Carry or Collect?A Conundrum

[Dschal]

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The Viper is baptized now. Got used yesterday for opening some bags of earth for gardening. And then beauty and utility fell together in one swipe. I purchased a dozen roses for my lovely wife today and used my new Snakeskin Viper to trim the ends. Man that knife was plenty sharp!

On an added note the juices from the rose stems seem to have reacted with the 1095 steel and added some patina instantly. You can see the streaks in the attached photo link. I had wiped it down right away and it had some mineral oil on it to start with. Interesting. I guess it is personalized now.


,,,Mike in Canada

Congratulations on your new knife and the special patina!

 

[Nature Boy]

Got to get past the beauty and get to the utility.

I think you'll find that there's a great sense of beauty and satisfaction in watching a patina evolve. Congrats!

 

[TsarBomba]

Hi guys, do most of you have knives you use in a regular rotation or are you strictly collecting? I have had a number of pocket knives over the years and I always have one in my pocket. They were run of the mill SAKs or a Case or another modern stainless steel folder I could replace easily if lost. I am not a hard user but I have not hesitated to use them properly when the need arose.

Now that I have found GEC and purchased three so far (two more on order) I have not pocketed them. Held them, admired them, opened and closed them but no pocket time. My new Viper in snakeskin acrylic is begging to leave the house and I have GEC leather sleeve to protect it, but still it sits.

Do you double down on your orders? One keeper, one cutter? These are my first non-stainless steel knives and I am thinking the 1095 steel needs more care or caution to maintain them and the short runs could make a knife irreplaceable. I have never hesitated like this before. I have eight or ten watches and they all get worn. I have many fur felt fedoras, panamas and flat caps and they all get worn.

I'm going to take the cheap and easy way out and say "both". A few selections that I agree with:

Personally, I strive to avoid the "safe queens", but I do still have a few that I have hesitated to christen with an apple slice or whatnot. Overall, I do try to carry them, and I have even pushed myself to sell off knives that I have for the sole sake of collecting them. The exceptions are ones that I have got through more interesting circumstances like winning in a GAW, or finding overlooked for sale some place, etc.
...
The first wildly colored patina on there feels like you have tarnished the knife, but once you have that deep grey established patina I think it looks really nice.

I have a group of knives that I use or carry regularly, and others that move in an out of the carry group on occasion. I have others that don't get used at all, so I guess those would be in my collection.
...
So in general I am both a collector and user. I have a number of knives that don't get used and are new in box/tube other than having been initially admired, and another group that get carried and used (or are likely to).
Apparently actually collecting knives seems to have a negative stigma for many of the posters here, and I am not quite sure why that has become the forum culture. If I were completely practical about it, I would have about 3 SAKs, 2 modern folders, and 3 Case or Buck slipjoints and be done with it.
You should feel free to carry and use, or collect and admire, however it suits you.
*Edit - My approach mirrors what Draggat described above, though I don't have quite as many total as he mentioned. Maybe 120-150 total, with about 12 that are regularly carried, another 20 or so that get carried sometimes (or move in and out of the regular-carry group) and the rest are on the shelf.

Pretty much this exactly...

i have knives i use, i have knives i save, i have knives to give away

I collect (hoard) just about any type of knife that interests me. Most of my new ones (GEC, Case, etc.) don't get used, just put away for future consideration. I also have many older knives that I collect, but I have been more willing to use and carry those, as unless they are super rare, used knives just don't have as much value, so why not enjoy them and appreciate the craftsmanship.

I have a couple of knives now that I use while out and about... But the rest of my knives were purchased to be kept within my collection. I don't call them "safe queens" because I actually use them to decorate my home. None are kept from sight, all being housed under glass in some sort or another display case. They always make me smile, so they serve my purposes ☺ In the end, it's what makes YOU happy 👍☺

This is actually where I'm trying to get to with my box/tube queens and other knives carried less often. I have also sketched out a few homebuilt displays but have yet to find the time to start making them.

I really like knives and although I have just got through selling most of my really nice knives to help fund some purchases for another hobby I have I still have 83 knives and that's way to many for an old man to have in his EDC rotation. That said most of my knives are subject to be carried and used but I do have some that have special meaning to me that I won't carry because I just don't want to take a chance on something happening to one of them. I have a S&M Barlow gifted to me by Mrknife who I consider a good friend I won't carry and the same for a WW2 era Camillus Radio Jack BigBisquit gifted me and a couple of pen knives gifted me by Jack Black. Then there's my first knife that Glennbad brought back to life and knives given to me by family as presents. You can see where I'm going with this. A lot of my knives are old users and sometimes I just like to look at them and think about the people that might have owned them, those that made them, where they've been, what they have cut who first created the pattern what was the inspiration for it and so on. I also love to gift knives and just make someone's day. Yes I have too many knives to use them all and yes I will continue to buy them but they bring a little bit of joy to my life and that's perfectly alright with me.

Again, pretty much this.

I own so many more than I could carry and the use of them is in the enjoyment of ownership for most and the carry/deployment of a few.

I love this line and echo it.

Both for sure. You don't want to use a 60 year old mint knife or a knife that is a newer short run that can become very valuable. But also you should carry what you love.

Agreed. There's no stigma to storing away that mint red bone Case Barlow of yore or that 1 of 3 short run SFO you bought because you loved the pattern or finish.

I think you'll find that there's a great sense of beauty and satisfaction in watching a patina evolve. Congrats!

Agreed.

To me, my best knives are the knives I carry. My best knife might be different from week to week, or even day to day. Sometimes it's my big CV #75, sometimes it's my nondescript stainless German Barlow. Occasionally it's a mystery knife, something I know nothing about aside from the fact that I like it a lot. I have a "short box" of carry knives, a few of them being exact duplicates of knives in box or tube that I obtained separately (in some cases unknowingly!) -- the ones that I feel will hold some value usually stay with me, others that deserve to be used will be shipped off as needed. I have some knives I carry that I'm not quite sure I'll ever be able to duplicate, some that are obviously unique by nature. I tend to carry used knives or the few dupes I have, and sometimes the dupe becomes the favorite. Learning to make slips and sheaths is helping blur those lines, but I won't pretend that I carry all of the hundreds of slippies I have -- that would be impossible.

I do love everything I carry and I carry everything I love.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

With a collection/accumulation the cycles between 350-400 I'd say no more than 10% are collectors, all the rest get carried, used and sharpen need when needed. Some of the knives in my rotations are near and over 100 years old, the few I have pur away were bought chap and are in MIB and NMIB so I keep them that way with hops of makin' a few bucks down the road,

 

[JC972]

Personally, I tend to carry newer knives and put the older ones up, with a few exceptions. I have a few old knives that I use for whatever with no remorse, and they get carried in the same pocket as change or keys without a thought. These are mostly old Camillus and Klein electrician's knives. I got them used and already beat up so they get carried in the shop and actually used as they were meant to be. A nicer knife might get carried, alone in a pocket, or might go into the gun safe never to be carried. It just depends. I'm bad for getting a knife, then deciding it's in too good of shape or too pretty to carry. I'm trying to do better though. I've always been sentimental and I'm a bit OCD so don't do what I do but...

My criteria is generally:

*Out of production/more than a decade old/ or made in a special year (year of one of our children's births or my wedding year, for example, will go in the gun safe), no matter the condition, gets put up (unless I have three or so and one is in noticeably worse shape, then I'll carry it)
*Commemorative or limited edition, gets put up
*Gift from family, more than likely will get put up, unless I don't like it or it's ugly, then it goes to the box of knives I carry

Like I said, I'm a sentimental, OCD guy so don't follow what I do. I don't like it, myself. It's lead to a lot of duplicate knife purchases.

Sometimes I'll go against it all though. When I get to thinking about papaw, I'll get out the old Puma stockman I gave him one Christmas and strop it a little and drop it in a pocket. In a day or two I'll go back to carrying a beater. Just makes me feel a like he's with me or something when it's in my pocket. I usually carry it on the anniversary of his death for some reason. Some knives with memories attached, that are irreplaceable, never get carried. The old John Primble I carried on my wedding day and the Eye brand stockman with not-so-happy memories attached are two of those in particular. If I could ever get duplicates of those, the duplicates would get carried.

 

[silenthunterstudios]

Let's see. I would prefer to say I carry everything, but I am a collector. No specific idea, just go for quality, but I get flustered by whatever trips my trigger.

Case Damascus amber bone peanut; Case Bose Tribal Spears (honey bone Damascus, antique bone, ebony edc), Case Bose chestnut bone coffin jack, Case Bose antique bone dogleg jack, Case Bose antique bone cattleman, Case Bose chestnut bone Lanny's Clip, Case Bose antique bone wharncliff trapper

Dr Taber Lannys Clip red bone ATS34, Zulu red jigged bone CPM154

J Oeser Zulu green/black bolster micarta CPM154

Rick Menefee Zulu antique Westinghouse micarta 154CM

Gene Wiseman barlow micarta D2

Tracy LaRock dogleg jack micarta O1, Lannys Clip micarta linerless O1

Tuna Valley cutlery stag camp folder 154CM

Queen Dan Burke small barlow D2, Daddy barlow D2

Northfield 77 barlow spear point micarta 1095


These are the ones I know of off the top of my head. I've got a Cramer gunstock jack coming. Micarta and CPM154.

I'm the guy with 20 bucks in his pocket, enough money on his debit card to get a tank of gas, and about a grand worth of knives in his pocket.

 

[wouldestous]

i have a few knives that i dont carry because they have sentimental value and dont want to lose them. none of them are expensive or especially 'nice' and they have all been carried by either a much younger me or a relative. i carry the other couple dozen knives in an entirely irregular rotation.

 

[malibucid]

1095 high carbon steel will definitely patina with use if not cleaned properly. That first mark you make is definitely hard to look at and you will probably wish you hadn't taken your Viper out of the house. However, when you finally get a beautiful gray all over your high carbon steel blade, I bet you'll enjoy the personality it brings to your knife.