Knives that are not used (long)

[22-rimfire]

I'm not really sure of the OP point, but I do know that knives and guns and similar stuff will outlive us. I have a knife that has been through three generations of users. In about 1943, a German POW that was working on the Moran farm in Lime Liln Maryland had worked before ethe war in the Solingen cutlery trade. A young teenage Bill Moran who was already a budding knife nut and maker pressed him to teach him how to make folders. The German, named Albert Wurtz, showed the young Moran how to construct a folder. Bill used that knife and treasured it for 40 years before retire ring it for a Bertram made. Hen and Rooster stockman. Bill then gave me the knife when I admired it, and I used it for many years on and off. A wonderful knife with a great edge holding blade made from a file.

My younger son is slated to get it when my time her is done. He will be the forth to use it. Wurtz, Moran, Me, and then my son Matt. Not bad for a piece of steel and stag horn.

Wurtz showed a young Moran how to split a piece of crown stag and to construct the knife to fit the stag. Spring in the slip joint action is getting a bit easy, but it still cuts like the dickens. Blade has list about 30% from use and sharpening.

Have to say that this is a wonderful bit of history. As far as preserving the knives for posterity, I don't worry about it other than I don't knowingly do anything to cause excessive problems. I am not sure of the point of the post either, but certainly it is possible to wear a blade down to an un-usable nub, break it, and so forth. For me that requires some abusive handling or just bad luck.

 

[ArchVV]

Op, a bit of perspective is good for us all and your post thoughtfully provides that. Perhaps a tad too esoteric for the morning, though

 

[Ken44]

Sorry for the confusion and for misspelling 'psychology'.

If you were on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg, its not a good time to
complain to your wife that the steak you just ate was overpriced and overcooked.
I used the idea of 'temporary ownership' to leverage against making trivial
knife concerns or arguments seem important.. trivial in this case had to do with
a knife video on youtube. But it would also apply to someone saying something
like 'Elmax sucks' -which I have seen said on this forum.

For sure I am not trying to be right at all costs. I dont even have 10 posts yet. I
just got here. I havent even ate breakfast yet! Maybe you can view my op as a way of
stopping by to say hello. That would be great, even if you just view it that way temporarily.

I have no idea what your point is in the original post, and after this one I still don't have a clue.

I'll take a shot though...
Are you saying we will all be dead soon anyway(relatively speaking), so what's the point of discussing/arguing about the merits of the knives that will be here long after we are

Heck, if we didn't do that there wouldn't be a need for Blade Forums to exist

I don't know. If I'm wrong about what I think your point may be could you try to explain it just ONE more time ?

 

[Quiet]

Sorry for the confusion and for misspelling 'psychology'.

If you were on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg, its not a good time to
complain to your wife that the steak you just ate was overpriced and overcooked.
I used the idea of 'temporary ownership' to leverage against making trivial
knife concerns or arguments seem important.. trivial in this case had to do with
a knife video on youtube. But it would also apply to someone saying something
like 'Elmax sucks' -which I have seen said on this forum.

For sure I am not trying to be right at all costs. I dont even have 10 posts yet. I
just got here. I havent even ate breakfast yet! Maybe you can view my op as a way of
stopping by to say hello. That would be great, even if you just view it that way temporarily.

First of all, welcome to the Board. Stick around, and read some more, and you'll learn more than perhaps you ever wanted to know!

I would say that that's really the only issue I had with your post. After all, it might be said that "trivial knife concerns" are a primary reason this board exists!

Have a good one, stick around!

 

[jill jackson]

We will all be dead and gone so no need to worry about anything. That is fine if you really think there's no purpose to life. But, if the purpose of life is the life itself, then everything we do and enjoy is important.

 

[Duane Sanders]

Have to say that this is a wonderful bit of history. As far as preserving the knives for posterity, I don't worry about it other than I don't knowingly do anything to cause excessive problems. I am not sure of the point of the post either, but certainly it is possible to wear a blade down to an un-usable nub, break it, and so forth. For me that requires some abusive handling or just bad luck.

You don't have to abuse a knife to wear it out beyond serviceable. I'm lucky to get 3-4 years from a pocket folder and a decade from fixed blades, give or take a couple years.


Regular use can and will wear out a blade.

 

[jbmonkey]

really bordering on politics a bit in your pitch...that aside....

....i use most of my stuff, some i like to just have and not use. it's harmless and affects no one but me and my wallet. although i did see some wisdom once posted somewhere on here that said something to this effect about safe queens.........when you are dead you want your wife's new husband to inherit a bunch of brand new stuff....i am paraphrasing.

 

[Surfingringo]

It's an unfair analogy, as both would be just fine if you treated them the same. If, after 12 hours of being dragged on the ground, you then welded more steel onto it until it had the same mass, then... You'd never run out of knife, just like you don't run out of human when you keep feeding it.

But you don't do that. The human body, however, does. That was kind of the point.

And by the way, I agree that it is a poor analogy. That is what I was trying to point out with my post. The analogy is not mine but the op's.

 

[Moto54]

First of all, welcome to the Board. Stick around, and read some more, and you'll learn more than perhaps you ever wanted to know!
I would say that that's really the only issue I had with your post. After all, it might be said that "trivial knife concerns" are a primary reason this board exists!
Have a good one, stick around!

Had a good laugh hearing you say trivial knife concerns are a primary reason this board exists. I am not going to touch that subject with a ten foot pole.

Jill Jackson: too bad its not the time or place to talk about the purpose of life-- but this forum is about the purpose of knife, not the purpose of life.

Ken44: so the op was directed more at a specific thing, not directed against knife talk in general. my mistake was to use too broad of a perspective to
combat what i was against. my bad. all i was saying is do not mistake things that are direct and primary for us, for things
that are secondary and subject to random contradiction. or not. apparently its worthwhile to defend the good name of Elmax, and things like that

 

[Aias]

I'll take a shot at this thread...

Sure, given a long enough view, everything turns to dust, falls away, and passes into oblivion. But I'm here, you ladies and gents are here, and the stuff of life beckons, at least for now. Part of doing the stuff of life consists of cutting, slicing, chopping, etc... and to do so, there are the tools we've come to enjoy--maybe even be fascinated with... and maybe, for some of us, even become a little obsessed with. But such is the flow of life. Everyone is addicted to something, we all have our interests, passions, and aversions too. Here, in this little shared space, the discussion of knives and related matters is had... some of it historical, some practical, and none of it is free of market concerns on some level. Given all that, this place is also a spot to share a pic, a story or joke, and learn from each other's experiences.

In the end, it just comes down to me using a particular tool for a particular task... those particulars are bound-up with the ebb and flow of everyday life--for however long it carries us. After that, what transpires is not longer in our hands, literally and figuratively.

OK, now I need a cup of coffee...

 

[jill jackson]

Jill Jackson: too bad its not the time or place to talk about the purpose of life-- but this forum is about the purpose of knife, not the purpose of life.

Says the guy that starts in comparing the human body to a knife.

 

[Moto54]

I'll take a shot at this thread...

OK, now I need a cup of coffee...

Me too
If you want a thought to make you need even more coffee: for the most part our experience while dreaming is more direct and compelling than our
experience while waking- which as this forum testifies to is sometimes occupied with very very indirect and secondhand issues, like whether the
ZT 562CF I bought thinking it had a M390 blade is acctually inferior to the 204P steel the blade arrived with, and then getting into a debate about it.
Pardon the language, but that kind of jerk-off collision of 'whats important' does not happen in the dream state, in my experience.

 

[22-rimfire]

You don't have to abuse a knife to wear it out beyond serviceable. I'm lucky to get 3-4 years from a pocket folder and a decade from fixed blades, give or take a couple years.

Regular use can and will wear out a blade.

Of course it can. I don't really keep track on longevity as I have so many knives that the majority never get used anyway. Something happens, I get another from the pile or buy another. I enjoy blades and appreciate them for what they are in addition to a means to cut things efficiently.

Most will far outlast my lifetime. Not something I worry about as it is not a significant issue.

 

[jill jackson]

Another thing , OP you talk about how so many humans are cremated, throw your knife in the cremation chamber and see what comes out.

 

[Moto54]

Says the guy that starts in comparing the human body to a knife.

Thats pretty funny, but it was more to do with use; its not like I was making a direct metaphor between a person and a knife, you know, where the scales are the
torso and the blade is the head and the edge is the mouth and the flipper is.. use your imagination (which being a woman you will have to.)

 

[Moto54]

Another thing , OP you talk about how so many humans are cremated, throw your knife in the cremation chamber and see what comes out.

Again, it was a passing comparison in the op, but its still true that an object made of steel usually lasts longer than an object made of skin and bones.

 

[Aias]

Me too
If you want a thought to make you need even more coffee: for the most part our experience while dreaming is more direct and compelling than our
experience while waking- which as this forum testifies to is sometimes occupied with very very indirect and secondhand issues, like whether the
ZT 562CF I bought thinking it had a M390 blade is acctually inferior to the 204P steel the blade arrived with, and then getting into a debate about it.
Pardon the language, but that kind of jerk-off collision of 'whats important' does not happen in the dream state, in my experience.

OK, I'll bite, what is your experience?

I am a prof of philosophy (traditional, continental, political, west and east, etc... not the new "analytic" tradition), so the dream vs waking thing I get... if you are an adherent of certain thinkers/ theories. But that is all too far afield, I think... I am waiting on a new Busse because I prefer infi steel to the 1095 of Beckers in actual use, in the woods, the yard, kitchen, etc... The artifacts that Jill posted speak to not merely the dreams of the user but the real world experience of life, survival, upon which the user at one point depended on dearly. We are perhaps in a more comfortable position most of the time... but whether I dream of an adventure in the woods, or I actually find myself in one (after a earthquake, an accident on the hiking trial, etc...) I like to know, to understand my tools, their uses, their limits, etc...

Besides being a prof, I go fishing, hiking, I am a martial arts instructor, and a dad... there is a place for a sharp, well made knife in all those aspects of life. Being clear on how they work, what to expect if/when needed, and how the materials hold up is where the dream, the idea, and the practice intersects... that's where life happens, ready or not.

Good thing I made myself a triple espresso.

 

[jill jackson]

Again, it was a passing comparison in the op, but its still true that an object made of steel usually lasts longer than an object made of skin and bones.

Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky. Who cares if a knife can possibly outlast a human. It may and it may not, depending on many circumstances. We actually create nothing, we merely rearrange molecules into a different form, it will continue to exist in one form or another long after we are gone, even our material bodies.

 

[Moto54]

OK, I'll bite, what is your experience?

Good thing I made myself a triple espresso.

Very nice to meet you and thanks for the reply.
I do not have internet at home exactly because of the nature of opinions and strife I usually come across, but being at the library using wi-fi
is not the place to answer your post the way I would like to. Sounds like you have a very full life on the outside as well as the inside, and those are
the two dimensions we are most familiar with, though there are others to be sure.. who are we to put limits on dimensions? Anyway, you sound like
a good conversation that I wasnt able to have, but thats the way it is sometimes- (tips symbolic coffee cup and grins in your general direction)

 

[Ken44]

Ken44: so the op was directed more at a specific thing, not directed against knife talk in general.

What one "specific thing" ? In less than 10 words this time please,lol.
If it had nothing to do with knife talk then I'm really lost
If it wasn't about knives I doubt you would've posted it here, and shouldn't have.

my mistake was to use too broad of a perspective to
combat what i was against. my bad.

What exactly is it that you're against ?
Again, in less than ten words if you can.
Are you against people disagreeing on their knife views, is that it ?

all i was saying is do not mistake things that are direct and primary for us, for things that are secondary and subject to random contradiction. or not. apparently its worthwhile to defend the good name of Elmax, and things like that

You're not the only one. I don't think anyone here mistakes what things are primary and secondary to us.

Again, if we didn't have some contradictions here about secondary items(knives) I doubt this site would be here.