Should I use this knife?

Should I use this vintage, collectible knife?

  • Keep it Minty, get a 940

    Votes: 23 37.7%

  • Knives were meant to be used, even if they are rare/collectible/expensive

    Votes: 38 62.3%
  • Total voters
    61
  • Poll closed .
If you never plan on selling it , then use it ( doesn't mean you have to chop trees down with it). If you want to hold on to it with the expecation that it will appreciate in value , then don't use it.
 
It all depends,

If just owning the knife brings you what you want it then keep it and fondle it.

On the other hand you only live once. If you don’t use the knife then who are you saving it in such pristine condition for? It isn’t so rare you would be destroying an unrecoverable piece of history by using it.

Maybe you hope to pass it on to your kids? Ask yourself which knife would mean more to you. The knife your father carried and used and put wear on, or the knife your father bought one day in 1952 and stuck in a drawer until he passed.

Even worse, maybe they will find the knife after you die and just pawn it for $30.
 
One of three things is going to happen, (1) you're going to use and enjoy the knife, (2) you're going to store it and wind up selling it for a small profit some day, (3) you're going to keep it forever and whoever inherits your estate after you pass will sell this, along with all your other knives, for probably 5% what they're worth.

So it comes down to this question: is getting to use this knife worth the amount of money the knife would decrease in value if used?
 
I know you spent a lot of time trying to get the knife but you could try and find one that you want to use and keep one as a safe queen. That has been my approach to GEC's. I like to use the micarta ones and then I'll keep a fancier handled one for keepsake or for "dressy/to show off" carry.

I had a similar situation with a 707. I wanted to get a 707 and 710 in D2 as there's just something about the look I really liked. Technically, it's so close to my mini-grip that there wasn't a need to carry it earlier this week I finally had it in my pocket and opened a few boxes at work with it. Don't regret it, it certainly has a different allure than the mini-grip in pocket and in hand. Now I really want a 710 though.
 
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I’ve been using Microtech since Vero Beach. I had several of those. Loved them. Great knife.

I’ve never bought a tool to not use it. Do you go to the hardware store to buy pliers to not use them?

Think of this knife. Are you saving it to sell it? How long was it locked away before it was given a key? Are you gonna pass it off as a family heirloom? Will the next guy love it as much as you do?

My GF is very attractive. Am I gonna lock her away in a safe? She’s gonna age just like that knife. I’m not gonna save her for the next guy - I’m gonna have some fun.

I could on and on about using your stuff. I won’t, but I will tell you, “It’s much more fun to take it out and play with it.”
 
The way I see it, you could choke to death on your dinner, get in a car crash, fall off a ladder, etc. and never have the chance to use and enjoy it. Life is too short to not carry your favorite blade. It's almost an insult to some makers to put it in a safe and lock it away forevermore. Also, how do you know there's not a defect unless it's been used and sharpened a time or two? Even the best manufacturer can make a lemon from time to time. I've ended up hating knives I thought I really liked, and loving knives that I thought were hideous or stupid looking. You deserve to experience your knife.

When it comes to an art knife or a collector's showpiece, yes you should keep it mint. Myself, I would use this one but not abuse it.
 
As I realize that there are more years behind me than in front of me, I have had many recent eye openers to change my point of view on how I see my toys and collectibles.

When selling nearly all of my father's possessions, the only thing he didn't want sold was his knives. He had precious few. The only knives of real value he had he kept in the original box properly oiled and in the closet. He never used them. He never used them. He never used them.

I bought them for him to use and enjoy, but for his generation spending $100 on a folding knife was so extravagant that he couldn't put it into perspective. I WANTED him to use them, as I thought he would get a charge out of using a really nice, well made knife with great steel. He was so afraid he would damage them that he wouldn't use them at all but preferred his old CASE and Schrade knives. So they sat for as much as 25 - 30 years in his closet, unused, and in his last years simply forgotten. What a waste.

So what is the upshot? I tried to sell the PUMA branded knives, and without a collector to buy them it was awful. Truthfully when calculating it out, none of the knives kept up with inflation! Need proof? Check out the inflation calculator:

https://www.saving.org/inflation/inflation.php?amount=100&year=1980

So the knife I bought him almost 40 years ago was not up to inflation with a value of $325 or so, but only appraised at the local gun/knife store at $150 (top end), ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS NEW IN THE BOX AND UNSHARPENED. If I put it on consignment with them, they would take 30% of the sale price, and that would still be the best bet as I don't think I could find a PUMA collector on my own. So along with his other lesser value knives sitting in the box I have his PUMA Game Warden.

Why so low on the collector/value scale? Talking with the knife appraiser at the gun store he pointed out everything wrong with the knife. Today's guys want/demand the latest and greatest steels. M90, S90V, etc., etc. are what folks want if they buy a $300 plus knife. In today's steel tastes, we have the flavor of the month(s) and then it is old hat, probably not as good as originally thought, and a new steel appears that is the latest and greatest. This PUMA probably had 440C or some really hard AUS6 that was being used for stainless at that time. Next, the style of the knife isn't popular. It looks like a BUCK 110 as did a million other knives at the time. So, unless you are a hard core collector, what was the absolute $hit then, is just an old knife with a sub par steel and old fashioned design by today's standards.

So much for collectibilty. And all those years he could have used it, it simply sat giving joy to no one.

After that, even my nicest knives are out on the job with me. I have a bunch of heavy duty work knives, but a couple that I didn't want scratched before like my Spyderco Valloton. Surprising how well these wll made knives hold up. They aren't fragile, and it makes me smile to use them. So for me, the box goes in the closet and the knife goes in the pocket. With little family left, I also live in fear that when MY possessions are being cleared out that someone will dump out all my knives into a big boxes and separate them by size only. Then put a sign on each box: Small knives, $10 and up. Large knives $25 and up.

You wanted that knife for reason, and no doubt if you had found it many years ago you would have used it. Use it now and make up for all the years you missed!

Robert
 
What good is it to you if you don't use it, if you won't put it with someone who wants it to sit in a safe...ect.

Is there some reason this knife should be preserved ?
Is it a museum piece ?
Are there not likely others nib hiding in safes ?
Are there not old catalog pictures of it that can survive the model for posterity ?

The way I see it it's not that old respectively, and it's not like a piece of history that needs to be preserved or be lost to time.
There's probably lots of information on them out there, and lots of pictures of them new, so I would just use it
Or trade it to a collector who maybe has a very lightly used one that's been a placeholder in their collection which you could use.
 
midnight flyer said:
As I realize that there are more years behind me than in front of me, I have had many recent eye openers to change my point of view on how I see my toys and collectibles.

When selling nearly all of my father's possessions, the only thing he didn't want sold was his knives. He had precious few. The only knives of real value he had he kept in the original box properly oiled and in the closet. He never used them. He never used them. He never used them.

I bought them for him to use and enjoy, but for his generation spending $100 on a folding knife was so extravagant that he couldn't put it into perspective. I WANTED him to use them, as I thought he would get a charge out of using a really nice, well made knife with great steel. He was so afraid he would damage them that he wouldn't use them at all but preferred his old CASE and Schrade knives. So they sat for as much as 25 - 30 years in his closet, unused, and in his last years simply forgotten. What a waste.

So what is the upshot? I tried to sell the PUMA branded knives, and without a collector to buy them it was awful. Truthfully when calculating it out, none of the knives kept up with inflation! Need proof? Check out the inflation calculator:

https://www.saving.org/inflation/inflation.php?amount=100&year=1980

So the knife I bought him almost 40 years ago was not up to inflation with a value of $325 or so, but only appraised at the local gun/knife store at $150 (top end), ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS NEW IN THE BOX AND UNSHARPENED. If I put it on consignment with them, they would take 30% of the sale price, and that would still be the best bet as I don't think I could find a PUMA collector on my own. So along with his other lesser value knives sitting in the box I have his PUMA Game Warden.

Why so low on the collector/value scale? Talking with the knife appraiser at the gun store he pointed out everything wrong with the knife. Today's guys want/demand the latest and greatest steels. M90, S90V, etc., etc. are what folks want if they buy a $300 plus knife. In today's steel tastes, we have the flavor of the month(s) and then it is old hat, probably not as good as originally thought, and a new steel appears that is the latest and greatest. This PUMA probably had 440C or some really hard AUS6 that was being used for stainless at that time. Next, the style of the knife isn't popular. It looks like a BUCK 110 as did a million other knives at the time. So, unless you are a hard core collector, what was the absolute $hit then, is just an old knife with a sub par steel and old fashioned design by today's standards.

So much for collectibilty. And all those years he could have used it, it simply sat giving joy to no one.

After that, even my nicest knives are out on the job with me. I have a bunch of heavy duty work knives, but a couple that I didn't want scratched before like my Spyderco Valloton. Surprising how well these wll made knives hold up. They aren't fragile, and it makes me smile to use them. So for me, the box goes in the closet and the knife goes in the pocket. With little family left, I also live in fear that when MY possessions are being cleared out that someone will dump out all my knives into a big boxes and separate them by size only. Then put a sign on each box: Small knives, $10 and up. Large knives $25 and up.

You wanted that knife for reason, and no doubt if you had found it many years ago you would have used it. Use it now and make up for all the years you missed!

Robert
Click to expand...

Well said and the best advice so far. :thumbsup:
 
I admittedly don't know much about that knife. If it is rare and collectible, I'd say keep it minty until to come to your own conclusion about that matter. Until that happens, get a 940 or something else.
 
Final Option said:
Curious as to what your intentions were when you purchased this knife ? Did you buy it as a user or just to add to your collection, either is fine it’s your knife now, enjoy !
Click to expand...
Bought it to use, then was hesitant to. Not sure exactly why.
 
midnight flyer said:
As I realize that there are more years behind me than in front of me, I have had many recent eye openers to change my point of view on how I see my toys and collectibles.

When selling nearly all of my father's possessions, the only thing he didn't want sold was his knives. He had precious few. The only knives of real value he had he kept in the original box properly oiled and in the closet. He never used them. He never used them. He never used them.

I bought them for him to use and enjoy, but for his generation spending $100 on a folding knife was so extravagant that he couldn't put it into perspective. I WANTED him to use them, as I thought he would get a charge out of using a really nice, well made knife with great steel. He was so afraid he would damage them that he wouldn't use them at all but preferred his old CASE and Schrade knives. So they sat for as much as 25 - 30 years in his closet, unused, and in his last years simply forgotten. What a waste.

So what is the upshot? I tried to sell the PUMA branded knives, and without a collector to buy them it was awful. Truthfully when calculating it out, none of the knives kept up with inflation! Need proof? Check out the inflation calculator:

https://www.saving.org/inflation/inflation.php?amount=100&year=1980

So the knife I bought him almost 40 years ago was not up to inflation with a value of $325 or so, but only appraised at the local gun/knife store at $150 (top end), ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS NEW IN THE BOX AND UNSHARPENED. If I put it on consignment with them, they would take 30% of the sale price, and that would still be the best bet as I don't think I could find a PUMA collector on my own. So along with his other lesser value knives sitting in the box I have his PUMA Game Warden.

Why so low on the collector/value scale? Talking with the knife appraiser at the gun store he pointed out everything wrong with the knife. Today's guys want/demand the latest and greatest steels. M90, S90V, etc., etc. are what folks want if they buy a $300 plus knife. In today's steel tastes, we have the flavor of the month(s) and then it is old hat, probably not as good as originally thought, and a new steel appears that is the latest and greatest. This PUMA probably had 440C or some really hard AUS6 that was being used for stainless at that time. Next, the style of the knife isn't popular. It looks like a BUCK 110 as did a million other knives at the time. So, unless you are a hard core collector, what was the absolute $hit then, is just an old knife with a sub par steel and old fashioned design by today's standards.

So much for collectibilty. And all those years he could have used it, it simply sat giving joy to no one.

After that, even my nicest knives are out on the job with me. I have a bunch of heavy duty work knives, but a couple that I didn't want scratched before like my Spyderco Valloton. Surprising how well these wll made knives hold up. They aren't fragile, and it makes me smile to use them. So for me, the box goes in the closet and the knife goes in the pocket. With little family left, I also live in fear that when MY possessions are being cleared out that someone will dump out all my knives into a big boxes and separate them by size only. Then put a sign on each box: Small knives, $10 and up. Large knives $25 and up.

You wanted that knife for reason, and no doubt if you had found it many years ago you would have used it. Use it now and make up for all the years you missed!

Robert
Click to expand...
Robert, thanks for the thoughtful input. It is very helpful. I appreciate what you shared about your father not using the knives you gave him. I have given my father a couple knives (and other gear). It makes me smile when I see these gifts well used because I know he appreciates and enjoys them.
 
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