i've used (pocket) knives since i was 8 or 9 yo when my dad (RIP) gave one to me. about a year later i lost it. i got another one, lost it, got another....when i was 12, my dad gave me a Buck knife 110 and i still have it for hunting. i still have a min Buck knife that i bought when i was 13yo. at 15 i was using junk folding knives for years. i bought them at yard sales, flea markets, box of junk at auctions......i was using them for hammers, screwdrivers, chisels...you name it, i've probably done it!!!!when the junk knife broke, i threw it away and got another one. water and sewer mains, construction vehicles, my own vehicles, carpentry, masonry, combat engineer.....just a few of the jobs that needed knives.
then 12 or 13 years, i got a bug up my rump for a custom knife that i could use for just hunting. this was a WV knifemaker named Marvin Wotring and it is banding steel with an whitetail antler handle.