I only started getting interested in knives in early 2002 and I bought my first custom knife in May of that year. In June I joined Southern California Blades. Later that summer my family was on vacation in Lake Tahoe and we took a side trip to Carson City, Nevada. After seeing the Mint and some of the sights with the kids, I thought I would pop into a nearby pawn shop and look around.

They had some interesting knives, but none that really caught my eye, except for one all metal, hollow-handled survival knife. It had a serious double set of saw teeth on the back of the blade and a package of "survival stuff"--fishing hook, matches, and the like --in the handle, still wrapped in plastic. I didn't know much about knives then (maybe I still don't!) but one thing I knew was that survival knives were one of the most common styles of "el-cheapo" knives made and I did not want to get taken. I hemmed and hawed and finally decided that since I didn't know what the "RP Hendersonville NC" stamped on the blade meant, I would not give them the $35 they were asking!

I came home that weekend and still had the knife on my mind, so I did some checking on the internet and as soon as I found out that Robert Parrish's survival knives were highly coveted and typically sold for anywhere from $350 to $500, I called the store back to ask them to sell me the knife. They said it sold yesterday.

One lesson I learned from that is that I regret the knives I DIDN'T buy more than the ones I did. You can always sell a knife you don't want, but you don't usually get a second chance at a knife you passed up.