EDC a 77 (or how to devalue a collectors item)

Great job, Benjamin! Looks like a fine gem now, ruby red. And I thought I was being brave. This might be the first dye dunk we've seen on one of these.
 
I know that NF 77 is the primary knife being discussed, but using the knife instead of safe-queening it is the main topic. A whole herd of TCs and NFs are currently being offered on the exchange. I know I spent more than I should have, but when I saw a used TC, I bought it. I did it, because I know if I went for the new one, it would have remained an IG prop. I will now start carrying and using it like it was meant for. Silly me, but this is exciting.
 
cigarrodog said:
I know that NF 77 is the primary knife being discussed, but using the knife instead of safe-queening it is the main topic. A whole herd of TCs and NFs are currently being offered on the exchange. I know I spent more than I should have, but when I saw a used TC, I bought it. I did it, because I know if I went for the new one, it would have remained an IG prop. I will now start carrying and using it like it was meant for. Silly me, but this is exciting.
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Likewise, this has also been my M.O. No sweat or tears when the knife arrives in your hand with a built in patina and has been sharpened already.
 
This thread has got me to thinking about the direction I seem to be heading with my ever growing accumulation of pocket knives. Used to be I used them all. Now with some I'm afraid to look at them the wrong way. Recently i started a thread about whether or not I should use a centofante lockback I found at a reasonable price. I bought it with the intent to carry and use and guess what.....Its in my drawer because I'm afraid I'm going to ruin it. After reading some of the comments on this thread I think im gonna start using it! :thumbsup:
 
I find the value of any given knife increases TO ME after I've carried and used it for a while. At that point, it is MY knife...before that, it is A knife.
Sure, I used to have a stash of treasure - nice knives that I horded, and occasionally looked at - but one day I realized that I owned knives that I hadn't even thought about in over 10 yrs. That pretty much put them in the category of Accumulated Junk, no matter how nice they were. That led to me sticking a lockback with black pearl covers and silver filigree (?) bolsters in my pocket. At some point, I also considered that if something were to happen to me, my gf would likely sell my knives in a garage sale for $5 each...maybe $1 or $2 ea, if the person bought a bunch of them. Better to enjoy them myself!
 
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SVTFreak said:
I refuse to partake in the mess of trying to attain one from folks who keep them rare to create that buzz.
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The only people controlling the quantity produced is the factory, and these policies are well defined / discussed. And you are not going to attain one from them anyway - so I don't guess I understand who you imagine is keeping them rare for buzz.
 
Use it! Use it! Use it!

It’s peer pressure like this that keeps knives tools instead of pocket jewelry. :p:D
 
knifeswapper said:
The only people controlling the quantity produced is the factory, and these policies are well defined / discussed. And you are not going to attain one from them anyway - so I don't guess I understand who you imagine is keeping them rare for buzz.
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If they sell so well, why don’t they make more? (Serious question that I don’t understand).

I modify my statement to say i refuse to partake of the mess of getting one to only get my hopes dashed.
 
Zr3hjbF.jpg

77s are probably my favorite knife. An old red single clip is was brought me to GEC and slip joints. I use to say that I'm not a collector because I use them all. That's still true if I don't use I get rid of. But it's tough to say you're not a collector when you own 14 different 77s, 10 barlows and 4 Yankee jacks. A joy to use them all.
 
I guess I got lucky and got a couple of 77s back when you could still get them just by pre-ordering (and being at your desk when the notifications came out). One in 2015 and another in 2016.

One of them I have never carried other than to take some photos of it, but the other one I have carried and used a few times (because I told myself when I bought it, that I was going to use it.) I have, however, carried it in a pocket slip unlike most of my pocket knives. ;) It looks pretty much like new still. But I have no qualms about carrying it.

If I ever do sell that one, someone is going to get a pretty lightly used, well maintained knife with no patina.
 
BearBug said:
Zr3hjbF.jpg

77s are probably my favorite knife. An old red single clip is was brought me to GEC and slip joints. I use to say that I'm not a collector because I use them all. That's still true if I don't use I get rid of. But it's tough to say you're not a collector when you own 14 different 77s, 10 barlows and 4 Yankee jacks. A joy to use them all.
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Wow, next to that sunfish(?) your 77 actually looks svelte.

This knife is the first traditional I own that regularly gets "that's heavy" and "sure seems solidly built" comments from non-knifers.
 
knifeswapper said:
The only people controlling the quantity produced is the factory, and these policies are well defined / discussed. And you are not going to attain one from them anyway - so I don't guess I understand who you imagine is keeping them rare for buzz.
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I thought perhaps he meant the people who buy them not to use but to make a profit. The 43 stag for example. It took some effort to score one of those and when I got mine I planned on it being my every day companion. Haha. But then not two weeks or so after they came and went I saw one on ebay that sold for 280.....then a week later one sold for around 400 or more.. When I saw that what did I do? Took it out of my pocket, polished it up, stuck it in the tube and in the drawer it went..lol. I thought maybe that's what he might be talking about.
 
SVTFreak said:
If they sell so well, why don’t they make more? (Serious question that I don’t understand).
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In early 2007 when I was first talking to GEC about a dealership; they assured me they were not going to become a slave to any large retail demand. They were going to make what they wanted in small numbers and divide them fairly among their dealers. That sounded pretty good to me, because I was tired and waiting behind huge orders at the other makers. Once they started doing SFO's for me, they would let me tell them how many I wanted made. The first couple of runs I took all-comers and put their name on the variant they wanted - then cut the order. Everybody got what they wanted and I even had some for the site for a couple weeks. But there were a couple other folks cutting fairly big SFO's; and after a couple years there were 4 or 5 really large retail shops that finally decided to jump on the bandwagon. So, they were spending a good bit of time on SFO's and it was only looking to get worse. I finally told Bill in a conversation, if he wasn't careful he was going to do nothing but SFO's and a couple huge runs of #15's in a year. He had already been thinking thru this and made a rule that no SFO can be larger than 500 (later it was essentially a rule that a standalone SFO couldn't be smaller than 500 either). It also became very hard to schedule SFO's. The "add-on" SFO's became a little more common, but they were not going to spend all their time on SFO's. His rule did help a little, and the difficulty in securing an SFO is a means they use to really space them out. They still don't make nearly as many patterns as they once did in a year, because runs that were once 50-60 knives are now 500. And the runs they allow add-on SFO's are generally 3000-4000 knives (which takes more than a month).

So, the short answer is, if they made everyone SFO's often and in the quantity they wanted - they couldn't make anything else. And I think we have all seen what happens when a company chooses quantity over quality....
 
knifeswapper said:
In early 2007 when I was first talking to GEC about a dealership; they assured me they were not going to become a slave to any large retail demand. They were going to make what they wanted in small numbers and divide them fairly among their dealers. That sounded pretty good to me, because I was tired and waiting behind huge orders at the other makers. Once they started doing SFO's for me, they would let me tell them how many I wanted made. The first couple of runs I took all-comers and put their name on the variant they wanted - then cut the order. Everybody got what they wanted and I even had some for the site for a couple weeks. But there were a couple other folks cutting fairly big SFO's; and after a couple years there were 4 or 5 really large retail shops that finally decided to jump on the bandwagon. So, they were spending a good bit of time on SFO's and it was only looking to get worse. I finally told Bill in a conversation, if he wasn't careful he was going to do nothing but SFO's and a couple huge runs of #15's in a year. He had already been thinking thru this and made a rule that no SFO can be larger than 500 (later it was essentially a rule that a standalone SFO couldn't be smaller than 500 either). It also became very hard to schedule SFO's. The "add-on" SFO's became a little more common, but they were not going to spend all their time on SFO's. His rule did help a little, and the difficulty in securing an SFO is a means they use to really space them out. They still don't make nearly as many patterns as they once did in a year, because runs that were once 50-60 knives are now 500. And the runs they allow add-on SFO's are generally 3000-4000 knives (which takes more than a month).

So, the short answer is, if they made everyone SFO's often and in the quantity they wanted - they couldn't make anything else. And I think we have all seen what happens when a company chooses quantity over quality....
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that does explain the grimace he gives once a year in August when I tell him "Bill more single clip 15s please" I also tried "single clips sell like crack, Bill"
 
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