So I finally got a quality knife

I carried a minimag AA flashlight for a decade before I realized it might be worth spending a little money for a quality light. Then I bought a Quark out of curiosity and the floodgates opened for me with flashlights.

Then a short while ago, it dawned on me that I was in an analogous situation, perhaps, with a cutting edge. I've carried a cheap folding mini-boxcutter in my pocket for close to a decade now and have never been sorry to have a cutting edge with me, but I've never spent more than, say, $8 on it. So I thought I'd get a quality knife to see if I'm a knife guy and just didn't know it.

A buddy of mine had a variety of knives for me to try and after a bit of experimentation, I determined the size I thought I was interested in and some of the features I liked (and disliked). So I got a Spyderco Cat and have been playing with it for a couple of days and I'm really pleased with it. It's comfortable and secure to carry in my back pocket, comfy and grippy to hold and operate, and seems unlikely to come open by accident. I'm sure I'll get many years of use out of it and will never be sorry I have it.

But it doesn't excite me the way that my flashlights do. I guess I'm not a knife guy. At least not yet.

--flatline

Unlike flashlights, knives don't impress until you force them into action. A light can just be flick on and it can be amazing how well it is made and how bright it is etc. A knife may be well made and neat to play with but until you work with it for a while, it is just kind of a dead object. Once you have used it and it has preformed better than you expected or saved you somehow, it is just a pretty pocket fob.

I've always been into knives. My latest one is a Zero Tolerance 0350 that is waiting at home for me. I already have some play time with the 300 series of ZT knives and they are very impressive. I've found that it's easier to get someone else into knives than it is flashlights. Hand someone a Strider and watch as they are blown away at what a quality knife really feels like in hand. Nice knife BTW.

It will come to you, you got a quality knife now you have to get into quality cutting, chopping, slicing...

When i got good flashlights i started doing more stuff with them than what i did before, for example, light an entire room with ceiling bounce, or run them on for long times in low mode, or signal like crazy or play with them without fear of reducing life on an incan or draining the battery faster.

With better knives you will be doing nicer cuts for longer, or whittle stuff, play with the edge to get it hair popping or hair whittling, practice deployment options to have the knife available faster, or simply enjoying the easier way to open and the ergonomics of the knife that will tire you less, cut your food servings with it, etc.

Like i said, it will come to you, curiosity will make you look further than your usual chores.

They are a sick addiction the same as flashlights....I'm a knife nut, currently at 57 (just counted) user knives and 9 safe queens in my collection, once you find the blade length and thickness you are comfortable with it does get easier to weed out the others, that is until you find a new task to perform and then its back to square one.

Knife and lights are in the same realm of prices, so you should start doubling your toy budget immediately to compensate...:devil:

Oh and I agreed with the above post, you picked a great knife, I have been on the fence about the Cat and Chicago ever since they hit the market....but I haven't put my hands on them yet to make a final decision.

Happy Hunting:devil:

Diablo_331 said:

I've always been into knives. My latest one is a Zero Tolerance 0350 that is waiting at home for me. I already have some play time with the 300 series of ZT knives and they are very impressive. I've found that it's easier to get someone else into knives than it is flashlights. Hand someone a Strider and watch as they are blown away at what a quality knife really feels like in hand. Nice knife BTW.

Click to expand...

I've carried microtech OTF's daily for the last 6-7 years.. I just picked up a Zero Tolerance 0300 and man I'm hooked. This thing is big and solid. I carry it daily now. It replaced a buck strider tarani on my duty belt...