Why do you love knives?

S

SycoticSamurai

Joined
Jun 29, 1999
Messages
267
My answer is that I can't quite figure it out. I've always had a fascination with edged weapons, is it genetic?

Joe
 
Knives are primal.

Whoever figured out how to put an edge on a suitable rock, on purpose, perhaps to peel the fruit of the tree of knowledge, separated us from the other apes, making it possible for us to alter nature.

Knives are also the smallest and weakest of the traditional weapons of war, but they are much much more that that.


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
I don't think knives are genetic because nobody in my family likes knives but me. I like knives because they are cool and useful.
 
I am not a collector, so I can't hazard a guess at their reasons for liking knives.

Mine are simple; they are a useful tool that is also quite servicable as a weapon.
 
BSO-Bright Shiny Objects. Maybe that is why I don't have a Tactical Folder with a tactical black handle and a tactical black blade... yet.

It is most likely genetic on top of lifestyle for me. My Grandpa made carving and hunting knives. My Dad was a Guide and fisherman. I hunt and fish, well not since I moved to Anchorage but still love knives and guns
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"A knifeless man is a lifeless man"
-Nordic proverb
 
I like knives generally for their elegant simplicity, and specifically because they're so useful.
 
I really don't know, maybe i should seek counseling to find out. I do know that it isn't genetic for me, i 'm the lone knifeman in my family. I already wanted a knife when I got my first one when i was 7 years old, so go figure.

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Just because I talk to myself doesn't mean I'm crazy. What's wrong with getting a second opinion?
 
This is a interesting question! Also, hard to answer. I have asked myself similar a question from time to time, generally shortly after I have spent more money than I should purchasing a new knife, but seldom in general terms.

If we can assume that a major element of beauty is the extent to which form follows function, it follows that a knife will be beautiful in its own right, to the extent that it is capable of performing a function. More accurately perhaps, to the extent we believe or can imagine that it will perform a function. There is a simplicity of line, and an innate purpose inherent in the design that appeals our since of practical utility and beauty at once. This will be true to a lesser extent in "Art Knives" or "Fantasy Knives" but neither of these forms hold any particular attraction to me.

A Colt 1911 or a Smith & Wesson revolver with the side plate removed, or for that matter a really fast sports car are no less objects of beauty, but they require a more specialized understanding of form and function. If we could transport a modern, well made, fixed blade knife back into the early stone age the cave man who stumbled across it would, I think, have an immediate understanding of its function and utility. He would keep it and use it (and wonder why it wasn't sharp after he tried to cut a rock with it.)

There is also, perhaps, at least for me a certain amount of "It's always loaded, and it doesn't need a silencer" in the mix.
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Because I can use them to open boxes I get in the mail full of other knives.
Seriously though, as many others have said, knives are beautiful because they are very useful.
 
I groove on the duality of the knife. How much thought, and work, and material are brought into play for something as simple as an edge's singularity.
 
Somebody said it before, and, naturally, I forgot who it was. The term is "Bigsharpyshinythingitis".

On another note, Ed Fowler talks about people needing to be more "knifropomorphic" in his book.

Me, I think they're neat.
 
Knives are intriging; they are our oldest, simplest, and most diverse tool. That so simple a thing can have so much subtle complexity - such is life.
 
Well, I guess I put knives in two categories: using knives and looking knives.

Knives I use for utility I primarily like the way they fit my hand and how well they hold an edge. How they look is not that important.

The ones that look good just kind of jump out at me. I think there is a fascination too with the idea that someone started out with an idea, a piece of steel and some bone or wood or whatever for the handle and created something that I and others like the look of and want to own.
 
In my case it is very likely genetic. The name Spada is derived from European background meaning sword, swordmaker, swordsman. My grandfather and father both collected folding knives.My brother and I were always facinated by blades and still are. David Spada
 
I've always liked knives for sme reason. I got my first one when I was 4. My dad said the first time I cut myself with it, I wouldn't see it again until I was six. Needless to say, I got cut the first day, after having it about 15 minutes. I didn't see it until I was six. I liked the way some cheap knives looked cool, you know the $5 in different magazines. Then I gradually learned about knives and liked the ones that cost over $100, like Socom, REKAT, Genesis, etc. I always liked having a knife for little chores and knives are a form of artwork to me, especially being able to sharpen a knife. Also, it gives me a little sense of security. I often walked to work 2 miles through the woods on trails and I wanted something I could defend myself with if necessary or do some pruning of thorns on the trail. I use a knive a lot at work and usually carry my Supertool, Gerber Microlight LST and me Genesis 2 everyday to work. I got used to having one and am lost without one. It's a very useful tool that demands respect. Plus they look cool, too!
 
I will borrow from the perspective that I gained from reading the posts of Jim Mattis and Daithi O'Ceileachair in one of the truly epic threads on rec.knives dealing with this very subject.

Knives are an elemental part of what we are as humans. Over tens of milleniums, we have evolved with knives in our hands every step of the way. They make us feel complete.

I guess that is mostly for us throwbacks who don't feel completed by television, cars, and keyboards.

Harv
 
I love folding knives because I think that they are amazingly fun to work and to understand. They are precise, small, and feel more substantial then any other object you can keep in you pocket on a regular basis. I like the edge because I like tools, and the blade was mans first real tool. When man evolves next, be sure he will have some sort of edge somewhere, it is natural... Until then, I will supply my own edge. I am also very technically inclined, I routinely take apart things and I am by nature a Cinematographer (in training) and a director... I enjoy wielding things, and I like to take control of what I do. The knife is something you simply need to take control over, the device simply demands it. If for no other reason, I like knives because they do actually come in handy and make me feel safe as a rule. That is all I can think of right now.

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Robert Joseph Ansbro

If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed.
-Stanley Kubrick, 1928-1999
 
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