How Many Carry and Use Your Customs?

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AnklePocket

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May 5, 2001
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I hope that that's not too dumb of a question, but how many actually use your expensive customs vs. keeping them in perfect condition and not using them? My few are with me at all times.
 
Every knife I have is used , some a little harder than others . I just got a new knife from Bill Buxton Monday ( I will add , it is one fine blade forged by a man of great character ) . I have made 115 cuts on 3/4 hemp rope since receiving it , and carried it every waking hour . So I guess I fall into the " a knife is a tool and tools are made to use " catagory .


Jerry
 
Early this year I sent a one-of-a-kind forged CPM10V hunter by Rick Dunkerley to Gary Graley for a slip sheath. Before sending it, I shoved the blade into a piece of styrofoam for protection. Upon receipt, he emailed me that he was very sorry to have to tell me the blade had suffered extensive discoloration! I think he was relieved and somewhat surprised to find the discoloration had nothing to do with the styrofoam, but was the natural result of hard and heavy use!

My daily carry is a custom Kit Carson Small Model 4 with Stellite 6K blade and carbon fiber handles--no liners. Just 2.2 ounces--not quite $250 an ounce! I use it for cutting anything and everything I need to, and much of my time is spent on construction sites where cutting harsh materials is common place.

My reasoning for carrying and using these knives hard? Why pay for something you'll never use? (Unless it's just tooooo pretty to pass up...I must admit to having a few of those, too. :))

-w
 
For me the answer is Yes and No. I use carry and use several different custom folders which were purchased to be using knives. I have a couple of fixed blade users and I have twenty some other, mostly fixed blade custom knives that I will not ever use. I am not waiting for them to appreciate, and have no intention of selling them, but I want them to stay pretty much the way the maker made them.

I ran into a forum friend at the Chesapeake knife show recently who was showing me some pretty fancy thousand dollar folders. I showed him my Tomes 3 inch lockback with 420V blade and pearl scales. He seemed shocked that I used that knife. It cost more than a lot of the knives that I do not use, but some knives just beg to be used in order to be fully enjoyed. My other knives are just lazy I guess ;)

Para
 
I use my customs every day. I have as of yet to buy a knife that I would not be willing to put through it's paces. Maybe I will someday, but I doubt it. I suppose if I were to buy a Loveless, Scagel or Moran knife I would be much les likely to use it. In fact there is little doubt that I would not use them. If I can someday afford to get knives like that I will. I have dreamed about owning knives from these makers and if I did, they would be taken out and fondled as often as I had the chance. They would never cut anything other than maybe my hand from handling them so much.
 
I look to buy those that make sense to carry and use, except maybe for the Spyderco Civilian, had a couple of them but since they really have but one service and I never had to bring that into play I traded them off, one other knife that sat and never was used was a Spyderco, hmm a trend here?, Jigged bone Jess Horn, which is one of the two knives that I've ever named, this one I deemed as ~ Ricky ~ it was just so pretty and nice that I couldn't bring myself to use it, the fellow I got it from had the same complaint!
The rest of my collection I have used, some just to trim some extra hair from the knuckles...to slicing up boxes, bags and straps, wood carving and such. A good knife is a pleasure to use and life is very short! So might as well enjoy it!

G2
 
Yes and no here too.
Daggers do not come into use every day :D and I can be reluctant to use a dressed up Bowie, but I get a lot of pleasue using a large well balanced camp knife and a smaller Dozier.

I usually have a custom folder on me every day. They are treated well but I expect them to perform day to day tasks.

I might have a small fixed blade in my briefcase.
Pretty soon I will have one for kayaking and rafting. You could say that I buy some to use and others to "gawk at". It is to the point that I have more users than a reasonable person ( :) ) needs to have so now I usually just commission the gawking kind.
 
I use a DC Munroe Chimera as my EDC, a Jeff Hall #2 as my dress knife, and a custom engraved (Tiz Pozzobon) Richard Sunderland as my hunting knife

That answer that?
 
Another Yes and No vote here.

All of my customs are fixed blades. They don't get used everyday but, most of them are used on a regular basis. IMHO expensive knives start around $800. Since I don't have any in that price range yet, I use what I have.

There are many knives I hope to own someday that I would be reluctant to use. I guess that's why they are farther down the list ;)
 
Most of my customs are used. I do make exceptions for a couple of my nicer fixed blade fighters though I guess if I knew I was going to knife fight I would carry them too. Of course If I knew that, I would carry my gun.;)
 
Most of my customs get used on a regular basis. It certainly feels good to use and carry a beautiful and high performance tool. Of course things like double-edged sub-hilts and daggers are exceptions for obvious reasons. While I enjoy carrying folders, the ones that really float my boat are the fixed blades. REgardless of who made them or with what materials, it would take an awful lot of self control not to run one through it's paces.
 
Another yes and no answer. I carry and use my DDR Apogee and Tom Anderson Wolfpup without any thought that I need to baby them. My A.T. Barr gents folder is a regular carry for work or dress-up. I also have a small stag and damasteel fixed blade by a local maker that gets carried and used, but not for cutting cardboard; I'd really rather not scratch the blade. The only one that doesn't get carried or used is a folder by Jot Singh Khalsa that my wife bought for me; it's just too pretty.
 
All of my customs are fixed blades. I have a few utility/hunting style knives, a couple of camp/survival blades, and a pair of machetes. I've used them all. Some more than others. They are all lower-end customs, though some are from very well known makers, they are makers with a reputation for producing hard-working user knives.

While between jobs (as I am now) one of the other of the utility/hunting knives is always on my belt. When I go bush wacking, one of the camp/survival blades always comes with me. I can understand something of the alure of collecting for its own sake. I do have two very specialized skinning knives that I have never applied to anything more taxing than an apple, and after cleaning that nasty acidic juice off of them, they don't even do that :) Neither of these knives is very expensive. No more than the ones I do use, but one is a little more specialized, and the other a little more artistic than all of the others, so they don't get used very much. Its not that I wouldn't use them. Its more that I don't have to use them because I have enough of the others that I do use every day. I can keep these two pristine.
 
. . .all but one of my custom fixed blades sees use behind glass.

The one custom fixed blade user is a T bar K 14" dagger. What a monster ! lol Wicked sharp ! ! It's a bedside piece. . .

As far as folders. . .I have some that I carry and some that I don't. I rotate EDC's between production and custom pieces. The custom pieces; Carson medium Model 4, Jason Jacks Raptor, Obenauf small Model 1, DDR EDC, Dubruski Atlantis Model 2, Carson large Model 4 and a recently acquired Mayo TNT.

Went through some growing pains of using some of my custom folders until I had a maker ask me "why not" and then explain why he made knives. . .
 
My custom folders almost all of them have been carried and used. Now my fixed blades only some get carried but only because i would probably go to jail if i strapped on a Hammond Flesheater in a shoulder rig.
 
I do things a bit different.

I love to carry my customs, but I usually have a "using" knife on me as well. If the item to be cut is not abbrasive, and not likely to scuff the blade, I'll use the custom. For anything else, the using knife comes into play. These "using" knives are also the lenders if other people need to cut something.

Some of my finer damascus blades are just too pretty, and I don't want to risk ruining the "etching" just to cut up junk. They stay in the showcase.
 
I carry most of my customs. Well at least once. Some are in regular rotation as my edc. There are some that may never see use just as I have a few production knives that are in the pockets and some sit behind glass.

I got some for usin' and some for lookin'. Production or custom doesn't matter. But like most I carry a "beater" for the really nasty things or as a loaner.


You could say that I buy some to use and others to "gawk at". It is to the point that I have more users than a reasonable person ( :) ) needs to have
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Gus, I know people that know you (one of these days we'll get to know each other) and they tell me you and reasonable don't belong in the same sentance when talking about knives. :rolleyes:
 
TNT... Everyday. Every chance I get.I used to use other customs before I found the TNT. You see, I always use my customs, since I started carrying a TNT, I have no need for other custom folders, therefore I no longer own other custom folders. Although I have an ever-growing number of TNT's:D


Fixed blades, that's another story. I have many Custom fixed by a number of different makers.And yes, I use virtually all of them.
 
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