The knife has been around in one form or another for many thousands of years, going as far back as the Saxon Scramasax in the 5^th century and further back. The knife started out really for preparing food and hunting, round about the 12^th and 13^th century it started to be used more in warfare. By the 15^th century it was standard for the knight to have a dagger as well as his sword. The most favoured dagger was the French Rondel dagger which looked rather like a stiletto dagger. The types varied as to the purpose, country of origin and materials at hand. Between the 15^th and 17^th century the stiletto was a popular knife design, as the name might suggest, it was a toothpick attached to a handle.

An unusual knife design was then created in the 16^th century, the sword breakers. These knifes were broad with notches on the top, what happened was the teeth would allow the opponents sword to enter but not withdrawn; thus allowing the blade to be twisted and the opponents sword broken. By the 19^th century there was becoming an increasing advent of decorative knifes, then the Bowie knife cam along and has never left. Then when guns came about bayonets were being harvested. These ranged from basic spikes attached to the barrel to sword bayonets.

Knifes must be looked after well for there is an old saying that a blunt knife is a dangerous knife. The reason for this saying is that a blunt one will need more force to cut and thus damage may be inflicted if careless. It is not difficult to look after a knife, you should never let it rust, keep it out of prolonged contact with water and clean and dry thoroughly after use. You should keep it sharpened well and well oiled.

Knife collection is a major pastime for many, nowadays though it is feared that laws will make such things more difficult, you cannot own knifes with a blade longer than four inches (roughly a penknife) unless you have a license for collecting. Also it is an expensive hobby as knifes can fetch up to thousands depending on the quality and the age.