How do you stop bad knife gifts?

McFeeli said:
Yeah all you can really do is accept it and say thank you. The one thing you need to understand is we're not normal. "Normal" people don't spend $500 on a custom knife, or carry a $200 knife in their pocket on a daily basis. So if someone knows you like knives, they don't especially know you like good knives, so they get something they think you'll like.

I will add, though, I've been surprised by some of the ones that were gifted to me. Even the cheap knives can have some good qualities to them.
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It's hard to remember that we're not normal sometimes :P I recently had a non knife nut ask me for advice on what to purchase for an EDC blade, I asked him what his budget was (under $100, $100-$200, or 200+) and he responded with "uhhh, I was thinking like $25-$30" took me by surprise until I remember the first "Nice" knife I bought ($60 CRKT) which I thought was crazy expensive at the time!
 
I've been given so much stuff that I'll never use, based on the simple facts that I fish, or like knives, or hunt

most of it goes into a box in the back of the closet - in the case of clothes, I donate.

but I'm always grateful for any gift - unless its clothes sized M, or S - I haven't been a M or S in 25 years
 
What I can't seen to break people of is buying me crappy tools. I'm a general contractor and do alot of woodworking. Both as a hobby and occasionally for profit.

Everyone seems to want to buy me either a crappy set of wrenches or one of those "homeowners" tool sets like Lowes has on sale around Christmas. I've got a cabinet full of this crap. Once in a blue moon I'll modify one of the wrenches for some obscure purpose. But I don't do much mechanic work.
 
One way to stop them is to just tell the gifter the truth,but that might also result in stopping all gifts not just knives.

I think the compassionate choice is to just accept the gift knife, but if you're on good enough terms with the gifter maybe just let them know the truth.
 
Robinson1 said:
What I can't seen to break people of is buying me crappy tools.
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Those jerks.

These are gifts, people. It's people spending their hard-earned money on you.

"A gift horse is a horse that was a gift, quite simply. When given a horse, it would be bad manners to inspect the horse's mouth to see if it has bad teeth. This can be applied as an analogy to any gift: Don't inspect it to make sure it matches some standard you have, just be grateful and say thank you!"
 
By not having friends or family members who might want to give you gifts. Or by not letting on that you are interested in knives. Or by having a PR person (spouse, for example), clue people in on the fact that as a hobbyist you have specific preferences and it's best to not try to buy knives for you.
 
Just get old , outlive all your friends and most of your relatives . Problem solved ! :(
 
Those budget gifts are some of my greatest treasures.
Do I use them (uh... nope), but that’s not the point.

- another knife for me that I didn’t have to pay for.
- not super expensive so no regret on better use of $
- no expectation of quality so no anxiety about bad fit and finish

I just prop them up on my dresser for display and enjoy thinking about someone who actually gives a damn about me (they took the time to try and cater to my hobby instead of getting me an emotionless gift card or something generic)

I get what the OPs inner battle is, but agree with others that’s it’s all in how you perceive it.

... to anyone that wants to buy me a knife as a gift... please do, no stipulations... and know it will be very much appreciated.
 
I've moved on from collecting the junk I used to collect to accumulating users, but family members still don't know much about knives so the occasional bad knife gift will happen.
If they buy me a Cheapo knife I'll look it over a bit, say anything good I can think of about it with a positive tone and enthusiastically say it's going right into the ol' collection.

One of the last cheap knives I got was one of those Tac-Force " rescue knife " with the little built in flashlight that you can point towards the blade.
I really could not think of anything at all good to say about the knife , but luckily this plastic piece that attaches the flashlight was broken.
This was a good thing because I was able to remove one philips screw and have the perfect little light to attach to my jacket zipper, it's decently bright for what it is and I couldn't be happier.
 
Robinson1 said:
What I can't seen to break people of is buying me crappy tools. I'm a general contractor and do alot of woodworking. Both as a hobby and occasionally for profit.

Everyone seems to want to buy me either a crappy set of wrenches or one of those "homeowners" tool sets like Lowes has on sale around Christmas. I've got a cabinet full of this crap. Once in a blue moon I'll modify one of the wrenches for some obscure purpose. But I don't do much mechanic work.
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That's what Facebook and craigslist is for
 
My policy is that if I am not as interested in a hobby as another person is, I am not going to get them something to do with that Hobby. Everybody has very particular interests and if you're not intimately involved in those interests the chances of your buying something that they would really appreciate are slim.
When my wife asks me about a gift, I am very specific about what I'm asking for.
But even that doesn't always work. An example is that this past Christmas I told my wife I wanted a skeletool CX. I even gave her link and said "this is the one that I want."
Well she told her mom what I wanted and let her get one for me. Instead of getting a skeletool CX I got a Cabela's branded Leatherman. Now when I got it I acted like a school boy getting a BMX bike. Do I have a skeletool CX? No I do not. But what I do have is a very functional Leatherman.
 
I hope I didn't come off as ungrateful in anyway I mean heck even paki crap can often look pretty just not usable and if someone gifted me one I would absolutely be grateful and appreciative of the thought and the gift. I do think the suggestion about pushing them toward gift card for any of the good vendors we have is probably the best option when available short of them knowing specific knives you want.

I hope that I can educate this person enough to understand what I love about knives and the difference and clue them in to better places to buy any so regardless of who she may buy for in the future she know where to get quality and how to identify it to some extent.
 
A bit expensive way is to gift them a $500 knife. It works every time for me. They also get to appreciate a fine knife. Another way is to mention an expensive brand and say that one of their shirts/caps etc. would be nice.
 
All you can really do is thank them for the knife and move on. If the knife is dangerously bad, disassemble it and destroy it. If it's just crappy and ugly, stick it someplace and use it.

At some time in the future, make sure the gift giver sees you with a heavily bandaged hand. When they inquire what happened say "Oh, just an accident with a cheap knife. Don't worry, it's nothing that two more surgeries and months of therapy can't fix". When they ask if it was the knife they gave you say in the most unbelievable way "Oh no, that's one of my favorite knives **cough**".

That should solve the problem going forward.
 
Hackenslash said:
All you can really do is thank them for the knife and move on. If the knife is dangerously bad, disassemble it and destroy it. If it's just crappy and ugly, stick it someplace and use it.

At some time in the future, make sure the gift giver sees you with a heavily bandaged hand. When they inquire what happened say "Oh, just an accident with a cheap knife. Don't worry, it's nothing that two more surgeries and months of therapy can't fix". When they ask if it was the knife they gave you say in the most unbelievable way "Oh no, that's one of my favorite knives **cough**".

That should solve the problem going forward.
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I'm not going to lie, I laughed at this. Damn.
 
Accept the knife and say thank you. Throw it in a tackle box where if it fell in the river you would not cry for loosing it but if your caught empty handed you at least have something sharp. I have a cheap knife in my jeep map pocket, it is the last resort “i left my knife at home” back up insurance.

My wife volunteers at a ranch taking care of 200+ chickens once a week. I gave here one of these cheap gift knives to use. I will not care if it gets lost, dirty or stepped on by farm animals. There is a place and need for cheap disposable knives. I would not let her use my sebenza or hinderer on the farm but she can take the cheapies anytime.
 
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