How to collect?

I have a variety of knives and multi-tools. I once read somewhere you should pick a manufacturer or knife style and concentrate on that particular item. I tend to pick up what catches my eye in any style. I guess it also depends on if you're collecting as an investment or not :)
 
Most of my knives are not a serious collection, they're an accumulation. I simply buy knives that I find attractive or interesting.

If you're just starting, don't worry about having a strict focus yet. Let your shopping habits wander and buy knives that appeal to you. Go for variety until you're prepared (if you ever are) to focus on a particular brand/style/material/whatever that calls your name.

Best Wishes,
Bob
 
hardheart said:
why is the Dragonfly illegal?
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It opens too quick for the politicians. Looks bad in all those Bruce Lee movies therefore it must be bad.

It is illegal in California also which is strange considering how many other things are legal! But that's where Hollywood is.
 
I collect hunting/outdoors fixed blade knives with natural handle materials (with very few exceptions) and rather traditional looking blades. I like handmades a lot, specially when I can talk to the maker and have one of my own designs brought to life. So I have no bayonets or fighters.

My folder collection is also outdoors oriented, but it has some city EDCs, too. It is far more ecletic than my fixed blades collection, I have a lot of styles from traditional Spanish navajas to Spydercos and SAKs.

Ultimately your collection is something for you to enjoy, so you shouldn't set any boundaries for the pieces you want. Just get what you feel like, the "theme" will emerge by itself.
 
DGG said:
Here is a good collection!

http://paulberetta.com/main_frame.htm

http://cgi.ebay.com/SPYDERCO-COLLEC...549950339QQcategoryZ63800QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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Those are some amazing collections. With knives--as with books, stamps, or anything else people collect--there really is no fair way to define a collection. Whether you collect tanto-style liner-locks with 4" blades or just keep a whole bunch of knives that are aesthetically and/or functionally pleasing, you're a collector and you have a collection.

Collections are not often worth much monetarily unless they are very specialized in some way, but if it makes you happy then that's what matters.

I agree with those who advocate general collecting until you know what you like. Try everything you can (even the junk blades so you find out for yourself why they're so bad), then buy or keep only the ones that appeal to you for some reason. After you've done this for a while, you should notice a pattern in your keepers. At this point you can choose to specialize in some fashion, or just keep collecting the ones that appeal to you.

And then there are customs.... :)

Chris
 
Just buy what makes you happy. Chances are your taste will change back and forth over the years. After a while those black tacticals will look silly and fancy stag and silver will look great. Then it will change back again. Either way you'll know it when you see it. If someone only buys thinking of the resale value they're an investor not a collector.
 
I guess I would say I collect factory knives.

My first decent knife was a Spyderco Endura.
Then I got a Gerber Mk1, Spydie Delica and Cold Steel Safekeeper III in AUS-8.
Then all was quiet for a few years... :rolleyes:

Got back into it, CRKTs, Kershaws, Gerbers, more CRKTs, stayed on CRKTs for a long time. Then I picked up a few Benchmades, a Boker, a nice couple of SOGs, etc. Then i moved on to Cold Steel. Picked up about 20 or so in the last 3 years. And where am i now? Been buying Spydercos for the last couple of months. I guess you never get away from your first true love :)
 
Buy what you like! Surely there's no other way of doing it? :D

I started on CRKT and I'm now on a bit of a Spyderco tip. Along the way there have been others of course.

I'm starting to delve into the fixed blade arena now.
 
let's bump this up, so 2006's new members can chime in.

I've cut back on the numebr of knives I have. I also realize that I really can't 'collect' like others do-specific names or patterns and such. My collection is based on application. I've brought it down to knives that are differentiated on intended use. I still have a few just for having and looking, but they aren't of a common theme.
 
I used to try to buy a little of everything. Folders, fixed, gents, tactical, hunters, liner lock, framelock, Axis, lockback, balisong, auto, assisted, slipjoint, SAK, multitool etc...

But I realized that only the knives I really liked got much use, while everything else sat in a drawer. So I started focusing on what I really liked, which was larger tactical folders like a Sebenza or 710. I still bought some variety now ans then, though.

Then I got my first Bob Dozier. I sold off everyting else, and now Doziers are all I buy and use. Part of me felt bad to sell off and give away a collection of over 100 knives that spanned a lot of different styles and makers, but they were just sitting in my dresser. I see no reason to use anything but a Dozier, so those other knives ceased to be knives to me.

So after a year of collecting everything under the sun, and going through some phases, I have ended up just collecting Doziers. And I am more happy now than at any other point in my knife collecting/using.

I suggest buying what *YOU* like rather than trying to build a collection that would impress other people. I think my collection was more impressive than it is now. I think showing off a collection with a Sebenza, Strider, WHK, and a lot of different types of knives (balis, slippies etc...) is more impressive to other people than a collection of one type of knife that I really prefer. But I am happier now.
 
Hey Guys...

Hardheart...

I'll tell you..

If it's fixed blade, has a crappy sheath, and I can make a new/Better one for it...

I Want it!!!

Plain and Simple...

I have a growing list of knives that I'm Very interested in....
All Production pieces

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
I collect Chris Reeve Knives and csutoms.I like to get to know the makers. I buy/trade what appeals to me. I love titanium and S30V, so I look for those things in my custom knives. But, I like to buy from makers that I like. I prefer framelocks, so that is what I buy/trade. I have recently gotten into fixed blades, and I have 2 Custom fixed blades. I want some CR fixed blades!
 
I had seen collections of all the same knife, and I find them interesting. But the knife that always caught my attention were the ones with stag handles. I decided I would collect stag in the best example I could get in all different knife styles. I wanted a; a bowie, a dagger, a hunter, a skinner, in fixed blades. In folders I wanted a slipjoint, a lockback and a liner lock.

I didn't care if it was custom or production. I didn't care if the knife was $50 or $500 as long as I had the money, and if it fit in with the collection. I get a great deal of satisfaction when I handle the stag in my collection. The knives come a little bit slower than they used to. That's partly because I don't find a knife as good as what I already have.

You'll hear it over and over again, "Buy what you like." Good advice, the only thing I would add is to take your time, don't be in a hurry to buy anything. How will you know what you like until you had the time to see all that's out there. Don't let anyone tell you what you should like or must have. It's your money and your collection.

Enjoy the journey.
 
Become a collector not an accumulator, your still new enough to start with the right frame of mind, pick a pattern or a scale material, or a lock type, or even just a brand or maker, and stick with that, you'll develop a theme for your collection sooner and save yourself a lot of money and aggravation, pick a catagory and work from there.

If ya try my style of collectin'/accumulatin' ya wind up with over 300 knives and nothing to tie 'em together other than ya like 'em.

Now I have nearly 30 years of collectin'/accumulatin' under my belt but no theme, it's kinda like playin' Canasta, havin' a crap load of cards but nothin' ya can play to meld, ya get my drift?
 
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