Why do you love knives?

I have been interested in knives for as long or longer than anything else. I don't know why knives appeal to me, but they contain numerous interesting features.

Right now my passion in knives is folding knives that I can carry and use every day. Some of their interesting points are:

Knives are useful tools that we can carry and use everyday.
There is an element of style or art in them, I pick knives that appeal to me visually even though other knives might function just as well.
Knives are high tech manufactured items. They use uncommon steel, shaped or ground into their final shape. The mechanism is usually fairly intricate.


At times in the past I have collected handmade hunting knives. I look at them even more as art, crafted through the work of a craftsman's hands.
 
Craftsmanship. Design. Engineering. Ergonomics. Functionality. Security. Utility. Safety. Aesthetics.

It's all there in a relatively simple, age old tool. It's like asking why do you like fire - but in a different way... if you know what I mean. :confused:
 
It's one example of perfection in metal. Of course, they're not perfect, but I enjoy the metallic design, handiwork, and engineering of knives. In fixed blades, I enjoy the various steels and the beauty to be found in the hardwood handles; particularly the burls. And, after all that, sometimes I need a cutting tool.
 
agile_1 said:
Craftsmanship. Design. Engineering. Ergonomics. Functionality. Security. Utility. Safety. Aesthetics.

It's all there in a relatively simple, age old tool. It's like asking why do you like fire - but in a different way... if you know what I mean. :confused:
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I think I know what you mean.

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With a knife in my I feel complete. The fact that are quality defense weapons double as tools in our pockets is amazing to me. Plus they don't run out of bullets (;
 
I can't really say I love my knives, but I carry them with trust and confidence that they are there to do the deeds I may need to do. I look at them simply as tools. One of them is used for utility work. One of them is a strong side fighting knife, and the other is a support side fighting knife - both have factory edges on them because they haven't been used in a fight, yet. I keep my strong side clipped to a pocket, while the support side is on a belt. Training has shown me to keep multiple knives at various parts of the body, as you may find yourself unable to access one or other depending on the situation. I also carry a Glock 19 which is my main EDC weapon.
 
Because it is the oldest known tool of mankind and I can solve many problems with my knife. That is all. Now back to my coffee.:-)
 
oic0 said:
Somewhere in the back of my brain is a primitive human bit that sees value in tools and weapons. Knives have been a human tool long enough that they have their own special designation. Its just sort of built in. Curvy women, knives, guns, fast toys, etc... These aren't things I had to learn to like. The instinct to like them was built in.
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Yeah, I like that one. The archetypal tool, that's it.

Chimps used clubs. Primitive man added knives and claiming your own curvy woman. They've been around long enough to be part of the collective unconscious.

Ahh, to be Jung again.



 
It's an accessory that I can tinker with, and it happens to be sharp and can cut. Much like my watch that's an accessory that happens to tell time. I live in the city and I don't even have letters to open anymore, everything is electronic; my knife hasn't cut a thing in weeks but I still carry it around.
 
It began when I was 5 years old and even though I'm over 60,I remember the day vividly. I was with my Father in the high country along side a river that was froze over with ice. He was busy making a fire as I was playing below on the banks of the river. He shouted out,stay off the river bank!! Well I didn't listen and continued playing on the bank when I heard a CRACK sound and found myself up to my neck in freezing water hanging on to the ice.I yelled out for help as my body was going horizontal from the swift water below the ice while I hung on for dear life.Just as I was about to lose my grip,my Father extended a sapling over the ice for me to grab onto and he pulled me out. He had quickly found a sapling and cut it with his knife.I learned MANY things that day including the importance of a knife.After a well deserved ass whipping :o I could hardly wait to own a knife of my own someday.
 
Good question.

Knives, to me, are man's most essential hand tool and are a symbol of hardship, civilization, and good honest work. I also have an attraction to them that I just can't explain. I like having them with me. I like using them. I like sharpening them. I like just holding them in my hand, comparing ergonomics, and cutting with different types of knives.
 
My first knife was given to me when i was 12 years old by my grandmother who had found a G96 910 on the side of the road my father didn't agreed to much at first but due that it was is mother he had no choice to let me have it and since then my love for knife grown up with me and now i collect folding knife.
 
davek14 said:
Yeah, I like that one. The archetypal tool, that's it.

Chimps used clubs. Primitive man added knives and claiming your own curvy woman. They've been around long enough to be part of the collective unconscious.

Ahh, to be Jung again.
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Love your pic. Interesting tool combo. Excellent; ready to go hiking.
 
i love using precisely manufactured tools - be it knives, firearms etc - i am a trained toolmaker and gunsmith as were several other members of my family (although i am currently only designing/drawing parts)

it just feels good to just hold a high quality knife or pistol - it is something i cant explain :)
 
i think knives are filling in the void of not having a woman in my life at this time. if i was alot more busy i wouldn't be worrying about what knife to carry on a particular day. :confused:
 
Knives are just another facet of my multiple outdoor interests. No interest is less than the other, some are seasonal, many dovetail with each other. Barely dragging my cold, wet, clothes torn semi lost body out of the Boreal at dusk with a button compass once really shook me. Maybe it was time to be less complacent about my outdoor romps, skills and tools. I remember trying to strain the back swimmers out of the tea coloured bog water that I was guzzling.... not cool.
 
I like the ingenuity in folders, the simplicity in fixed blades and the craftsmanship that brings it all together.

I am mechanically-minded and an outdoorsman. My dad was in the military and used a knife in that life and his civilian jobs (and still does) and gifted me knives from early on. So I suppose I got it honest and there's no hope left for me now!
 
I come from a very firearm friendly family and knives were tools that my Dad, Grandpa and Uncles carried. I got my first knife when I was around six, and when I started getting allowance, doing yardwork and delivering papers I always saved to buy knives. Also, back then carrying a small pocket knife or even a Buck 110 was not frowned upon and did not get Homeland Security involved. I love knives because they have always been a part of my life.
 
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