How Do You Decide?

Bob Denman

Bob Denman

That OTHER Guy...
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Joined
Jul 20, 2021
Messages
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So when the knife money in your wallet is making you sit crooked, and you know you have to burn some of it off before your back starts hurting: how do you decide what knife gets bought next?
Is it the conscious birth and growth of an idea?
Is it a "Why the heck not?" kind of thing?
Do you decide that there is a hole in your collection that needs plugging?
Do you see something pretty, and it follows you home?
How much is a conscious decision, and how much is impulse?
 
Part of each. I have been making strides to not do things like... buy multiples of a knife just because of its steel. I have 8 PM2s, for example, and I saw one in K390, and I've been loving K390. I thought "Ah, man, American K390 vs Japanese? I have to try it"... and wanted a double of BBS's Lil Matriarch. They were doing package deals - would not package a K390 with a Lil Ma, so I did not buy. For the best. I do buy doubles of stuff I think is going away soon and I want - like the Lil Ma.

I just bought a double of my Moomin Camper and Classic because they've been disco'd and are flying like hotcakes, so I'd figure if anything happens to mine, won't be able to replace (as nobody seems to sell theirs), and got some Teemu Jarvi (Finnish artist) white SAKs also in my style :) Oh, jeez, forgot about the teal Florist, and the two SMKW Donut SD Classic I got for myself, and the donut Tinker I got for my mother. Some is a little impulse, but better to buy SAKS impulsively than PM2s...

I had a period where I had a knife in the mail all the time from like Jan-Mar. That was bad, had to fix what I was doing. I try to buy knives based off of a specific need, want, or style that will do something for me. Not just, "Ooh, it's a K390 PM2!" Yeah, well I have a 10V PM2, and that's about the same thing, I think I will live.
 
I browse and read and read and look at pretty pics and say “That looks pretty damn nice”, then browse some more and next thing ya know, I bought it. Then I read about another knife and hang on, I got unread notifications for the Blade Forums exchange!
 
Bob Denman said:
So when the knife money in your wallet is making you sit crooked, and you know you have to burn some of it off before your back starts hurting: how do you decide what knife gets bought next?
Is it the conscious birth and growth of an idea?
Is it a "Why the heck not?" kind of thing?
Do you decide that there is a hole in your collection that needs plugging?
Do you see something pretty, and it follows you home?
How much is a conscious decision, and how much is impulse?
Click to expand...
if I were in that situation it would first be a matter of

''if I didn't like it can I get my money back''

''collection holes''

but first it is
''how cool is THAT 🤩''
 
Bob Denman said:
So when the knife money in your wallet is making you sit crooked, and you know you have to burn some of it off before your back starts hurting: how do you decide what knife gets bought next?
Is it the conscious birth and growth of an idea?
Is it a "Why the heck not?" kind of thing?
Do you decide that there is a hole in your collection that needs plugging?
Do you see something pretty, and it follows you home?
How much is a conscious decision, and how much is impulse?
Click to expand...

Generally there are some designs I want that I haven't been able to pick up, and I try to hold out until they go on sale, mostly
 
Save the money. Don’t buy just to spend. If it is not blatantly obvious what you should get. Dont buy anything.

Keep it in your wallet, but as $100 bills. When the right thing comes along you’ll know it. That’s what I do. I just passed new knife money and am entering new rifle territory.
 
K.O.D. said:
I pick out 10 knives I'm interested in, then I roll a 10 sided die. Very easy. It was harder when I was married, as certain numbers on that D10 would cause me to venture into the dungeon...
Click to expand...
I need that die! 😁👍
 
My knife money comes from my toy fund. My toy fund covers firearms, ammo, gear, etc. so I need to carefully plan out my purchases. As long as I have the $ in the toy fund to cover a purchase, I can buy it. If I like it, think I will use, and have the $, I'll buy it.

At this stage of buying knives, I'm more about trying new steels than anything else. Even tho I watch KC and DCAs new knives of the week videos, I rarely say "I gotta have that".

Most of the my purchases the last few years have been thru the forums here at BFs, I look at those daily. I'm ... ah ... frugal.
 
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