Why did you become obsessed with knives?

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jai

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For me it was from such a young age I used to go and build treehouses and small forts with many platforms and little rooms and my knife let me do this soon I became more obsessed and starting stealing the bigger knives from my dads stash. Later on mum started teaching me how to cook and use knives. The more I use them the more I get addicted to them. That sharp razor edge and the feeling you get when you hold something that you've made so sharp and so useful is just incredible. I could go on for hours but I wont. So my question for all you guys and girls is why are you obsessed with knives?
 
I grew up with the impression that there is a correct tool for every job. If you want to do things right, it is normally easier, more enjoyable, and the derrived results are typically superior when the proper tool is used. Ever watched someone try to control a medium burning pile of leafs with a plastic rake? That is what I am talking about....

Love cooking and entertaining. I used a set of Chicago Cutlery knives for years and while I never formally had them sharpened after initial purchase, I kept the edge on them (to what felt "new sharp") to others who would use them. I watched people put their knives in the dishwasher, thrown into the sink/drawer/etc and cringed everytime.

It wasnt until I started looking to invest in a good blade (that cost way more than my entire old block setup) that I learned what "sharp" is. I love prep almost as much as I do the entertaining part now. It is my zen. Just last night my wife picked up my HHH nakiri and cut up some cucumber for our kids. This is the first time she has used any of my good knives and she said "Holy crap, no wonder you enjoy cutting up the veggies, its not even work with a sharp knife"

Thanks Randy! Now I need to keep an eye on this little gem to ensure she treats it nicely!
 
It probably started with my first one - it was a Swiss Army Knife my father gave to me as a reward for dictated text I wrote down with zero errors when I was in the third or fourth year of elemantary school. I still have that knife 30 years later (it also gave me my first scar - don't use the tip of a non-lockable blade to try and pry chunks out of solid chocolate Santa Clauses folks ...:laugh:)

I have been collecting knives ever since - first "badass" balisongs and combat and fighting knives (most of which have never ever cut anything in the many years they have spent in my drawers so far), then I began to take up cooking as a hobby that was both entertaining and practical and discovered that here you can actually USE your knives.

I appreciate knives as the first real tools of mankind that have been with us for many ten thousands of years, as works of art, as a means of self defense, as indispensable cooking utensils ... and I like to bring a dull knife up to razor sharpness. Not too many people know how to do that nowadays.
 
I've always had a fascination for knives.
As a young boy I was out in the woods every day with my dog, whittling bark-boats and whatnot.
Sharpening my tools became an obsession early on, I wanted that "new knife" feeling all the time.
I've been an electrician and audiovisual entrepreneur for 30 years, and that has solidified my love for good tools, knives and hones included.
Making food for my family and myself has been a hobby for a many years now, sharp, quality tools seem to do prepwork more fun.

So basically it is all about quality tools well suited for the job to me.
 
It was MacGyver, duct tape, and swis army knife that got me interested in having a Victorinox in a pocket. But that interest stopped at boyhood.
 
Obsessed? Moi? Naah, I got over that, I am mostly happy with what I have and I am trailing behind many here as far as number and quality of knives is concerned. Well, at least reg. the quality, I do have a few knives too many for a sane person. Now, hoarding wood is a totally different topic...

Stefan
 
Honestly? I have no idea. I just love em. The deeper I go into advanced home cooking, the worse it gets.
 
1. I am NOT obsessed. :rofl:
2. I blame my stepson for giving me a Kakiri.
3. I am still trying to decide what to buy next. :D
 
I am not an addict, I don't attend any KAA (Kife addicts anonymous) meetings.
 
I got over my knife fetishism early on (thank God), and now I focus on my knife skills.

I appreciate well made knifes, but I'm far from obsessed.
 
I've like quality knives since I was a kid and caught lots of fish and of course a sharp knife makes all the difference when filleting fish. So since I've been more involved in the kitchen lately and enjoying cooking again I thought it would be a good idea to upgrade my kitchen knives and luckily I found this forum with all you experts of the trade. I've only purchased a dozen or so knives since I joined the forum lol. Its truly addicting.
 
Started when I was a kid too then I bought my Randall Model 1 field knife in 1973 and a Ralph Bone skinning knife in 1974. I'm a fabricator I like hand made things.
 
I am in no way obsessed or an addict. I've only just passed the 450 mark. I'm thinking that if it reaches 1000 then I can diagnosed to be a bit of an obsessed addict of sharp pointy things... That is all
 
I've always loved knives (and pretty much every other bladed object) since I was little. This was probably enhanced by the fact that my mom was very anti-knife. So not only were they inherently awesome but they were also forbidden fruit. The obsession has been set free now, though is still kept in check by financial constraints. Once that suitcase full of money comes along though....
 
Having a knife fetish helps me justify home cooking more often. I live in a place where convenient food is everywhere, pretty good, and pretty cheap. I never need to cook, and shopping for ingredients and deciding recipes is something I'm not always motivated to do, so the knife hobby helps keep me interested.
 
For me it started in quite a backwards way . I spent the first few years of my career with pretty dodgy knives and terrible knife skills in hindsight, mainly due to a lack of guidance... But then I got into a great restaurant with some real bad ass chefs who really drove home how little I knew, I think that's when it started, realising my skills were lacking and getting obsessive to improve myself... Now I'm in a more senior position and I can help/guide/teach people and I want to teach them the right way, there is a real lack of care I think by some chefs when it comes to teaching the next generation, I don't want to contribute to that. So in essence I'm obsessive so I can teach others better.... And obviously there are more selfish reasons... They are tools we use all day everyday I sure want ones that I love, loving your knives makes prep so much more fun, we fight over chopping buckets of onions at work because we all love using our knives at peak performance to smash out prep
The real problem is I have no money to fund the obsession! An ironic situation for sure.
 
Working on fishing boats in my teens. In my Dads shop as a kid with all his polished edge carbon wood chisels.

Most of adult life putting out banquets in Hotels that's how really got into knives. Collected Ice Chisels too carbon & stainless.

Got my first carbon Japanese Gyuto in early 80's & became a total carbon junkie Japanese Gyuto , Yanagiba & Chinese Cleavers.
 
I always had a knife as a kid for fishing and playing in the woods.
The last couple of years I am really passionate about cooking and although I have lots and lots of cookware I never had a great knife till just recently.
Cooking has become a lot more fun now and I want to eat veggies every day now so I can practice my cutting skills as much as possible.
 
A potential girl friend asked me recently if I was "Obsessed with cooking and knives".. I told her of course not, everyone with a compost pile cuts up their vegetables into little pieces - it digests in the composter faster. And the knives, well this one is stainless for when I can't clean it right away, this one is stainless clad when I want a little more heft and sharp but still stainless, this one is carbon for when I want one really sharp and this one is for weekends. These are called 240's. And over here....

So what does one call an ex potential gf?
 
A potential girl friend asked me recently if I was "Obsessed with cooking and knives".. I told her of course not, everyone with a compost pile cuts up their vegetables into little pieces - it digests in the composter faster. And the knives, well this one is stainless for when I can't clean it right away, this one is stainless clad when I want a little more heft and sharp but still stainless, this one is carbon for when I want one really sharp and this one is for weekends. These are called 240's. And over here....

So what does one call an ex potential gf?
:rofl2: Dave maybe you should have put more on the cooking obsession & less on the knives. Girls like guys that can cook
 
I've always been a different kind of girl. I'm very feminine: hair, makeup, shoes, purses, jewelry and all that but, I do love finely crafted steel and guns. If I could, I'd totally embed one of my vintage crystals into the end of a wa handle lol.

It started when I was a kid and won a little red swiss army pocket knife at the air fair. I thought it was the coolest thing back then and I still have it around here somewhere. Then as I got older I really got into swords and dirks, being heavily influenced by playing mortal combat and watching highlander lol. In my 20s it was MMOs, which is where I met my husband oddly enough. Now it's because I enjoy and appreciate find tools while cooking. There's just something about beautifully made steel that I love. This forum doesn't help either. Y'all are not very good influences :tease:
 
I'm a serial collector. My last thing was guitars. I had 52 at one point. But I couldn't play a lick.

I figured I'd collect something I know how to use.

I'm down to six guitars. I've almost kicked that one.
 
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