Old and worn vs brand new

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

Slipjoint Addict
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I went to the Mason Dixon knife show with Carl this past Saturday and had a great time. The focus of this show is older knives. Courtney Daniels from Queen was there with a good selection of Queen and Schatt and Morgan knives. I went home with a Remington 1988 bush pilot and a new 2014 Queen acsb mountain man slipjoint. I'm used to finding old gems at junk malls and flea markets. To see so many mint condition old knives was disconcerting. I wrote it off as my cheap self not wanting to pay full book value for a minty old knife. Carl may have seen it differently, but I just didn't see as much of used and loved old knives. One gentleman had a Utica jack, which was worn and sharpened, amongst his brand new old stock. It was the first to jump out at me. Another guy had a barehead Remington boys knife which I should've gotten. This one looked too new and had me wary however. I still had a great time and saw some great blades. I just prefer a knife with some tales behind it over a knife fresh out of the box.
 
I found it a little depressing that so many old knives never got carried or used. Yeah, it was nice to see pristine old Case knives from the 1940's still with the factory box, but it had never been outside of someone's sock drawer. I can only wonder how many guys got a pocket knife for a birthday present or Christmas, and then stored it away and never used it because they were "saving it"? I guess Im just not a collector, I like to use the knives too much.

I also like a knife with some wear and age on it. That has been someones daily companion, and has tales to tell, if you listen hard enough. But then, I admit to being an incurable romantic.
 
I would take the middle ground in a way...

I started out only buying new knives, because I had no clue whatsoever and did not want to be ripped of :D
(I also started with modern folders, but we all make mistakes ;))

Now that a bit of time has passed I aquired "a little clue". I know the moct common manufacturers and makers, what their style/tang stamps should look like, the popular patterns there are for traditional knives and where to look for information if I do not know what I have in front of me.
Will I be able to spot a good rip-off/copy? Probably not! But my confidence has grown to a level where I am comfortable with buying older/used knives from "reputable" sources ... and sometimes even "go fishing at the Bay" ;)

After all I am not a collector and (almost) all of my knives are users, and to be honest: you can save some serious bucks buying used.

But as I am a very "symmetrical" person I only buy knives in reasonably good condition. Cracked scales/bolsters, ground down blades, "bad" scratches, etc. are a no-go!
Knives and knifemaking are still a kind of art form for me, and I like my art "pretty" ;)
 
The correct answer is...both. My favorite knives are the ones that are a little worn and comfortable. But I want to be the one to put the wear on. If I saw two equivalently priced Miller harness jacks for sale next to each other, one minty and the other well-worn, I'll take the one in the best condition every time. I agree that knives can often tell stories...if you know them. I want some sort of link to the knife, whether it's mine or an indirect tie-in such as a gift from a friend. Otherwise it's just another old knife.

I've accumulated more than a few knives and my main interest in them is as using tools. No one's ever confused me for a collector. Yet whenever we have a show-and-tell around here the knives I enjoy the most are the ones with the crisp swedging, sharp jigging, and intact finishes. I have plenty of users. But there's just something about the minty fresh specimens. They tell a story too, one that doesn't have to be imagined. Each one that has survived intact is an exemplar of the cutler's art, tangible proof of how good knives were back in the day.

- Christian
 
kamagong said:
The correct answer is...both. My favorite knives are the ones that are a little worn and comfortable. But I want to be the one to put the wear on. If I saw two equivalently priced Miller harness jacks for sale next to each other, one minty and the other well-worn, I'll take the one in the best condition every time. I agree that knives can often tell stories...if you know them. I want some sort of link to the knife, whether it's mine or an indirect tie-in such as a gift from a friend. Otherwise it's just another old knife.

I've accumulated more than a few knives and my main interest in them is as using tools. No one's ever confused me for a collector. Yet whenever we have a show-and-tell around here the knives I enjoy the most are the ones with the crisp swedging, sharp jigging, and intact finishes. I have plenty of users. But there's just something about the minty fresh specimens. They tell a story too, one that doesn't have to be imagined. Each one that has survived intact is an exemplar of the cutler's art, tangible proof of how good knives were back in the day.

- Christian
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Christian hit the nail on the head - at least in my case :)
 
Personally I love old, worn pocket knives (and guns). They tell a story and are fascinating to examine and try to imagine it's life - where it's been and who carried it? To me an item that sits unused is wasted. A fine tool like a good pocket knife or any other tool deserves to be carried and used often.

Now in my case though, I prefer to buy it new and USE IT... Over time and with use it will acquire it's own scars, dings and wear that tell it's own story as MY life's companion.

I sure do love to examine an old worn pocket knife though!
 
Me too Rhinoknives. Carl and Christian both nailed my sentiments.

There's a feeling unlike any other when a man is carrying a pocket knife that has aged well. And when ~he~ did all of the carrying and using that put all that lovely history on the knife? That's why replacing my Queen mini-trapper was so traumatic. After 6 years the bone was smoothed down nicely and the patina was simply great.

But the change was for the better on usability. And 2 straight years of pocket time have made the little owl look really sharp. Unfortunately ebony doesn't age as much or as well as well jigged bone (at least to me).

When it comes to users I would much rather have one knife with 5 straight years under its belt than five knives with the equivalent of 1 year of pocket time.

Will
 
leghog said:
I prefer tools that have been used but are in good condition. A tool is not a tool unless, and until, it has been used.
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As I do, but I collect knives and not tools. That said, I find there is a history behind every mint knife that was not used as a "tool", a history well worth studying, and wondering what was the story behind the man, or woman, who collected these ancient gems, and preserved them in their original state; you use your tools, and I'll use the handful of knife/tools I have as they were intended to be used...the rest remain my collection.
 
Different strokes for different folk. I won't one a knife I won't carry and use nor will I buy a gun I won't shoot. Perhaps that's why I buy them used to begin with. Plus most of what I want in both are no longer made.
 
Dan I too recently went to a show with probably 50 to 60% of the knives being older used ones. While I like new knives as much as anybody I'd love to find some older ones. Most all the used ones at the show had already been cleaned, over buffed. I won't buy one like that as part of the fun for me is bringing a knife back to life myself. I guess other than finding them at estate sales I'm out of luck as all the knives I've seen at antique stores were way overpriced and mostly sharpened away to nothing.
Bob
 
jackknife said:
I found it a little depressing that so many old knives never got carried or used. Yeah, it was nice to see pristine old Case knives from the 1940's still with the factory box, but it had never been outside of someone's sock drawer. I can only wonder how many guys got a pocket knife for a birthday present or Christmas, and then stored it away and never used it because they were "saving it"? I guess Im just not a collector, I like to use the knives too much.

I also like a knife with some wear and age on it. That has been someones daily companion, and has tales to tell, if you listen hard enough. But then, I admit to being an incurable romantic.
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+1 on using knives. One of my favorite knives is an old cheep Parker stockman, but it was one of my grandfather's users. It's got a lot of character, but not a particularly "valuable" knife. For me the only knives I don't use are passdowns from relatives with sentimental value. I would never buy a new knife just to display it.
 
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This is the core distinction among collectors of all sorts of things.

Original mint tells the story of the manufacturer.
Used and worn tells the story of the owner.
Restored tells the story of the mechanic.

They're all valid.
 
"they're all valid" - pinnah

Well put. I hate the "your doing it wrong" attitude. People can do whatever they want to with a their collections. If that's how they enjoy the hobby who's to stop them.
 
I like older knives too but cost usually dictates that I buy clean, lightly used knives. Actually prefer slightly used ones these days because most of the problems/kinks have either shown up or are already worked out and I ask about potential problems up front. Have bought a few new SAKs in the past because they are affordable and (in my experience) problem free right out of the box.
 
I agree with Carl. If it's a "minty" old knife that was never carried or used, then it's just something no one cared enough about to use...they just stuffed it in their sock drawer.

Ron
 
Both. I like to find specimens of knives in used condition to use, and if the pattern truely interests me, and I am able to find them, acquire new in the box examples to put up. Often the used come well before the new. Sometimes the new ones, particulary the earlies production of a pattern, take years to find. And sometimes they are never found. Two such patterns special to me are fixed blades I have used for many, many years. Only this past fall did I find the very earliest issue of the Schrade Sharpfinger new in the box as described in the earliest ads. Myself and others had come to doubt that they really did come in a slip top gift box with a sharpening stone. Meanwhile I collected both used and new examples of many variants of the pattern throughout production, 1974-2004. And a few custom versions.

Another is the Schrade 165OT. I bought one back in the early seventies and have used it constantly since. Over the past ten years I found variants of it as well, some used and some new. And new in the box examples of every "generation" produced. This spring I came across the very earliest production, my "grail" of the pattern, serial number 00009 made in 1966 before they were even announced in the dealer catalogs. So now I can show each change in engineering detail, and in packaging. I have no need to use these "museum examples" as I still have users and spares. I intend to keep them new so that in the future collectors can see what the first ones looked like, what box they came in, what the sheath looked like, what the correct paper looked like.

Yet another is my favorite pocketknife, the Schrade 897UH. I've carried this slim premium stockman for many years and decided to get a spare in case I lost or broke mine. Then I found an earlier one. And the new ones were discontinued but cheap so I bought a small stock of them. Then I found they were made for special events and organizations with different handle materials and shields. So I have several dozen of them. Most new, one that I carry, and a few lightly used spares. I have no need to use the earlies ones new in their boxes nor the special editions.

So I have new examples of all three patterns spanning their production, 1966, 1967 thru 2004, and users of all three. In addition to hundreds of other knives that caught my fancy from new in the box to used to relic condition. Some are over 100 years old and some from every era between now and then. Did I mention I like knives? :)
 
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