As I've bought and sold a couple of knives on this forum's "Knives for Sale" forum, I was wondering about some of the conventions used for descriptions. I bought a knife with a leather handle that was advertised as (paraphrasing): Slight use with some scratches. However, the leather handle disks were loose but I only discovered this upon receipt. The seller offered to cancel the deal but I felt it was worth the price I paid. Upon sending it back to the manufacturer, they replaced the entire knife for free. Lucky me!
My questions are:
(1) What is the definition of "NIB." I know what the acronym stands for (I'm from Acronym, Ohio) but what are the expectations? Never opened the box--might not even be a knife in there, opened the box but never sheathed the knife, opened and sheath the knife but never carried it or cut anything with it, etc.?
(2) What does 95% mean? Is this a reference to the amount of finish left on the knife or someone's estimation of how much use it has had?
(3) Is there a convention to describe a knife with no box or papers but has never been carried (or only carried a couple of times), but has never been used or sharpened? A knife with all its utility value but not a collector.
Personally, I just try to describe the knife without using definitions above that might get me in trouble. Here are some I have used:
Factory Edge: Means it has never cut anything, not even opened an envelope, and never sharpened. Just the way it came from the maker.
Never Used: Again, hasn't cut anything so is factory sharp. The coating should have no scratches.
Never Sharpened: Some could say this means it may have been used a bit but not sharpened afterwards. To me, it means the same as the two above--no use, therefore no sharpening required.
I would expect anyone describing a knife would do so accurately: Light use, moderate use, few scratches, sharpened (not sure I would like someone else's feeling on their ability to sharpen), loose this or that, sheath has scratches, etc.
Hopefully, we would all be honest with each other and not use "used car salesmen" tactics (I know several purveyors of previously owned transportation and their reputation precedes them)!
What do you think?--Bruce Woodbury
My questions are:
(1) What is the definition of "NIB." I know what the acronym stands for (I'm from Acronym, Ohio) but what are the expectations? Never opened the box--might not even be a knife in there, opened the box but never sheathed the knife, opened and sheath the knife but never carried it or cut anything with it, etc.?
(2) What does 95% mean? Is this a reference to the amount of finish left on the knife or someone's estimation of how much use it has had?
(3) Is there a convention to describe a knife with no box or papers but has never been carried (or only carried a couple of times), but has never been used or sharpened? A knife with all its utility value but not a collector.
Personally, I just try to describe the knife without using definitions above that might get me in trouble. Here are some I have used:
Factory Edge: Means it has never cut anything, not even opened an envelope, and never sharpened. Just the way it came from the maker.
Never Used: Again, hasn't cut anything so is factory sharp. The coating should have no scratches.
Never Sharpened: Some could say this means it may have been used a bit but not sharpened afterwards. To me, it means the same as the two above--no use, therefore no sharpening required.
I would expect anyone describing a knife would do so accurately: Light use, moderate use, few scratches, sharpened (not sure I would like someone else's feeling on their ability to sharpen), loose this or that, sheath has scratches, etc.
Hopefully, we would all be honest with each other and not use "used car salesmen" tactics (I know several purveyors of previously owned transportation and their reputation precedes them)!
What do you think?--Bruce Woodbury
