11-19-2025, 06:32 PM
And if so, do you know if they are used and appreciated? Or not, perhaps abused and appreciated? Or maybe just unused and unappreciated, as told here with one poor guy who gave his friend a Leatherman Wave+ for Christmas, came to his house the following year to help him put something together and found the LM, still unopened, at the bottom of a bucket filled with parts, trash and general detritus. I personally have not given a whole bunch, but my capacity to give, especially quality, is increasing.
The first knife I got that was intentioned for someone else when I first got into knives, was a plastic-scaled, assisted, two-for-one flipper stiletto of 4" (Delta Defender Stiletto in case you are curious), for my girlfriend, for defense, before I knew anything at all about it. I think I knew I was making a mistake as I purchased a bunch of crappy knives for 100 bucks. I did not end up giving her that knife, as one of the two I got immediately failed upon flipping, the liner slipped to the other side and the knife slipped impotently to my fingers. Yeah, I knew I had made a mistake. Very shortly after that, I got an Opinel no. 8 as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend. discovered the joys of Opinel, Douk-Douks, Higonokami, Mercators... and acted accordingly.
She is very nature-oriented and as such, I got her an Opinel no. 8, mushroom slicing knife, and had it engraved as "Name's Shroom Slicer". I also got her a large Higonokami, which I thought would be right up her alley, but she did not carry as much as I expected. I think this was because of the slow action. She just seemed to be preferring the RAT2 in AUS-8 that I gave her after I got my white scales and black D2 bladed beautiful one. But, as I was getting into nicer knives and Spydercos in the months after that, I decided she should have something better. Got her a Spyderco Sage 5, the minty one with CPM-M4, and that was a hit. That is now her daily-use work knife.
I gave her younger brother a Cold Steel Kudu, the one with the ratcheting lock, for his birthday, and he seemed quite pleased. I think that was a good choice - it was between that and an Imperial slippie, and this one was more fun for him for sure. Besides, that Imperial slippie is terrible, an awful example of bad Chinese slippies, the answer to the question "How bad can a slipjoint be?".
I gave my mother a beautiful walnut handled no. 6 for her birthday. She loves that, glad I was able to get her a useful lil knife and get her into the idea of using and carrying one!
How about you guys?
The first knife I got that was intentioned for someone else when I first got into knives, was a plastic-scaled, assisted, two-for-one flipper stiletto of 4" (Delta Defender Stiletto in case you are curious), for my girlfriend, for defense, before I knew anything at all about it. I think I knew I was making a mistake as I purchased a bunch of crappy knives for 100 bucks. I did not end up giving her that knife, as one of the two I got immediately failed upon flipping, the liner slipped to the other side and the knife slipped impotently to my fingers. Yeah, I knew I had made a mistake. Very shortly after that, I got an Opinel no. 8 as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend. discovered the joys of Opinel, Douk-Douks, Higonokami, Mercators... and acted accordingly.
She is very nature-oriented and as such, I got her an Opinel no. 8, mushroom slicing knife, and had it engraved as "Name's Shroom Slicer". I also got her a large Higonokami, which I thought would be right up her alley, but she did not carry as much as I expected. I think this was because of the slow action. She just seemed to be preferring the RAT2 in AUS-8 that I gave her after I got my white scales and black D2 bladed beautiful one. But, as I was getting into nicer knives and Spydercos in the months after that, I decided she should have something better. Got her a Spyderco Sage 5, the minty one with CPM-M4, and that was a hit. That is now her daily-use work knife.
I gave her younger brother a Cold Steel Kudu, the one with the ratcheting lock, for his birthday, and he seemed quite pleased. I think that was a good choice - it was between that and an Imperial slippie, and this one was more fun for him for sure. Besides, that Imperial slippie is terrible, an awful example of bad Chinese slippies, the answer to the question "How bad can a slipjoint be?".
I gave my mother a beautiful walnut handled no. 6 for her birthday. She loves that, glad I was able to get her a useful lil knife and get her into the idea of using and carrying one!
How about you guys?