How has your knife hobby changed over time?

I collect just a couple makers. CPK and Vehement Knives are the big ones. I do have a couple other collector ones, and I switch out my carry folder every year or three. It's a Hogue RSK 2 in carbon fiber and Magnacut now. I tend to keep my collection small, and if I can bring myself to let it go, I usually do. I say I collect CPK and Vehement because those are the ones I can't bring myself to let go of lol.
 
I started collecting knives when I was around 8 years old. A man that worked for my father gave me a 6 inch fixed blade with a cheap plastic handle. I was awestruck, and just couldn't wait to buy more. My dad told me I was crazy.

Fast forward about 20 years, and I bought my first quality knife which was from Nathan in the early days. Then that same year my son and I went to blade show, and we came home with a wheelbarrow load of amazing knives. Bark River, Busse, Becker, customs, etc .. All of them were fixed blade, and most of them were large 5 – 11” . Since then I have seen my knowledge and taste continually be refined. Which for me has meant selling off almost all of the large knives, and over time acquiring a few folders that I really like and use. The fixed blades have also been something that we use when processing game, and butchering animals on the farm. As well in multiple uses in various construction trades and meat processing.

Currently my interests are going back to simple carbon steels, because they do well for me, I love the patina over time, and are so much fun to sharpen. And the size of the blades on my fixed blades have now settled in somewhere between three and six inches.

So I have seen a lot of thought processes come and go, and knives that I used to be excited about, now I have sold them out of my collection and I'm in the stage where I'm refining it down to certain specific things that I use and enjoy.

Except of course for some swords, and I still haven't found a way to combat the urge to buy the right sword when I see one.
 
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when I was 13-17, I had a little knife collection, which could be described as a hobby. Then I discovered mountain biking and sold everything so I could afford a bike, some tools etc.
In 2005, I joined Bladeforums which I found while I was researching machetes which I needed for making and maintaining mountain bike trails. It didn't take long for me to discover the world of custom knives, which I invested pretty heavily in. I still have a pretty nice collection of custom knives, although I found myself having to sell some in order to afford something new, and fairly recently had to sell some just to get some money in the bank.
I just turned 50, and I no longer accumulate new knives unless they're prototypes that Nathan sends me, or custom knives that are just too good a deal to pass on. Also, I make knives now, and I find that more fulfilling than acquiring more stuff, plus that's my job so there isn't much time or money for screwing around.

looking back over the past fifty years and seeing the arc is pretty cool. There's a consistency there that's hard to see at any given point in time, but very clear when I step back and take a more meta view. Can't really predict what will come next, but that's part of the fun!
 
Consider this a before and after line up of some of my fixed blades that are being replaced by CPKs. Most of the before will end up in new homes so I can afford to buy one more CPK, lol !265BADDE-2392-4C2C-8355-DFD7D481D899.jpeg
 
I’ve had a knife or two since I was 8 until I was in my mid 20’s then I started picking up a few but never broke the $100 mark. Mid 30’s I bumped that number to $200, then I found this place and went through my accumulation phase( I think it’s over at this point) ! Now my taste have refined, I have what I want, but that has come at a cost. A literal cost of breaking the $500 barrier and the cost of lose of wonder because I have so little interest in what’s currently out there.
I have made a few knives and that maintains a certain level of interest for me.

I’ll keep holding out hope for another HDFK run one day.
 
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