EDC cycling through your collection

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Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Evening folks, in recent days I have both reduced as well as increased my collection. I am at odds with myself it seems and the latest knives are all pretty nice and I like them a lot, doesn’t seem like much of a problem, right?

There in lies the rub, it’s hard not to carry a lot of them, and don’t get me wrong as I have and do carry several but I want to keep that to a minimum as best I can.

So my ‘plan’ is to put them in order and take and carry just one for that day and the next morning put that one at the end of the selection and take the next one in line.

I’ll begin this experiment tomorrow and see how long it’ll last

What do you guys and gals do to select your EDC ?
Of course if you only have one, that’s easy but I hazard a guess most here have more than one

Oh, and my EDC choice will not include my two Swiss Army knives as I view those more as tools than knives

This will be tomorrow’s carry, very sleek CJRB

https://flic.kr/p/2n9Uf9a

G2
 
Well, if I have any recent acquisitions, that's usually "problem solved". Must carry new knife.
If I've gotten beyond that stage with all of my accumulation, then I fondle a few and figure out which one feels best that day.

An additional input is my plans for the day. If I'm going to go to nice places, I'm probably going to skip on carrying a 4-inch blade, no matter how wistfully I look at it. And if I need to physically go to the plant instead of telecommute, that adds its own limitations as to what I can carry.
 
I often do something that has to do with the day of the week (Wooden Wednesday) or match my outfit. I have select favorites I rotate through and others I grab at random so they don't feel left out (knives are sensitive about that).

However, I have determined the one knife to rule them all: Spyderco Southard, and it's damned hard not to carry it every day.

It's funny, as the first Southard I bought back in 2015 I didn't like. I hemmed and hawed over trying it again, added to cart a few times. Then it was discontinued. One year ago this month I found mine on the exchange lightly used with red shredded CF. So glad I tried it again.
 
I only buy users and nothing too pricey. I always have two knives on my person and one of those is always an esee candiru, because I like the thing. The other knife I carry varies according to my needs for the day or just because I want to carry it. Sometimes it’s a folder and sometimes it’s another small fixed blade. I just alternate however I feel that day. I also have a small edc bag/pocket organizer that goes with me anytime I leave my house and there is always a stainless izula and serrated Spyderco dragonfly salt in that. And of course my truck has a fixed blade or two in my emergency stash. Long winded, but basically I have regulars and rotate others at random.
 
Since you asked.
I carry one knife at a time. I have a few for special activities like swimming or kayaking.

Other wise I just open my knife box and I pick out whatever I'm in the mood for.
All posts need pics.
ZLOnwmt.jpeg
 
The last few years I have found myself carrying the same 5 or 6 model of knives for the most part. I've just gotten in the habit of picking up one knife for the day, the next day, pick up the knife next to it. No real rhyme or reason. Just a basic rotation.

After 30+ years of carrying a knife, I know what I like and don't like. I just went thru and sorted my knives and decided what to keep and what to sell this past weekend. I currently have 39 knives in my "to be sold" pile.

Most of the knives I own are sitting in their boxes. It is time for them to moved on to someone will carry and use them.

As a member of the 50 y.o. club, I seem to be downsizing a lot of stuff recently. Slightly past mid life crisis?

FWIW, most folks seem to go thru a sine wave cycle of buying/selling and carrying.
 
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My only “dedicated” knives are the ones I carry for work. Off duty, it’s whatever combo of a large modern locking folder or auto for just becausies, and a smaller pocket knife for light or more precise tasks. I have no science or pattern to my rotation of them, but as others have stated, sometimes the setting I might be going to or a planned activity might drive the decision. Like most of us, I have those that I carry more frequently than others, but I never really dwell too long on the why. Doing so might give me a reason to stop accumulating, or possibly talk me out of the next acquisition… and that’s no fun. Lol.
 
Frank put it better than I could have. I do exactly as he does. :)

If I notice a knife hasn’t been carried for awhile (neglected!), I tend to package it up and sell it, or give it to a buddy. It’s worked out pretty well…. But some of the knives released lately have been just too darn good! I seem to be buying two or three knives for every one that I sell. I’ll have to figure out that conundrum before too long I suppose, lol.
 
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I have a valet tray that fits 6-8 knives. When I get a new knife, it will always sit there, and I try my best to remove one from the rotation before adding a new one. Depending on what I am wearing and where I am going, and of course the gods of knives mood of the day, I put one in my pocket before leaving. That may happen several times a day if I come back home. I empty my pocket, pray for the gods of knives and pick another knife or keep the same one. The gods decide not me 😉
 
My EDC rotation has gotten absurdly large. Some knives get sold or traded away but almost exclusively in the pursuit of other knives. I'm at the point in life where I don't really spend new money on gear. I sold a couple of guns at pandemic prices and that set me up pretty well to explore different things.

Posting in the picture threads here gives me inspiration to cycle different knives. So do silly theme days. I've mostly been hitting Micarta Monday, Titanium Tuesday, and Wooden Wednesday. Is there a good 7-day list floating around? I don't know that I'd commit to it but morning inspiration is a good thing.
 
I choose first and foremost by activity/intended use, and then go from there. Beyond that, I just go by whim with no regard to rotating or giving various knives any semblance of equal pocket time. If I find a knife doesn't make it's way into my pocket enough, I usually pass it along. I don't really consider my collection to be particularly large though. Over time I have tried to hone down my collection and avoid overlap when it comes to activity/intended use, but this is always thwarted by fits of buying whatever knife calls to me, which inevitably leads to variety in selection after all. I reckon this is just a long winded way of saying I just go with whatever I feel. The knife tells me which one I am carrying for the day 🧘‍♂️ (or maybe that's the mushrooms) ;)
 
I currently own 360 knives. So, if I carried all of them, I'd have to "rotate" my collection by carrying a different knife every day and that ain't happening.

LOL! ;)

I don't have a particular plan for "rotating" my EDCs but there are a limited # of folders w/a blade length of around 3.5-4" that I generally choose to carry; usually for about a week or 2 but sometimes longer or shorter than that depending on my mood.

To pick one, I usually just open my safe and start pulling out cases to look at what I've got and just pick the knife that suits my fancy at that moment.

I'm currently carrying the Gen 6 Hinderer XM18-3.5 that I just purchased/received. Prior to that I was carrying a Spydero Gen 2 S/S Police. Prior to that it was Spyderco Native Chief. Prior to that it was a Spyderco Gayle Bradley 1. And before that I think it was an Olmaic Rainmaker.

And one of the knives that I carried before that was a Spyderco Swayback that I bought from the OP. :)

My memory fails beyond that but, when in doubt, my usual "go to" EDC is a Spyderco Advocate, which is about as perfect an EDC there is IMO.
 
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I have permanent members in my rotation: Spyderco Chaparral, Vic Spirit, Pioneer, Cadet.

To this, once a month or so, I add a few knives from my collection to be used until they get dull or dirty: a small fixed blade knife, a 3", 3.5" and a 4" folder.
There always must be a Titanium framelock and something with a serrated blade.

I keep everything in a dedicated EDC tool roll, everything I might need without the analysis paralysis.
 
Gary W. Graley said:
Evening folks, in recent days I have both reduced as well as increased my collection. I am at odds with myself it seems and the latest knives are all pretty nice and I like them a lot, doesn’t seem like much of a problem, right?

There in lies the rub, it’s hard not to carry a lot of them, and don’t get me wrong as I have and do carry several but I want to keep that to a minimum as best I can.

So my ‘plan’ is to put them in order and take and carry just one for that day and the next morning put that one at the end of the selection and take the next one in line.

I’ll begin this experiment tomorrow and see how long it’ll last

What do you guys and gals do to select your EDC ?
Of course if you only have one, that’s easy but I hazard a guess most here have more than one

Oh, and my EDC choice will not include my two Swiss Army knives as I view those more as tools than knives

This will be tomorrow’s carry, very sleek CJRB

https://flic.kr/p/2n9Uf9a

G2
Click to expand...

I do exactly the same as your ‘plan’. Not getting any younger so I‘ve sold off 42 of my collection over the past 6 weeks. (Very proud of myself for that BTW!) But I’ve picked up another 8 since the disposal.….obviously, gotta learn & practice that self-control thing. Anyway, I applaud your new plan ~ so far it seems to be (mostly) working out for me.
 
I'm retired so I may start out with one knife while I'm in my jammies, but when I get dressed, I will change out the knife for something more "dangerous" looking. My knife collection is upstairs, so if I want a different one, it forces me to walk upstairs and I may do that several times during the course of the day. This way I get my exercise as well. However, looking at myself in the mirror I may have to start changing out my knife a lot more...
 
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