I always enjoy this thread, Jack. It has definitely become a Porch holiday tradition.
The thing I struggle with the most every year, and increasingly so the more years I’ve been here, is remembering when I actually acquired certain knives.
Some knives (especially the stuff I got in January or February) sort of blend in with knives acquired last year, and I have to do a bit of research to verify what qualifies and what doesn’t.
I’ll start, as always, with a few honorable mentions.
I picked up this first knife on the exchange back in January, and of all the honorable mentions I’m about to list, this one probably came closest to actually being my KOTY.
JTB_5
had this Tidioute #44 modified by Javi Garcia, and it’s just super cool. I love the two tone Micarta with the thin red spacer, and the slimness of this pattern as a single-blade shadow-pattern. I have carried it quite a bit this year (especially the first half of the year), but more recently its pocket time has been surpassed by another, which I’ll get to in a bit. So for that reason, it gets relegated to KOTY runner up.
In March of this year, I got to travel to Janesville, WI for my first Badger Knife Show.
H
herder
and I drove down together, and we met up with Harry
Old Engineer
and Jeff
Amir Fleschwund
for breakfast before the show. There were thousands of traditional knives to look at and handle, and while I didn’t end up with any phenomenal vintage finds or needles in haystacks, I did pick up a couple knives I’d been looking to get for a while now: two carbon-steel Schrade USA 5OTs and a Victorinox Mauser (similar to the German Army Knife, but with an additional full-size clip-point blade). I sharpened up one of the 5OTs and have carried it and the Mauser several times throughout the year, but not enough to qualify for KOTY.
I picked up an extra Natural Canvas Micarta #71 Bull Nose this year that
Sacto
agreed to modify for me. While I love the Bull Nose as-is (I think I have about 10 of them), the more rounded edges of this knife, along with the sort-of-spearpoint blade make it a fun alternative that I enjoy carrying. Again, this one got plenty of pocket time, but you know the rules, there can only be one.
I really like the #35 Camp & Tool knife GEC did this year, an interesting take on this pattern that I have used quite a bit since I got it. Close, but no cigar. (Get it?)
My final honorable mention is a special knife.
Jack Black
has these fantastic Damascus Lambsfoot SFOs made up a couple years ago, but at the time I couldn’t justify spending the money for one. Fast forward to this year, Jack sent my kids a package full of British sweets for Halloween, and included this surprise treat for me. I was blown away. Thanks again, Jack.
So why isn’t that my KOTY? Well, I've only had it since October, and while it had seen some pocket time, it hasn’t seen as much as another knife that also came my way courtesy of
Jack Black
— this stag Hartshead Barlow.
I won this knife in Jack’s
May Day Giveaway, and much like Jack’s own stag HHB, it has become a frequent companion since I got it. I can’t even say exactly what it is about it, but it’s a great companion, both alone or paired with second knife. (While I am a proud Guardian of the Lambsfoot, I do still like to have a blade with some belly, as well.) Thanks again, Jack, for this knife, and the other one, and for this annual thread, and everything else you do around here.
Your trip to the Badger Knife Show seems longer ago, as does my May Day Giveaway, I was thinking last year! 
I love all your pics, I think those Ironwood models were the best of that Damascus run 
). 
