nickd
1591
Tools...
I started out from a practical point of view. I did a couple of years training as a guitar maker (a loooong time ago), and knives are used for many tasks, so I got into them from a practical point of view. These are serious work tools that get sharpened an awful lot, and I often make them from old files etc for specific tasks.
I enjoy resurrecting old kitchen knives from garage sales and flea markets, and they're often from steel that's a pleasure to sharpen. OK, they go black with acid and are NOT pretty, but they're functional and have a certain quality or patina that I appreciate.
A friend makes knives as a hobby, and recently gave me a gorgeous table/kitchen knife. It's a pleasure to use and takes and holds an edge wonderfully. It's become my tomato knife as it goes through even the ripest tomato with the slightest pressure and still cuts perfectly. The back of the blade has been left unfinished, showing the forging marks and roughness ("brute de forge" in French - not sure how to say this correctly in english), and there's a wonderful progression from this to the ultra-polished cutting edge (funcitonal finishing only - the IWC of knives 
).
Knives are tools, and I don't have any fancy ones that I would be afraid to use, constantly sharpen or even loose (I always carry a knife).
nick
The cutting edge...
