Collector's, born or made?

My Mom informs me that when I was 3, 4 years old, I would pick up stuff from the street(bits of glass, discarded plastic cutlery, bottle caps....), and carry it everywhere in a brown paper sack....about 10, started collecting Mad Magazine, and others like it....and still have books from my youth....

Have a LOT of tools, and a fair amount of knives......would say was born a collector of something.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I started with coins and became interested in swiss army knives at 10 or so. Now I still loves knives and as of this week, Labradorite.
 
I don't consider myself a collector , even though I have more knives than I use often...they do all get used at some point.

Collector ? Yeah I tend to collect empty 45 , 223 and 308 cases. :)
 
Have always collected things, cars, motorcycles, knives, Harley Davidson sales brochures, Corvette sales documentation (build sheets, window stickers, tank stickers etc.) early western art, coins.
Men are hunters by nature, and I believe the hunt or quest for that special piece plays a major part in our joy of collecting.
 
Collecting stuff is genetic in the sense man needs to find satisfaction in lives weighted down by stress, disappointments, and the search for meaning. Collections don't satisfy, however, which is why in due time we all come to the end of them. I once had a small but elegant collection of world class custom rifles and shotguns. I sold out when the lust for more and greater superseded appreciation for what I had. I realized that the piece that had the greatest impact on me was the old M870 Rem pump I got for Christmas when I was 14. Each morning I ceremoniously laid it out on my parent's bed (I slept on the couch in our 10' wide trailer until I was 16) to ogle it before dashing out to catch the school bus.

This Good Friday reminds me more poignantly than ever before of the only thing that truly satisfies, and why I would trade all the knives ever made for one moment with Him.

Ken
 
Don't know about anyone else, but I get a lot of satisfaction from my collections. No matter how stressful the day's been, I can come home greet the family, pet the dogs, but when I go to my knife room or go to the garage and pull back the cover from one of my cars, that's when I literally feel the stress and tension drain from me.

As far as my collecting coming to an end, when I was 10 years old my uncle pulled into my parents driveway one hot Saturday afternoon after picking up his brand new black 66Corvette Stingray convertible. Well that was 41 years ago and my desire and appreciation for these cars has only grown over the years.

My father has been digging up and collecting Civil War relics and artifacts for over 60 years now. He's too old to do much finding anymore but sure does enjoy his collection as much as ever.
 
Kevin, When I was 17 or 18 a friend of my dad's came over with a brand new 1965 Corvette. He had taken it out for a test drive and told me I could take it for a ride. I instantly fell in love but had to give it back. By then I'd already started my collection of 59 Simca. Just one of those. That Vet was like being in a rocket!
 
It is multifaceted. Some of us like to speculate on makers and their work just like art collectors. Some of us like to educate others with our collection, like a museum I guess.
Some like to collect because knives or guns or stamps are part of our identity and part of a culture we identify with. There are no better people to hang around with than people who share similar interests. Thats the social networking aspect as well.

I was born into this. We never had enough money to have numerous great guns or knives but what we had was cherished and well kept. I remember family get togethers where the last "ceremony" would be my grandfather showing off his interesting collection of collectible handguns or watches . I guess I caught the bug young.
 
Great thread topic Ray!!! :thumbup:

I've wondered this myself many times. Never thought of bringing up here for some reason :o

I watched a special a couple years ago on (I think!) MSNBC??? Anyway, it was about collectors. One guy is retired, and VERY well-off, he now travels to South America several times a year to search for and collect butterflies. I'm sure his anual budget for that would fund some FANTASTIC knife purchases!!! :eek:

Another older fellow collects old trucks. Had fields full of them!

There were others but my mind is drawing a blank right now.

Point?

They discussed the reasons as to why people tend to collect things and the fuel that keeps the passion going. It was pretty interesting and applied very well to knives.

They talked about how it doesn't have to be anything expensive... maybe just symbolic of some other interest. One guy supposedly collects airline barf bags! :barf: :rolleyes: Maybe that's not way more weird than collecting knives, but it seems like it to me! LOL :)

I have come to realize that I collect shop tools. It's like my anvil. We all know I don't NEED a 450# anvil for knifemaking, but I had many reasons for WANTING it. So I got it! :D If I had the money and space, I would buy all sorts of anvils as I just plain think they're cool.

I collect tool steel. I don't think I could use all I have now even if I could bang out a knife a day for the next 30 years. I mean, 1,000 pounds of W2 for a guy that is lucky to make a dozen knives per year?!?! ;) And that's just one type of steel, I've got hundreds of pounds of several others. I like "collecting" or hoarding it, as I see thousands of images rolling around in my mind of what it COULD BE.

So to answer you, I think a twinge of the tendencies are inherited.... Then after a spark and some exposure to something you like happens... the fire takes off and you are made.
 
For fifteen years I pursued motorcycle drag racing, and collected time cards, burnt pistons, and, ultimately; records, plaques, and trophies. Time well-spent.

All mechanics collect tools. LOTS and lots of them.

Never fancied collecting anything to savor, but my brother-in-law started making 'custom' knives, and I went to a show because of this and got 'hooked in'.

There is a TV show on my Hi-Def channels called Collector HD. They cover all kinds of memorabilia, antiques, cards, action figures, pottery, paintings, and custom cars, etc. I would LOVE for them to display an episode for Custom Knives.

Obviously, the Collector mentality is large.

Coop
 
I don't think my penchant for collecting is inherited. My parents and grandparents didn't have collections of any kind.
 
Actually I think collectors (of anything) are a different species from non-collectors;
perhaps two sub-species of Homo Sapiens (Home Collectus and Homo Noncollectus).
I've noticed the two groups have little in common and even have extreme difficulty
in communicating with each other. Non-collectors never understand the passion
of collecting and most nons think collectors are a rather crazy group (they may
be correct :-) I've been collecting knives and swords since I was 8 (that's a devil
of long time ago; back when we walked barefoot through the snow to go to school.
Actually I was lucky, I had a small, domesticated dinosaur to ride to school :-)

Rich
 
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