The Impossible Question - Do You Ever Get Tired of the Search?

I seldom "hunt" for a knife. I really don't have a list of knives I want. I just use my knives until one day, I see something else I believe I'd like and order it. No selling used. They just pile up and I don't care if 50 of them never cut anything. I have no quota. No restrictions. Money on a knife is just flushed with all the other money I spend.

Haven't really figured out just what you're really trying to say RedLynx.
 
22-rimfire said:
I seldom "hunt" for a knife. I really don't have a list of knives I want. I just use my knives until one day, I see something else I believe I'd like and order it. No selling used. They just pile up and I don't care if 50 of them never cut anything. I have no quota. No restrictions. Money on a knife is just flushed with all the other money I spend.

Haven't really figured out just what you're really trying to say RedLynx.
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I guess in a way, I don't really hunt for a knife either, in the sense of "let's go find something new/better." But I do tend to browse dealer sites fairly often. Not looking for something specific, but in the hope that something will jump out and say "get me, I'll solve whatever hole is there, knife-wise, and you'll feel satisfied and you won't even want to browse anymore for awhile." But that seldom happens. It's not that I'm getting tired of looking or purchasing--certainly not tired of knives in general. I'd just like one of my already existing knives to fill the role so well that I don't want to carry or buy anything else for awhile. I don't buy a lot as is, and when I do I try to keep it under $40/month on knife purchases, but it's still there.

I have no idea if this makes things any clearer though. ;)
 
Pretty much what I do, but I have no set budget. I don't worry about it. At Blade in years past, I almost always purchased at least one custom/handmade knife there. This past year I didn't. Nothing really grabbed me other than Fiddleback Forge knives and honestly since they don't come with a sheath, I punted. I was at Knifeworks large booth looking over Spydies. Saw the Kiwi 4. Asked to see it, bought it. No plan. Just a spontaneous buy at about their regular prices. I like that knife a lot. It could very easily bounce a lot of my carry knives to the dresser drawer except of course my ever faithful sak. There lies the problem with folders with me. I just like my sak and anything else is in addition to the sak as far as carry goes. That means of course I really don't need it in the first place. Such is the world of folders with me.

With fixed blades, it is almost worse. I really don't carry a fixed blade except out in the woods. I could count on one hand how many times I have hit the woods this year. Been busy. But it still doesn't stop me from buying more fixed blades that catch my eye.
 
22-rimfire said:
Pretty much what I do, but I have no set budget. I don't worry about it. At Blade in years past, I almost always purchased at least one custom/handmade knife there. This past year I didn't. Nothing really grabbed me other than Fiddleback Forge knives and honestly since they don't come with a sheath, I punted. I was at Knifeworks large booth looking over Spydies. Saw the Kiwi 4. Asked to see it, bought it. No plan. Just a spontaneous buy at about their regular prices. I like that knife a lot. It could very easily bounce a lot of my carry knives to the dresser drawer except of course my ever faithful sak. There lies the problem with folders with me. I just like my sak and anything else is in addition to the sak as far as carry goes. That means of course I really don't need it in the first place. Such is the world of folders with me.

With fixed blades, it is almost worse. I really don't carry a fixed blade except out in the woods. I could count on one hand how many times I have hit the woods this year. Been busy. But it still doesn't stop me from buying more fixed blades that catch my eye.
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I probably have far less fixed blades than you do, but even the ones I do have haven't seen a lot of use. When I first got into knives I was young and wanted fixed blades only, but quickly realized I probably couldn't go through life wearing these on my belt all the time, much as I might want to. I love the woods but I very seldom get there, even though I live near a state park. And yet, I still have a cupboard with a few fixed blades in it, just because. But also technically in case the opportunity to use one arises.

Having said that, if could carry a fixed blade all the time everywhere, that is probably what I would do.

Budget-wise, I think you have the right idea but I have to set a knife budget because my disposable income is limited and pretty much static month to month.
 
I so far have not gotten tired of the search, but the search has changed directions many times!
 
I love the hunt! At one point I had every stud-lock kershaw. Took about two years to get them all. Then got into mid-techs and customs. Have the full set of CKF asymmetric. Limited numbers manufactured and made in Russia led to a long and fun hunt. And constantly searching for the perfect custom flipper, or at least upgrade one I already have keeps me interested.
 
SurpriseGoat said:
I love the hunt! At one point I had every stud-lock kershaw. Took about two years to get them all. Then got into mid-techs and customs. Have the full set of CKF asymmetric. Limited numbers manufactured and made in Russia led to a long and fun hunt. And constantly searching for the perfect custom flipper, or at least upgrade one I already have keeps me interested.
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I did that with firearms. I loved the hunt. But I don't collect knives per se. The internet took a lot of the fun out of it for me. The firearms I like to collect/accumulate (Colts) have gotten rather expensive for the most part and my firearm purchases have slowly been reduced to about one a year now, sometimes two as opposed to one every couple of months on average. I also shifted to 22 rifles (higher end sporters) rather than handguns because I shoot them. None of those are collectors and if I want to shoot 'em, I do. Can't say that about the as-new 75 year Colt revolver.

Added: Those KSF and DLT weekly emails are really budget killers.
 
I love the search. Many times I will find something promising but slightly out of my price range or out of stock. Most of the time I find a perfect blade but the handle sucks or the handle is great and the blade is so so.

Right now the search is on for a new EDC. I love what I have but a blade just a little longer would be nice. One EDC knife for all three, dress, office work and field use. It will never happen but the search is something I enjoy.
 
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The price thing is important. I ordered a new DSLR camera last night to replace the one I broke on Friday afternoon. Need it for work. I do have my regular higher priced DSLR that I can use for work, but I prefer something a bit lower end for basic picture taking and mostly on auto. So, this is definitely going to cut big time into my knife "budget" and probably the computer budget as well.
 
I think the search is an important part of it.

Years ago I did the search, I found various knives and carried them, I got tired of the search and stuck with one knife for awhile.
Then I came back with more enthusiasm and started searching again. I've bought more knives and any one of them I could be happy with, if I didn't know the others existed. Having them and knowing they exist keeps me searching and carrying more than one knife. I have slowed down the buying but I will buy more occasionally, I have sold a few knives and I will try to sell more, but that is difficult. I want to keep more than I need and sometimes this bothers me.
 
RedLynx said:
I probably have far less fixed blades than you do, but even the ones I do have haven't seen a lot of use. When I first got into knives I was young and wanted fixed blades only, but quickly realized I probably couldn't go through life wearing these on my belt all the time, much as I might want to. I love the woods but I very seldom get there, even though I live near a state park. And yet, I still have a cupboard with a few fixed blades in it, just because. But also technically in case the opportunity to use one arises.

Having said that, if could carry a fixed blade all the time everywhere, that is probably what I would do.

Budget-wise, I think you have the right idea but I have to set a knife budget because my disposable income is limited and pretty much static month to month.
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Don't want to make it sound that I just buy a new knife a couple times a week just because I feel like it or something catches my eye. Lots of blades catch my eye since joining BF. Was eyeing up Bark River stuff the other day online. Glad I didn't take that plunge as the unexpected happened with my regular DSLR camera that I have been using for about 8 years a couple times a week on average for work. (I opened my pickup door and the camera plopped out onto the pavement and hit the view screen hard enough to crack it. I cried.) So, I am in the process of replacing it. Yeah, I know it can be fixed, but that will take a month or more. It still works but I can't see the view screen to switch over to the regular view finder. I took a couple pictures after the crash and they "worked".

I don't keep count of fixed blades or folders. Have really no idea how many I have, but on the fixed blade side of things, not as many as you would think. I hesitate to buy new ones because I know I won't use them regardless of how great they might be.

When my knife interest started to perk up in the 1980's, I pretty much bought fixed blades because that was what I didn't have and they say "knife" to me. But reality set in after about 20 years.... takes a while ya know....

My wife thinks I spend $hundreds$ of dollars on knives frequently. But the reality does not match that. She thinks they all must cost $300+. It's a hobby and I just try to have fun. It helps to make life a little more interesting. Back a while I was really impressed with the Cold Steel Tuff Lite but with the purchase of the Kiwi 4, I don't even think about handling the Tuff Lite any more. (Sort of like a Rossi revolver versus Colt or S&W.) The Kiwi 4 is a nice carry blade (not hard use), but very useful if you like wharncliffe blades. I suppose the Kiwi 4 will get moved to the seldom used pile when something else catches my eye. But I tend to always fall back to a couple simple knives including a Vic sak in terms of regular using (Spydie Native 5, Spydie Delica, 111 mm Vic Sak, ZT 0770CF, GEC #42, and now the Kiwi 4). So, I don't think I really break the bank with my purchases. Last fixed blade was a Blackjack 124 and before that a Kabar Becker BK-15.
 
22-rimfire said:
Don't want to make it sound that I just buy a new knife a couple times a week just because I feel like it or something catches my eye. Lots of blades catch my eye since joining BF. Was eyeing up Bark River stuff the other day online. Glad I didn't take that plunge as the unexpected happened with my regular DSLR camera that I have been using for about 8 years a couple times a week on average for work. (I opened my pickup door and the camera plopped out onto the pavement and hit the view screen hard enough to crack it. I cried.) So, I am in the process of replacing it. Yeah, I know it can be fixed, but that will take a month or more. It still works but I can't see the view screen to switch over to the regular view finder. I took a couple pictures after the crash and they "worked".

I don't keep count of fixed blades or folders. Have really no idea how many I have, but on the fixed blade side of things, not as many as you would think. I hesitate to buy new ones because I know I won't use them regardless of how great they might be.

When my knife interest started to perk up in the 1980's, I pretty much bought fixed blades because that was what I didn't have and they say "knife" to me. But reality set in after about 20 years.... takes a while ya know....

My wife thinks I spend $hundreds$ of dollars on knives frequently. But the reality does not match that. She thinks they all must cost $300+. It's a hobby and I just try to have fun. It helps to make life a little more interesting. Back a while I was really impressed with the Cold Steel Tuff Lite but with the purchase of the Kiwi 4, I don't even think about handling the Tuff Lite any more. (Sort of like a Rossi revolver versus Colt or S&W.) The Kiwi 4 is a nice carry blade (not hard use), but very useful if you like wharncliffe blades. I suppose the Kiwi 4 will get moved to the seldom used pile when something else catches my eye. But I tend to always fall back to a couple simple knives including a Vic sak in terms of regular using (Spydie Native 5, Spydie Delica, 111 mm Vic Sak, ZT 0770CF, GEC #42, and now the Kiwi 4). So, I don't think I really break the bank with my purchases. Last fixed blade was a Blackjack 124 and before that a Kabar Becker BK-15.
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I don't really know how many I have either. Awhile back I started doing more worrying about what would happen to my collection sitting at home,rather than truly enjoying it. So I gave a lot away and, somehow, it helped a lot. Less to lose so less worry? I don't know.
 
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