- Joined
- Jul 29, 2014
- Messages
- 229
Throughout my adult life I have always carried a knife, usually a Swiss Army knife of some sort, and for the past twenty five years have owned a classic Schrade non-stainless USA made Old Timer, having earlier had two Buck 110s stolen. And that was it.
My collecting efforts instead went into fountain pens where I have had some considerable success as a collector/dealer.
Then on a trip through the southwest this past spring I became interested in knives and got a no-name with lovely turquoise and silver scales and an utterly charmless modern Schrade. And I became interested in traditional folders, picking up a Case and a couple of Buck 110s.
Then in July, on another trip, this time in Oregon, I got bit by modern knives, mostly gentlemens knives at first, starting with a William Henry EDC10-2, a lovely piece which I still enjoy. From there I got a Benchmade Shoki 480 at Hawthorne Cutlery in Portland and a few old folding Ka-Bars in antiques shops and on the net, particularly the 118X series. Im pretty much done with the Ka-Bars, and old school folding hunters I think; but I seem to have become addicted to modern knives, expanded to include tacticals.
My next two knives were two Benchmade tacticals, Osborne design Barrage 580 and 581, and then a Wusthof 2879, probably better suited to kitchen than pocket. From there I took a bit of a rest and in the meantime subscribed to this forum, recognizing how little I knew (and how little I still know) about these intriguing objects; and along the way, I revived and extended my ability to sharpen knives, not because I thought I could better the edges on my new knives, but to sharpen the old; and I like to work on things. Im a decent auto mechanic, able to repair an old mechanical watch in a pinch and an expert restorer of old fountain pens.
As I read, I learned of the Bradley Alias and ordered the larger size, the Alias I. Unfortunately I ended up with the assisted model rather than the framelock. Im still not sure about assisted knives and less so, I think about that one. I may, at some point, need to circle back with Benchmade, since the 480 is a very nice piece, but my Bradley and Barrages will likely get sold in the near future. They seem to lack the precision of the knives that would soon come after them.
For I now became intrigued by what I came to think of as two iconic modern makers, specifically Rick Hinderer and Chris Reeve. After a week of good pen sales I took the plunge and ordered a Large Ebony and Damascus Sebenza 21 from one of the online dealers and was pretty much inseparable from that knife for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile Hinderer beckoned and I became increasingly familiar with this forum as a place to buy (and someday sell), and so I got a barely used XM18 3.5 Hinderer. While I was not quite as intrigued with the Hinderer as the Reeve (first love and all that), the knife has gotten plenty of pocket time and I greatly appreciate the precision with which it was both designed and made. Its a fave.
By now I had a focus: good, if not top line, production knives from notable makers. Along the way, though, another knife came to me. Ill not say too much about eBay, but as a seller of fountain pens I stay away from it and I buy (anything) from the Bay with caution. But while watching TV I often surf and there I discovered another William Henry. Now, in the world of pens we have luxury, prestige makers, many of you are familiar with Montblanc. And I came to associate the kind of slick marketing and good looking design of William Henry with that of Montblanc, but with the exception that William Henry, to my novice eyes, seems to have kept to the highest standards of quality, whereas Montblanc has not always done so. At any rate, a respected online dealer was offering an M20 AB that caught my eye and they accepted my offer. That knife has become my go-to dress knife and I learned from the factory that there were just 150 of them made from 2001-02.
From there I moved to my current spurt of purchases, in rapid succession a TAD Dauntless Mk 3 that I feel fortunate to have gotten and which is in my pocket as I type, and on the way a Strider SnG and a ZT0801 CF.
Then yesterday, after a day on the Monterey Peninsula at the Pebble Beach Concourse, looking at cars I can never afford, on the way home I stopped at a bricks and mortar surplus store that deals in knives. Big mistake, for I came out with another ZT, a Ken Onion limited edition 0350 ZDP CKT, number 280, I believe, and a SOG Arcitech Damascus which caught my eye in the store but was not a maker or model at all on my radar. Im still not sure about assisted knives or about that ZT, we shall see.
To sum up, I am having fun starting out as a carefree novice and of my current knives, the William Henry M20, the Sebenza, the XM18, the SOG and the TAD Dauntless are my favorites. I am expecting that the ZT 0801 CF will be added to those.
And finally, to close out an overly long post, a question and a thank you. I know that Patrick Ma does not disclose the makers of many of the Dauntlesses, but is the Mk 3 a Hinderer? Sure feels like it. And finally, thanks to this forum for all I have learned and am learning and for a few of the knives now part of what may or may not be an emerging collection.
My collecting efforts instead went into fountain pens where I have had some considerable success as a collector/dealer.
Then on a trip through the southwest this past spring I became interested in knives and got a no-name with lovely turquoise and silver scales and an utterly charmless modern Schrade. And I became interested in traditional folders, picking up a Case and a couple of Buck 110s.
Then in July, on another trip, this time in Oregon, I got bit by modern knives, mostly gentlemens knives at first, starting with a William Henry EDC10-2, a lovely piece which I still enjoy. From there I got a Benchmade Shoki 480 at Hawthorne Cutlery in Portland and a few old folding Ka-Bars in antiques shops and on the net, particularly the 118X series. Im pretty much done with the Ka-Bars, and old school folding hunters I think; but I seem to have become addicted to modern knives, expanded to include tacticals.
My next two knives were two Benchmade tacticals, Osborne design Barrage 580 and 581, and then a Wusthof 2879, probably better suited to kitchen than pocket. From there I took a bit of a rest and in the meantime subscribed to this forum, recognizing how little I knew (and how little I still know) about these intriguing objects; and along the way, I revived and extended my ability to sharpen knives, not because I thought I could better the edges on my new knives, but to sharpen the old; and I like to work on things. Im a decent auto mechanic, able to repair an old mechanical watch in a pinch and an expert restorer of old fountain pens.
As I read, I learned of the Bradley Alias and ordered the larger size, the Alias I. Unfortunately I ended up with the assisted model rather than the framelock. Im still not sure about assisted knives and less so, I think about that one. I may, at some point, need to circle back with Benchmade, since the 480 is a very nice piece, but my Bradley and Barrages will likely get sold in the near future. They seem to lack the precision of the knives that would soon come after them.
For I now became intrigued by what I came to think of as two iconic modern makers, specifically Rick Hinderer and Chris Reeve. After a week of good pen sales I took the plunge and ordered a Large Ebony and Damascus Sebenza 21 from one of the online dealers and was pretty much inseparable from that knife for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile Hinderer beckoned and I became increasingly familiar with this forum as a place to buy (and someday sell), and so I got a barely used XM18 3.5 Hinderer. While I was not quite as intrigued with the Hinderer as the Reeve (first love and all that), the knife has gotten plenty of pocket time and I greatly appreciate the precision with which it was both designed and made. Its a fave.
By now I had a focus: good, if not top line, production knives from notable makers. Along the way, though, another knife came to me. Ill not say too much about eBay, but as a seller of fountain pens I stay away from it and I buy (anything) from the Bay with caution. But while watching TV I often surf and there I discovered another William Henry. Now, in the world of pens we have luxury, prestige makers, many of you are familiar with Montblanc. And I came to associate the kind of slick marketing and good looking design of William Henry with that of Montblanc, but with the exception that William Henry, to my novice eyes, seems to have kept to the highest standards of quality, whereas Montblanc has not always done so. At any rate, a respected online dealer was offering an M20 AB that caught my eye and they accepted my offer. That knife has become my go-to dress knife and I learned from the factory that there were just 150 of them made from 2001-02.
From there I moved to my current spurt of purchases, in rapid succession a TAD Dauntless Mk 3 that I feel fortunate to have gotten and which is in my pocket as I type, and on the way a Strider SnG and a ZT0801 CF.
Then yesterday, after a day on the Monterey Peninsula at the Pebble Beach Concourse, looking at cars I can never afford, on the way home I stopped at a bricks and mortar surplus store that deals in knives. Big mistake, for I came out with another ZT, a Ken Onion limited edition 0350 ZDP CKT, number 280, I believe, and a SOG Arcitech Damascus which caught my eye in the store but was not a maker or model at all on my radar. Im still not sure about assisted knives or about that ZT, we shall see.
To sum up, I am having fun starting out as a carefree novice and of my current knives, the William Henry M20, the Sebenza, the XM18, the SOG and the TAD Dauntless are my favorites. I am expecting that the ZT 0801 CF will be added to those.
And finally, to close out an overly long post, a question and a thank you. I know that Patrick Ma does not disclose the makers of many of the Dauntlesses, but is the Mk 3 a Hinderer? Sure feels like it. And finally, thanks to this forum for all I have learned and am learning and for a few of the knives now part of what may or may not be an emerging collection.
