Mr. Knife's Neverending GAW - Round #106

Pàdruig

Pàdruig

Reap What You Sow
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Dec 1, 2016
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Hi all,

It's time for another round! This post has the potential to be a bit lengthy so please bear with me, I hope it will all be worth it in the end.

Though I started my tenure here soon after this box began its journey, with all its ups and downs and such, I still needed to dig into the history of what has become (in my opinion) a rather time-honored tradition here on the Porch. With interest appearing to wane a wee bit (only 3 of us had names in the hat in the last round!), I have been puzzling over how to drum up some interest and get more enthusiasm so we can keep the torch lit and moving forward. I am not certain I will succeed but I'll give it my best shot.

mrknife mrknife started this box way back in 2016 with only 5 knives! Can you believe it? Round #105 has me looking at almost 30 knives with a handful of misc. items as well. I have had this box enter my hands a couple of times in the past and I've always been mindful to try and maintain the spirit of what I find this endeavor to be. An opportunity to pass around knives amongst ourselves, allowing us to share our tastes, imbue our experiences, and trade our histories with one another. In my mind, it's never been about the value of the contents or if someone took something and did or didn't provide adequate commensuration in turn. Unfortunately, this box has attracted some distant past unpleasantness but I like to think that these days, we (as a whole) are pretty high quality folks (and resilient!) so in my opinion, the show must go on!

I am rather fortunate to have a collection of knives that I am largely rather satisfied with. I have more knives than I will ever use in 20+ lifetimes so it can be difficult at times to catch my fancy with these kinds of passarounds. However, I've involved my kids in the past with this endeavor and since both of them are home for spring break, I didn't feel the need to break from tradition. I also decided to include a couple of young lads who belong to some friends of ours. Since none of these young folks have collections quite yet to draw from for adequate exchange, I will draw upon my own to cover their interests.

In the following segments, I will list what the box contained when it arrived, along with individual descriptions. After all, it doesn't hurt to know what you might be getting and hopefully that gets some folks interested. I will provide our collective choices, my contributions in turn and open the floor to you all.

In terms of the rules, I hearken back to the original thread that I included above:

In order to be considered, please fulfill any of these conditions:
1. be a known member of the Porch (at least a decent amount of meaningful contribution via content or conversation)
2. have donated to the St.Judes Charities/or Bob (hang in there buddy, hope you are doing ok!)
3. have done any sort of giveaway

To enter:
A simple im in will do, or you can post a picture of some knives :) we all like that
Click to expand...

(Bob is no longer with us, unfortunately. However, in honor of his memory, if you're inclined to charity, please consider any of the great ones out there that do tremendous work)


Let's get to the knives, shall we?

First up, we have the fixed blades that were included:

ibQoF0J.jpg



Next, we have the more traditional folders:

hWm2Pa5.jpg



Third, we have some oddballs:

CLhpcZg.jpg



And finally, some miscellaneous items:

SRjZfCc.jpg




Our collective selections:

- Myself: Ahti Tikka, Schrade 250T, fountain pens (I'm a writer so I'm sure these will get put to use or given to fountain pen newcomers)
- My son: The Jim Dunlap EDC Trapper
- My daughter: The GEC 53, with Painted Pony customization (you have no idea how giddy she is over this knife - horses? bling? YES!)
- Young lad #1: Schrade+ 285UH
- Young lad #2: Buck 373

ygsfLQ5.jpg




My contributions:

- GEC 65 (Stainless w/Osage)
- GEC 13 (I got this in a previous passaround. I got to check it out so therefore I am returning it to the fold)
- Case TB612010L (SS w/bone and T. Bose etching)
- Case Sowbelly (CV w/Bone)-
- S&M Heritage Jack (1095 w/Ebony)
- RR Swayback (Stainless w/micarta?) (this was a kind gift from a member who I haven't seen in a long time. Best that RR has put out, in my opinion - time to pay it forward)

UWHTwpC.jpg




Detailed list of what will be included in this round:

Fixed Blades:
1.) Blasted Hill Knives - Nitro V w/maple? and leather sheath
2.) Backwoods Custom - Unknown Damascus w/green maple burl and leather sheath
3.) Boker BFF - Tree Brand, Damast and Bog Oak
4.) OKC Gen II Sp-41 - 5160 w/Kraton and leather sheath
5.) Cold Steel Battle Ring II - Drop Forged 52100 w/Kydex
6.) Maratac R4A - D2 w/Ultem and Kydex

Oddball Folders:
1.) Cold Steel FinnWolf - AUS8A w/Orange Grivory?
2.) BPS Knives Friction Folder - 8Cr14Mov w/wood (bog oak?) and leather case
3.) Bear & Son slipjoint - unknown steel/materials

Traditional Folders:
1.) George Wostenholm I*XL Barlow - Stainless 2-blade w/Stag
2.) Tree Brand Boker Folding Lockback (110 clone) - Steam Engine collectible - Stainless w/Nickel Silver and Wood
3.) GEC 88 Yeti - 1095 2-blade w/Nickel Silver and white acrylic
4.) Tree Brand Boker Carver's Congress - Carbon Steel? 4-blade w/Nickel Silver and Wood
5.) Trestle Pine Gunflint - CPM154 w/Brass and Yellow Birch?
6.) Bulldog Trapper (Solingen) - Unknown steel 2-blade w/Nickel Silver and maybe celluloid or acrylic
7.) S&M ? - Unknown steel 2-blade w/Nickel Silver and jigged bone
8.) Buck 371 - Stainless 3-blade w/Nickel Silver and Wood
9.) Star 3344 B (Japan) - 440 w/Appaloosa Bone
10.) Wenger SAK - used L.L. Bean variant
11.) Schrade 180T (US made) - High Carbon w/Delrin
12.) GEC 89 Fruit Knife - Stainless w/Acrylic
13.) Laguiole - 12C27MOD w/Smooth Stag
14.) Case XX Junior Sodbuster - CV w/Yellow Delrin
15.) GEC 13 Congress Whittler - 1095 3-blade w/Muslin Micarta
16.) GEC 65 Horse Apple Hogan - Stainless w/Osage Orange
17.) Case Sowbelly - CV 3-blade w/Stagbone
18.) Case Zulu Lockback - SS w/bone and T. Bose etch
19.) S&M Heritage Jack - 1095 w/Ebony
20.) RR Swayback - Stainless w/micarta?

Misc.
1.) Mini Sharpener


I'll let this go for a week or so, dependent on interest, and I'll do something fun with the drawing at that point. Please consider jumping in, there is lots of great stuff in here. Good luck, all! Thanks for participating.

Current Entries:
- AZCoyote AZCoyote
- rcs86 rcs86
- Side O'Beef Side O'Beef
- Bigfattyt Bigfattyt
- eisman eisman
- S scattershot
- G GaiusJulius
 
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Thank you for doing the digging and discussing the roots of this tradition. I still don't have anything to put in, so I am not in this round, but hopefully next month I'll have something to add. The additions all look great.
 
This thread needs a bump.

There are a lot of nice knives in this box. What is deterring folks from participating? Is it too big, too overwhelming? Too many options? Too few? Not enough value?

I'm open to suggestions on how to make this more approachable and fun. Some time ago, a member opted to split what had become a very large box into three separate giveaways. Perhaps we are at that point again?
 
Dylan- I am in!

Thanks for keeping it rolling.
 
One thing we might want to do is take out the modern knives and toss that in it's own giveaway and hold that in a modern knife thread to keep with the spirit of the porch, and it would reduce the size of the box.
 
Pàdruig said:
This thread needs a bump.

There are a lot of nice knives in this box. What is deterring folks from participating? Is it too big, too overwhelming? Too many options? Too few? Not enough value?

I'm open to suggestions on how to make this more approachable and fun. Some time ago, a member opted to split what had become a very large box into three separate giveaways. Perhaps we are at that point again?
Click to expand...
Usually, the previous list of folks who signed up but didn't win are added to the new list. This helps kick things off in a strong way. When I had the box last time, that's what I was told to do and it helped a lot.

I'm out for this one. I'll maybe jump on the list in a month or two.
 
Pàdruig said:
This thread needs a bump.

There are a lot of nice knives in this box. What is deterring folks from participating? Is it too big, too overwhelming? Too many options? Too few? Not enough value?

I'm open to suggestions on how to make this more approachable and fun. Some time ago, a member opted to split what had become a very large box into three separate giveaways. Perhaps we are at that point again?
Click to expand...
I do think that it is very much a case of less-is-more for the neverending GAW. The trouble is that it creates a lot of pressure if the knives are all really high quality, but at the same time, the more desirable the knives, the more participation there is. There is an unavoidable tension between wanting to keep the knives accessible and also keeping the knives desirable. Some time back, there were some extremely fine custom fixed blade knives added to the box, and participation spiked while those were around, but naturally no one could match those, so the subsequent replacements unavoidably attracted fewer participants.

When 315 315 did the big culling a few years back, the box had become a truly unwieldy behemoth. I was the beneficiary of one of the boxes he sent out. I was able to use the nicer knives he sent me in a couple of GAWs here on the porch, and I keep the less nice ones in a bag in my office to give to new field techs. A lot of fresh out of undergrad aspiring archaeologists don't have a decent pocket knife, and they are good to have when one is in the field. And here at the museum I work for, we tend to hire a lot of fresh graduates and help them build the skills they need to get better paying jobs in the private sector (it means I have to say goodbye to good techs far too often, but c'est la vie). But it goes to show how unwieldy the old box had gotten that I regularly give away knives that I wouldn't bother giving away on the porch, and I am still not through all of the ones 315 sent me.

When I next have some knives to give away that I think will sweeten the box, I hope to cull out some of the less fancy more utilitarian knives for my field tech goodie bag. But these days the traditional knives in my collection that would be desirable to others are mainly my forum knives and a few very sentimental ones. (And since the burglary, even my already tightly curated modern collection is a lot lighter than I would like).

It's a hard balancing act when you get the box though. You don't want to come across as a snob saying that other people's additions were bad, but you also want to leave it better than you found it. I really respect 315 stepping up and making his calls when he did. But it is hard to imagine myself getting that drastic, even though I tried to tighten things up a bit when I last got the box. I do think the box is about due for a culling/split, but I don't really know the best option. My Porchenburg heart likes the idea of splitting off the moderns, but a lot of the participation in recent rounds was people wanting some of the extremely nice moderns that DennisM DennisM added in round 100 (I think participation was lower in his round because you had to click through to see what he added, but his additions have been winnowed pretty quickly). So there are no easy answers.
 
AZCoyote said:
One thing we might want to do is take out the modern knives and toss that in it's own giveaway and hold that in a modern knife thread to keep with the spirit of the porch, and it would reduce the size of the box.
Click to expand...

I actually considered just taking the modern ones myself to get them out of the box. However, that would just be me ending up with a handful of knives that I'm not particularly interested in and would likely just give away to friends and family as needed.

osoverride said:
Usually, the previous list of folks who signed up but didn't win are added to the new list. This helps kick things off in a strong way. When I had the box last time, that's what I was told to do and it helped a lot.

I'm out for this one. I'll maybe jump on the list in a month or two.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree, it's a good practice. That said, there were only three participants in the last round including myself so I don't know that it factors as much in this round.
 
abbydaddy said:
I do think that it is very much a case of less-is-more for the neverending GAW. The trouble is that it creates a lot of pressure if the knives are all really high quality, but at the same time, the more desirable the knives, the more participation there is. There is an unavoidable tension between wanting to keep the knives accessible and also keeping the knives desirable. Some time back, there were some extremely fine custom fixed blade knives added to the box, and participation spiked while those were around, but naturally no one could match those, so the subsequent replacements unavoidably attracted fewer participants.

When 315 315 did the big culling a few years back, the box had become a truly unwieldy behemoth. I was the beneficiary of one of the boxes he sent out. I was able to use the nicer knives he sent me in a couple of GAWs here on the porch, and I keep the less nice ones in a bag in my office to give to new field techs. A lot of fresh out of undergrad aspiring archaeologists don't have a decent pocket knife, and they are good to have when one is in the field. And here at the museum I work for, we tend to hire a lot of fresh graduates and help them build the skills they need to get better paying jobs in the private sector (it means I have to say goodbye to good techs far too often, but c'est la vie). But it goes to show how unwieldy the old box had gotten that I regularly give away knives that I wouldn't bother giving away on the porch, and I am still not through all of the ones 315 sent me.

When I next have some knives to give away that I think will sweeten the box, I hope to cull out some of the less fancy more utilitarian knives for my field tech goodie bag. But these days the traditional knives in my collection that would be desirable to others are mainly my forum knives and a few very sentimental ones. (And since the burglary, even my already tightly curated modern collection is a lot lighter than I would like).

It's a hard balancing act when you get the box though. You don't want to come across as a snob saying that other people's additions were bad, but you also want to leave it better than you found it. I really respect 315 stepping up and making his calls when he did. But it is hard to imagine myself getting that drastic, even though I tried to tighten things up a bit when I last got the box. I do think the box is about due for a culling/split, but I don't really know the best option. My Porchenburg heart likes the idea of splitting off the moderns, but a lot of the participation in recent rounds was people wanting some of the extremely nice moderns that DennisM DennisM added in round 100 (I think participation was lower in his round because you had to click through to see what he added, but his additions have been winnowed pretty quickly). So there are no easy answers.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your input. I do think that when a box gets to the size like this one, it's pretty overwhelming and unless it's chock full of premium collectibles, it's likely not to attract as much interest. I've never looked at this box as a means to grow my collection with desirable cutlery. More so, it's always been an exercise in trying something new, or experiencing something vintage, or simply carrying on a tradition. I think with that sort of mindset, a smaller box makes a lot more sense.

Take my choices on this round, for example: the Ahti Tikka is going to get some love at an upcoming camping trip, I'm going to try some campsite carving with it. It's a 30 dollar knife that hadn't been on my radar and is going to get a fair bit of use by not just myself but others in the group as well. The Schrade 250T is one I'm thrilled to get, despite being well loved. I used to hunt with a guy who only used one of those to skin his harvests and I've always wanted to get one (a US made one). This box provided me the opportunity to try something new and try something not as readily available. If more folks looked at it through that lens, it might make a difference. That's just an opinion, of course.

Regardless, there are some really fine knives in here. For example: this Trestle Pines Gunflint that Quiet Quiet included is really, really nice. CPM154 steel and some rather delightful W&T, it doesn't get much better than that. There are some fine GECs in this box even and some great examples of vintage and various quality pieces. Seriously, aside from one or two examples, the knives in the current box are of good quality and represent a diverse array of origins - Germany, UK, France, Japan, US, Ukraine, Switzerland, Taiwan, China.

It's a good box. That said, I'll let the next recipient make the call on how to proceed. If it's time to do a culling or a split, I don't think anyone is going to balk at that. Heck, it might not be a bad idea to simply take a break and start afresh some time down the road. It's not an easy call to make - there will be no judgement from me one way or the other. Sometimes traditions go quiet for a spell.
 
Pàdruig said:
...Seriously, aside from one or two examples, the knives in the current box are of good quality and represent a diverse array of origins - Germany, UK, France, Japan, US, Ukraine, Switzerland, Taiwan, China.

It's a good box. That said, I'll let the next recipient make the call on how to proceed. If it's time to do a culling or a split, I don't think anyone is going to balk at that. Heck, it might not be a bad idea to simply take a break and start afresh some time down the road. It's not an easy call to make - there will be no judgement from me one way or the other. Sometimes traditions go quiet for a spell.
Click to expand...

I agree, looking at the box lately it has really seemed like there are no real bad knives in the bunch. It's hard to cull when the knives are all solid.

Your last paragraph makes me think though, maybe there would be more engagement if the box was treated as more of a passaround. Rather than needing to pick and replace, folks could treat the box as an opportunity to enjoy the knives for a few weeks, and then pass them on. And then folks would only need to replace knives if they decided to keep some. I know I would be much more interested in participating more frequently in that case. I just don't usually want to actually keep any of the knives more than I want to keep my own.
 
I'd like one of those, so I'm in.

I remember when this started. I met all the requirements, and while it's been a while since my last GAW, I still do. There have been a lot of members come and gone since then.
 
Alright, all. It has been an uncharacteristically busy Friday so I apologize that I am getting to this a bit later than I had hoped.

I was trying to think up a fun way to do a drawing but my creative juices have run dry today so I went with a trusty standby - the Wheel!

Our final entry list:
- AZCoyote
- rcs86
- Side O'Beef
- Bigfattyt
- eisman
- scattershot
- GaiusJulius

Virtual drumroll, please.....

And....


gd9c0km.png



Congratulations, Ross ( rcs86 rcs86 )! Please shoot me your particulars and I'll get this shipped off ASAP. At this time, it looks like I should be able to ship Monday. Thanks, all, for playing - hopefully we can keep this going.
 
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