Be all to end all purchase

osvcap

osvcap

Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
116
When you order a particular knife, is your mind made up that you are going to keep it, or do you have doubts and hope to get most of the purchase price if/when you sell it? I have ordered several knives that I just knew were the dog's bollocks and a few years later, recently selling most of them off (usually at a loss). I never sold one off within a year from purchase.

To each their own but I saw a post where someone listed a knife for sale that was recently acquired. If I remember correctly, he went through the trouble of adding custom scales and was sent off for a regrind. Another post I saw was someone selling an expensive knife, just to "catch and release" for a significant loss.

So I'm just curious about some of your reasons for buying some of the ones you buy.
- I gotta have it!
- I'm buying this because it's popular right now and if I don't jump on it, I'll miss out.
- Meh. I'll try it and if I don't like it, I'll trade or sell it off.
 
I maintain a four to five edc rotation that is comprised of three CRK's a Spyderco Slysz Bowie and a ZT 0562cf. It has taken approx five years of purchasing trial and error to arrive at these specific models. I have in the last sixteen months sold off five models that did not appeal to me for long term carryability purposes.
 
With so much business being done online, people don't have a chance to handle knives like they once did. The purchase the knife knowing that there is a chance they wont like it and can recoup most of the cost.
 
I really wanted a quality EDC couple years back instead of what I was carrying so when I got my Protech TR-5, it was all downhill from there. Since then it's lead to several "quality knife" purchases.
The Benchmade mini Infidel as my most recent from a member here. That knife I had to have :)
 
1 and 3, but never 2.

I don't understand what "popular" is in context to how I decide on which knives to purchase.
 
I used to think that way for sure. This is going to be THE "perfect" knife!!

That was a while back when I went for materials and looks more than functionality, comfort, and quality/durability.

Now, the entire time it is shipping out to me, I am hoping it will be worth keeping and I won't have to send it back or put it up for sale. I love being pleasantly surprised! When it is a keeper, I am extremely happy, especially now that my standards are much much higher then a while back. Compared to the knives I bought a few years back, my recent assortment are 10 times better. So overall, I am happy, but wish I could get all my money back and start over making better choices. There have been a few this last year that have been amazing, and some that just were not for me. But, that's the way it goes.
 
JR88FAN said:
1 and 3, but never 2.

I don't understand what "popular" is in context to how I decide on which knives to purchase.
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Popular like when the supply could not meet the demand for the PM2 and people were flipping them for double and triple retail. Or like when before the price bubble burst for the XM-18 and people were snatching them up within hours of being listed on dealers' sites.
 
I'm a "committed" buyer, no matter what it is, knives, motorcycles, tools, whatever, I buy it with the intentions of keeping it forever (or for however long it lasts).

I'm 46 years old, I've been into knives since I was a little kid, I've owned dozens of knives, and I've never sold a single one. I have given a few away, and I've thrown a few away (junk). I still own the vast majority of knives that I have bought throughout my life.

I did come close to selling one, but the buyer backed out. So I still have it. I didn't advertise it for sale, the interested party expressed a desire to buy it, and I had no need for it, or attachment to it, so I was willing to part with it.

Instead of selling knives that I end up not liking, I send them off to the depths of my "knife graveyard", my garage. Where they tend to sit in a cabinet rarely ever seeing the light of day.

As far as my criteria for buying knives- I buy what I think will/might prove useful, I buy what appeals to me, and I buy what I can afford.

I have no plans to ever stop buying knives. My purchases may be few and far between, but I don't plan to stop. Too many cool knives out there that I want to own, even if I don't need them. And someone is always making more.
 
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I have owned enough, and sold enough, knives to know that I will not hold onto it very long...but it's nice to check it out.
I only carry one EDC, although I have/had many NIB knives. I am very picky in my tastes.
 
All of mine were purchased with the intention of keeping them. As my tastes and interests have changed, I have gifted a few to friends but I still have most of what I bought. I have never bought a knife with the specific intention of selling it later but I have bought a few for what I knew was a good price at the time, knowing that if I did later want to sell it I would probably not lose much money on it.

I do recognize that at some point I will start to unwind my collection, whether for financial need or just as I wind down into old age and need to de-clutter. But for now I'm holding onto what I have. My rate of addition has slowed dramatically, though. Only one new acquisition this year and I plan for that one to be my last.
 
To be honest, I never sell a knife, when I buy it, it's a life long commitment....

To be honest, I've never bought a knife, and not started looking for the " next " one before it was delivered

To be honest, I have 350+ knives in 3 rolling 7 drawer tool chests in my man cave

To be honest, I might need an intervention....

But I love my blades, each and every stinking one of em.... 1 or 2 users, but the bulk sitting pristine in the collection. It brings me sanity to go sit quietly in my man cave, with some good classic rock coming thru the local station....and pick a drawer, and just sit and polish them for hours.....

serenity.....
 
I'll say to myself "I need a blade to fulfill this role" (lightweight edc, high abuse edc, food prep, gentlemen, etc.) and then I spend hours on hours, days on days, and weeks on weeks of researching every knife that falls into the category. Go through distributor websites looking at every single brand/model they carry and then through the forums. Slowly narrowing it down until I'v seen every option out there. I have about 15 higher end production ($100-$500) and have never sold any nor regret any purchase.

Most fulfill different roles/scenarios.

Have acquired a bit of a 94X addiction. Only model I have multiples of in different steels/handles. 2 more on my immediate purchase list.
 
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I purchase knives with the intention of keeping and using them. Sometimes it doesn't work out, a knife in person doesn't work for me as well as it looks in pictures or on paper. Not being able to handle them before buying I sometimes have to take my chances. Sometimes I buy a knife and it is great but eventually I find something I think I will like more so I'm willing to trade one for the other. But otherwise I find that the knife that was really great one day will sometimes in the future be just an ordinary knife and I'm willing to sell it and move on to something else. The easy explanation is that we are just very fickle.

I've been into collecting watches too and I find that watch collectors are even much more fickle than knife collectors. I think that is part of the hobby, and has to be figured into the hobby. So when you sell a knife you will maybe break even or maybe lose a little bit, so the little bit that you lose is the price of knife collecting as a hobby.

I find a couple of new knives announced that I am interested in buying, but I have so many right now that I have to sell a couple to buy a couple. The ones that I've picked out for potential sales are really nice knives that I can't find any reason for selling, other than having too many.

I find it interesting that in some of my other hobbies by contrast I am happy to have one item for a long time and not want to trade it for another. I have been involved in computers, photography, bicycling and archery. I've used one camera and one laptop for about 7 years each, I still have the Hoyt bow that I bought well over 30 years ago, and I rode one bike for almost 25 years.
 
I'm constantly trying to upgrade... Not always in price/quality but in what addresses my needs better. I can't rationalize holding onto stuff I don't carry so it gets sold.
 
I don't sell anything, in fact I usually buy two of something. Maybe not the exact thing but for example, a zt 0560 and a zt 0562cf. Or a Manix 2 and a PM2. I buy two with the intention of passing all my stuff to my kids. I want them both to be set up well. This goes far beyond knives.

At this point in my life, I pretty much know what I'll like. Also do a lot of research beforehand.
 
Hawgsnawt said:
To be honest, I never sell a knife, when I buy it, it's a life long commitment....
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Oh. My. Heck! This is me. I still have every knife I've owned since I was a kid, except for the two that got lost along the way.

To be honest, I've never bought a knife, and not started looking for the " next " one before it was delivered
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Ooohhh yeahhh. Recently discovering the Knife Exchange is killing me, and my conviction/budget to limit purchases to just one a month. Dangerous.

To be honest, I have 350+ knives in 3 rolling 7 drawer tool chests in my man cave
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You sir (or madam), are my hero. My collection is just a comparitive drop in the bucket. I've only been into this for the last 6 months or so. Curse you ZT 0450! You were like a gateway drug!

To be honest, I might need an intervention....
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You and me both, brother...you and me both.

It brings me sanity to go sit quietly in my man cave, with some good classic rock coming thru the local station....and pick a drawer, and just sit and polish them for hours.....
Click to expand...

Yup, yup, and yup.

serenity.....
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Serenity. Amen.
 
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