are you open to buying used knives?

C

cards94

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Jul 23, 2013
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i'm sure there are some great deals to be had with used knives but i would never buy one.
 
I've bought plenty of used knives. Some through forum exchanges, and some from the big auction site. Never had a bad experience and (especially when buying through forums) have gotten some great deals on some out of production knives.
 
I'm curious, why would you never buy one? I've bought tons of used knives in my day, or at least previously owned ones. Back when I was into custom folders (non traditionals) it was really the only way to get your hands on many things without a huge wait time. For less expensive production traditionals I just tend to buy new as they are cheap enough and readily available to begin with, but when it comes to customs I think the secondary market is a great place to go.
 
Why not? I haunt junk malls/antique shops/flea markets etc for old slipjoints that I can clean up and sharpen. I also buy and trade for used traditionals.
 
Most of my knife buying is done online. Buying used, as long as you have the ability to inspect and return for a refund, is a great way to get a discount on some fine knives. I've done it many times, especially for custom and higher end knives that may not come around again.

I'm equating buying used with buying preowned. The amount you save needs to be commensurate with the amount of "use" the knife has seen. If you are a collector instead of a user the amount of use and indications of use can be very important.
 
I'm not only open to buying used knives, I do it all the time. I've even paid 50 to 100 times more than original cost (of course, these would be knives from the early 20th century)
 
I buy very few knives new. Since I use all my knives, if they come to me with a few scratches but a lot cheaper I can buy more! Knives don't wear out very fast, so there is not really a worry about finite life spans.
 
reason for not buying used is it's someone else's chores, jobs, memories on there. i like to buy new because i like to be the only owner of the knife although i'll gladly lone someone my knife if they need to borrow it.:p i've always owned used cars and when i was a kid used some used hockey skates because you out grew them quickly, but with knives its different for me.
 
You also are limiting your ownership to current production knives, or "new old stock" from dealers, or "new in box, never carried or sharpened" from existing owners, unless you consider the latter "used."

And you sometimes pay a hefty premium for the no-longer-produced but still new and unused knives. If you are then planning to use it yourself, you destroy that price premium you just paid for the unused-ness.

Nothing wrong with paying the premium if you are a collector and want to maintain it in that pristine condition, but if you're going to sharpen it and drop it in a pocket I'd rather buy gently used.

I've got some great user Case knives from the 70s and 80s that I could not have acquired if they had not been used. $45 for the used-no-box knife versus $200+ for the same one in "new-in-box" condition.
 
I have bought many used traditional knives (and modern flavors). Its sorta fun to get something like a Schrade LB7 that's been laying in someone's junk drawer for 20 years, and cleaning it up real good, getting the seller's mung off of it, and polishing the bolsters and blade with some Mother's Mag Wheel polish. I've brought it back to life, and have the satisfaction of know that when I die, my wife's next husband will throw it in the garbage along with everything else I have hoarded.
 
Since What I am doing is collecting as a hobby, all I worry about is overall condition and if I like the knife... So, as long as those conditions are met, I have and do buy pre-owned (but thus far they have been in unused condition).
 
I think your going to find yourself to be in the minority here, I'd be willing to bet most of the people in the traditional forums buy used, right now you're 10% of the people on this thread who won't, actually you're the only one right now, (ain't statistics fun?).

By limiting your self to only unopened knives there's a lot of knives you'll miss out on, a lot of vintage patterns you'll never get exposed to because they're not made anymore, plus your robbing yourself of the joy of trying to imagine what the previous owner used the knife for, what his life was like 70 years ago when the knife was new.

There's a whole bunch of people who love to try and imagine the type of person and what their lives were like back then and of course there's the whole movement around repairing, repurposing and restoring old knives, it's fun to rehandle an old Case or Schrade Stockman or Trapper.

Don't limit yourself to only NOS you're missing out on a whole other aspect of knife collecting if you do.
 
You can get some great deals on used knives and when thats the case they are well worth it. I bought a microtech ultratech from a friend for $190 and he only carried it once or twice, It was a great deal since I would probably not pay the normal $230 for one.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
I think your going to find yourself to be in the minority here, I'd be willing to bet most of the people in the traditional forums buy used, right now you're 10% of the people on this thread who won't, actually you're the only one right now, (ain't statistics fun?).

By limiting your self to only unopened knives there's a lot of knives you'll miss out on, a lot of vintage patterns you'll never get exposed to because they're not made anymore, plus your robbing yourself of the joy of trying to imagine what the previous owner used the knife for, what his life was like 70 years ago when the knife was new.

There's a whole bunch of people who love to try and imagine the type of person and what their lives were like back then and of course there's the whole movement around repairing, repurposing and restoring old knives, it's fun to rehandle an old Case or Schrade Stockman or Trapper.

Don't limit yourself to only NOS you're missing out on a whole other aspect of knife collecting if you do.
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i'm fine with being the only one. if i came across a knife from the civil war that was being sold for nothing in an antique shop, i'd grab it but thats a whole different story. i really dont care to imagine what someone else was using the knife for 20 or 30 years ago. my fathers old timer i will proudly inherit and cherish but we're talking family.
 
cards94 said:
i'm fine with being the only one. if i came across a knife from the civil war that was being sold for nothing in an antique shop, i'd grab it but thats a whole different story. i really dont care to imagine what someone else was using the knife for 20 or 30 years ago. my fathers old timer i will proudly inherit and cherish but we're talking family.
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To each his own, just leaves a few more old/used knives for the rest of us old timers... ;)
 
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