While on adventure, or about the house, the importance of a good knife should not be overlooked or under appreciated. 

I carry a knife with me almost everywhere, generally a small folding pocket knife.  Maybe it is just me, but I find uses for it everywhere; opening letters and DVDs, cleaning fingernails, removing zip ties and packing straps, trimming errant flowers from a brides arrangement, cutting limes and stirring cocktails.  I just feel a bit better prepared for the day when I have it, kind of like carrying a bottle opener.

“Excuse me, does anyone have a knife?”

Of course,  How can I help?

As a chef I can explain my fascination with knives as a love born of professional admiration.  Using a sharp knife for the task which it was intended is, for me, a fulfilling experience.  Serrated knives for bread and cakes, flexible blades for boning, and nothing carves a prime rib like a carving knife!  Home and professional cooks will all agree that a sharp knife makes the jobs easier (once you get over being afraid, and simply respect a knife that is as sharp as the devil himself), and just like a painter, who will have many brushes that accomplish the same basic task of getting paint to canvass but each with it’s own specific advantages.  A cook with many knives is able to tackle a greater number of culinary endeavours.  I recomend Global knives, they are the ones I use at work.  Single piece construction for simple cleaning and care, high quality steel and a wide selection of knives in several price ranges.

As a Gentleman Adventurer, I will admit to being fascinated by cool knives.  Really, 6 Gents throwing knives at a tree is very funny, and a little bit dangerous.  My favorite knife, by far, is the bowie knife that I received as a graduation present (yes, I made it out of high school on the first try, barely).  It was made by Dave Ellis, a local (now master) knife smith. With a pattern welded blade, mokome gane guard, desert ironwood handle, and stingray skin inlaid leather sheath,  it is awesome.  Just the thing for this Gentleman’s adventures.