This topic pops up on the radar every few months.
If you are buying the knife as a USER, then you can feel guilty about not using it. Handmade custom knives are meant to be a step above production in quality, and that performance will show in usage.
But, how many users does a person need? Not all that many.
A COLLECTOR, on the other hand, will purchase far more knives than he/she needs, and will spend far more of their discretionary income supporting the industry in return, because of this.
A collector pays attention to the value of their inventory, and knows that a knife will lose a substantial portion of its value once it goes below mint/unused. Knives will come AND go on a consistent basis for many collectors. Not a bad thing.
My point, is that there is no reason to feel guilty about not using a handmade knife. Your priority is protecting your assets, not proving a knife's usefulness; that's the responsibility of the maker.
Coop