Why Knives?

For most knife collectors the fascination with knives goes far beyond their ability to cut. However, for some this in itself becomes a huge secondary pursuit and those folks end up purchasing thousands of dollars worth of Sharpening gadgets, Arkansas stones, Japanese Water stones, strops and more - all in an effort to attain the keenest edge imaginable. But that is another story.

Knives are a tool, in fact they were the first tool. Made of sharpened stone by prehistoric man the knife enabled the user to do things easier and faster. Later becoming a weapon for hunting or self protection the knife was coveted almost as much as fire. But today do we really have such a primal need for a tool like this? In some cases definately, in others a knife is more like insurance. Most men and some women carry their knives today in the event that they might need them. Some occupations certainly have an increased possibility of needing a knife, but the fact of the matter is most owners only get the chance to use their knives to cut the errant thread, pluck out a vienna sausage out of a can or assault one of those child safe plastic packages. The kitchen not withstanding most knife owners content themselves with collecting.

It is my opinion that men are driven by many different desires when it comes to collecting knives, some just like shiny things and showing such things off to their buddies (however this is not advised as it can lead to "Blade Envy"). Some enjoy the search for hidden knowledge - that of the knife or the Company that produced it, while others perhaps have a touch of obsessive compulsive behavior and feel the genuine need to collect all the knives of a certain pattern or handle material by one or more Companies because they "must have a complete collection". But I think most male collectors either consciously or subconsciously harken back to the tool aspect of the knife, being a protector and provider, thus knife ownership to them reinforces that feeling. And if one knife is good protection then 20 or 50 should be that much better!

It's true that for just about every object there is a collector - but no objects have such a long history of usefullness and pride of ownership than the simple knife.

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