- Joined
- Mar 15, 2001
- Messages
- 2,450
Ive been mulling over a few thoughts and observations regarding my knife collecting, and thought Id share them, to see if anyone else has had similar experiences/observations. Let me preface this by saying that Im currently flying the friendly skies on Percocet (kidney stone), so Im automatically absolved of guilt for saying anything stupid. 
Observations regarding my knife collecting:
Ive become more particular about fit & finish I find that the longer I collect, the more particular I am about fit and finish. I now have a mental checklist that I go through each time I pick up a knife. I also have a number of reference models and prices committed to memory to quickly tell whether a knife is a good deal.
I am beginning to focus more in my collecting I used to collect everything, but have recently focused more on acquiring knives that I can use every day. For me, that means gents knives. While I am still open to collecting anything, I find it hard to justify a $600 knife if its going to spend most of its life in a display cabinet. I havent focused to the extent some of you have (e.g., pre-1960 Case slipjoints with stag scales ), but I can see myself perhaps going there over time.
I buy fewer but more expensive knives This is probably no big surprise to you long-time collectors, but I wasnt sure Id ever get to this point. I was on a knife feeding frenzy for while, but as you can imagine, when you buy a number of knives each month, you can only afford more the more inexpensive ones. I have now settled into a more stable pattern of buying one high-end production or custom knife every 2-3 months, with usually one really inexpensive knife to hold me over between these purchases. This pattern seems to keep me satiated and fiscally solvent.
I am a knife perfection freak I am foremost concerned about the quality of the final product. I know that many of you like to buy custom knives in large part to develop a relationship with the knifemaker. While I have met a number of knifemakers, and while I certainly enjoy developing a relationship with them, the knife still takes precedent. In other words, Id sooner buy a near-perfectly-executed knife from a slightly disagreeable knifemaker, than a less-than-perfect knife from a really pleasant knifemaker. Thankfully there seem to be lots of really nice knifemakers out there who make top quality knives, so most of the time its not an issue.
I am becoming dissatisfied with lower end steels Yeah, I like sharpening as much as the next guy, but there is still something really cool about a knife that will cut through anything I throw at it, and still shave arm hair. Plus its just plain fun to test the latest super steel.
I have come to prefer pocket carry, followed by tip-down, and then tip-up carry While I will buy knives with any of these carry options, I find that the knife has to have more going for it to overcome a less-preferred carry method. For example, I will put up with a tip-up Sebenza, but not a tip-up lower production model.
My wife is starting to slowly be won over as a knife knut I find this to be very cool. She initially just put up with my blah, blah, blah about knife steels, edge bevels, locks configurations, etc. Then I gave her a small Gerber for her purse. Well, she started using it and found it to be very handy. I then showed her a few articles about how people (esp. kids) can die from being trapped by seatbelts in burning vehicles, often because theres no knife around to cut them free. That convinced her to put a small knife (and Micro-light) on her keychain. She is also getting better at not being shocked by knife prices, and she has expressed an interest in going along to a knife show. The last knife I purchased came to roughly $480 and all she said was, OK, but thats all your getting for your birthday. Not a problem! Shes definitely a keeper.
I spend more time at BF and consider the members as I would a group of non-virtual friends I now find myself referring to the BF community as the knife guys (sorry female knife knuts I know its not very PC). I feel like Ive known many of you for a long time, and I have a lot of respect for your opinions. I also find it very neat that I can talk directly to knifemakers via this forum.
Certain people are simply freaked out by knives and nothing you say or do will change that Ive come to accept that certain members of our society will always perceive a knife as 100% weapon, no matter if you use it right in front of them for some other utilitarian purpose. I also find that these are the same people who are most shocked and in a state of disbelief when they are preyed upon by other members of society. Maybe theyre just naïve, or perhaps they simply dont want to leave their Pollyanna world, but whatever the reason, they are a real pain-in-the-ass to deal with when you own a knife.
I am getting braver about using my more expensive knives I am slowly getting braver about using my more expensive knives, although I still find it difficult to use them hard, and I always have dedicated beater knives that get the really nasty tasks. Its interesting that Im getting better at this, at the same time that the average cost of one of my knives is getting higher. For me, it seems to have been more of an issue that when I reached a certain number of knives in my collection, I mentally gave myself the latitude to use more of them. I dont really fully understand it, but I see it as being a good trend.
Most people have no clue how much we spend on knives, and would be shocked if they really knew The few times Ive made the mistake of telling people how much a knife costs, they look at me like Im from another planet. I remarked to someone the other day that I was excited because I basically got a knife at half of the $160 MSRP. I could tell the point was totally lost on him, and instead, the only thing he got from the conversation was that I was crazy enough to spend $80 on a pocket knife.
Thats it for now, besides the Percocet is making me sleepy. Off to la-la land for while.
- Mark
Observations regarding my knife collecting:
Ive become more particular about fit & finish I find that the longer I collect, the more particular I am about fit and finish. I now have a mental checklist that I go through each time I pick up a knife. I also have a number of reference models and prices committed to memory to quickly tell whether a knife is a good deal.
I am beginning to focus more in my collecting I used to collect everything, but have recently focused more on acquiring knives that I can use every day. For me, that means gents knives. While I am still open to collecting anything, I find it hard to justify a $600 knife if its going to spend most of its life in a display cabinet. I havent focused to the extent some of you have (e.g., pre-1960 Case slipjoints with stag scales
), but I can see myself perhaps going there over time.I buy fewer but more expensive knives This is probably no big surprise to you long-time collectors, but I wasnt sure Id ever get to this point. I was on a knife feeding frenzy for while, but as you can imagine, when you buy a number of knives each month, you can only afford more the more inexpensive ones. I have now settled into a more stable pattern of buying one high-end production or custom knife every 2-3 months, with usually one really inexpensive knife to hold me over between these purchases. This pattern seems to keep me satiated and fiscally solvent.
I am a knife perfection freak I am foremost concerned about the quality of the final product. I know that many of you like to buy custom knives in large part to develop a relationship with the knifemaker. While I have met a number of knifemakers, and while I certainly enjoy developing a relationship with them, the knife still takes precedent. In other words, Id sooner buy a near-perfectly-executed knife from a slightly disagreeable knifemaker, than a less-than-perfect knife from a really pleasant knifemaker. Thankfully there seem to be lots of really nice knifemakers out there who make top quality knives, so most of the time its not an issue.
I am becoming dissatisfied with lower end steels Yeah, I like sharpening as much as the next guy, but there is still something really cool about a knife that will cut through anything I throw at it, and still shave arm hair. Plus its just plain fun to test the latest super steel.
I have come to prefer pocket carry, followed by tip-down, and then tip-up carry While I will buy knives with any of these carry options, I find that the knife has to have more going for it to overcome a less-preferred carry method. For example, I will put up with a tip-up Sebenza, but not a tip-up lower production model.
My wife is starting to slowly be won over as a knife knut I find this to be very cool. She initially just put up with my blah, blah, blah about knife steels, edge bevels, locks configurations, etc. Then I gave her a small Gerber for her purse. Well, she started using it and found it to be very handy. I then showed her a few articles about how people (esp. kids) can die from being trapped by seatbelts in burning vehicles, often because theres no knife around to cut them free. That convinced her to put a small knife (and Micro-light) on her keychain. She is also getting better at not being shocked by knife prices, and she has expressed an interest in going along to a knife show. The last knife I purchased came to roughly $480 and all she said was, OK, but thats all your getting for your birthday. Not a problem! Shes definitely a keeper.
I spend more time at BF and consider the members as I would a group of non-virtual friends I now find myself referring to the BF community as the knife guys (sorry female knife knuts I know its not very PC). I feel like Ive known many of you for a long time, and I have a lot of respect for your opinions. I also find it very neat that I can talk directly to knifemakers via this forum.
Certain people are simply freaked out by knives and nothing you say or do will change that Ive come to accept that certain members of our society will always perceive a knife as 100% weapon, no matter if you use it right in front of them for some other utilitarian purpose. I also find that these are the same people who are most shocked and in a state of disbelief when they are preyed upon by other members of society. Maybe theyre just naïve, or perhaps they simply dont want to leave their Pollyanna world, but whatever the reason, they are a real pain-in-the-ass to deal with when you own a knife.
I am getting braver about using my more expensive knives I am slowly getting braver about using my more expensive knives, although I still find it difficult to use them hard, and I always have dedicated beater knives that get the really nasty tasks. Its interesting that Im getting better at this, at the same time that the average cost of one of my knives is getting higher. For me, it seems to have been more of an issue that when I reached a certain number of knives in my collection, I mentally gave myself the latitude to use more of them. I dont really fully understand it, but I see it as being a good trend.
Most people have no clue how much we spend on knives, and would be shocked if they really knew The few times Ive made the mistake of telling people how much a knife costs, they look at me like Im from another planet. I remarked to someone the other day that I was excited because I basically got a knife at half of the $160 MSRP. I could tell the point was totally lost on him, and instead, the only thing he got from the conversation was that I was crazy enough to spend $80 on a pocket knife.
Thats it for now, besides the Percocet is making me sleepy. Off to la-la land for while.
- Mark
