my parents knowing, he gave me my first knife: an old Scout pattern, with a bail to tie an old hiking-boot lace to, so I wouldn't lose it. Never let my parents see it, of course, but I never went into the woods without it. He also leant me several of his own knives from time to time, mostly Schrade Old Timers or the occasional Swiss Army knife; to this day, the feel of saw-cut brown Delrin reminds me how much I miss ol' Pop.
I lost track of that scout knife eventually*; when I got to high school and got a job, I got me a Schrade LB7, a big, ungainy half-pound of steel and brass and rosewood which seemed to me a more "grown up knife". Never took it to school, of course, but by the time I went to college, I was rarely without it. But other than occasionally lusting after a Buck 109 that I could never justify buying, that was the extent of my interest in knives at the time.
The second influence was a guy I worked with in California, another young aerospace engineer fresh outta school, also working on Weapons of Mass Destruction. He was Filipino, raised in Alaska (his dad was military), and quite the outdoorsman, at least to a sheltered suburbanite like me. He was my main shooting buddy in those days, and he rarely went anywhere without the Spyderco Endura he bought the first year they came out. To a guy like me who was used to those old Schrades, it was one butt-ugly knife. But the engineer in me could see the advantages of the one-hand opening hole, the pocket clip, and the serrated blade. I shortly got one just like his, and put the LB7 out to pasture**. In fact, I was so satisfied with it, and the smaller Delica I bought a while later, that I didn't even look at other knives again for many years.
Then came the Internet...
About five years ago, I found an old Buck Bucklite lockback folder in the parking lot at the mall. I didn't know anything about it, so I started searching the internet for similar knives... and suddenly found out what the knife industry had been up to since I bought that Delica! So many designs, such incredible materials... and since I already had an eBay account for buying computer parts, I naturally started looking for knives...
The rest, as they say, is history.
(*A couple years ago, my grandmother gave me a pile of rusty old knives she found in an old toolbox; among them was that old scout knife! I must've left it over at their house one time when I got older, and forgot about it. Anyway, about a year ago I went at it full-bore with Naval Jelly and a brass brush until I could make out the tang stamp: it was a Case! And since Pop had told me that it had once belonged to his Dad, it's gotta be well over 60 years old. I got out the wet-or-dry sandpaper and cleaned it up as well as I could, and it's still a fine knife, even with the pits and dings and dents. I even EDC it once in a while.)
(** I still have that old LB7, although the backspring is quite worn, so it sticks up at the back when the blade is open. I still have the Endura, too, although the Delica got lost somewhere along the way...)
It started with my grandfather, affectionately known in my clan as "Pop". My parents were Mr. and Mrs. Suburbia; it was Pop who took me into the woods, taught me to fish, taught me to shoot, and taught me that a gentleman should never leave the house without a good, sharp knife in his pocket. Without my parents knowing, he gave me my first knife: an old Scout pattern, with a bail to tie an old hiking-boot lace to, so I wouldn't lose it. Never let my parents see it, of course, but I never went into the woods without it. He also leant me several of his own knives from time to time, mostly Schrade Old Timers or the occasional Swiss Army knife; to this day, the feel of saw-cut brown Delrin reminds me how much I miss ol' Pop.
I lost track of that scout knife eventually*; when I got to high school and got a job, I got me a Schrade LB7, a big, ungainy half-pound of steel and brass and rosewood which seemed to me a more "grown up knife". Never took it to school, of course, but by the time I went to college, I was rarely without it. But other than occasionally lusting after a Buck 109 that I could never justify buying, that was the extent of my interest in knives at the time.
The second influence was a guy I worked with in California, another young aerospace engineer fresh outta school, also working on Weapons of Mass Destruction. He was Filipino, raised in Alaska (his dad was military), and quite the outdoorsman, at least to a sheltered suburbanite like me. He was my main shooting buddy in those days, and he rarely went anywhere without the Spyderco Endura he bought the first year they came out. To a guy like me who was used to those old Schrades, it was one butt-ugly knife. But the engineer in me could see the advantages of the one-hand opening hole, the pocket clip, and the serrated blade. I shortly got one just like his, and put the LB7 out to pasture**. In fact, I was so satisfied with it, and the smaller Delica I bought a while later, that I didn't even look at other knives again for many years.
Then came the Internet...
About five years ago, I found an old Buck Bucklite lockback folder in the parking lot at the mall. I didn't know anything about it, so I started searching the internet for similar knives... and suddenly found out what the knife industry had been up to since I bought that Delica! So many designs, such incredible materials... and since I already had an eBay account for buying computer parts, I naturally started looking for knives...
The rest, as they say, is history.
(*A couple years ago, my grandmother gave me a pile of rusty old knives she found in an old toolbox; among them was that old scout knife! I must've left it over at their house one time when I got older, and forgot about it. Anyway, about a year ago I went at it full-bore with Naval Jelly and a brass brush until I could make out the tang stamp: it was a Case! And since Pop had told me that it had once belonged to his Dad, it's gotta be well over 60 years old. I got out the wet-or-dry sandpaper and cleaned it up as well as I could, and it's still a fine knife, even with the pits and dings and dents. I even EDC it once in a while.)
(** I still have that old LB7, although the backspring is quite worn, so it sticks up at the back when the blade is open. I still have the Endura, too, although the Delica got lost somewhere along the way...)
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My grandfathers were knife collectors. I think they're really fun to flick open. They're pretty useful. I really like the engineering.
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If you want to hear something really creepy, I have a little fetish. Go get a 91 mm SAK, open the main blade (your SAK better have plain red handles, otherwise you lose), flip the knife so you're looking at the side that's against the handle (logo side down). Something about that view of SAK's makes me tingly.
Anyway, I love taking stuff apart and at least trying to fix stuff, so carrying a SAK is very nice. And single-blade folders and fixed blades get to take on the heavy cutting, and it's also like owning a Volkswagen to get inexpensive precision and performance (SAK) for everyday utility, but keeping a Mustang (Delica etc.) in the garage for some fun.
And there's something satisyfing about sleeping next to your cherished collection of sharp jewlery
Anyway, I love taking stuff apart and at least trying to fix stuff, so carrying a SAK is very nice. And single-blade folders and fixed blades get to take on the heavy cutting, and it's also like owning a Volkswagen to get inexpensive precision and performance (SAK) for everyday utility, but keeping a Mustang (Delica etc.) in the garage for some fun.
And there's something satisyfing about sleeping next to your cherished collection of sharp jewlery
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- Nov 19, 2004
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- 236
Tradition. A knife is one of the oldest tools of our species.
Even a human from 50,000 years ago, if shown a modern steel knife, would have understood immediately what it was and what it was useful for. Even if he could not understand a word you said. He would like modern improvements in materials but the basic concept would be the same.
Even a human from 50,000 years ago, if shown a modern steel knife, would have understood immediately what it was and what it was useful for. Even if he could not understand a word you said. He would like modern improvements in materials but the basic concept would be the same.
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- Feb 21, 2005
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NeedleRemorse said:
Because in that position, the poor little thing is vulnerable and it needs you to look after it. I bet if you asked nicely, it would call you daddy and maybe let you put the tweezers where the toothpick is supposed to go.
I'll stop before this treads across the W&C line... but you get the idea.
My passion first started a while back when my uncle used to buy alot of knives, although none of them were any good...Mostly cheap china mades and rip-off brands, but when i was little one day i found a box of them he had left at my grandfathers and found a switchblade in it...i started playing with it and found it really cool. From then i was fond of knives and as i got older and got more into fishing and camping and other outdoor activities i found it the most useful all around tool and ive been hooked from their.
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I can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in knives. I enjoy their aesthetic quailities and appreciate how functional and useful they are. I also appreciate the technology, research and trial and error that goes into making a quality knife. I'm into customs now, and I enjoy owning something that someone spent so much time and effort learning how to make.
