Individual Threshold for a User vs. Safe Queen

[22-rimfire]

Threshold? I didn't address that aspect. Most of my folders are mid range in price ranging from about $75-$200 purchase price. I could stretch that to perhaps $300 if something really grabbed my interest. With fixed blades, prices float all over but primarily hover in the $250-$400 range. I am willing to use any of them, except the Randall's as I plan on selling them to someone much more interested in Randall's than me. Anything above the prices mentioned and I question whether or not I really want it and know I probably won't use it. So, I am hesitant to buy them at this point. So, no $650 Randall's for me anymore. I simply won't allow myself to spend that kind of money on what I would consider jewelry.

 

[DocJD]

Theoretically , mine are all users . But in practice have I have a few mint condition fondlers that I'd really only carry to be fancy and not expecting to do any hard work . And many more hard use beaters for routine carry .

 

[Sharp & Fiery]

I was just like that for a long time. Had a bunch of knives in my safe...till one day i woke up and thought, "im gonna be gone one day and ill never have taken the chance to put these expensive knives through the paces." So out they came. I edc a Shiro, and a few CRK's now. The pure enjoyment of using them daily, and seeing their beauty a lot more than i did when they were in the safe is wonderful. So much more satisfying. So if they are in the safe, and ill never use them, they get sold. That being said. I do have a damascus mammoth ivory Mnandi in the safe (wedding gift from my wonderful wife), and a couple others that are pure "art" knives to me. Just dont want to loose them. Sorry to rant...but for me...gotta use em.
Keep em sharp.

 

[JD Bear]

The only reason I keep a knife unused is usually I thought I really wanted it and would carry it but had a knife that better fulfilled its role and so just never carry it. These knives are most likely to get traded.

Now there is another side to knife collecting where people collect rare very expensive knives in pristine condition and derive joy just from owning them. Like an expensive piece of art. Often these knives are impractical to carry anyway.

But the idea of keeping a production knife like a zt or a sebenza in a safe? For what? Who are you saving the knife for that will enjoy it more than you?

This is definitely a great point that I can relate to. I have a bunch of knives that I really wanted at some point, and when I got them they were great for a day or two and I went back to something else. I have quite a few Case knives that are coming to mind. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I got them, but if I could take the monetary value and apply it to something else I absolutely would. That being said, I don't have any high priced knives (over $200) but if I did they wouldn't just sit. One of these days I'm finally going to get a Sebenza and it will be used and used often. So basically, it's the one's I don't like that sit...not the one's I do...

 

[PeterS84]

No safe queens. If I bought it, I will definitely use it, scratch it, dull it, sharpen it, and repeat. I don't have any need of decorative knives.

 

[midnight flyer]

This is actually an excellent and accurate way to look at it. I had such an epiphany earlier this year myself. My beer, cigar, and whiskey collection has finally started to get smaller as a result. Like you, I had a ton of different things saved for special occasions, and I'd either forget when such an occasion came along, or else the occasion wasn't "special" enough to break out "the good stuff". Nowadays, a Friday night spent with friends is good enough to break out the good stuff.

Absolutely!!! Well said.