And Then There Were Two

[jackknife]

Still just those two. And yes, effectively only one because my green Bugout has been relegated to the safe until I wear out or lose my blue Bugout.

I understand where you're coming from. My step-father just passed last month, and he had a lot of stuff despite my mom trying to get him to scale back for the last 5-10 years. She has been overwhelmed by the burden of going through it all and deciding what to do with it whether sell, donate, give away, whatever. It has her so stressed out, on top of it being an obviously very emotional time. So what's going to happen? I'm going to drive the 8+ hours over there on my only break from work and grad school to help her take care of it. Instead of enjoying a holiday and taking time for myself to relax before I start up again for the all consuming task of full-time job and full-time grad school, I'm going to be working on all his stuff. Like I said, I don't want to be a burden on my loved ones when I pass. Yes, I have stuff. Yes, they'll still have several things to deal with upon my death. But spending a day every couple months culling through my belongings to see what no longer is needed or serves a purpose and taking care of it right then, well that saves them an extra day of them not having to do it should I suddenly die. That's the way I look at it.

GatorMedic, I salute you!

People, collectors in particular, don't begin to realize how selfish they are being. They will accumulate a large collection of "Stuff" that nobody else in the family is at all interested in, and whey they drop with the 'big one', the surviving spouse and immediate family are saddled with the task of dealing with it all at a very stressful time.

As I got older, my wife voiced concerns over that subject. None of my grown kids, were interested. I had one nephew that has a mild interest in having a knife in his pocket for practical reasons. So I sold off my whole Randall collection, gave away most my other knives, and kept a small knife 'accumulation' that I can hold none hand. Thats my criteria. The wife and I had a one month around the country camping trip to most the major national Parks with the money from the custom stuff. We'll have memories of great times at Yellowstone, Bryce, Arches, Grand Canyon, and Mesa Verde to our dying day.

Our friend, Wayne passed away, and his wife was burdened with his gun collection, knife collection and fly rod collection, and a ton of other stuff. The kids took a few of the guns, but they were not really into it. The stuff got sold off for what was most likely under value, just so Christina could be rid of the stuff while downing to a smaller retirement home.

We collect this stuff while not giving a single thought to what happens if we keel over and our loved one is left with it all. I now my wife if 49 years is not interested in it all. She has a little SAK classic on her keys that she loves for the scissors. Theres an Opinel number 8 in her purse for general use. She has a Mora fixed blade in her day pack. But that's it. She made a point of telling once; "Please Carl, don't gift me any more knives. "

You did well, GatorMedic, to whittle down your knives. We've been working to keep our possessions down, and when we moved from Maryland to Texas, we dumped so much stuff at Salvation Army, Goodwill, and local charities that we moved with one small 16 foot rental truck. We went from a 2400 square foot three level home to a 1600 square foot one level homier a 55plus community and love a more spartan life style. If we go out, theres not a lot left to burden our kids with.

Congratulations on finding your enlightenment!!!!

 

[TrainedBullets]

I greatly prefer fixed these days, but always have a folder on me. My two folders would be:

1. My original CRK small Sebenza - Sentimentality. My son’s scout troop was anti-fixed blade. I carried this on every trip we went on together. Also every trip I went on with my daughter and her Venture Crew.

2. GEC 29 - Practical yet beautiful osage covers, nice combination of thin blades, nice overall size for me, well built. This is my current EDC folder.

I have a Stag GEC 29 and couple of GEC 62s I would be entirely happy with as well.

 

[GatorMedic]

J jackknife Hey we should be saluting you! I think you will enjoy the memories made with loved ones doing the National Park experiences far more than a drawer full of knives that you don't use much, if at all. That's what it's all about--spending time with loved ones, not material things. Having said that, I'm not perfect by any means. I have minimized in almost all areas except my hat "collection" is still excessive at about 22. I do wear them all, but realistically no one needs that many hats. So we all have our blind spots or vices, but making an effort to clear out the stuff you no longer use and really questioning any future purchases before hitting the buy button is a great starting point. I'm hoping to visit those National Parks someday myself. I went to Glacier in 2018 and the Great Smokey Mountains this year, and they were both awesome.

 

[000Robert]

My Buck 301 pocket knife, and my Kershaw Launch 1.

 

[stabman]

GatorMedic, I salute you!

People, collectors in particular, don't begin to realize how selfish they are being. They will accumulate a large collection of "Stuff" that nobody else in the family is at all interested in, and whey they drop with the 'big one', the surviving spouse and immediate family are saddled with the task of dealing with it all at a very stressful time.

Not much of a burden really.
Some years back, a tenant in this building died.
Family either didn't want the stuff, or the guy/woman didn't have any.
Building manger just opened the door and told everyone else "Take what you want!", so they did.
Place got cleared out in a day, max. Just a few bits of trash left for the building maintenance guy to throw out.

Now think how happy my neighbours would be if the apartment had all the fun things in it that I (or many members here) have. It would be scavengers Christmas!!!

Getting rid of collections of things is not hard.

 

[000Robert]

Not much of a burden really.
Some years back, a tenant in this building died.
Family either didn't want the stuff, or the guy/woman didn't have any.
Building manger just opened the door and told everyone else "Take what you want!", so they did.
Place got cleared out in a day, max. Just a few bits of trash left for the building maintenance guy to throw out.

Now think how happy my neighbours would be if the apartment had all the fun things in it that I (or many members here) have. It would be scavengers Christmas!!!

Getting rid of collections of things is not hard.

I try to label things that might be hard for my kids to find info on. Sometimes I write the bottom dollar amount to take if they sell it on the zip-lock baggie it is in, and include the full proper name of the tool or whatever it is.
I want to make it as painless for them as I can and also keep them from getting ripped off.

 

[Shotgun]

The hap40/pakkawood delica is my knife 90% of the time. It’s edge is thin and lasts forever with the upgraded steel and it’s so comfy to use you don’t even have to think about it. I rotate in a sak electrician and spyderco military every once and a while but the delica is where it’s at for me.

For the second one I’d say I VASTLY prefer my sak electrician as an edc and as a knife in its own right but the leatherman ps4 is what I carry in my daypack. I don’t like it(in fact I’ve grown to hate plier based tools) but it’s handy so I’d pick that guy for a second.

I’m a 3 knife guy usually though. I like having a clean knife for picnics/lunch on the go. My edc usually has some sort of tape/glue residue on it and the ps4 isn’t really a knife so I keep an opinel 10 in my pack alongside the ps4.