I Can't Collect Anymore

I have collected many knives over the last twenty years and am lucky enough to have a good, stable income but I've been cutting back too. I only buy knives that are special to me or if they really catch me eye but I have bought six or seven this year. I did sell four though. Somehow just seems to be extravagant now. We've been giving more time and money to local charities and the Red Cross. Guess I'm just rethinking priorities and investing more in people.

I don't think the hobby will go away but it may curtail some of the folder production with the "must have" latest steel. We may see more economy lines that provide more value.

Cut back if you need/want to but I agree with moderation. If you can, treat yourself once in a while.
 
Here's about 2 and a half thousand dollars in knives I don't even use! And I've cut way, way back!

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I have a pretty large number of knives and I too have decided to cut out the buying for a while recently. I don't think I will sell any of them but my desire to buy every cool knife I see has very much diminished.

I've more than covered all my bases with the ones I have , bought a few spares and find if I buy anymore they just sit around and don't get used. Nothing wrong with enjoying the ones you do have. No need to go on a selling spree unless you really don't like what you have. Glad to see you know where you're priorities lie , especially as a family man.:)
 
I can't walk away but I'm certain I'm buying half as many knives as I have in the past 5 years. On a yearly basis average. Maybe even less. And I have gone down from 90-ish knives to about 15 right now.
 
There comes a point when you realize, you have 100 plus knives for no other reason, than having them. You can't make use of ever single one and if you did all it would do is devalue them. It's that way about many hobbies, you don't really need the items, but you want them. I've had thousands of dollars worth of knives and firearms and I still have more than I'll ever make good use of. But, I've got to the point where I don't have to buy every limited run, or the latest, greatest. I've manged to step back and breathe and realize they are just material objects that won't make my life suddenly better, just because I keep acquiring them.
 
I'm of the same train of thought as some of the other folks in this thread. I've been selling off my collection piece by piece, and only keeping my favorites, or those knives with sentimental value. It actually feels pretty good to know that everything I own is actually getting used, rather than just sitting in a dark box somewhere, unused and forgotten.
 
jill jackson said:
There comes a point when you realize, you have 100 plus knives for no other reason, than having them. You can't make use of ever single one and if you did all it would do is devalue them. It's that way about many hobbies, you don't really need the items, but you want them. I've had thousands of dollars worth of knives and firearms and I still have more than I'll ever make good use of. But, I've got to the point where I don't have to buy every limited run, or the latest, greatest. I've manged to step back and breathe and realize they are just material objects that won't make my life suddenly better, just because I keep acquiring them.
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I went through that a long time ago with guns and spend quite a lot of money, I had a lot of guns, customs ect.

I stepped away from it and sold my collection.
 
I think your all missing the point. I read every post on here and most are scared, cutting back, hanging on, broke and everyone around them is worse off. Then another large segment is feeling guilty about having too many knives, or more than I need, etc. Talking about the new economy and how maybe knife collecting are collecting anything is bad.

WHAT??? Everyone on here ought to mad as hell about what is being done to them, their children and their grand children. You shouldn't be changing your habits, hobbies, etc. to make up for the misgivings of those in control from doing things against your will and then making you pay for it, both literally and figuratively foot the bill. The problem is not you, your knife collection or anyone and or anyone's collection of anything, PERIOD. We all know where the problem is its just a matter of doing something about righting that ship as opposed to sinking our own individual ship i.e. Cheesboro's knife collection, etc.

Buck up people, there is nothing wrong with you and your knife collection, the problem stems from those Lording over us and their failed ideas. I've got a nice small collection and I'll be da@#@@ if I gonna sell it for half of what its worth, hell even for full value. Its one of the few things I have that is truly mine, l love, brings me joy/peace, and they would take that away if they could, so forget that, I'll be keeping my stuff all of it and trying to acquire more, thank you. None of what is going on with our economy if the fault of anyone on this site, remember that. Were talking about a knives here people, small metal objects that don't take up much space or require much material to produce, put down the sustainable living manual and get back to living.

Molan Labe
 
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That's well and good MikeC, if that's what you want. There's no right or wrong involved, just choices as to what's important in your life. I certainly will never sell close to every knife I own. But, I sure don't need to keep accumulating them, at the pace I did in the past.
 
This thread has nothing to do with politics, we have a room for that.
 
In 1986 I bought a Gerber bolt action folding knife and that was the only knife I carried for about 15 years. That and hatchet were all I ever needed. Now I have more knives, spydercos, zero tolerance, swamprat, becker and on and on than an airborne battalion. My father served in the Infantry in WWII, then ran a feed mill and other jobs in the farming for about 40 years. He had a small folding knife from a purina mills feed mill he ran in the 1950s and an old hickory carving knife he bought in grad school right after WWII that he used for butchering etc. Of course we had other tools but those are the only knives he had. Unfortunately I lost the spare purina folder he gave me as a child, but his old hickory is in my kitchen and it means more to me than my infi knife.
 
Ultimately, collecting is about buying crap you don't need because it tickles your fancy in one way or another. Everyone does not have the collecting gene, but those of us who do have it really get a great joy from it. That said, there is also a great joy in not being hung on stuff too. My minister often says that one of the best things a person can do everyday is to not do something that you really love to do. The discipline of walking away from the pleasure of indulgence is often more sweet than indulging. It also makes the occassional indulgence more enjoyable because it was the result of planning and discipline, not simply a sudden passion.

As I said before, life changes along with circumstances. I am not where I was in 1995 or 2001. I am not where I was in 2010 either. In 2011, focusing on other things gives me more joy and meaning than simply building a collection of knives that I really cannot use. At this point in life, knives still give me joy, but it is not the pleasure I once I had of getting something and posting about it almost before I can get it out of the box. I also just cannot see spending the amount of money that I used to either. I bought a nice Spyderco Junior, and although it is a great knife, I just cannot see that sort of money as a smart or reasonable investment of my resources. I am certainly not knocking anyone who buys $150 or $1,050 knives, but anything past the $75 point really seems extravagant, and frankly $30-$50 knives are realisitically only a rare treat for me now. I guess I just had to go back into my older habbits to see that my outlook has really changed.
 
2 words: impulse buying. It doesn't matter if it was an "informed" buy because you read all the specs before pulling the trigger. Bottom line is you decide you HAD to HAVE that knife. I'm with Cheese on this one. I took a good look at my blades spread in my bed in decreasing blade size, and decided that I have enough steel to make an indigenous tribe very happy. I'm done buying, and so help me God to resist the temptation ( I won't turn away gifts tho, hehehe). But really, there is a point when you have to draw a line. My last 2 buys left me with mixed emotions; a Scrapyard 511 Sykco and a Condor Boomslang. The Scrapyard was my first bussekin buy, and while it feels like a great little knife, I can't bring myself to reason why did I spend a hundred bucks on it. Do I really need it? We all know the answer to that one... on the other hand, the Boomslang felt like it was worth every penny, a savage solid hunk of steel and micarta that makes for a nice end to collecting.
 
anthony cheeseboro said:
. My minister often says that one of the best things a person can do everyday is to not do something that you really love to do. The discipline of walking away from the pleasure of indulgence is often more sweet than indulging. It also makes the occassional indulgence more enjoyable because it was the result of planning and discipline, not simply a sudden passion.

.
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They also say to Pay yourself..... If you are quoting that stuff you have to read and understand all of it and why they say what they do, not just one part. ;)

After reading through the thread there is a lot more going on here than just what is being said I believe.....

Sounds like to me that you will be working, getting paid and just handing over all of your money to the wife, that's not a marriage in any shape or form.

Anyway, you are going to be in for a long hard road in the end if you end up going this way without doing things for yourself once in awhile.

You will figure it out though in the end......
 
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Ankerson said:
They also say to Pay yourself..... If you are quoting that stuff you have to read and understand all of it and why they say what they do, not just one part. ;)

After reading through the thread there is a lot more going on here than just what is being said I believe.....

Sounds like to me that you will be working, getting paid and just handing over all of your money to the wife, that's not a marriage in any shape or form.

Anyway, you are going to be in for a long hard road in the end if you end up going this way without doing things for yourself once in awhile.

You will figure it out though in the end......
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Don't worry, I've had plenty of toys of all sorts over the years. It is just time to put the emphasis on family now.:)
 
Anthony,

Big congrats on getting to this place. Some people never figure out the balance of baubles and trinkets vs the people in your life.

Carl.
 
jill jackson said:
There comes a point when you realize, you have 100 plus knives for no other reason, than having them. You can't make use of ever single one and if you did all it would do is devalue them. It's that way about many hobbies, you don't really need the items, but you want them. I've had thousands of dollars worth of knives and firearms and I still have more than I'll ever make good use of. But, I've got to the point where I don't have to buy every limited run, or the latest, greatest. I've manged to step back and breathe and realize they are just material objects that won't make my life suddenly better, just because I keep acquiring them.
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My thoughts exactly. While I love all of my knives, I find that my ~$600 collection is just too much. I am thinking about downsizing to just a few things: 2 large fixed (a nice and a beater), 2 small fixed (tactical and general), a large (3in.+) folder, a small folder, and my Case stockman set (3 of em). The rest of my collection was cool to own, but serves no purpose other than taking up space and "showing off" to myself.
 
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