A Favorite Knife Question...

ddallam

ddallam

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Imagine that you wish to gift a knife from your collection to someone special, and you offer them their choice of one knife from your collection. Which ONE knife would you remove from the collection before offering them a choice? Which TWO? Assume they all cost you the same and none are replaceable. So it's not really a ONLY ONE KNIFE question, you keep them all except one, and risk losing something valued.
 
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I usually give all kinds of things away... whether highly or frugally priced really doesn’t mean much here. A friend is quite valuable to me, and if we share interests... it’s a free for all that’s always reciprocated. Like a barter, we’re both satisfied with the final exchange and continue to do so. I have pals that’ll snatch up something for me all the time, regardless of if I’m happy with it or not. These gestures scream genuine friendship. I was also raised in the car business... everything and anything is for sale, and replaceable. A friendship is usually not.
 
If it is someone "that special", I would let them choose any knife. Otherwise, their degree of specialness would determine the size of the pile from which I would let them choose. It is too difficult for me to define the tipping point point where I would begin to start dividing the giveaways from the keepers.
 
I’ve given away a 15 barehead clip rust red , 15 Tc clip antique amber , 15 spear antique yellow jig with endcaps , 68 white owl clip with chestnut slabs . 85 jack goldenrod micarta, 66 slim yellow rose , 81 albliene yellow rose and a few 71’s
Most have since been lost , broken ,rusted away or confined to the sock drawer
I’ve learned I’m into knives a lot more than my friends. That being said , I value people more than knives .
 
The one in my pocket. :). It’s all just stuff. You get to be a caretaker of it awhile...but you can’t take it with you.
I have 20 or so in my top drawer, and my mother - who is twice divorced and is living with a man for years now (she won’t marry him...she doesn’t want to be the 3x divorcee...) came to visit with her ‘fella’ the other day. He has been really good to her, and they have been together awhile, and he is a handy tinkerer kind of guy who spends a lot of time in his “shop” out in the garage making birdhouses and whatever else he dreams up. He’s pretty talented.
Anyhow they came by for a bbq last weekend and I asked him if he had a pocket knife. He said no, but he keeps a knife on his workbench. I pulled out the top drawer...set it on a table...and asked if he would like to pick one.
He ended up looking at them all, but said no thanks he just wouldn’t carry it. He doesn’t need the ‘extra weight’ he said. Was kinda cool seeing his eyes light up over an 18
Pattern case...but in the end he just didn’t want one. He didn’t want to take anything he wouldn’t use.

I have a lot of respect for that.

My father in law I did the same thing with when I only had a half dozen knives five or six years ago I want to say. I gifted him a Gec half Congress in St Paddy’s day acrylic and he carries it every day. Every time he comes by the house he is always bringing it out saying “willya sharpen it” or “pass that over that strop of yours....” I have tried to show him different knives I have acquired thinking he might want a change but he flatly refuses. He loves that thing. He called me in a lather a couple years back thinking he lost it somewhere - I told him that would be a tough one to find a replacement of...he found it though later that day. :)
He was in a panic. Hope that don’t stop his clock!
 
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Man that’s tough. You have to be careful giving away stuff that’s important to you. The receiver may not attach the same level of importance or value to it and you have to be good with that you know? That being said I’ve got more than 2 that I would really hate to lose so I guess leave everything in the box and roll the dice lol. Here’s a couple of the favorites…
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Within the context of the question, Northwoods Presidential, I’ve posted here a lot. It’s just the one I like best.

Reality is that gifts, custom mades, Beer Scout modded by BigBiscuit, and hard to replace ones probably ain’t goin’ nowhere.
 
For me it would be the 108OT that my wife's grandfather bought me before he passed (20 or so years ago) and the Case mini trapper in red bone that my oldest son got me for Father's day when he was 5. In this scenario, sentiment would trump quality, price, or rarity for me.
The one caveat would be if it was one of my sons. I would give them the 108OT.
 
My first choice would probably be my TC One Arm Rust Red Sawcut Bone. 2nd choice would be a custome Mike Moran knife with koa covers that should be arriving on Monday. The first because it's unique in my collection. The second because it ties me back to where I grew up. I know OP said this wasn't a one knife question but by doing this exercise, because the giftee could choose any knife other than the one you reserve, you really are admitting to yourself that you could lose/gift/sell them all except for that one that's reserved.
 
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