A dilemma when buying two and gifting one

Hickory n steel

Hickory n steel

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As we know it's not uncommon to buy two traditional knives which have seen the work of human hands and have one slightly better than the other in some way.
Say from Case , Buck, or rough Rider for example ( could probably happen with GEC too ).

If you bought two of a knife with the intent to gift one would you inspect them and keep for yourself the one you were happiest with knowing the recipient wouldn't notice or even care ?
Nothing major but say one has a more even edge grind , one has a small gap, or one lucked out with the nicer bone / stag than the other.
Would you feel bad about keep what you considered the nicer one ?

On one hand I'd want to give them the nicer one as it seems like the right thing to do , but on the other hand I've kind of been burned before and might want to keep the nicer one knowing I'm being picky about things they'd never even notice.

I have gifted the nicer example of a knife keeping for myself the one with an issue which eventually turned out too off-putting for me, the other which I would have actually carried and used is simply collected by the person I gifted it to.

What would you guys do in such a situation ?
 
H&S,

I think it would be (groan) “Case by Case”.

I’d absolutely inspect them. I gave a really nice knife as a birthday present recently because I know my friend will appreciate and use it in the spirit it was given. We’ve been friends 30 years. He asked about the knife, manufacturer, and other details.

Another friend got an Alox Cadet and loved it - I did not say what it was, just told him to pick a color out of a few options. He chose wisely.

My best friend would not care as much and possibly lose it, so he’d get the worse one - and I wouldn’t give it a second thought.
 
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I'ld gift the nice 1. Especially if non knifeknut.
They might appreciate the look of the knife, while I can appreciate the quality with cosmetic flaws.
It's hard sometimes because as we all know,you start thinking was it a keeper.
But it's good to do something nice for others.
If you don't like the 1 you kept, stick it in a draw and you might like it better in a few months :D
Mitch
 
I’ve done it twice. I bought two Yellow Rose Churchills and two Stag teardrops that John Lloyd made for me. The yellow rose was for my son in Texas and the Lloyd was for my cousin in Florida. I tried to gift the one I thought was the better because it felt right. It must have been the right thing to do because the gift was much appreciated and the ones I kept and posted here always got a positive response.
As Mark Ramrodmb Ramrodmb said “do what feels right to you.”
 
joeradza said:
I’ve done it twice. I bought two Yellow Rose Churchills and two Stag teardrops that John Lloyd made for me. The yellow rose was for my son in Texas and the Lloyd was for my cousin in Florida. I tried to gift the one I thought was the better because it felt right. It must have been the right thing to do because the gift was much appreciated and the ones I kept and posted here always got a positive response.
As Mark Ramrodmb Ramrodmb said “do what feels right to you.”
Click to expand...

Wait... WHOA!!! Joe! Joe is that you??? Hey man, it's your cousin up in Washington state. How ya doin'?

:D:p
 
Choosing which knife would depend on the person I plan to gift to and how they use and treat knives.

If you gift a "used" knife, it is a good idea to sense how they would view a used versus new knife from you. If it were my Dad, I would show him both knives and let him choose.
 
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I bought a Case two blade Barlow at a knife show this past spring. I had been looking for a Case Barlow similar to the one I purchased when I was a pre-teen. The knife has a lot of sentimental value to me, but the original was worn to a nub and the handle cracked. The prices I had been seeing on one similar to my old one were in the $100 to $150 range and often used. Saw a couple that appealed to me and asked pricing. Both were the same price but one was older and showed a little more wear. I was tempted to buy both. But ultimately, I went for the one in better condition and slightly newer in manufacturer.

This is much like gifting a knife decision, choose the nicer condition one or the older one? Since I am not a collector, I went with the one in better condition. Gifts (choices) depend on your impressions or knowledge of the receiver in terms of choice. If it were a collector friend, I would have purchased the older one, but for me, I went with a newer one in slightly better condition. Just so you know, we're still talking a knife that is at least 30 years old.
 
This issue has happened to me a few times because I have gifted quite a few knives to my kids & their kids . First one of my Daughters wanted a Purple Knife like mine and the a Grandson wanted a Lock Back Knife like mine . So eventually I had to 3 different times order a GEC 72 . Each time I chose to keep what I thought was the least visually appealing knife to them . I just made sure that all the mechanicals was right for them . They received their knife at Christmas 2016 and I have mine . They can not tell the difference , but I can ,


Harry
 
Many of you are probably right that it would depend on the person.
I can think of people who would get the " less perfect " one and others that I'd want to give the better one.

Something I've been thinking about is that there are a number of knives from say Buck that are packaged in a way that you can't inspect them without destroying the packaging.
The 110LT for example, my dad got what he got and so did my brother.
They were bought at separate times, but couldn't have been inspected if I wanted to.

maybe this next time I'll just hand one over and let it be random.
The two I've got coming are from Buck so I don't have much to worry about anyways.
 
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