It's amazing to me how drastically one's need for knives can change. I used to use knives all day at work, often
hard use. I did so for several years. But since retiring I now have virtually no need for knives at all (outside of the kitchen). I'm not a camping/hiking/fishing type of person anymore, and in my current life I'm confident I could likely get by without a knife.
I have more
user knives than I could ever possibly need. I don't really need the users I have, so I have no justification to buy more users. Factors like
need or
use no longer play any part in my interest in knives.
In a word, my interest in knives these days is all about "cool". More specifically, my interest is based on the knives I considered "cool" as a child, and growing up, but wasn't able, or allowed to have. Much of my interest in knives now is based on how much I would have loved to have the knife when I was a kid.
I was allowed to have and carry knives as a child. But my mom had one rule- I wasn't allowed to have any knives that she considered weapons.
My uncle was a hard-core biker. He was the "crazy" uncle in the family. The kind of uncle whose visits were dreaded by my mother, but looked upon with excitement by the childhood me. To me, he was the "cool" uncle. He would give me rides on his bike (no helmet), give me firecrackers, let me drink his beer, and he gave me my first switchblade, etc, etc.
In the time I knew him my uncle carried a few different Italian stiletto switchblades. And just as my uncle was the epitome of "cool" in my eyes, his knives were also the epitome of "cool". I was fascinated by the idea of a folding knife specifically designed and intended as a weapon. They were something
dark and taboo. And my mom forbidding me from having one naturally made me want them even more.
As a result, the folding stiletto has been a subject of fascination and desire for me for most of my life. In years past, when I needed to use knives to cut things,
users were the main focus of my interest in knives. But now I'm interested exclusively in those knives I consider "cool". Specifically, folding stilettos, both manual and automatic.
Below is a pic of the prize stilettos in my collection. Some autos, some manuals. None of them are "off the rack". And each time I hold one the little kid that still lives somewhere inside me is filled with joy.