How long have you been carrying knives, and how have your needs changed?

[Abyss_Fish]

Title says it all,
How long have y'all been in the hobby, and how your knife criteria has changed over the years?

I'll start! I've been carrying small victorinox style knives since I was probably 7, mostly because I thought knives were cool and was (really still am) fascinated by mechanical devices. But I only started carrying full sized dedicated folders about 4 years ago. Started with a cheapo sog and a kershaw, just to get the job done. Then I got really into fidgety stuff and started buying benchmades after playing with them at rei for a few months, fidget factor and aesthetics were my main two criteria. Theeeen bencmade goofed on me with some bad warranty work, I sold my entire collection and I splurged on a spydiechef (based on a short lived experience with a delica a year before.) And thus I went deeper and deeper into more performance oriented knives. And that's where I am now, I'm most concerned with cutting ability and safety really. Basically I'm a huge nerd. Whereas when I started this hobby my biggest concern was how quickly I could slap the blade back and forth :D

[Naperville]

The first knife that I carried was a Case knife and I was between 7 and 8 years of age. Within that time frame, I used it defensively for the first time too. Eventually, I had a few Case knives, but did not collect.

I did not start to collect and seriously carry knives until 2002, after getting the basics of escrima and arnis taught to me.

[mikey177]

I've been carrying knives for around 20 years. I used to prefer partially serrated, Endura-length edges, but have veered toward Native-length plain edges after I learned how to sharpen.

[PSquared]

Whilst I had knives before that I only really started carrying a knife full time when I was in the army (35 years ago). Swiss army type knife was perfect for my needs then. Quite honestly, my NEEDS haven’t changed. I could still carry a Vic Compact all day, every day and be covered for 95% of what I need a knife for outside of the kitchen.

My WANTS are something else completely different. Those have changed from the SAK through the full spectrum of part serrated, coated blades, grippy G10, pry bars with sharp edges, thin blade stock, huge titanium frame lock flippers, bearings and all the features I don’t need but marketing convinces me I do.

I’ve pretty much gone full circle and am back to a Vic Rambler on my key ring and a discreet single blade folder. Lock not mandatory but nice. Preferably 3 to 3.25 inch plain edge folder, sub 3mm blade stock with a thumb stud or opening hole, smooth scales that don’t shred pockets and leaves enough space in my pocket that I can still use it for other things.

[Evil D]

Basically since I was about 7 years old, or at least that's as far back as I remember having a knife. It was a Case that I found on the side of the road in Corinth Kentucky.

I've carried some kind of knife pretty much my whole life since then. I went through a phase where I didn't feel like sharpening anymore and I carried different utility knives, mostly a Gerber EAB. I bought my first Spyderco in 2005, a SE Native LW.

Tastes have changed a lot and continue to change. I spent my first half carrying stuff that I thought looked cool, and didn't really pay attention to steel or ergonomics so much. That changed when I discovered Spyderco, then I started focusing more on steel first and lately really evaluating ergonomics more than anything else.

[CPM-Greg]

I have been carrying knives since 1967 when I joined the Cub Scouts and received a cheap pocket knife from my parents. With a bit more pocket money as a teenager, I bought a good fixed blade and continued buying the odd knife ever since. While I have a few expensive knives from other brands, small Spyderco knives consistently hits the sweet spot for me. I rarely buy other brands.

My 501's that my parents gave me 20 years ago. They're both gone having lived good, long lives; the jeans are coming to the end of their life. Lots of good farts they endured!

Best

CPM-Greg

[Menipo]

I live in an urban environment and I don't NEED to carry a knife because I always have one nearby to perform out any task (in the kitchen, at the dining table, at my desk ...).

But since I was 12 I have ALWAYS carried a knife with me. The first one was given to me by my grandfather, a carpenter, when I was 10-12 years old. I have already told the story in another thread. It was a slipjoint that he carried and that by using and sharpening it for years it had lost half of the blade. So one day he decided to break the tip, round it off, dull it and give it to me. That was the beginning of my addiction.

When I started working, since I always wore a suit, I carried small knives because it was not very appropriate to take out a Military or an Endura in the office. So for many years I carried a LadyBug with the stainless steel handle. During the weekends I carried (for sheer pleasure, not necessity) much larger blades. But given that the social acceptance of knives here has been declining with the passage of time and that taking out a 4" blade surrounded by non-knife people was sort of weird, I have been changing my tastes towards smaller knives. The biggest thing I carry when I am away from home is an Endela and most of the time the length of an Ikuchi is the longest blade I carry.

[standy99]

Left school at 15 to become a apprentice butcher with my father, could break up a body of beef from about 13 so have used knives from a very early age. Done this for 20 odd years and now carried a pocket knife on my belt for the last 20 years for department of Agriculture fisheries and forestry.

Fixed blades, pocket knives and now going back to fixed blades more now I’m hitting 50 and do more stuff remote outdoors.

But there is room for both in day to day life but definitely more of a fixed blade focused buying pattern the last few years.

[Sumdumguy]

I started carrying knives, at a time when you could still bring them to school.
(I'm not that old, just from the country)

I carried a Case from the age of ~7, until I bought my first Spyderco.

As for changing needs. Before all the brouhaha, I carried a Caribbean 99% of the time and before that, other full sized "working" knives.

Now? I carry a Micro Dyad, almost exclusively. Occasionally, I'll toss in the Ulize or some other large knife. But, that's just because I feel like it.

Really, the Micro Dyad is the best of all worlds, for a knife that doesn't see "rigorous" activity. Double bladed, PE & SE, compact and super snazzy(subjective).

[SG89]

23 years give or take, my needs change constantly because the knives change constantly.

[M Sea]

I have been carrying knives as long as I can remember. I grew up on a small family farm and have always carried a knife since then. To me, they are first and foremost tools. I have gotten more into the collection aspect in the last few years so that has changed my needs more to wants!

[archangel]

I rediscovered my fascination for knives in 2014. Already liked them as a young boy. Have been carrying at least one Spydie always on me since 2016 or 2017, I guess.

How have my needs changed? Well, first I discovered that I could get me a knife, then I figured that I *need* more than one knife. And just a few months later I realized that apparently it's wrong to leave the house with less than three Spydies...... :D

[ladybug93]

i've been carrying knives for almost 30 years now.

i carry a knife because i want to be prepared to cut something if i need to. i've never had a job that required a lot of cutting and neither does my personal life. still, i've always considered it a valuable asset. if rambo thought a knife was useful, who am i to argue?

my needs haven't changed much, but i would say i consider more carefully what i may need to use a knife to accomplish. for example, i've mostly carried plain edge knives in the past. after getting a pacific salt se for ocean use in hawaii, i rethought my dislike of serrations and how i might actually use a knife. i realized that i wanted a knife with the most teeth i could legally carry in the event that i became entangled in something under water. over time, i realized that the main reason i carry a knife is for emergencies. i use them for a lot of little things here and there, but if i ever really need a knife, it will be in an emergency situation. that's when i started favoring serrations over plain edge. i can do any small day-to-day cutting tasks with serrations just as well as i can with plain edge, but plain edge is nowhere near as effective in an emergency as serrations are. now, my main edc is either my pac salt or my caribbean. i still carry pe knives too, but usually just because i like the knife and want to carry it. if i can only carry one knife, i reach for my caribbean sheepsfoot se.

[TomAiello]

I've been carrying knives for almost my entire life (starting around age 10 or so). It shows my age, but I even carried a pocket knife as a kid at school (yes, it was allowed back then, even in California, where I grew up). I bought my first (and second) Spyderco in college (early 90s) at REI. That original Snap It was my EDC all through graduate school. Still, I pretty much just rotated cheap knives for a long time, replacing them when I lost them or wore them out. My 'best' knives during this period were a Mora (the 12c27 one with the wood handle and the metal guard--can't remember the model) and that Spyderco.

I became interested in nicer knives about 10 years ago. I bought a $40 CRKT from Sierra Trading Post and it started drawing me down the rabbit hole. My next step was a Tenacious, and that's what really accelerated my downward spiral. I think that in the year after I bought the Tenacious I probably bought 20 Spyderco knives, and it's just kept going from there. Fortunately, my personal finances have also grown, so buying a thousand dollars worth of knives in a year is no longer as crazy as it would have been when I was younger. And I'm lucky to have a spouse who tolerates my weird obsessions.

I'm not sure how much my actual needs have changed, but my enjoyment and utility have definitely grown. I certainly have a greater ability to cut things more efficiently most of the time now--but mostly I have to admit this is a seriously first world hobby. In functional terms, I'm maybe 20% better off than I was with that Snap It and Mora combination.

[JRinFL]

I've been carrying a knife since I was around 12 years old after I found a lost Victorinox Executive in a parking lot. My needs have not changed, only my wants. That Executive would likely serve the majority of my uses if I were to be honest with myself.

[thebard42]

I like that several here discovered a love for knives because they found a lost one as children. I think that is a small comfort when a favorite knife disappears, the best you can hope for is the love of a new home.

[JakeXman]

It’s been under 10 years for me. I started with a standard swiss army knife when I was 8, but never really started to carry if everyday until I was 12 or so. Back then I didn’t have much of an idea about what made a good knife good, but my dad had a little blue knife with a hole in the blade that I thought was the coolest thing (it was a delica). Fast forward a few years of convincing and for Christmas my parents gave me a Tenacious. Sometime after that I got involved in this forum and have since made some poor financial decisions :D At first I was a little enamored by aesthetics and fidget-ability, but I now focus on sharpening and more performance oriented blades. I haven’t bought an “other” since that first Tenacious and I don’t plan to anytime soon.

[FourStringFiend]

It started with a SAK in early the 2000's and then a Case Cheetah gifted to me by my grandpa (He had a sizable collection of higher end stuff and I remember looking at his knife magazines when I was younger. So this is all his fault). I carried those until I got a job working in a butcher shop after high school.

I first got a Kershaw Skyline and quickly a Tenacious/Resilience then Endura 4. The Endura served as my EDC for years until I started going to college and wanted to downsize. I went from Spyderco to Benchmade :confused: . A mini griptilian became my main work knife for years and a 940 for outside of work (The Endura did still see some carry but for some reason I got it into my head that it was too large and didn't want to freak people out).

Then around four years ago I realized if I liked the Endura so much why not just get a Delica. That started my obsession with finding the perfect Spyderco for me. I've found larger models, 3.5-4 inches, making it in my pocket more recently but that could change. I have geared my collection towards model/steel variety and am reaching a point where I am mostly content with the current models available (Restock the GB2 please ).

[Dan In MI]

Swiss Army knives were my gateway. I started carrying one around the time I turned 12, and they went everywhere with me, even school. (Edit: that's been a good 30 years.) Later on I got into other knives and multi-tools. A couple of months ago, I became a collector.

My knife needs have definitely changed over the years. A 91mm Swiss Army knife was a long-time go-to, but I use the scissors and tweezers more than any other implement. So unless I plan on going into the bush, my carrier Swiss Army knives are now 58mm models. I've discovered that I like a bigger knife for general cutting tasks, primarily for the more solid feel. My new carry setup will be a small Victorinox in conjunction with a large Spyderco and a small traditional, or a large traditional and a small Spyderco.

[James Y]

My first knife was what was left of an old, rusted, sharpened-down, used-up Camillus camp (or scout-patterned) knife that I had appropriated from my dad’s toolbox. For some reason, my dad never threw out his used-up pocketknives; he’d simply toss them into a toolbox or maybe a drawer and buy another. It was in bad condition, but it was my first pocketknife. That was in early 1977, when I was 13. Within a couple of months or so, I used money from my paper route to buy a large Schrade stockman from a small, local hardware store, who were willing to sell a pocketknife to a kid. That was my entry into the knife ‘hobby’. :)

I eventually discovered SAKs, which I found far more versatile for my needs than the knife blade-only pocketknives, and which I still carry today. I usually EDC the same one or two SAKs, in addition to whichever Spyderco I’m carrying at the moment.

Jim