I remember my grandfather gave me my first blade ... i must have been about 5 .... he was never the most responsible man (helping me catch scoprions at about that age as well, and not the kind with the big pincher's ) ... haha ... which made me like him even more. It was a folder that looked like a buck blade, with the wooden handle and the gold edges (not sure what it was though). My folks snatched it out of my hands and hid it from me immediately for "when i was older". It took me over a week to dig that blade out of the cupboard it was hiding in, after i went through the entire house top to bottom like a child possessed (warning to diceman here to lock those babies up) .... and only about 3 minutes to almost hack my thumb off. I imediately did what any responisble kid of that age would do ... and hid in the best place i could find to avoid the lashing which, as far as i could tell, was unavoidable ...... by the time my hysterical folks found me after seeing all the blood in the house, they were just so happy i was alive i did not get the lashing .... but never saw that blade again ....

sorry ... off topic ... but that's what came to mind when i was reading this thread. I always remember that story with a smile ...