Hello! Long-time lurker here. I was just recently encouraged to join by
stuff_things
, whom I just bought a knife from directly this week and another through eBay back in the fall. When he suggested this site, it was because I nagged him about another knife I was looking for, and it was a real "Duh!" moment for me. I should've joined months ago but you know what they say... My collection is already pretty obnoxious, all of a sort of minimalist or artsy EDC folder variety.
I spotted my first dream pocket knife, a plain Chris Reeve Small Sebenza, at a mall back in 1997. At Plaza Cutlery, actually. Quite a few more people than I expected know of it. Up until that point I had been carrying a very cheap, flimsy SpyderCo. The Sebenza instantly captivated me more than anything in the store but was beyond my means then. A close friend at the time bought one, however, so I got some firsthand experience with it and it always kind of stuck with me. I started looking back into CRKs as a gift for a friend about 5-6 years ago but the one I wanted that seemed a great fit—the 'Night Sky' (he lived in the mountains at the time)—was never in stock anywhere (even eBay) so after a few months of keeping an eye out leading up to his birthday I kind of gave up and went with other gift ideas. Fast forward to this past summer, I had some disposable income, and it just randomly popped into my head to look back into Chris Reeve and maybe some other knives, see what was available now, and I really went down the rabbit hole. Hard.
I finally did find the perfect CRK for my best friend–not the 'Night Sky', which I did find one after just a couple of months of looking but ended up keeping for myself
—something more 'him' (a unique small Sebenza with a very cool rainbow-anodized 'flame' design, ladder Damascus, and an inlaid citrine cabochon) that I was able to get for his last birthday. Now he's into the hobby, as well (though he already had a small collection of modest fixed blades and folders, partially inherited from his late father, not to mention kitchen cutlery), and I'd say we have a very unhealthy competition going.
But it's all for the love of the actual knives themselves; the materials, the craftsmanship, the engineering... Some of them are treated as art pieces/"safe queens", some of them are 'pocket jewelry' but still serious EDC knives, and some are just 'function only' but maybe stylish or quirky in some way. Meeting up every few months in person and showing off new acquisitions is always a blast!
So, happy to be here! Thanks for reading!