Gifting knives - cutting the friendship

[Bernie]

A recent mention of a knife being gifted reminded me of something I heard (I think from Ray Mears): If someone gives you a knife you should give them something in return (a penny?) so that the knife doesn't cut the friendship. Is this a widely practised superstition / tradition?

I must say I like the idea if only for the fact that it shows how special a knife is to give someone or receive.

[Groundhog]

It should be a silver coin and seems to be observed in Sweden and Britain possibly Celtic in origin anyone know for sure?

[Raikey]

not sure of the origin,,but i do know it applies to Thailand too,...

i,m not thai, i just picked up bits of the culture from a Muay Thai teacher (Thai Boxing)

[Bambii]

I saw this on a ray mears thing, a knife maker made him a knife and gave it to him. In return he was given a silver coin. I like the idea of the coin so it doesnt sever friendship, makes sense to me.

I've never seen it apart from on the ray mears programme.

[luresalive]

It certainly is the case in Ireland, especially important if given by a family member

[V13TC0NG]

If someone ever gives me a knife... I think I'll hand them a spoon in return

[Shawn]

We do it here too. We put a penny, it should be a shiny new one, in the box with the knife.

Shawn
:campfire:

[Zam]

We have a similar superstition here, had it for hundreds of years, and in the last couple of centuries the silver coin got replaced by any type of money (any shape, size, value, etc).

[jbrown14]

It's funny, all the years I've given and received knives as gifts, I never heard of this tradition. I can think of at least two close friends that I've lost over the years with whom I've exchanged knives and not corresponding coins. Coincidence? Perhaps.

Oddly, the first time I heard of this tradition was when it was mentioned in the movie "The Edge" when Sir Anthony Hopkin's character is given a knife by Alec Baldwin's character and is cajoled to "Give 'im a coin," by the caretaker of the lodge where they are staying.

I think I'll observe it from now on, sounds like a good tradition.

[Zam]

I'm no longer friends with 2 close friends, they both got me knives for some birthdays a few years back. Same happened to one person who got a knife gift from me, he suddenly stopped calling, that's when i first heard of the coin exchange tradition for the first time, from an old uncle who's a hunter and has been a hunter for most of his life.

[JEEP]

We have the very same tradition here in Denmark.

[jbrown14]

Was given a knife a couple of weeks ago as a gift from my brother-in-law for standing up in his wedding (and providing some of the music) and I remembered to give him a coin in exchange. This is the first time I've actually done it, so time will tell how it works out...

[hellbilly]

Thats how we do it in the backwoods of Tennesse (usa) but were different from the rest of the states !

[Zam]

Thats how we do it in the backwoods of Tennesse (usa) but were different from the rest of the states !

The rest of the states are different from you and the rest of the world :P

[jbrown14]

Thats how we do it in the backwoods of Tennesse (usa) but were different from the rest of the states !

Yeah, you've got prettier scenery and deeper caves than the rest of us! (I'm from Syracuse, NY, myself. NOT the big city where all the weirdos are...)