Loss stories . . .

Fooj

Fooj

Joined
Apr 6, 2004
Messages
1,399
Lots of questions about what to acquire, but . . . here's the other end of the spectrum:
  • What's the most expensive knife you've lost or had stolen? (Ken Onion is disqualified from this question :) )
  • Once you became a knife enthusiast, how many valuable/valued knives have you lost? (this is opposed to, say, an exacto knife at work . . .)
  • What are the tactics that you use that help you not lose knives?
 
I lost my origional spyderco small rigid this model later became the delica. I still have no idea how i lost it. i just remember looking for it before work one day and not being able to find it. My older brother had a habbit of borrowing my stuff and either damaging or loosing it, He denies it but who knows.
 
What's the most expensive knife you've lost or had stolen?
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I had twelve knives stolen from a cabin where I lived in Arkansas. None cost more than $45, so I wouldn't say that any were particularly valuable. They were, however, very hard to replace. The final replacement was an Aristocrat Majestic, which took 12-13 years to locate another.

Once you became a knife enthusiast, how many valuable/valued knives have you lost? (this is opposed to, say, an exacto knife at work . . .)
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None, really. I've lost some Opinels, a BuckLite, and other easily replaced carry knives.

What are the tactics that you use that help you not lose knives?
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I don't carry anything that can't be easily replaced. I don't carry anything valuable or uncommon. And just in case my carry knife should become discontinued at some future date, I have an identical knife in my collection.

-Bob
 
I've lost a new Case slipjoint from my pocket working a wrecker - crawling under cars prompted me to look for sheaths, then I discovered clips!

As for theft, I've had some pretty bad self inflicted knife deals, but the rule I follow is "Never show off your toys." More robberies are conducted within a few weeks of showing off your stuff to a friend and his friend than any other.
Yeah - his buddy is casing you.
 
I lost a Brian Tighe once (God it still hurts). PLEASE PEOPLE, when you notice the tension on your pocket clip is light fix it then. Save yourself the humiliation and shame that I must endure.
 
After I realize I lost/misplace something, I can usually remember what happened. But I've only lost one knife, a large ritter mk1. I have no idea how I lost it. I had it on a trip to the shooting range. Then carried other knives for a couple of weeks. Went to carry the ritter again and couldn't find it:confused:
 
BigJimSlade said:
I lost a Brian Tighe once (God it still hurts). PLEASE PEOPLE, when you notice the tension on your pocket clip is light fix it then. Save yourself the humiliation and shame that I must endure.
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You are so right, One time I had a BM 800 come unclipped and fell out of my short. Luckily It was in the couch I was sittin in, as soon as I got home I took the clip off and bent it a little so it would fit snugger, and have not had a problem since. I did loose a typhoon on a fishing trip with my wife and her father. I had the kife in a neck sheath I made (which worked good until that day) My wife was driving the boat wide open hitting every wave. When we stopped I notice my knife was not there any more:(
 
I've been collecting knives only for a couple years now. I've not lost one...yet. I don't have a whole lot of EDC knives in my rotation and most are just drawer queens.
 
Seems that I buy a small low-cost folder of sorts at just about every knife/gun show that we go to...sometimes I have 4 or 5 knives to choose from for EDC, other times just 1 or 2...dunno where the others go, new homes I guess, maybe under the couch...alas, such is life...
 
I had a nice Sog Tomcat folder I lost out in the woods by an icy stream in the vicinity of Bridgeport, CA. Then some slug broke into my locker and swiped my BM Emerson folder. I've been pretty lucky ever since. Tips? Always keep your blade close to you or locked in your home or car. And dummy cord them!!!
 
The most expensive knife I've lost is a CRK Shadow I, serial #161 -- a new one is $415, and this one arguably had collector value too. Ouch! Curiously, I have no idea where it went, but I've moved twice since the loss, so I think it's gone for good. I've misplaced other knives here and there, but have always been able to find them within days.

As for loss prevention tactics for my EDC, for me it's probably just consistency, in where I store it when it's not with me, where it is when it is with me, and practically always having it with me so I feel like "something's missing" if it ever isn't. It's when I stray from this consistency that loss runs rampant . . .
 
I've lost so many knives.

One of the worst losses to me personally was my Tekna skeleton blade button lock folder when I was young. It was my baby and I lost it somehow farting around on our farm. God knows how many untold hours were spent looking for that knife. I still find myself looking for it, though I lost it over 15 years ago.

Another tragic loss was my Spyderco FRN Walker, which was my favorite EDC for a long time. I lost it walking back to my cabin from a bar in Okoboji Iowa, and spent a really, really long time looking for that one as well. I had given up trying to find it until I was walking back from the same bar months later and noticed something shiny on the ground. Sure enough, it was my knife. It had rusted a bit, and pitted a little bit but was otherwise no worse for the wear. I retired it soon thereafter, because I couldn't bear to lose it again. I still have it.

The most expensive knife I ever lost, by far, was my Benchmade Osbourne (940?) I was at a party at a friend's house and it started to get rough. A couple dudes were out of control drunk, smashing chairs against the wall and making huge asses out of themselves. I knew I had to go "hands on" with a guy, so I stashed my knife underneath my buddy's bar before I got into it. I didn't want to lose my temper in the fight and end up stabbing somebody or otherwise get into trouble with it, so I got rid of my knife. I ended up dragging the dude outside and beating his ass in. We threw him in a cab and sent him on his merry way. I went back into the party and totally forgot about my knife when I left. I called my friend the next day about it and he couldn't find it. Evidently some prick saw me stash the thing and decided to snake it while I was outside playing "Roadhouse".

What really made this expensive was not the cost of the lost knife itself, but rather the cost of the subsequent knives I bought to try to replace the hole in my pocket. That was the incident that really intensified my knife collecting habit. I couldn't find the exact same knife I had (with the green handles) so I kept buying more and more knives, until my collection started to snowball into this enormous money sucking addiction.
 
Melvin-Purvis said:
Seems that I buy a small low-cost folder of sorts at just about every knife/gun show that we go to...sometimes I have 4 or 5 knives to choose from for EDC, other times just 1 or 2...dunno where the others go, new homes I guess, maybe under the couch...alas, such is life...
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I dont know if you are reffering to the chinese made junk knives that litter gunshow floors, but if you are, I would suggest against this practice. First and foremost when you buy these knives you are supporting both crappy manufactured knife companies and the theft of design that they are famous for. Instead of paying knife makers to design there knives they simply steal the designs.

Second is that I carry a knife for two reasons. One is to open bags of chips, cut my steak, open tough plastic packages from new fangled eltronics and such, These things the cheap 5 dollar gunshow knives can do. The second reason I carry a knife is "what if". Those cheap junky $5 knock offs will fail and acording to murphys law they will fail when you actually need them for once. When that gunshow knife snaps in half and your left cold that price tag isnt so apealing anymore.

Now if you ment you pick up old buck 110's or something like that I appologise. There are good knives for sale at gunshows, I know. The guy selling what looks like a Benchmade, but it costs $5.00 instead of $100.00, is not your friend though. No sense in carrying a tool that canot do its job and might break and or injure you.
 
i lost a Sog Vision that i paid about 200 for off the the side of a riverbarge, at least thats where i think i lost it...either that or its somewhere in the middle of a very large oil refinery
 
And it was a good thing because I found this forum!

I was bowhunting in Co. and while dressing an elk my buddy shot we had some elk bugle nearby. We went after them and during the chase I lost my knife.

It was all for the best: Through this site and the internet, I have learned a lot about blade steel. Going to the corner store for information is a thing of the past.

I don't want to slight Kershaw. That folder was a smooth, decent quality knife but I need a blade that was designed to hold an edge.

Thanks to all, (especially Joe T. and Cliff S.) for letting me listen in on your (educational) conversations...
 
I lost [misplaced] my first Spyderco Endura, thought I lost it on the job so I told my boss about it. He told me to put a new one on my expense account and he would approve it. Got the new Endura, got the charge approved, then found the lost Endura in my gym bag. I told my boss and he said no problem, now you have two.:)
 
I lost a BM640 Mini-Spike a few years after losing a BM970. I think Benchmades are bad luck :D

The worst loss to me was a 1980 Al Mar Falcon that was stolen in a burgalry. I paid $80 in 1980, and the only one I have found since the theft went for $225 on EBay. I guess that one isn't going to get replaced.
 
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