collecting of knives?

G

gustav

Joined
Sep 23, 2007
Messages
112
Have anyone ever asked themselves why collect and buy knives after knives? have been wondering the point of this lately. Do you get this feeling buying knives are getting pointless?

I can understand if its for investment purpose but what about those that probably be of no foreseeable significant increase in value? I can understand if its for edc. What bout those that dont get to be edc?

Do you still buy those ? what makes you buy them only to set them aside with all the other knives?
 
nah. to me, each knife is special in its own way, even when I buy 2 of the same knife. And to be honest some knives are simply a pleasure to look at, while some would grab your heart upon first sight.
 
In the past, I bought knives simply because I liked the way they looked or I just wanted to try them out. I always bought high quality knives, but I ended up with a lot of knives that I never used or even carried. I no longer do that, and try to purchase knives that I will actually use. I try to do enough research that I'm happy with my purchases, and not constantly buying knives. Realistically, I have all the knives I will ever need. I'll certainly purchase more in the future, but only knives that I can see myself actually using.
 
I think that its good to realign with needs. what did you do with the knives you bought before that?

I was in talks with vendor recently for some mora knives at a good price. I wanted all their stocks but the deal didnt go through. I would have easily 70 pieces or more of the same item. Apparently they realised that it was priced wrongly when trying to give me a bulk buy price and raised the price.

I was wondering that if i were to be successful with the purchase, that would leave more of my other knives obsolete.

I am not a dealer. I am beginning to think i got a buying problem or just cannot resist good deals. Now theres another shop that has some knives that he's stocked for many years, they seem like nice carbon steel knives, crude finishing, not sharp but gets sharp. Hes offering me cheap and i got no idea how much he has now, could be 40 to 100s even. I am hesitating as i begining to wonder the prupose of all this buying. These also are not expensive knives but would be pretty good i reckon.

Knives dont got used up very fast. I do not recall using up any. A few were lost while fishing or washed by the tides and one on loan was never returned. under 5 in total. Its funny that its the ones that gets lost gets remembered.

these are some of the sak. Given some away and some are not in the photo. i think Its a liitle too much since i only lost 1 sak before.


sds.jpg
 
Just because I have a BUCKet full of Bucks, a KERafe full of Kershaws, a PUMA skin full of Pumas, a SAK full of SAKs, and a SPYDer web with a Spyderco, doesn't make me a knife-collector - or knife-nut. Sorry, I couldn't make a ha-ha about my lonely BM... it's too early in the AM for that! Oops - forgot the Bears from here in AL. Further proof I am not a knife-nut - I have never owned a Case knife!

Stainz

PS We acquire this stuff because we can, they fit in a drawer, and we are trying to relive our childhood, where Johnny down the street had a nicer pocket knife than we did!
 
I agree with Stainz as to why. I have over a 1,000 knives now. Many ( about 300) are cheap under ten dollars, but others are top shelf. I too will buy a dozen of the same at wholesale if I love the knife. Will I ever use them all ? NO ! I often don't even carry a knife on a daily basis as the post 9/11 NYC has too many metal detectors that I must go through each day for work. I enjoy man's oldest tool and I have always been a bit of a collector. I also have a hard time passing up a great bargin......I paid my mortage off, and make a great six figure salary, so I only have one vice.....knife collecting...lol
 
what do you intend to do with the hordes of knives you amassed?

looks like its not a buying problem or everyone got this problem here. :D
 
I have always like knifes be it for utility or defensive which started around 10 years old and still love them. Only in recent years have I purchased a few true collectables. More or less every knife sees pocket time except for a half-dozen.
 
I wish I had a scientific answer but the truth is I just love knives. I use most all of them from time to time. I like to try different steels and different designs. They are not a investment in any way to me. This said, some of the older knives I own probably have value as collectors but thats for someone in the future to decide.
 
I think it's in man's (or at least some men's) nature to collect. As boys, how many of us collected baseball cards, comic books, coins, stamps, or some other such thing. I personally collected St. Louis Cardinal baseball scorecards and liked to get them out and admire them - going over the starting lineups, scores and inning by inning plays.
Come to think of it, I guess it applies to women also. They start out collecting Barbie's, Barbie clothes, etc. and then graduate to shoes and jewelry.
I guess there's nothing abnormal about a person collecting as long as it doesn't interfere with the more important things in life. At least I hope so!
 
I think knives are one of the things easiest to rationalize collecting. Because you can have different ones for different things. Tell yourself its not collecting beacuse they are all different. They are really affordable as far as brand name quality products go. And they store away better than most things. Otherwise I own almost nothing, but work and play seems to bend me toward owning a number of knives.
 
I have an insane number of knives and everytime Victorinox comes out with a new model...I have to have the darned thing, or kershaw or spyderco or benchmade etc. I like buying things, I like using them. I really like buying and owning and using Busse's and thats an addiction all in itself. Not to mention I have multiple customs I have on order throughout the year/s. I dont probably need them or anything, but I want them and like having things. Thats all the excuse I need.

Plus I am going to be the awesome dad and grandpa with all those awesome guns and sharp @ss knives that I get to pass along to my kids. There may come a time when I cant buy the knife or gun I want or get to use them. Might as well do it while i can.
 
I've always had an interest in knives since I was a kid. Always had 2 or 3 pocketknives around. I had several fixed blades because of my hunting. About a year ago I found a knife that I really, really liked and decided to collect the different variations. I also decided to step it up and buy some high end knives as well as a couple of customs. I do not use all of them. I need 2 or 3 more Natives to finish out my collection and I can see myself not purchasing anymore. There are one or two new models coming out next year that I will buy, but overall my knife buying will be coming to a close. I think part of it is, I wanted a new hobby, so I picked knives. I had some "extra" income that allowed me to afford my new hobby. But after awhile I realized, just finish up the collection I started and be done with it. I will buy a couple of more knives in the next year or so as money allows but I see my knife collecting/buying coming to a halt here shortly. I will just sit back and enjoy my collection.
 
Beyond the basics like shelter/food/clothing most of the things we own we don't REALLY need. That being said theres nothing wrong with collecting as long as you are not putting yourself in debt over it. A certain amount of consumerism is fine, heck it keeps the economy healthy.

But if you are avoiding A)buying groceries B)making car payments C)putting away some savings so you can instead buy new knives then you have a serious problem. However if you live within your means theres nothing wrong with knife collecting, or collecting stamps/Humels/Cars/Cans of Motor oil etc etc. I honestly think most people collect SOMETHING, though they often won't admit it.

With certain exceptions most items collected are mass produced with thousands or even hundreds of thousands of identical items floating around. Buying as an "investment" is often just a case of rationalization. If collecting is just about turning a profit then you are better off buying real estate or stocks and bonds.

I think it boils down to this -buy stuff because you enjoy it, if it ever becomes uber-valuable thats just a fringe benefit.
 
pkdmslf said:
I will buy a couple of more knives in the next year or so as money allows but I see my knife collecting/buying coming to a halt here shortly. I will just sit back and enjoy my collection.
Click to expand...

Will you still hang out here after you quit buying? A tough proposition as knife talking seems to lead to knife buying - at least for me.
 
imho very few start out to collect knives, they buy one and then another as every yr new stuff comes out & before ya know it ya have a collection lol.

i know when i started out i had no desire to own ~75 knives, thats for sure, just kinda happened.

between knives, surefire lights, AR15 accesories, & other assorted "cool stuff" i would imagine BF,com has cost me in excess of $10K, i have had a lot of fun though.
 
I would still hit all of my favorite knife forum sites. There's always horse tradin'.
 
Have anyone ever asked themselves why collect and buy knives after knives? have been wondering the point of this lately. Do you get this feeling buying knives are getting pointless?
Click to expand...
It's genetic, and of course it's not pointless. No more or less "pointless" than other peoples' hobbies anyway. Model trains, coin collecting, reading, fishing, and knife collecting are all equally "pointless".

I can understand if its for investment purpose but what about those that probably be of no foreseeable significant increase in value? I can understand if its for edc. What bout those that dont get to be edc?

Do you still buy those ? what makes you buy them only to set them aside with all the other knives?
Click to expand...
It's always nice when a knife appreciates in value, but it has nothing to do with why I collect or accumulate knives. I'll only EDC a knife if I have a duplicate of it in my collection. Nothing sucks worse than losing a knife that can't be replaced...
 
gustav said:
Have anyone ever asked themselves why collect and buy knives after knives? have been wondering the point of this lately. Do you get this feeling buying knives are getting pointless?

I can understand if its for investment purpose but what about those that probably be of no foreseeable significant increase in value? I can understand if its for edc. What bout those that dont get to be edc?

Do you still buy those ? what makes you buy them only to set them aside with all the other knives?
Click to expand...

I once saw a show on collectors of antique bed pans, urinals, and chamber pots, after that I stopped asking my self if my hobbies were strange or not.

The heart wants, what the heart wants, I guess:).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top