ever buy a knife to use and then decided it was just to nice.

Happens to me all the time . But I buy mostly to collect and trade ... But the knives I really like for use are mostly production knives and I buy two ! Mostly if I loose one I have another.
 
No, but only because I avoid buying knives that I won't use. There are certainly knives out there that are too nice or too expensive for me to use in good conscience.

Quick question for those who say they would use anything, what about something like a Michael Walker Zipper that is worth better than $50,000?
 
I am guilty of this. Well at least for today. I just got my Umnumzaan Tanto in and couldn't bring myself to pocket it before work today.
 
Gaston444 said:
What is wrong with making a clear distinction between users and shelf sitters?

Often, when the knife cannot be replaced, it makes sense not to use it. If you need it for emergencies or special occasions, then you don't use it everyday either... If it has a real special edge on it that took a lot of effort, and would be hard to restore, then waiting for the right time to use it makes sense.

There is a discontinued $170 TOPS Hellion that I won't use, but a $600 Randall I will, because the Randall is actually easier to find if you are willing to pay a dealer who waited for you... It's also much easier to sharpen than the TOPS, so definitely the TOPS is the safe queen of the two in my book...

Gaston
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Hi Gaston, I don't think anyone is saying there is anything wrong with it, its just that many (myself included) are saying they take no joy from having a knife that sits unused.

I do not have any because, like insipid moniker said, I purposely only buy knives I plan to use. I am willing to use most anything regardless of price point but I guess I can conjure up in my imagination knives that I wouldn't use. The $50,000 one he alluded to would be an example. Of course, I would just sell that knife since I would take no pleasure from owning it and not using it. I guess maybe if it was a family heirloom or had sentimental value and also a high monetary value....I don't know...I have to work pretty hard to come up with a scenario where I would own (and keep) a non user.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
No, but only because I avoid buying knives that I won't use. There are certainly knives out there that are too nice or too expensive for me to use in good conscience.

Quick question for those who say they would use anything, what about something like a Michael Walker Zipper that is worth better than $50,000?
Click to expand...

I certainly would, granted that my budget would allow. Unfortunately, $50,000 is far from reality at this point in my life.

On another note, I'd rather have an inter-frame folder by Ron Lake as an EDC knife; but again, my budget won't allow.

Im sure if I were making millions to afford such knives, my daily chores wouldn't have much use for a blade. That said, I'm very comfortable carrying the $500-$1,000 knives I own on a construction site:)
 
Blues Bender said:
I certainly would, granted that my budget would allow. Unfortunately, $50,000 is far from reality at this point in my life.

On another note, I'd rather have an inter-frame folder by Ron Lake as an EDC knife; but again, my budget won't allow.

Im sure if I were making millions to afford such knives, my daily chores wouldn't have much use for a blade. That said, I'm very comfortable carrying the $500-$1,000 knives I own on a construction site:)
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You don't need to make millions to afford it, just $50,000-70,000. ;)

Let's make it simpler. You grabber a Zipper at an estate sale for pennies on the dollar. Does it really go in your pocket?
 
Insipid Moniker said:
You don't need to make millions to afford it, just $50,000-70,000. ;)

Let's make it simpler. You grabber a Zipper at an estate sale for pennies on the dollar. Does it really go in your pocket?
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Yes, it certainly would. I'm not saying that to make an impression, I truly mean it.

Life is too short to let money be a barrier against anything...
 
Even though my knife collection pales in comparison to those of many here on the forum, I have far more knives than I'll ever realistically use. Although I don't buy for the purpose of eventual resale, I do buy quite a few knives - even fairly low-end, mass-produced ones - simply out of appreciation for the design or some combination of features that could be useful but really aren't a factor given my limited needs. I have certainly bought knives with every intention of using them, but for one reason or another just don't. Others were bought for specific purpose, but those purposes don't necessarily equate to regular use. For instance, I have a "get home bag" in my car and a "bug out bag" at home, and both contain knives that I'll hopefully never need to use. I always have a small fixed blade clipped to my backpack when hiking, but I've never needed it; it's the dedicated camp knife that actually gets used.

That being said, my wife just bought me a Benchmade North Fork folder for my first Father's Day, and even though its price and even its steel are far above and beyond most of my EDC knives, it has now moved to the front of the pack for pocket time because of its significance to me. I rarely carry a knife that cost more than $50-60, and usually half that, because I just don't need to, but this is different. It will be like my dad's go-to knife, an old Herter's fixed blade that his father passed down to him. He has never needed another knife.
 
Blues Bender said:
Yes, it certainly would. I'm not saying that to make an impression, I truly mean it.

Life is too short to let money be a barrier against anything...
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I can honestly appreciate that. Personally, much as I like knives I would auction that sucker in a second.
 
Intellectually, I can understand feeling that way about an instant antique that's good looking to boot. But as a practical matter for me (and several others I see here), every knife is a user knife.

Since I buy traditionals almost exclusively anyhow, a lot of them come to me in various states of "usedness" already. Best comment I've ever seen on BF: "I wish people would take better care of things I will someday own."

(And if you want a real-world take on collectibility: values don't appreciate more than inflation except when you're within a bubble AND you sell before the bubble goes POP. If you want to make your heirs wealthy, put your money in an index-tracking mutual fund and take a decades-long perspective.)
 
A year or so, as a method to control my knife buying urges, I decided all knives purchased from that date forward will only be purchased to use. Didn't work out.

Most however will be used. I just have not used them yet and some never will. And I don't care.

So, of course this has happened to me "ever buy a knife to use and then decided it was just too nice".
 
Insipid Moniker said:
I can honestly appreciate that. Personally, much as I like knives I would auction that sucker in a second.
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As would I. As much as I like knives, if I found one worth $50,000 it would be up for sale before I could say the words "im selling it". Id still buy a few nice ones that I liked but I could do a lot with that money.
 
No matter how "nice" or "suitable" a knife is, I've always reached for my Delica if I really need to use a knife. It's broken down countless boxes, sawed down some tree limbs, and whittled countless points. The latter two, of course...for the very important marshmallow roasting duties during camping.

I have to remember that there was a point and time when the Delica was just admired and a small Buck filled the role of being a user. Allow time to work its magic, I am sure my "umnomnom" and PM-2 will find their way into being users and not just serving the role of being "sharp equivalents to yo-yos".
 
It's happened to me a couple of times, so I got rid of them and haven't made that mistake since.
 
Although I always promise myself never to buy a knife I will not use, it has, unintentionally, happened a couple times.

I have an Ontario Retribution Medium folder and, although I am trying to sell it, still am loathe to use it for some reason.

I feel similarly about my CRKT Eraser.

Neither are high end, one of a kind knives of course, so the feeling that I can't use them is pretty irrational, if I'm honest. With the CRKT, the cheaper of the two, especially. But somehow the handle colors, feel, relation to the blade, blade length and shape, all comes together in a really nice way for me. I should be using it more.
 
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