When I was maybe five or six years old my father gave me my first knife, a cheap single bladed pocket knife that didn't look like it would do anyone any harm. After two minutes of instruction in its proper use and a stern warning not to cut myself with it I charged out to the privacy of the front porch and armed freedom. I immediately began to wonder if I actually could cut myself with it and how much effort that would take. I drew the edge across my left palm to check this out, and it worked like a charm. Eventually I got the knife back.

When I was only a little older, by perhaps two or three years, I got my first real knife, an M1 Garand Bayonet in perfect condition given to me by my uncle, the mysterious man in the family who spent years in Brazil, Afghanistan and various places in the Middle East and occasionally stopped in to tell stories and pass out strange souvenirs. This was probably too much knife for a boy of my age but I felt proud to have it, and it was actually safer for me to pack around than the pocket knives I carried. It took both of my hands and all my strength to pop the latch on the scabbard; and it was too heavy to lug around in the woods comfortably, hanging at my side from a canvas belt like a short sword. The blade was too long to be very useful for any ordinary work, and the steel was so thick and so impervious to damage that even though I spent countless hours crouched over a carborundum whetstone with that bayonet, stubbornly grinding away, I never did get it sharp. I wish I still had it, because it was a fine knife, but it died in a house fire decades ago.

Somewhere between the pocketknife from Sears and the M1 Bayonet lies the practical survival knife, not quite a military weapon but too much for polite society. That's the knife you need.

In these modern times, carrying a knife is not a universal habit. Although many of us do, there are knives that are socially and legally acceptable and there are knives that are not. Many of the more useful knives fall into that second category, and since the Twin Towers fell even the others are often banned. I disagree with that approach. I've always carried a knife, and I regard most of my knives as essential tools, not weapons. The ones that clearly are weapons usually hang on the wall or sleep quietly in some storage space.

If you think of a knife only as a weapon, you truly don't understand the concept of the knife. Knives -- especially survival knives -- are tools. Most modern knives do fall into that category, and the era of the knife as a personal sidearm is long past us. The best reasons today, for carrying a sharp blade, have nothing to do with violence. As a multi-purpose tool for everyday tasks and the most important piece of our emergency technology, the knife still excels. I believe that everybody should have one, within reach.

Now and then I violate that rule, going out on a run with empty pockets, thinking that the weight I cut will make a difference -- and as I run I think about that empty space and the many times the little blade that filled it came in handy. I'm not comfortable without a blade. The next time I go for a run I grab one and stuff it in my pocket, sometimes a small knife and sometimes a heavy one. I never feel odd about it. Not having one is like forgetting my pants.

Knives evolve. Every culture and every generation has a knife that is uniquely its own. In this country it's the Bowie knife that became the American standard. With an origin partly in myth and partly in history, the Bowie was as much a part of the Wild West as the Colt 45. Inspired by a knife used to finish off a duel between Jim Bowie and Norris Wright, the Bowie knife began as a straight backed blade ground from an old blacksmith's file and fitted with a plain wood slab handle. That first knife, a gift from Jim's brother Rezin, who sensed trouble pending with the Wrights, was soon replaced by a series of customized and refined knives growing ever closer to the Bowie pattern of wide stout clip point blades with strong S-shaped hand guards. These frontier mainstays were from 1 1/2" to 2" wide and from 6" to 12" long. Individual knife makers like James Black of Arkansas became famous for their Bowie knives, and although other patterns like Black's Arkansas Toothpick were popular, only the Bowie became an American icon. Toned down for everyday use or fancied up for the Rambo movies, the clip point Bowie style blade is still what looks like a knife to us.

The established cutlery industry in Sheffield, England, was quick to spot the emerging trend and soon developed their own product line in a more civilized size. Most modern Bowie knives tend to follow the Sheffield pattern, lighter in weight and narrower in build than the James Black version. As the Sheffield cutlers shifted to a new manufacturing base in New England, the new Bowies overtook the market. A knife in that general pattern, made by the Union Cutlery Company or one of its earlier forms, was the subject of a thank you letter from a fur trapper who found himself in a tussle with a wounded bear. His gun jammed and his only recourse was the Bowie knife he carried. He won the fight. The story inspired Union Cutlery to adopt the nearly illegible words as a company trademark: "k . . . . . a b . ar . . . ." In the 1920's Union became Ka-Bar Knives. Originally designed as a hunting knife, the Ka-Bar Bowie with only a few changes became the official knife of the Marine Corps in WWII, and the design is still popular today in both military and civilian markets.

In Vietnam, a version with sawteeth on the back of the blade became standard issue for helicopter pilots, increasing the versatility of this practical knife. More function than art, Ka-Bar bowies will punch through a steel drum, saw through plexiglass, shatter car windows, drive nails and do work you'd normally accomplish with a prybar. There's still enough ordinary knife to them to serve equally well as a camping or hunting blade.

In 1855, when the Bowie knife was already the latest thing on the American frontier, the great grandson of a German knifemaker moved the family cutlery mill to the bustling town of Solingen, Germany. Nathaniel Lauterjung was about to usher Puma-Werk, the legacy of Johann Wilhelm Lauterjung, into the era of steam power. Puma's style was influenced by the "cold arms" industry -- the manufacture of stilettos and sabres -- as well as practical knives for hunters and sportsmen. Although the materials and methods of Puma's craftsmen were much the same as that of their American counterparts, the Puma knife evolved into a totally different beast. Gaining a world market in the years after World War I, Puma blades had an air of refinement, descendants of daggers and dirks rather than butcher knives and tomahawks.

As unique and memorable as the Ka-Bar, Puma's White Hunter hit the market in 1956 and remains the company's most famous knife. An efficient weapon, well balanced, with a short chopping edge on the blade back, the White Hunter still has that "cold arms" look about it. As a wilderness knife the design is unexcelled, versatile and without weak points. The only drawback is the price -- if you want that kind of quality you have to pay a little more. Fortunately the company makes similar knives like the Hunter's Pal II in a price range that suits a smaller budget. With an overall length of 8 1/4" and a blade of 4" it's actually a more practical size for most outdoorsmen.

Although today Puma makes a wide variety of knives and intentionally designs for local cultural markets (including the American Bowie knife market), there is an underlying style and philosophy which makes Puma knives unique. Many of the original hand processes are still followed even though their high volume production is now automated. Modernization has increased the quality of Puma cutlery by bringing standards within even tighter limits. Behind all of that, the Puma style is still apparent. High standards of workmanship, the best materials available, and a customer base which included the military and the elite all contributed to the Puma knife concept and the result was very different from the frontier knife with roots in necessity and emphasis on brute force. Some of Puma's older patterns like the pre-war youth dagger demonstrate this underlying style the best but the influence is still obvious in their more modern products such as the paratrooper's knife.

Choosing a knife for the wilderness is an easy task compared to deciding on one for everyday use and potential emergencies. An urban survival situation may be that your car breaks down late at night and if you just had a pair of pliers you could fix it yourself. Car accidents rate high on the list of disasters. In an emergency you might need to cut a seat belt or smash a window in order to get out of a wrecked car. In many modern emergencies you need tools and a simple knife may not answer all your needs. The Ka-Bar could get you out of a wrecked car but you'd have a hard time tightening a battery cable if it was your only tool.

Knives in urban situations are also a dicey legal area. It may be legal to wear a sheath knife in town, so long as it's in plain sight, but you'll draw a lot of negative attention that way. A folding pocket knife with a blade under 3 1/2" long is legal except in restricted areas like airports and courthouses, but a knife that small doesn't have the heft and leverage strength of a workhorse like the Ka-Bar. A best answer is a compromise, and many good compromises are available.

For the automobile consider a high quality multi-tool. Many companies produce these combination tools that unfold to become screwdrivers, knives, pliers, wrenches and files. While not the perfect fit for all situations, you have many more options than you'd have with an ordinary knife, without all the legal issues.

For the pocket, the Swiss Army knife has become an increasingly intelligent option. Fifty years ago when I was growing up in the Ozarks, the problems I was likely to encounter were much simpler and anyone in my peer group of adolescent savages drew many sneers if they pulled out a Swiss Army monstrosity. Today the more common issues are technical, and having a discreet pocket tool kit makes more sense than a folding knife. Swiss Army makes an endless varieties of tool and blade combinations, tailoring some towards city dwellers and computer geeks and others towards high tech trekkers and climbers. By selecting specialized kits that suit your needs you can cut weight and bulk and still have what makes sense to carry.

Many people still think that a knife is a practical self defense weapon and get drawn in by the drama of owning and carrying a fighting blade. Many companies cater to that delusion, offering an endless variety of concealable knives for self defense, some of them barely legal and many of them not legal at all.

For most civilians, any knife designed for fighting is a legal liability if carried concealed. That includes boot knives, neck knives, belt buckle knives, daggers or other double edged blade styles, and automatic opening knives. Carrying concealed weapons without a permit is illegal. Owning an automatic knife or switchblade is illegal unless you have lost the use of one hand, work for police departments or rescue squads, or are active duty military. Local laws vary but are generally strict. In Texas it may still be illegal to carry a Bowie knife in your vehicle. In California it's illegal to carry nearly anything without a permit, or at least it seems so, and in many states individual weapons of many kinds can't even be legally purchased. Considering that in last resort self defense situations many legal objects serve equally well, owning and carrying an illegal fighting knife is pretty stupid. There's still a huge market for them and collectors are common.

Some are hardly even practical. Neck knives in general are light weight, tend to be in hard to reach places when you need them, and bounce around so much they can actually fall right out of the sheath. Good ideas among the legal limit knives come and go, with modern knifemakers trending towards the complex rather than the reliable.

One handed opening, within the limits of the law, is something many independent knifemakers have tried to achieve ever since that law was passed. In emergencies, when you may only have one hand free, being able to open your pocket folding knife is a huge advantage. Most legal assisted opening knives use some sort of thumb stud or thumb hole to swing the blade out and lock it in place. It's definitely worth considering.

Other so-called improvements like lightweight handles or serrated blades aren't so great. Serrations are intended for cutting cord, rope or seat belts and although they do that, so will a sharp plain blade. When serrated edges get dull, they're tough to sharpen properly, and if you use a knife for anything but cutting bindings they don't work well. And of course, there's a huge market for them because they look mean.

One of my favorite knives is a four inch Bowie style folding lockback knife, the Buck 110. That's a strong knife, big enough to be a useful tool, and legal to carry because it comes with a belt pouch sheath and isn't concealed. But it does require two hands to open. If I wanted to replace that knife with something better, I'd be looking for that one feature, one handed assisted opening. It already has everything I want but that.

A step up from the old reliable Buck could be the new reliable Puma Storm, part of the Puma TEC line. The Storm is a little smaller, but the 3" blade qualifies it for legal pocket carry. A strong pocket clip keeps it from sinking to the bottom under the change. The blade itself is a work of art in Damascus layered steel, one of the strongest forged blade types ever made.

An equally good choice would be Ka-Bar's Mule Field Folder, a tactical style assisted opening folder built with the characteristics of Ka-Bar's Marine Bowie in mind. The 4" blade makes pocket carry inadvisable, but Ka-Bar includes a belt sheath, making this a practical choice for civilians as well as soldiers.

Part of the reason that knives still fascinate me is that a good one always seems like more than you see. A knife that's well made really is a work of art, and it's also a tool with a quality that can get you smoothly through daily life and both into and out of trouble. Some people think that certain knives hold spirits, and I tend to agree with that. Knife making is probably the only modern industry that still includes mystery as a component.

Don't cut yourself.