The Gift of Giving a Knife

I have often given knives to family and friends and noted that many of you do as well. My motivation is generally triggered by one of them expressing an interest in one of my knives. If they chat me up I might just find a knife to give to them. But more often than not the knife is never seen again. At least not by me.

Satisfaction is when you give a knife away and every time you see the recipient he/she has it in their pocket or bag. Even greater satisfaction is when they return it to you for sharpening because they have used it to the point of being dull. That is a person who genuinely appreciates the gift and has made it part of their EDC.

My all star recipients include:

My daughter--she is a nurse, and whenever she shows up in her scrubs, coming or going to work, always has her Spyderco PM2 that I gifted her.

My youngest son--he carries a Spyderco Manix2 daily that he pulled out of my inventory.

My cousin--who is a fireman in the infamous Ferguson, MO firehouse (Michael Brown/BLM yeah that place) and has my original ZT 0566. I chose it for him because I felt it would get hard use.

My brother--a minimalist man that moves his entire pile of belongings in the back of a cab. He just brought over a BM Mini-Griptillian that I gave him at the start of the summer. He asked me to sharpen it before he moves on for the winter. I could tell from the wear on the blade that he truly uses it for all his cutting needs. I cannot trust him with a more expensive knife because he has a way of losing everything.

My oldest son--he carries a CRK Inkosi and has beat the living tar out of it in his daily use. It warms my heart.

Let's hear some of your stories.

 

What about your adopted son Bob?

 

My son carries a Benchmade Adamas folder I gave him for his birthday. I've given him at least a few others over the years, but that's the one he carries every day.

My wife has a Spyderco Dragonfly and a Benchmade/Ritter Mini-Griptillian with a pink grip. Funny she still asks me when she needs a pocket knife. Hers are usually in her purse in the car or in another room

Two of my best friends carry knives I've gifted them. One a Benchmade Stryker Tanto and the other a Cold Steel Spartan (it's what he wanted).

 

Gave my son a zt350 about a year ago,offered him to trade it for the 801,he tried it,looked at me and said....nope,keepin mine.
Gave my two best friends/coworkers an 801 each,always in kyle's pocket,nate switch with a cheaper knife that his daughters bought for him.
Gave another good buddy a 566,he s a maintenance guy and brought that dirty,gunky knife for a spa and oil treatment not long ago.
I m glad i was able to bring some ZTs to these people lives and i m glad to see them all being used.

 

Emac gifted me a laserstrike he stripped, patina'd, and filed the tang and scales on. Its my hands down favorite knife I own, especially after it got leather pants. It's been in on all the deer cleaned at the camp since I've gotten it and done quite a bit of wood prep for my smoker. It caused my esee addiction, and as junkies do I infected my son with the sickness and he's asked for or hinted at wanting a new esee model for every holiday or milestone that's passed in the last few years. So every six months when I get him for visitation we bring back all the edges I'm happy to see he's beat all to hell!

Great thread JAD!

 

My dad - when I first got into the ESEE craze, I bought my dad a DT Izula. He had never even thought about a neck knife or EDC back then. He's worn it nearly every day for the past 5 years.

My wife - she never really got the idea of "designer knives" and couldn't understand my urge to own more than one. When I first started modding knives I took in a 0301 for some blade reshaping. She fell in love with it and just kept talking about how awesome it was. That Christmas, I bought her a 0300 and she'd carried that every day since then.

 

I will give no one knives. All mine they are.

 

My all star list gets the mention because they all use their knives. But my wife deserves a category all her own, at this point the category is nameless.

I gave her Mini-Griptilian that had custom AWT aluminum scales on it. I only gave it to her because she liked the neon blue color. She had been carrying it for about a year and I had never seen it a single time. So I asked "did you lose it"? "Oh no" she told me, "it's right here in my purse's side pouch". Shortly after I asked her for it and said I was thinking of trading it for something else. Man did she get hot about that. I said to her that if she wasn't using it why does it matter. "Because I just like having it". As long as Momma's happy everybody is happy. She still has it.



@Delkancott -- There's your coffee cup.

 

That coffee cup looks great. A true reflection of me! (The one standing, not working that is)

 

Yeah, I figured. You don't seem like an "apron" kind of guy.

 

Awesome thread!

Gifted my old man a Randall Made Model 1 Fighter 2 years ago.
Gifted JMJ the LS he spoke of which was gifted to me from Bushman in a Veterans GAW when I first got into the Esee Craze.
Gifted another good friend a Bushlore recently which he carries about 3 times a week
Gifted my old man an Esee3 (stolen last week)
My old Man gifted me my Esee5 (also stolen last week)

 

That Bob is no damn good. The sooner that kid is gone from the area the better off we'll all be.

 

I have given a few knives away and I certainly do appreciate those who actually use there knives.
One of my good friends I gave him a benchmade griptilian and he can't stop flipping it open and closed, he never carried a knife before and I see it on his person all the time he says its like his phone he can't leave without it. He also just dropped it off to get sharpened and it was worked over....... Sweeeeet!
Gave a custom zt0550 to another good friend of mine and he does carry knive and was a knife guy before but this knife is his favorite and he has brought in a lot of work for me showing off the knife I gave him.

 

gave all my groomsmen a kershaw cryo with their initials engraved on the handle. I see it with them constantly.

 

@W.Jester -- I always thought knives for groomsman would be a great idea. But when my son got married recently he said his drinking ass buddies would rather have RTIC cooler cups 16oz and 32 oz with lids.

 

I gave a friend a Kershaw Skyline four or five years ago. Don't see him often, but did bump into him the other day and noticed that he is still carrying it.

The last set of Krein reground Spyderco waved knives I owned were given to another friend and his wife several years ago who have since divorced.
No idea if he still has the Endura, but she texted me recently to ask where to get more of the modded Delicas because she still carries hers daily and has several friends who want one.

Those are the most notable ones. I've given away several SAKs to strangers needing a knife.

My wife and daughter generally pick out their own.

 

His name is Eugene. I met him in Fairview Village in central Guyana.
He is from the border of Brazil, but travels to villages weaving tools for casava reduction, and making arrows for the fisherman.
His knife consisted of one blade from a broken folding pocket knife, no handle.
I was able to give him a knife, a folding saw, and a section of 550 paracord.
Such a simple gift, at a 'chance' meeting; I will forever remember Eugene.

 

My wife couldn't stand knives for the longest time. She always thought she was going to cut herself. I bought a Zancudo a few years ago and ended up showing her how to use it. Spent the time teaching her how to open and close it without cutting herself, then I ended up just giving it to her. She loves that knife.

Then a few weeks ago I gave her my DT 3. Once again I showed her how to remove from the sheath, etc. She carried it in her purse at first, then she wanted to wear it at work. She works at a bank so that wouldn't fly. Instead she keeps it in the car on the driver side.

Then I gave my Ganzo away to my old boss when I bought my Skeleton key. He ended up losing it a few days later. He text me the other day and told me he found it though.

I like giving stuff away. It makes me happy to see the excitement in people's faces when they get something for free. I've done it plenty of times now and it always makes me feel good inside.