How do you resist the temptation?

d dub

d dub

Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Messages
94
I know I should put it in the safe. I know it's never been carried or used. I know I'm only the third person to hold this knife in my hand since it left the factory 10 years ago. But I can't help slipping it in my pocket, just for a day. I'll only show it to my friends. I won't cut anything with it- after this one time.

How do YOu keep a safe queen safe?
 
I don't, I use 'em. A wise man once told me, "When your dead and gone, do you want your wife's new husband to have all those nice shiny knives? Use 'em!"

Just one point of view.

I suppose if you had a safe queen and you wanted to resist carrying it...make it really difficult to get to. Like put in a sealed glass display case.
 
Don't have safe queens.

I always felt if you have it, may as well use it, or sell it. It's the wear you put on it that will mean something to those you leave behind. When you go, and they find these pristine never used items, they will have no value to your family.
 
jackknife said:
Don't have safe queens.

I always felt if you have it, may as well use it, or sell it. It's the wear you put on it that will mean something to those you leave behind. When you go, and they find these pristine never used items, they will have no value to your family.
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Jackknife could not have said it any better. The history behind a knife, even if it was my grandfather using it every day, would make a knife priceless to me!
 
I will carry mine in my pocket,with nothing else. I can't keep my knives as true safe queens. I don't buy them for value, it's more for what grabs me. I like the older ones and the ones I usually find are in a condition that it doesn't matter.I do have a few that I don't mind if my pocket dulls the bolsters, and the edge won't die when I'm opening a Christmas present, but I like to think of them as...... pocket queens:D

jackknife said:
Don't have safe queens.

I always felt if you have it, may as well use it, or sell it. It's the wear you put on it that will mean something to those you leave behind. When you go, and they find these pristine never used items, they will have no value to your family.
Click to expand...

Well said.
 
Who said I do? Like the others here I enjoy my knives more when I use them instead of just looking at them. So the majority of knives I own get put to work sooner or later.

I do have some NIB knives though. I have a few young nephews and nieces, and my wife and I just welcomed our first this past Monday. Whenever I see a knife that I think would be right for someone more often than not I buy it. I don't use the knife because I don't consider myself its owner, merely its caretaker. When the time is right I'm going to give the knife to my nephew/niece/daughter.

There's nothing wrong with collecting knives. But you should ask yourself if you're a collector or user. I fall into the latter category, I figured that out long ago. I no longer agonize over using a knife, I know that it'll happen eventually.
 
most safe queens of mine are 20 year old knives,i get a lot of pleasure with what i got,use em i can........
 
I'm curious to know, how you know, that you are only the third person to hold the knife since it left the factory ? :D

I don't do safe queens anymore. I use to, but I found I get more enjoyment having them in pocket, so I can take them out and admire them during the day... I do however still have some mint condition slip joints, they just haven't gotten put in the rotation yet. I'll go through periods where I carry the same knife for quite awhile. I guess I just get in to a rut and don't give it much thought sometimes..

Seems a little odd I guess to have quite a few knives and carry the same one everyday for almost a year :confused:

There is no right or wrong way to do it, just do whatever makes you happy....
 
I think you'll have to find somebody who actually has safe queens.

I'm not sure that you'll find anyone here in the Traditional Forum.
 
My actual friend Knarfeng forgot about me.

Yup, I am a safe queen sort. I am fine with being a collector, you see I have a goal that will most likely take a lifetime to achieve. If it is even possible. And that is just with one series of one maker.

Now I do see how if I acquired knives in a sense of random good quality, good handles, maybe a style I didn't have, one here one there , then maybe it would be eventually frustrating and cause me to pull the reins in and just have a small pile of users. But for now I have safe queens that some other 'collector' will purchase one day, hopefully from me so I know they are worthy. Who knows maybe someone with plenty of cash will buy my whole collection and can be an instant hero.
He won't have any idea how many hours, days nay years that went in to it. How friendships, buddies, good fortune and just blind A-- luck played a part in dragging the group together. He definitly won't have heard how many times I have heard, "Whats that another old pocket knife." I guess it's really not a collection but a 'quest'. Give me a lance and shield, a white tunic with a big red "B" on it and I will ride for Camelot.

Now that said, while collecting is sort of like the river flowing, sometimes fast sometimes dead slow. There is a eddy current that throws out my carriers. Usually a dozen or so stand ready for work, reclining in there rest on top of the dresser, pleading pick me every morning. Those feel the music of the stone and get handed to others when they say "Can I borrow your knife a second".

Ashamed to be collector....negatory. Am I welcome in the Traditional forum, I know I am and have been.....

300Bucks
 
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I don;t think anyone should be ashamed of being a collector.. There are allot of great blades out there.. and we all are entitled to the pursuit of happiness..whcih can be different from person to person.. Rock on!
 
I am a collector and most of them are queens. My son will get them some day and can do what he wants with them.
 
300, I think you know you are always welcome in Traditional.

You have posted some great pics of your Buck slipjoints, as well as having a great knowledge about them that you share with those of us that perrty much live here ... :D

To be quite honest, until I started seeing some of your Bucks, I really hadn't given them much thought, with the exception of the 110's, 112's and sheath knives.

I admire your dedication to collect one version. As I have mentioned to others, there is no right or wrong way to do it IMHO.
 
I have a wide assortment of custom and factory users in all shapes and sizes; far more than I'll ever really need, but the majority of my knives are "safe queens," as they're either slipjoints that are at least fifty to one hundred years old with their original factory finishes intact, or expensive customs that more or less fall into the "art knife" category.

It would be an extremely selfish waste of a finite resource to use the former, and completely impractical to use the latter. I assume a caretaker obligation for these knives. Most of the old knives were made long before I was born, and hopefully, all of them will be around in someone's collection long after I'm gone.
 
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If you don't use something because you are afraid of damaging it,then you don't really want to own it for its intended purpose. It's like being afraid to live, and you can't live inside a bank vault.
 
usually these are art knives which run 800 & up . i know people that collect high dollar knives & keep them mint for resell. i do'nt do art knives but am trying to build a collection of gecs so there no point in using more than using more than 2 or 3 gecs. all my hunters & tacts are carried & used.i kept one old high dollar ka-bar that is never carried since its not a user but something i show people to let them see how they used to be made.i have tacts that have been carried for years but taken care of & still look great. i always try to buy quality since i would be embarrassed to pull out a cheapie when my friends have knives that cost as much as 2000 or 3000$. some of my friends have collections of 400 to 900 knives. any way its crazy since i rotate about 6 high dollar tacts. it gets boring not to change out now & then.
 
It's all about what you enjoy. If keeping a knife mint in its box makes you happy, by all means do so. I've got a friend who has a fantastic collection, he only uses a couple of knives and keeps the rest NIB because that's what he enjoys doing, he thinks of his collection as a sort of museum and acts as a curator.

I can't get the same pleasure out of just contamplating a knife that he can, I need to cut things with them, sharpen them and watch them age and gain character. No matter how expensive the knife is, I'll use it, because that's what makes me happy.
 
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