Long Term Knife Collecting?

How old is the average knife you collect?

  • 1 Year

    Votes: 2 5.1%

  • 2 Years

    Votes: 4 10.3%

  • 3-5 Years

    Votes: 13 33.3%

  • 5+ years

    Votes: 5 12.8%

  • 10+ years

    Votes: 15 38.5%
  • Total voters
    39
G

Gideons

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2015
Messages
1,517
Hey BF,

How many of you have/use knives from 10+ years ago? Most knives I see on this forum are modern knives, not many from the 80's or 90's. It would appear to me modern technology and materials have led to a lot of advances in the knife community in recent years, especially in folding knives. So, this makes me wonder a lot of these high-quality knives will last a lifetime, but how relevant/practical will the knives be in the future? Looking at your knives now, in 2030 and beyond will your current collect just be out-dated and worthless?

-Gideons
 
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I'm pretty sure as long as physics stay consistent older knives will be just fine. And if you get the right older knife, it won't just retain some value it will appreciate quite a lot.

The two largest selling knife companies in the entire world by a HUGE margin are Victorinox and Opinel. The SAK was invented in 1891, the Opinel folder in 1890. Modern, expensive folders with flashy features may be the rule here in GKD, but out in the great big world those blades are firmly in the minority.

With that in mind, I think the idea of them becoming out-dated is a little silly (if stays open when it should, stays closed when it should and cuts it's not THAT out-dated) and worthless will be a judgement call at absolute worst. Some of my knives are absolutely incapable of being worthless to me because of their sentimental value. Even pure market value, I can pretty much promise some of my knives will be worth quite a lot more by 2030 than they are now.

All that said, I tend to keep my collection fairly current as pieces are sold and gifted away to make room for a new, shiny thing that catches my eye, but no, the old stuff won't be outdated and worthless a decade from now.
 
It's a good question. Things do have a way of becoming obsolete and outdated: pay phones, cassettes, newspapers, typewriters, Beanie Babies, Hummels...

Well made knives will be able to cut stuff for a long, long time. The question is: will there be a whiz bang new gadget to replace them? Mini-LightSaber? Laser knife? If so, will they be practical? affordable? How soon?

I collect knives because I like them, use them and enjoy them. But like most collectibles, their value beyond the next six months or a year is anybody's guess. Hummels, trading cards, Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Kids, Franklin Mint items, many more examples of collector's items that plunged in value.

Invest in yourself, get an education. Invest in real estate, blue chip and/or growth stocks, but don't try to make money collecting knives. It looks like to me the market is overbought and top heavy lately. I suspect the market is saturated.
 
My normal carries are mostly fairly recent , but I have knives that are over 100 years old that I have owned for about 60 years.
I like what I am carry now, and doubt I will be changing in the future. If others will value what I have or not I do not know nor do I care.
 
As for suspecting a saturated market is as suspecting the ground is made of dirt.

As for investing, you must accurately forecast what others in the future will find historic, market changing, world shaking, and a good dose of nostalgic and even useful. Good luck on that.

As for knives over 10yrs old, and what you see here, keep in mind who lives here...the habitual latest and greatest buyer, and shallow poorly exposed often 1st or 3rd time owner....there are gazillions of other knife blogs, groups, and places where folk talk anything BUT what you find here, the latest trendy pointy arty useless thing complete with bell and training wheels...

MOST of my knives are over 30yrs old, not 20, and I do not spend my life taking posed photos of them, and bragging about them to total strangers. Not even my first knife from early 1960s.

If they are good, I keep them, regardless of era, but the majority of new is flashy trendy cheap garbage, made to sell the lastest paper slicer or magnetic levitating frictionless pocket fidgit tool flipper for folk who otherwise never use a knife, at all. They do not hunt, fish, farm, work outside, nuthin'...

Knives are here to stay, no matter the foreseeable advance, as they need no batteries, charger, or powerpack, unthought of by most trendy citydwellers where everything is battery powered until things do not run perfectly...and them ever more dependent on a less and less reliable system.

Good ones are here to stay, while most of today is forgotten by tomorrow.
 
I own and use half-a-dozen knives from the eighties, thrice that from the nineties, thrice that from the aughts, etc.

As my finances have improved, my knife collection has grown, and I tend to save stuff and sometimes buy old stuff too.
 
I'm pretty much a "keeper" these days when it comes to my knives. Yes, I have bought and sold quite a few knives over the years, but I am buying less and keeping the majority of my knives now as I have developed a love for the ones I currently have. I still "need" a big chopper though...
 
mtngunr said:
Knives are here to stay, no matter the foreseeable advance, as they need no batteries, charger, or powerpack, unthought of by most trendy citydwellers where everything is battery powered until things do not run perfectly...and them ever more dependent on a less and less reliable system.

Good ones are here to stay, while most of today is forgotten by tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Probably not. As the few remaining authentic humans like yourself are replaced by robots, drones and useless city-dwellers, there'll be no more need for knives. Even the things in the city that currently require cutting with a knife will be replaced by battery-operated, electronic, self-cutting versions of those things. The last real generation of people will pass away unnoticed and unmourned. Their inflated sense of importance blown away by the winds of history like so many helium balloons. Their old-timey, high carbon knives left to rust.
 
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Gideons said:
Hey BF,

How many of you have/use knives from 10+ years ago? Most knives I see on this forum are modern
knives, not many from the 80's or 90's. It would appear to me modern technology and materials have led to a lot of advances in the knife community in recent years, especially in folding knives. So, this makes me wonder a lot of these high-quality knives will last a lifetime, but how relevant/practical will the knives be in the future? Looking at your knives now, in 2030 and beyond will your current collect just be out-dated and worthless?

-Gideons
Click to expand...

Are you talking about from the day that specific knife was made or the day that knife was designed? For instance the Sebenza design is more than 20+ years old. If I buy a new Sebenza that has a birthday of yesterday does that ßcount as 10+ years old or 1 day old?
 
The average knife I collect would be older than the average knife I use.
As part of a collection the relevance might not change.
The worth is a topic of it's own.
I highly doubt that a knife would make a good investment.
 
Those of us old enough to have knives from 10-20+ years ago tend to carry them (even though we have many newer, better? ones) because they have memories attached. :) They become somewhat of a companion (anthropomorphising ?) and provide a bit of consistency in an increasingly inconsistent world. :thumbsup: Oh, and they do cut. ;) My 25 or so year old CS Trailmaster is still my go to knife when "way out there", even though I have had customs made in the last 10 years to replace it, they never do. :cool: Pocket folders not so much for me, I carry whatever mood strikes me that day. This is, of course carry or use, collecting tends to be newer mostly as a result of available funds increasing through the years. Just my .02
 
Lapedog said:
Are you talking about from the day that specific knife was made or the day that knife was designed? For instance the Sebenza design is more than 20+ years old. If I buy a new Sebenza that has a birthday of yesterday does that ßcount as 10+ years old or 1 day old?
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Good question, I would say a 1 day old knife.
I think certain designs, and classics like sebenza's will hold their value/relavence. But, I was more thinking in the benchmade/ZT price range. look how much benchmade knives changed after the creation of the axis lock. Or how much improvement in action the newer ZT's have compared to the old kershaw/zt's. With all the improvements in folding knives the in the 2000s, I do also wonder if the knife market will become for stagnate.
 
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Where is the option for too many knives to accurately figure out?

My average is somewhere around 1-4 years. Quite a few in the 5+.
 
With so many cheap (from you know where) knives about,
Its no wonder there is no end in sight for knife purchases in general.
As for the older ones, they had served their purpose in the past,
If they remain servicable, they get sold or stored away until such time.
Others may get second life in the hands of new owners as hand me downs.
No point in going too high and mighty with the specs
As most cheaper stuff are suffucient for
Personal daily use with the occassional light abuse.
Always figure these purchases as tools first and not heirlooms
that may not even be treasured by loved ones in future...
Time changes things except if its made with gold and diamonds.
 
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Well.. When I read the title I thought it was asking "How long have you been collecting" ?? 45plus yrs for me.. So I have knives that span those yrs..;) John
 
mtngunr said:
As for suspecting a saturated market is as suspecting the ground is made of dirt.

As for investing, you must accurately forecast what others in the future will find historic, market changing, world shaking, and a good dose of nostalgic and even useful. Good luck on that.

As for knives over 10yrs old, and what you see here, keep in mind who lives here...the habitual latest and greatest buyer, and shallow poorly exposed often 1st or 3rd time owner....there are gazillions of other knife blogs, groups, and places where folk talk anything BUT what you find here, the latest trendy pointy arty useless thing complete with bell and training wheels...

MOST of my knives are over 30yrs old, not 20, and I do not spend my life taking posed photos of them, and bragging about them to total strangers. Not even my first knife from early 1960s.

If they are good, I keep them, regardless of era, but the majority of new is flashy trendy cheap garbage, made to sell the lastest paper slicer or magnetic levitating frictionless pocket fidgit tool flipper for folk who otherwise never use a knife, at all. They do not hunt, fish, farm, work outside, nuthin'...

Knives are here to stay, no matter the foreseeable advance, as they need no batteries, charger, or powerpack, unthought of by most trendy citydwellers where everything is battery powered until things do not run perfectly...and them ever more dependent on a less and less reliable system.

Good ones are here to stay, while most of today is forgotten by tomorrow.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:
 
What knives are best for collecting when you just like knives and have owned and used them for 30 years or longer (like me) and don't need to try to old-timey "I been around and I'm a real user unlike'n yew SITTY FOWK!" condescend to others in order to just enjoy owning and using the knives? Asking for a friend.
 
Quiet said:
What knives are best for collecting when you just like knives and have owned and used them for 30 years or longer (like me) and don't need to try to old-timey "I been around and I'm a real user unlike'n yew SITTY FOWK!" condescend to others in order to just enjoy owning and using the knives? Asking for a friend.
Click to expand...
Well now, I’d better sit me down on the porch and have a chaw afore I consider your question... ;)
 
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