What is a knife? One of the oldest tool and weapon on the earth. Personally to me, knives primarily are every day tools, for different tasks, whether that is in the
kitchen, backyard, camping, or opening mail :) Interestingly enough, despite of the fact that everyone has more than one kitchen knife (and is just fine with it), there are an awful lot of narrow minded people out there, who see knives only as the weapons. Bear in mind,
they don't mind own knives in the kitchen. Obviously most of them would be surprised to learn that over 95% of the knives used in crime are the same kitchen knives. Yes, depending
on the will and intention, a knife can become a weapon, so what? Given the desire practically anything can be used as a weapon, starting from the pen or a screw-driver, and
finishing with a VCR.
So, what is the official definition of the knife anyway? According to the Webster Collegiate® dictionary a knife is:
1 a) : a cutting instrument consisting of a sharp blade fastened to a handle;
b) : a weapon resembling a knife;
2 : a sharp cutting blade or tool in a machine;
As you can see, primarily knife is a mere cutting instrument, nothing else. What is being cut is a different matter, and depends on the knife user. As of today, knife is one the
most deadly weapons too - officially more people are dying from knives rather than firearms or any other kind of weapons. As mentioned above, majority of the knives used in crime
are those good old kitchen knives. Becasue they are available in every house. Somehow anti-knife
folks overlook this simple fact completely. Ignorance is bliss, isn't it :( You don't hear them proposing anti kitchen knife laws, back to the stone age ;) or earlier... Yeah,
well, you know that saying about infinite stupidity.
My Interests - I have a humble (I guess not too humble anymore) collection, which is constantly growing :) and I hope it will continue growing, (hopefully with my income ;) I've been collecting knives for several years by now. Therefore, more or less I have defined my areas of interest, preferences, styles, etc. Although knife world is changing fast :) And that's just great. Anyways, most of my knives can be qialified as user knives. I have a few art knives too, but main interests are modern, high-performance, hi-tech folding knives and fixed blades. That includes custom, semi-production and production blades. Amongst them: Busse, Strider, Benchmade, Blackwood, Hossom, Rinaldi, to name a few.
As with everything else in this life, first you have to understand better what is it that you want and what you need it for. get the information first, and then do it. So is
knife collecting, or just buying any knife. If you're a collector I assume you know what you are doing, if you're new to knife world, then... Then you have a lot to learn :)
More expensive doesn't necessarily mean better. Different knives are designed for different tasks. There is no one super-duper, do it all knife. Sure you can try to do everything
with one, but why to sweat it when there are so many? It's not very easy to pick a knife, especially when you don't really know what are you gonna do with it. Really good knives
will cost you, plus there might be a significant wait period... On the other hand quite often you'll find a real bargain deals, just keep looking for it :) I am far from being an
expert in this area, I just simply like knives, but one thing I can say for sure, before you buy, go get some information, ask people who know, otherwise, chances are you'll be
disappointed, besides wasting your money.
The knife reviews on this site represent solely my point of view, which may not match yours. You should use them only as a reference material and not as a guide. Whatever is good for me may not fit your needs and vice versa. The same applies to the knife testing described on these pages. It is your choice and responsibility to replicate them. Very frequently whatever I do to my knives may void the manufacturer's warranty or seriously damage the knife. Disassembling a knife can lead to the same, either voided warranty or you may not be assemble it back. Think twice what you are gonna do Ok? :) Sorry for saying these very obvious and banal things, but having this site up for several years I came to conclusion I have to explicitly declare that. These pages are no manual and I am no teacher either ;) I'm just another guy who likes knives.