A day doesn’t go by that I don’t give at least one of the knives I’m carrying a couple of swipes on a small diamond sharpener. Prior to each hunting season, I’ll grab each of my fixed-blade knives and hone them even if they don’t seem to need a touch-up. I prefer diamond sharpeners from Eze-Lap and keep one in my backpack, another in a desk drawer at the office, and another in a basket above my home computer.

The advent of pocket clips on single-blade folding knives found virtually everyone in my sphere with the top of a folder visibly clipped in their pocket, sometimes one on each side. I’m not sure all of them understood the value of having a good working knife — one might presume several of them had the knife because they’d seen others carrying knives and figured they need to have “the look” whatever that might be, for any little chore that came along.

Since there was no Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show this year, we’ve all missed a chance to see what’s new in personal cutlery. But a few days ago, my Inbox received a message from the good folks at Kershaw so I spent a leisurely hour or so perusing through the new stuff.