Attempting to understand the knife collecting mentality.

They have a cool feeling to them. I ride the subways and buses for fun, the sick grin on my face is a tell tale
 
I think there is an inherent need to aquire hardwired into all of us. Some collect knives, some stamps, some paintings, some coins, etc. Heck, I've got a friend that keeps a running tally of how many women he has been with (a truely mindboggling number). That's a collection that EVERY guy has, and some try to brag about and lord over others. Everyone wants to possess something. If you don't believe me, when was the last time you went to a museum or a zoo (Both are nothing more than large collections), and do you know to the decimal how many men/women you have been with? Why does one person collect stamps and another collect african tribal masks, personal preference.

Now, why does someone collect something that they have no intention of using? For most, collections are an amassing of rarity, and with rarity comes a perceived value. Perhaps a particular production knife is not terribly rare in-and-of itself, but a collection of every model (and model variant) produced by production maker x from its inception until its demise would in fact be rare, and most likely very valuable. So "Boats," you would fire an unused garand even though the value of said rifle would drop. Would you fire a one-of-a-kind engraved and inlaid Colt Peacemaker, knowing that at auction it will bring in excess of $1,000,000 in its current condition? If you were the owner, would you draw a mustache on the Mona Lisa? Or, chisel the anatomy from Michaelangelo's David? Any factor that deteriorates the piece from "mint" condition reduces the value of the item. To a "true" collector, use is tantamount to any of the above.

I wonder, "Boats" is there something that you would collect if you had the means, or perhaps that you do collect because you have the means?

I'm not a psycologist, but I don't play one on TV.
 
Boats said:
So what gives, those who buy but do not use?
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The deal is that every single knife we buy - folder, fixed, multitool, whatever - we honestly expect to use. Come on. After a thousand posts you gotta know this. :)

cheers
 
I consider myself a knife seeker- my collection of knives grew as I searched for the perfect knives to own. Whatever my favorite knife is at the moment is my most prized object next to my car. I haven't really bought new knives lately. I have filled my multi-tool void with the Climber and SwissMemory, and my "main knife" has been my Goode fixed blade for the past two years. Before that, I thought I wanted a folding knife so I kept searching for the perfect one, until I realized that productions folders weren't for me, and that the only reason I never considered fixed blades is beacuse of what I thought the laws were.

My point is that I think a lot of us don't collect knives in the same way that stamp collectors collect stamps or serial killers collect bone fragments ;) . If cars were as cheap as knives, people would keep buying new ones to find the perfect one. Where a knife only costs as little as $40 or so, it's easy to keep searching for the one you really want. That's different that collecting just to own them. None of my knives are safe queens, they're just not necessary because they've been replaced by ones that suit me better and I keep them because they are worth more sentimentally than monetarily.
 
I have no idea why I always seem to need another knife but,there's always another I have too have.lately I've been eying a red G10 busse game warden and I have at least thirty small fixed blades.same with folders I carry a grey calypso every day but I find myself wanting one with G10.the same for custom bucks I need one with stag.maybe later this year.

both of my sons are afflicted with the same bug though they increase their collection by expecting a new knife every Christmas and I always oblige and have since they were small the oldest is now 34.

I don't believe I need a cure but, more cash too spend on knives would be most excellent.
 
I just wanted to add that all of my knives are potential users.
It's just that I haven't found stuff worthy of cutting for some of the knives.
:D
 
Ebbtide said:
I just wanted to add that all of my knives are potential users.
It's just that I haven't found stuff worthy of cutting for some of the knives.
:D
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Sounds good to me too.

I try and use most of my knives and buy most of them with the intention of using. However some knives that are full on damascus and pearl etc etc I buy because they are art to me. Some knives are like paintings, they take many many hours to make and I buy them for how aesthetically pleasing they are to me and will not use them because they are like a painting. Yes I know they are knives and "why dont you just buy a painting" its because I dont like paintings I like knives and to me some makers are the Leanardo Devinci of the knife world.
 
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