Safe Queens?

I own one single Safe Queen, that sits in its pouch, because of how hard was for me to find, and its looks.

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Years of search, I find it the most beautiful folder of my collection

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Capable of many abusive things, and great working blade, but I have the average Rajah II, still in production, to do that instead

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It came in a nice bag were I keep it and fondle it from time to time

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Playing with it is plain fun, I love opening it and drooling over its curves, and that's enough for me.

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Well said Killgar, BTW.
 
Gaston444 said:
I am always mystified by this... Ever seen a scratched up recent vintage Randall?
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Yes, plenty. Ever go to a knife show and look at used Randalls? A lot of them have scratches from use. Makes me wonder, what the heck are these people cutting? Barbed wire?
 
mjpgolf1 said:
No offense, but This is quite a ridiculous comment and very narrow minded. Knives may be hard use tools to you however there are different types of knife people. Not everyone works in an environment that they need to stomp on a knife all day. I, like many here, admire the craftsmanship that goes into a high quality knife, and I'm a businessman so my daily activities don't include batoning logs or whittling. Therefore a lot of my knives sit in a display case and come out only to be fondled and flicked. I do carry most of them, but I'm very careful, especially with my very expensive and rare stuff, not to damage them, and if I do carry something high end for the day I always have a Victorinox alox cadet in my pocket to do any kind of cutting that needs to be done. Although the most that I would be using a knife for would usually be opening mail or cutting a tag off a new shirt. Doesn't mean I should hand over all my knives so that a "real" knife person can show me how a knife should be treated.

Now a days knives have become more than just a cutting tool used by hard labor workers. The craftsmanship of today's knives can be admired by people of all different types. High end edc items are very popular and I would think that most people that are spending big money on exotic carry items are not running around beating their stuff to death. There has never been a better time to be a part of the hobby of knife collecting as there are so many beautiful offerings out there to enjoy.

For example, There are guys that buy a vintage Ferrari and get just as much enjoyment out of it just polishing and admiring it in their garage, then there are guys that will take that same car out to a race track and beat on it. Doesn't mean either one is right or wrong. It's what brings joy to the person that spent their hard earned money on the item that's important.
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did not mean to upset anyone. simply stating my opinion and probably should have worded it better, this was my first post on the forum.
with that said I personally would never buy a fancy decorative knife because I can't resist using every knife I own and those kind of knives have no appeal to me. I don't care if others prefer to baby their blades.
to each their own
 
TAH said:
Yes, plenty. Ever go to a knife show and look at used Randalls? A lot of them have scratches from use. Makes me wonder, what the heck are these people cutting? Barbed wire?
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I remember checking out an old Randall hollow-handle (model 18 I think?) at a semi-local knife shop. It was used, and in pretty rough condition, had some small spots of corrosion, was completely dull, etc.. I think they wanted like $1,200 for it:eek:
 
honorearth said:
did not mean to upset anyone. simply stating my opinion and probably should have worded it better, this was my first post on the forum.
with that said I personally would never buy a fancy decorative knife because I can't resist using every knife I own and those kind of knives have no appeal to me. I don't care if others prefer to baby their blades.
to each their own
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No worries my friend, and welcome to the forum. It's admirable to acknowledge that you should've worded your comment differently so good for you.

Now a days there is a much different type of knife buyer and user. EDC items are extremely popular now and part of that is a knife. People from all different types of backgrounds are into collecting and carrying knives and other gear these days. It's not just hard use labor workers that are buying and carrying knives. Business professionals and people with more white collar jobs are a part of this community and these type of people just don't have as much use for a knife throughout the day as say, a logger does. That doesn't mean that the white collar worker doesn't get use out of their knives, but it's more along the line of opening envelopes instead of batoning logs. Higher end EDC is a big thing also and when someone spends hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars on edc gear they don't always want to just go out and abuse those items. That's not to say that they aren't made to take the abuse, but people are just different and some are bothered by imperfections in an item that they spent big money on, while others like to go out and see just how hard they can push that knife before it breaks. Both types of people obviously have a deep appreciation for the quality and craftsmanship that goes into said knife, but in different ways. One way is not right, nor is the other wrong. They are just different ways, and those different people make up a pretty cool community here.
 
The only knife I'd consider a safe queen is one my Grandfather gave me when I was young, it's more of a family item and has become so old that I'd rather not risk it being damaged since I have plenty of quality knives that I have purchased over the years.

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BilboBaggins said:
I am however curious about what pushes a knife into safe queen territory for you (assuming you have any)?
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Knives I like to collect but with no real practical purposes for me. U.S. military issue bayonets, combat, and tactical knives.

Plus my grandfather's Case. Can't replace that.

Then there's an OIF Spyderco Native and OIF Ka Bar still in original packaging that were gifted to me by a couple of Sergeant Majors/buddies. Those I'll keep in original package.
 
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It usually falls into rarity, sentimental value, and the price. More rarity than anything though. I actually have quite a few safe queens, residing in my Pelican type case. My most recent addition was a Spyderco Centafonte 2. Of course my safe box also doubles as my high end users such as my RCT Titan, Emersons, and such. Come to think of it, my Busse TGLB was going to be a safe queen seeing as I finally got one after 4 years of drooling over it. It now resides in my BOB bag, awaiting camping trips or whatnot.
 
For me, I have three categories: users, carriers and safe queens. I'll generally carry a knife that I won't mind using to do daily cutting tasks like opening mail and cutting tape or boxes. This generally falls into the production/midtech category. Then I have expensive customs that I carry in my main pocket mainly as a show piece and self -defense tool if need be. With that said, if I had to use a blade in a tactical manner, I want it to be sharp and so I won't go around dulling up my tactical knife. After that are the safe queens which generally consist of limited edition or hard to acquire knives. I'll carry them as a tactical folder every now and then, but they mainly sit in their cases to be taken out and admired once in a while just because of the rarity.

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WndyByrd said:
The only knife I'd consider a safe queen is one my Grandfather gave me when I was young, it's more of a family item and has become so old that I'd rather not risk it being damaged since I have plenty of quality knives that I have purchased over the years.

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1 post, joined this month, and he's using Tapatalk. Starting over in light of past embarrassments are we WndyByrd? LOL.

In regards to rarity...http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/872930-My-Precious!-is-it-RARE
 
I don't really care about using most of my knives, maybe some expensive ones I won't cut certain things with- in afraid about losing the knife. I don't want to carry my $400 sebenza and then have it slip out of my pocket and then never see it again. And the knives I don't carry I usually sell after a while. I'm fine with having users and safe queens. I have a few that I know I will not carry often but when I do, I enjoy them. I don't have an issue with knives under $200 except if they are out of production/warranty


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I probably have over 1000 knives. Everything from gas station folders that were given to me to antiques, to customs, and have a lot I won't ever use or would prefer not to (my pre-war Remington bullets for example), but I only have one that I would consider a true safe queen. It's an engraved and gold inlaid Damascus folder by Frank Centofante with golden pearl scales that my wife gave me for a wedding present. She had bought it for herself several years before. That one I'll always treasure and keep pristine.

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I don't care how pricey or rare a knife is, I'll carry it and use it. It's a knife.

The only time I'll safe queen a knife, if its an ancient knife THEN it should be boxed or displayed in a nice glass case. Currently I can't afford historic relics.

I did purchase a rare sebenza which I rotate.
Bronze spirograph regular sebenza.

Crk sent a reply about the knife and told me not to carry it due to the rarity, but I decided to carry it and use it as any other knife.
 
mjpgolf1 said:
No offense, but This is quite a ridiculous comment and very narrow minded. Knives may be hard use tools to you however there are different types of knife people. Not everyone works in an environment that they need to stomp on a knife all day. I, like many here, admire the craftsmanship that goes into a high quality knife, and I'm a businessman so my daily activities don't include batoning logs or whittling. Therefore a lot of my knives sit in a display case and come out only to be fondled and flicked. I do carry most of them, but I'm very careful, especially with my very expensive and rare stuff, not to damage them, and if I do carry something high end for the day I always have a Victorinox alox cadet in my pocket to do any kind of cutting that needs to be done. Although the most that I would be using a knife for would usually be opening mail or cutting a tag off a new shirt. Doesn't mean I should hand over all my knives so that a "real" knife person can show me how a knife should be treated.

Now a days knives have become more than just a cutting tool used by hard labor workers. The craftsmanship of today's knives can be admired by people of all different types. High end edc items are very popular and I would think that most people that are spending big money on exotic carry items are not running around beating their stuff to death. There has never been a better time to be a part of the hobby of knife collecting as there are so many beautiful offerings out there to enjoy.

For example, There are guys that buy a vintage Ferrari and get just as much enjoyment out of it just polishing and admiring it in their garage, then there are guys that will take that same car out to a race track and beat on it. Doesn't mean either one is right or wrong. It's what brings joy to the person that spent their hard earned money on the item that's important.
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Exactly. To each their own. If you want to hard use your knife that is your right and it is also my right to safe queen my knives. It's a very narrow minded approach to tell somebody how their knives should be used or that I'm not respecting my knife because I don't use it. Everybody gets into the knife collecting game for their own reasons and I wouldn't tell somebody they're wrong for hard using their $3000 custom.
 
Good question.
I used to use each and every piece of my accumulation.
I admire each and every piece of my collection.
Some get used too. ;)
 
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