How many of you actually use your custom knives?

Won't own them if I can't use them:

A Lile, several Randalls, some Van Hoys, six Dennings;
a Ruana, a Corby, an Ikona, several Reeve knives, etc.
All are used. That's why I bought them.

Your unused Randall model 5 may be worth more on EBay than my used
model 5; but I guarantee you don't have near the memories.
Yours is a commodity, mine is a friend.
 
I have EDC'd a Benchmade 710 for over 3 years.

Have have carried a small Carson #4, a small Sebenza, a Pat Crawford Leopard and a Randall Gilbreath liner lock.

The Carson is well used, and I am not REALLY glad that I carried it, not really bummed out either, it's just worth about $250.00 less now, I figure.

It is a fine knife, but I figured that going in. For EDC the 710 offers me the overall BEST package for what I need a knife for.

I use ALL my kitchen knives, including a Thick NICK, WH damascus utility knife, Shun Damascus by Kershaw, Phillip Baldwin Japanese Chef's knife, Chiro75 paring knife, and Muteki vegetable knife. These are much more about function, than beauty. All of them were not terribly expensive, in the grand scheme of things

I vastly prefer keeping my custom knives in pristine condition. You all that use yours, go right ahead, enjoy them, I am happy for you. Just don't think that you are somehow superior because you actually use your knives.

I enjoy the knives that I own in my own way.

Best Regards,

Steven Garsson
 
I vastly prefer keeping my custom knives in pristine condition. You all that use yours, go right ahead, enjoy them, I am happy for you. Just don't think that you are somehow superior because you actually use your knives.
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I agree with this. At times on the knife boards there's an undertone of superiority from those who use all the knives they buy, as if for some reason that makes their knife buying more justified.

If I were to buy knives only for their useability to me, I'd only have some X-acto knives, a box cutter, a couple of cheap kitchen knives, a SAK, and maybe a cheap chinese folder for last ditch SD against animals and human. I think the whole knife industry would collapse if people stopped buying beyond buying for use.
 
Kohai999 said:
I vastly prefer keeping my custom knives in pristine condition. You all that use yours, go right ahead, enjoy them, I am happy for you. Just don't think that you are somehow superior because you actually use your knives.
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mr garsson, i don't feel superior because i use about 75% of my knives. but if i was a wine collector and kept my château margaux and my mouton rothschild in a safe to look at it from time to time without ever drinking it, wouldn't that be a little bit strange (ok, the behaviour of any collector is strange per se...)? many bladesmiths put a lot of time and knowledge in their blades, so that their blades perform well, but for what, if the knife is never used?

brightred
 
I do use most of my customs, but I also agree with Kohai. Use of the knives, whether actual, physical use, or just the occasdional look and feel, is defined by the collector. Who is to say who gets more enjoyment out of a collection?

More collectors=more work for more knifemakers=better for all concerned.
 
I agree that those who use their customs often seem to think they are superior to those who don't. And I believe that threads like these misrepresent the number of users vs. non users because the non users don't want to post because they feel belittled. That's my take.

I don't use most of my customs because I believe that's what gives me the most enjoyment. Whether or not that strikes someone as odd, I don't care.
 
I use some, and some others I don't. With a anorexicwallet...I need to be very careful how I spend my money. I have edc-ed my TNT and SMF, but have also made my Obie a safe queen. With productions, I have no qualms in using them. I guess one big factor for a lot of knife enthusiasts is whether or not they may have to sell them someday, and how using it will affect the resale value.

Some knives also scream to be used and abused...like Striders, due to that bare utilitarian finish. Some others....whoa....you won't want to scuff up their finely satined blades.

Like many, I'm both user and collector these days...;) - if I were a a pure user, I would just need to own 3 or 4 blades - a well-made parang / machete, a small hunter / utility fixed blade, a nice framelock folder and a well made kitchen knife.

As an aside, I know many knifemakers like to see how their blades fare under real world conditions, so using them is a tribute to them.
 
Some knives, no matter how well they are heat treated, how solidly the construction was done, have been rendered to such a state of craft that they deserve only the gentlest settling upon the softest of cloth after the most recent careful waxing has been updated...

And some knives get the hammer to help them split the wood LOL.

Born into different lives, in differing collectors hands...

I kind of look at it like "will I be undoing some of the fine craft that brought this piece to the level it is currently at", and treat the knife accordingly.

Frank H.
 
I use my Lee Reeves hunter all the time. Great heat treat on the 52100 and a slim edge profile make it a deluxe cutter.
 
I carry and use my custom slipjoints frequently. PJ Tomes, Ray Cover Sr, Shing Chan, Ray Kirk, Tiaan Burger, all feel very special, much more so than a production knife.

In the kitchen I have a couple of Mark Pesetsky custom kitchen knives that see a lot of use and a Terry Hearn drop-point in damascus and stag that does sterling service :D

I have a few knives that I won't use. A bowie by Tim Lively, a Tai Goo integral and a Stan Shaw slipjoint.

Probably everything else I would use, it's just that I haven't in some cases because I'm too busy using something else!

Roger
 
The knives that attract me are utilitarian in design and materials mostly so I tend to use them. I carry Bud Nealy knives, Warren Thomas knives and the customs I drool over are all knives that I would carry.
For me because I can't see the knife I am using (except very poorly) its using and how it feels in the hand that makes it a work of art/craft. Puttingsomething in a case or safe for display doesn't do much if your blind;-)>
 
In my pocket as we speak is a three bladed, engraved Damascus Bailey Bradshaw whittler. Quite a bit over 500, and I'll admit it is in a leather sheath and I am not planning on hacking a tree down with it. But I'll carry even the nicest ones now for the sort of light cutting I do around the office and with clients. I bought two each of the tkcl knives just to make sure I would use one set!

but the Sebenza will come out when it is time to go camping. and i keep some spydercos i wouldn't care to lose for other sorts of cutting.
bradshaw.jpg


I assume you can see the knife photo credit goes to Bob Glassman.
 
Although I own a fair number of Custom Folders, I always found it difficult to carry one, as most all were new. The problem was solved at Blade 04 when Kit Carson let me have, as seen in the photo album in his Sig line, his own Personal Carry, called only "New Model" in the pic. Needless to say it had been carried for about two years and came with 4 extra blades as it was used amongst other things, to test blade steel. Just about as superb a trophy as one could imagine and came from the pocket of a great friend as well as one of the finest makers of all times. Needless to say that is the knife I most cherish and carry.
Thanks Kit.
The other piece I carry and will never part with is a small Jeff Hall linerlock which was a gift a few years ago from some very good and true friends on another Forum. This gift came to me at one of the lowest points in my life and will always be in my right pocket.
Thanks Guys.
 
I have several nice customs that I regularly carry and use to cut things. A few I've downright abused. All the others also get used, but in a different way - their best use to me is in holding them, studying them, and appreciating them for their beauty, their craftsmanship, and their human element. With these knives, their usefulness to me is only diminished as they lose their original quality and finish through wear, so they never actually cut anything.

So yeah, you can say I use all my customs, but most remain in mint condition. :)
 
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