- Joined
- Dec 29, 2019
- Messages
- 27
Hello! I'm Matt from the PNW and I'm a new member. I've had knives for much of my life. Up until a few months ago, I took them for granted.
When I turned 50, my broski (who is a knife guy) gave me a BM 555bk with AWT hive scales. I carried it off and on, really appreciating my first nice knife. Last September, I took it on my annual motorcycle trip, carrying it in the pocket of my riding pants and using it for all knife-related tasks.
Unfortunately, that Mini-Grip never made it home with me. I went down for the first time in 34 years. Hard. It was in CA (I'm from WA). My wife and son flew down to be with me while I was in the hospital for a month while I recovered from a significant spinal injury and surgery. My son worked with the salvage yard to gather up my gear and ship it back home.
When I got home, I was just learning how to walk with a walker after being in a wheelchair. It took me some weeks before I was ready to start going through my gear that was shipped back and start putting it away. I never came across that Mini-Grip. It never made it home.
Recovering from something like this has been kind of intense for me. I was surprised at how much I was affected by losing the Mini-Grip that my Broski had given me in the accident. I thought it was a really nice knife. It had wonderful sentiment in that it was a gift from my closest friend on my 50th. But it was just a knife, right?
Wrong. I found myself online searching, searching and searching until I learned about BM and their different models of knives. I found my 555bk and learned about AWT scales. Although the accident was expensive, I scraped together enough to order a 555 and the AWT scales in sniper grey. Glad there were some how-to videos online, because getting that D-shaped pivot bushing back in place was a lesson in observation and patience. Once I had it all assembled, I felt like I had regained something that I had lost, both literally and figuratively. Carrying it felt right. Very right.
With all the medical attention I received after the accident, I discovered that it was a good idea to give up my beloved cigars. So right at the same time that I had put together this very-important-to-me Mini-Grip, I found myself sitting on a large cigar collection that I needed to re-home. As I started to sell off my cigars, I found myself knife hunting with the extra cash I was making.
Since then, I've returned to work and have started a small knife collection. I gravitate to potential users rather than shelf queens and am looking forward to learning how to sharpen them. So far, I have mostly BM and Spyderco, although thanks to BladeForums, I've started to branch out.
eBay taught me to be careful. Along with a few genuine purchases, I ended up winning two fakes. One of them, eBay caught and remedied. The other, I caught and eBay remedied. Interestingly, I received a knife from China the other day that I hadn't ordered. It clearly looks to be a fake Spyderco. I took some photos of the box compared to my PM3 box, as well as photos of the knife. Its a beast of a knife that doesn't even look new. https://imgur.com/a/8mJbVkX
I'd love your opinions on what to do with it. For some reason, I'm having a difficult time throwing it away. I'm tempted to just stick it in my shop and use it.
Thanks for being part of a neat place to lurk and learn!
~Nematode
When I turned 50, my broski (who is a knife guy) gave me a BM 555bk with AWT hive scales. I carried it off and on, really appreciating my first nice knife. Last September, I took it on my annual motorcycle trip, carrying it in the pocket of my riding pants and using it for all knife-related tasks.
Unfortunately, that Mini-Grip never made it home with me. I went down for the first time in 34 years. Hard. It was in CA (I'm from WA). My wife and son flew down to be with me while I was in the hospital for a month while I recovered from a significant spinal injury and surgery. My son worked with the salvage yard to gather up my gear and ship it back home.
When I got home, I was just learning how to walk with a walker after being in a wheelchair. It took me some weeks before I was ready to start going through my gear that was shipped back and start putting it away. I never came across that Mini-Grip. It never made it home.
Recovering from something like this has been kind of intense for me. I was surprised at how much I was affected by losing the Mini-Grip that my Broski had given me in the accident. I thought it was a really nice knife. It had wonderful sentiment in that it was a gift from my closest friend on my 50th. But it was just a knife, right?
Wrong. I found myself online searching, searching and searching until I learned about BM and their different models of knives. I found my 555bk and learned about AWT scales. Although the accident was expensive, I scraped together enough to order a 555 and the AWT scales in sniper grey. Glad there were some how-to videos online, because getting that D-shaped pivot bushing back in place was a lesson in observation and patience. Once I had it all assembled, I felt like I had regained something that I had lost, both literally and figuratively. Carrying it felt right. Very right.
With all the medical attention I received after the accident, I discovered that it was a good idea to give up my beloved cigars. So right at the same time that I had put together this very-important-to-me Mini-Grip, I found myself sitting on a large cigar collection that I needed to re-home. As I started to sell off my cigars, I found myself knife hunting with the extra cash I was making.
Since then, I've returned to work and have started a small knife collection. I gravitate to potential users rather than shelf queens and am looking forward to learning how to sharpen them. So far, I have mostly BM and Spyderco, although thanks to BladeForums, I've started to branch out.
eBay taught me to be careful. Along with a few genuine purchases, I ended up winning two fakes. One of them, eBay caught and remedied. The other, I caught and eBay remedied. Interestingly, I received a knife from China the other day that I hadn't ordered. It clearly looks to be a fake Spyderco. I took some photos of the box compared to my PM3 box, as well as photos of the knife. Its a beast of a knife that doesn't even look new. https://imgur.com/a/8mJbVkX
I'd love your opinions on what to do with it. For some reason, I'm having a difficult time throwing it away. I'm tempted to just stick it in my shop and use it.
Thanks for being part of a neat place to lurk and learn!
~Nematode