Interesting Quandary Regarding Knives and Knife Collecting

Kaizen1 said:
I rarely use my knives, but I like 'em. That's enough for me.
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I'm in the same boat. I rarely use them which is why I've always just bought cheap knives. I've slowly started using them for more and more which is why I'm looking to start getting into higher end blades and sharpening and such. I do love my knives though no matter how much I paid for them.
 
bfnewbie said:
OP, I have pretty much the same story so you're not alone.
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So, bfnewbie--that BEGS the question: why the desire to acquire more and more? For example, your tagline says that you have over 50 Leeks and "need" 50 more. Is it for a specific purpose? Or, just an insatiable desire to gather more? Gathering food--I get it. Gathering money--I get it. Gathering knives--I don't quite fully have my head wrapped around it yet! Bear in mind, this is NOT a criticism towards knife collecting--if it were, I would be criticizing myself and that isn't something I am inclined to do.
 
MostMenAreRuthless said:
why the desire to acquire more and more?
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A few reasons. I find it fun to be on the hunt for something hard to find. I find knives beautiful pieces of work...they're simple and functional, and they're small so they don't take up a ton of space. I don't know what attracted me to the Leek specifically though. If I need money, I can always sell them. And if I thought the zombie apocalypse was coming, I wouldn't collect knives but for now, why not?
I go through hobbies every now and then. It used to be photography and I bought and later sold lenses worth a significant amount of money. I have since moved on to knives. People collect paintings, cars, jewelry, my grandma even collected clowns :confused:
 
MostMenAreRuthless said:
I would classify myself as an "average knife guy.". I am not quite "knife knut" status, but am certainly more interested and enthralled by blades than the average individual. I have relatively small collection of blades, mostly folders, that range from $10 specials to Sebenzas and a Mnandi. Here is the quandary: I don't really have much of a need to ever USE a knife. Sure, I have cut tags off of clothes. I have cut up the occasional cardboard box to place in recycling. I have used it to cut off the strings on my pocket from the wear of the knife clip (which, if I didn't have a knife clipped there I wouldn't get the strings!) I have used a knife for 6 of one thing and half a dozen of others, but they all seem like trivial tasks that could be performed with any $10 special.
I realize there are plenty of guys and gals that really get out there and USE their blades at work, in the woods, at home, or otherwise. But, I can't be alone in my quandary. Please tell me that I don't have psychological addiction issues. Certainly there must be many others out there that simply enjoy knives because of their functional beauty, inherent utility (utilized or not), and other mystical reasons... Or, am I alone?
Thoughts?
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people have used knives made of what we would now consider low-end materials for thousands of years. there are plenty of "good enough to get the job done" knives and tools that would be sufficient for 95%+ of the people in the world. we as enthusiasts look for higher quality, rarer materials and appreciate the subtle differences, after all, that's why we're talking about it on a forum ;).

i use my knives all the time, but in the grand scheme of things, there are plenty of $10-$30 knives will perform everything i could ask of them.
 
bfnewbie said:
I go through hobbies every now and then. It used to be photography and I bought and later sold lenses worth a significant amount of money. I have since moved on to knives. People collect paintings, cars, jewelry, my grandma even collected clowns :confused:
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We often have many hobbies and many of my outdoor interests coincide with knife or axe use. I remember riding my motorcycle out of town and into the bush. I had a Becker Brute strapped down my leg and a pack on my back. The police did eyeball me as I rode out. But I harm no one and just fart around with a metal detector, or mushroom hunt etc. in the bush, alone or with company. It's the same thing with fire arms. It's not the tool that is inherently dangerous by itself, but the individual holding it. Millions have collected knives and millions more will in the future. It's not the knife, but the individual carrying it that I evaluate upon first meeting. I've met older men like myself with a hip knife fishing along the river bank and had wonderful conversations with them and felt perfectly safe. I've also been in the bush and run into partying punks that gave me the willies, which I gave a wide birth to. I certainly did not want to know if they were carrying. In either case the knife could just as well been a screw driver. In one hand a tool, in another, a weapon. So no, collecting is just another hobby and basically only as dangerous as the owner. We only wonder about these issues because of societies fear of knives as a weapon. The 99% of hard working quiet living folk are the unseen. The 1% nut case is what the public reads in the paper as a stabbing etc. You like them, you collect them, no biggie. They could be stamps for all it matters. Enjoy your hobby bud. :)
 
I go through the same thing. My first high end knife was an Umnumzaan, but I thought the blade wasnt thick enough. What if I needed to pry a car door open some day to save a life? Ok so I have never needed to pry a car door open, or almost anything else. So why was it so important to get an SMF, then a custom one?

Ill tell you what, if I ever get stuck in my office at work and I need to pry my way out I will survive. So I have that going for me:)
 
It beats collecting toy cars like my boss. At least they have a function even if you don't use the functionality. Have you tried using your knives for food or do you not cook much either?
 
Knife collecting is definitely unique in character. The very nature of a knife as a tool dictates that it must be used, if not it is foolish to have. But no one asks an art collector whether they 'use' their art, or a comic book collector whether they 'use' their comic books. Thats just silly. Art and comic books have no use, they are just collectible pieces. As a kid I collected sports cards, mainly baseball and basketball. I had tons of them, a few worth a pretty penny. But over time, I lost interest, and my card collection was sold (for far less than their listed value), or just given away. I cant really explain my recently developed desire to collect knives. Maybe it taps into some primal desire for an edged tool. I do a lot of backpacking, and yes a knife is useful there, but I carry my Buck Bantam BHW to the woods. Its a super lightweight, 3.75 inch folder that cost me under $20. I hike long distances, so there's no way in hell Im draggin a 2 lb chopper with me. I have a small collection, about 30 or so, and only a few of them see much use. Since I got my para 2 a while back, its basically the only one that sees any use. But I enjoy having them. I just got a camo handle military, and I freakin love the thing. Do I need a 4 inch $115 folder? Hell no. Not for any foreseeable task. But I love it nonetheless.

So OP, keep buying knives. Screw anybody that disparages you for not 'using' your collection. Your reasons are yours, even if you may have an addiction problem. :)
 
For my purposes, knives are basically functional art. I won't ever need to abuse any of my blades or really even use them all that much beyond basic cutting tasks like what you described. I could definitely get by without my knives, but I wouldn't want to. They just make me happy. :D
 
Hadji Flip Me Over said:
For my purposes, knives are basically functional art. I won't ever need to abuse any of my blades or really even use them all that much beyond basic cutting tasks like what you described. I could definitely get by without my knives, but I wouldn't want to. They just make me happy. :D
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Hadji--A very nice summation of exactly how I feel.
 
To me, knives are useful tools that I happen to be using as toys. I just feel a little bit better knowing I have a cool knife in my pocket. I take it out while driving or sitting at my desk or watching TV and play with it. Ergo, it's also a toy.

If it were solely functional, I'd have all that I need (and then some). But I want more. The "want" is because right now I'm collecting emotionally. It's an addiction of sorts. At the moment, it's moderate and fairly harmless. I just don't want it to get out of control. I do think that shopping for, reading about, and thinking about knives is lowering my productivity, however. I need to moderate it further.
 
Buy knives, admire knives, clean knives, keep them in a safe, carry them every day, use them in the field, use them at home, use them at work, etc., etc., etc. Collect until your heart is fulfilled, there are no rules! Save one... one little rule that a few members here don't follow: make sure you can afford it. I get sick of seeing threads on these knife forums that look something like this:

"Hurrr durrr... guys, I am bankrupt. I'm in a bad financial situation... so I need to sell my customs and my sebenzas."

I have no pity for people who buy expensive things when they're that close to the financial brink. So the moral is: as long as you can afford it and it's legal, do whatever you want and enjoy it! :)
 
Collecting and owning several knives is a healthy thing, IMO. But getting obsessed with knives, to the point that you cannot function as a normal person or worse you are unable to perform your activities of daily living, now that's the time you need to seek professional help.
 
I'm staying on a budget.

As a working stiff I so far haven't seen any reason to spend over $50 on a knife which i'm gonna edc and might even have to abuse in a bad situation. Plenty of Buck and Case knives in my price range i've yet to buy!

Doesn't keep me from drooling over some of the expensive customs though.
 
OP....you are not alone. I would imagine maybe 75% of us here on this crack (knife) forum would agree with you. Knives are great tools and awesome pieces of mechanical art as another member posted. But in reality, most of us don't really need the higher priced knives. We do, however, appreciate quality in what we buy and and that is where I believe we fall as addicts.
 
Lol at this whole thread, because I'm right there with you guys.

My coping method is to find things to use my knives for, to justify my hobby to myself. Often my wife will be reaching in the kitchen drawer for scissors to open a package, and I'll come screaming and running in from the other room "WAIT!!.....I HAVE MY KNIFE!!! It has S30V steel and FFG and it will open that package like you can't even understand!!!!"

Even better is when I actually run into situations where I needed my knife and didn't have it. Earlier this morning, in fact, I was playing with my CRKT drifter when my two week old son needed to be changed. So, I picked him up and was about to grab my knife when I thought, nah, why would I need that? I'll be right back. Cue tragic irony. I get his diaper off, go for the wipes, and realize the wipe warmer is empty. He's laying on the changing table, with his diaper off, and he just starts spraying poop everywhere, like a fondue fountain from hell, and I'm reaching for the wipe refill pack and I can't tear the damned plastic open to save my life. I couldn't leave him unattended, I couldn't take him with me without dripping all over the place, and I couldn't leave him unwiped, obviously. After digging through his changing table supplies I found another pack of wipes that was easier to open. Disaster averted. Because of this incident, I now have a Sage 2 on the way. Because obviously I need a knife to have on me all the time, and a titanium frame lock would be easy to clean if it gets pooped on.

Good luck with your addiction.
 
If people only owned what they needed to make it during their time on earth, they wouldn't have many possessions would they? That's the way it is, we don't really need 90% of what we have, we just want it. Collecting knives isn't any different than collecting all the other items people collect. Besides at least a knife does have use, if the owner decides to put it to work. Try that with a bunch of old coins. All you can do with those is look at them, or sell them. You probably couldn't even spend them at the local store, if you were so desperate to try. (at least not without some hassle, last time I paid for something with Kennedy half dollars, the clerk had to go ask if she could take them!)
 
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