Why do you like knives?

USMCPOP said:
A knife is one of the very basic, ancient tools. Don't need moving parts, just a business end and another to hold on to. The design can express a need and/or a style and execution ranges from utilitarian to high art.

I have a bunch of knives I've accumulated in my 62 years. Mostly nothing fancy, but I probably have a hundred or so. I have also a buttload of hammers. Much like knives that don't need sharpening. There was one guy somewhere on the east cost U.S. that collected many thousands of hammers. Every shape and variant he could find. I don't think he had any fancy hammers, but they are around.

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Many years ago in Thailand, we had a flood in a small town where I lived for a time. My mother-in-law decided to slaughter a pig for food. The guy butchering it needed a knife. I said I had one and he promptly laughed that off (silly foreigner). Reached in my backpack and pulled out a Hmong hill tribe knife with about a 12" blade, shaving sharp. The pointy kind. Made short work of that hog, for sure. Pork fried rice for everybody!
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I also love hammers, nothing fancy but I love them.
I love the fact that a hammer was basically the first tool ever, I also love how much you can do with for how simple they are . I also like that they progressed as far as they will ever need to about 100 yes ago, or whenever the framing hammer was created.
Solid steel or synthetic handles are pointless.
 
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Why do I like knives ? ? ?
What's not to like ? ? ?
That's like saying why do I like women. Well not EXACTLY like that but . . .

I like them because they are magical little molecule splitters (come on now lets not get too literal but you know what I mean).
They are shiny, they have cool textures and colors . . . they hold an attraction for ME, personally, because they are made out of metal, various high tech metals no less AND I LOVE ANYTHING MADE OUT OF METAL . . . good metal well crafted.

I like the the technical aspects of them and the fact that just when I think I know something about all that I learn there is a great deal more to be discovered that I don't know.

I like the challenge of sharpening and having finally fairly well mastered it . . . meaning I can create edges that do what I want them to do and make me smile while I am doing it (not that I could not learn a lot more; circle back to my previous comment).

I like their mystery. Some people will never GET knives and their uses . . . for them it is just a fearful thing like electricity. I didn't use to GET either one and now I can use both with safety and confidence. It's physics but as I always say if a person wants to see the great book of Merlin and learn the secrets of the universe of magic, real magic, then they should go open a physics book and there it ALLLLLLL is.

And finally . . . well . . . when I was a little kid I used to take some little bits of junk from my junk pile at home and put them in my pocket to take to school. Some times the bits of junk when combined did stuff. Useful stuff. Some times they just held my imagination and led me to a nice little fantasy. In any case it was one hell of a lot more interesting than anything I would be doing during the school day so it was my pocket size hit of something to help me get through the stifling boredom. Not that I don't love books and learning but I want to learn what I want to learn when I want to learn it.

Anyway now the pocket knives kind of full fill that same pocket size hit of something well crafted, interesting, even brilliant and artistic in a day full of backwardness and pettiness. I know there are jobs that are not that way and I have had jobs that are quite interesting but these days . . . nah dude, nah.

I say thank Bob for the pocket knife.

my mediocre, short existence in this world.
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I have given some away, mostly to deck hands.
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That doesn't seem like a mediocre existence to me. I would say that was exceptional behavior. Commendable.
 
I'm a "fidgeter" always seem to have a need to be doing something. Can't just sit and watch tv. I figured if I'm always carrying something to fidget with it might as well be something useful! Not a day goes by that I don't use a knife for something, although I'm sure many times I could make do without one. But then again slicing open a bag of chips is much more satisfying than tearing it open. After 25+ years of carrying/collecting I've gained a real appreciation for a quality knife, design and build.
 
When I accidentally leave my knife behind, I miss it. Granted it's usually after I'm underway in my car that I notice it missing from my pocket. If the trip is short, to the store or whatever, that's okay. If I'm going somewhere all day or more, I'll turn around and get it. The heft of my SAK Explorer Plus always feels reassuring at the bottom of my front pocket. I just know I'm up to most any situation that could arise when it's there.
It's not that I 'like' knives. I like a good book, great music, and Italian food. A knife just doesn't go in the category of 'like' as much as it's something that is needed when it's needed. When not needed, it's there ready to be needed. I can think of no other tool that can be so discretely ready and so valuable when available.
 
When I accidentally leave my knife behind, I miss it. Granted it's usually after I'm underway in my car that I notice it missing from my pocket
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I hate when that happens :mad:
 
spyderg,
I'm a bit of a fidgeter myself. I practically live in my garage looking for something to do. About the only time I sit is when my Texas Rangers are on the radio and I'm perusing BF or reading. Rangers are on:D

bt93,
I hear ya brother, I need a knife. Can't imagine not having a blade on me, even if it's just to open a bag of chips:thumbup: Been carrying a knife for more than 40 years. It's like walking out the door without my pants on, I feel naked.

To answer the OP, what I really like about knives is the diversity of designs and materials.

And I don't like being naked in public :eek:
 
bt93 said:
When I accidentally leave my knife behind, I miss it. Granted it's usually after I'm underway in my car that I notice it missing from my pocket. If the trip is short, to the store or whatever, that's okay. If I'm going somewhere all day or more, I'll turn around and get it.
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I've done that a few times, even if it's a short trip. My kids laughed it off and even checked for theirs. The ex would just give me 'the look'.


It's not that I 'like' knives. I like a good book, great music, and Italian food. A knife just doesn't go in the category of 'like' as much as it's something that is needed when it's needed. When not needed, it's there ready to be needed. I can think of no other tool that can be so discretely ready and so valuable when available.
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I see what you're trying to say but above and beyond all that I just love knives. I often look for things to cut/carve just to have an excuse to use my knives.
 
I work in logistics. I'm a manager now, and don't really do a lot of the grunt work anymore... But anytime it needs to be done, it's comforting to know I don't have to reach for a cheap, dirty boxcutter. Call me vain, but in a field like mine where knives are needed a lot, I like having a "cool knife". I've always had style, and that extends to my cutting tool of choice.

Then there's the worrier in me. The little voice inside who says "you should probably carry a knife, just in case". Just in case of what? A surprisingly large amount of things, it turns out. My folder in my pocket is my security blanket, my insurance policy. Too extreme? I dunno. I definitely feel safer when I have a knife on me.
 
As a kid, I was way too into fantasy novels (Tolkien, Moorcock, Lieber, etc.) and sword and sorcery stuff (D&D), so of course I wanted a sword. Being a kid, however, also means no job or income and parents who are understandably reluctant to get their 10 year old a hand and a half bastard sword. So I saved up and got the junk kids can afford, occasionally finding something real at a flea market (read: once). Fast forward to present day - swords are impractical, but folding knives are useful. It took me a while to discover that while I like larger blades, they aren't practical if you have to pull your pants up every time you stand up, which is why I think the 3.5" - 4" folder is the most popular size.
 
Hey fella, I work for kirby. Currently ride on the Athena, captain has got the tillers wrapped in leather. Perfect to strop my red bone gec 77 hj on! Take care and be safe
 
Comeuppance said:
As the son of an engineer and the second child, I had a strong drive to gain acceptance from my dad and in the process gained a lot of appreciation for quality tools. Folding knives got me initially with the gadget factor, and I was much more focused on the "tactical" nature of knives when I was but a knife pup.

Over the years, I've come to appreciate the utility more than anything else. My tastes have broadened considerably and there are fewer and fewer varieties of knives that I dislike as time goes on. I would have assumed my tastes would narrow over time - and they seemed to for a short while - but I now carry practically every style of knife, often all at once: slipjoint, locking, fixed, and automatic.

It's a luxury I afford myself through careful trades, purchases, and sales. I'll wait for just the right price, trade towards something more desirable so I can sell it and get what I actually want, scour eBay with my seventy-eight saved eBay searches, scan Amazon to see if the price has taken a sudden plunge ($120 Master Tanto in 3V! Miracles do happen), etc

Not having a local knife store of any worth, it's all I can do to get knives in my hand to see if I actually like them. The upside of that predicament is that I have new stuff coming to me all the time which makes for about a hundred Christmases a year!

On a day-to-day basis, I use knives for general EDC tasks, and have more robust knives for work (retail) - I now have dedicated self-defense knives for the very first time for when I am walking my dog. Lots of aggressive strays - I had to pick one up and throw one to the ground to get it to stop attacking my dog, but a larger dog or a more relentless one would require more severe measures...

I don't spend nearly as much time fondling knives as I used to now that I'm on anxiety medication (buspirone is legit) so I don't need them as worry-stones like I used to, but I still have well more than I need and have no inclination to stop. I honestly am struggling to pinpoint what it is I like about knives, to be honest. I have a use for them, and I like them, but the specifics are nebulous to me as you can tell by my meandering post.
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Very interesting post. I am also the second child and I always just took knives for granted that I liked them. I've ALWAYS liked them. Maybe there was an underlying reason because my Dad always carried a pocket knife?? I pretty much like them all to some degree, even ones I won't buy or consider buying.... karmabits are an example.

I know I am a gadget freak and always have been. Gadgets don't have to be expensive. My wife knows it and lets me play.

One of my helpers had all his tools stolen (or most of them). It was disabling. I can relate.

The big question is WHY??? Don't really have a truly good reason other than I would feel lost without my knife.

And... WHY so many? The only answer I have that goes back to my formative years is I grew up poor and never had the things I wanted until I was an adult. A good example is socks and underware...... never had enough as a kid and they frequently were essentially worn out. Now, well, I suspect I could go for a couple months without doing the laundry if I really wanted to wearing clean stuff every day.
 
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I just like knives because I like to be a minimalist. Sure scissors cut things, but they aren't practical to carry and knives and cut more things than scissors. Also you can use knives for so many other things besides cutting.
 
I like knives because scissors are too far away and my hands are normally too cut up to break zip ties by hand when I'm out somewhere. Damn car keeps my hands beat up.


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Knives are the most versatile tool that can be carried without being noticed until you need it.

When you've had one on you for many years, all the time, and it's become an indispensable tool that you have relied on for all kinds of tasks, the respect it earns is what turned this into a hobby for me....
 
I buy some just to use as tools and others I buy because they're beautiful works of art and engineering.

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