I've only appreciated knives from afar until very recently. Until I've actually tried to use a knife to do something, I just had no idea what good qualities of a knife actually were. I'm thankful for this thread. It has shown me that all those crappy display case knives I bought as a tourist as a kid are utter junk. I have one $19 Cold Steel Tanto now that is more useful than all those others put together, and even that knife is crap compared to the stuff in this thread.