The one that got away...

I have sold some knives that I regretted. Usually for a good reason though, like needing money for a move. So I cant whine too much.

 

The one that hurts me the most is a yellow handled Case Canoe. My Dad gave it to me for Christmas, this was about twenty years ago. I had it out on my desk at work using it, should have put it back in my pocket, but left it there to go to the break room. When I came back, someone had swiped it. Stealing is one thing that really bothers me.

 

I ordered a stag Grinling Whittler from a dealer who photographed each individual knife for the stag. Picked out a lovely one with matching, even thickness in an attractive pattern. Some wires got crossed and what I received was very uneven, one side almost concave, the other extremely fat, with almost no stag indentations on the fat side. It was ugly. Seriously the worst stag I’ve ever seen Of course, by the time I received the knife, they were all sold out so there was nothing to do but shake my head. Knife also had some fit and finish issues that made it extra galling.

I eventually sold that knife for a little profit but it still gives me a pang of what-might-have-been every time I see one.

 

Two years back I was at the GEC Rendezvous and in the store they had a couple of the single spear blade 78s with the glitter gold scales. Just as I was pondering the purchase I had to run to join the final tour of the shop. When the tour was over an hour later the store was closed for the weekend.

A few days later I called to ask about purchasing it by mail order but the last one had been sold the prior day.

Also I hummed and hawed too long on the Kniveshipfree exclusive two blade blood red jigged bone Presidential. It also slipped away never too be seen again.

,,,Mike in Canada

 

ah i remember those, the least loved rendezvous knife of that rendezvous. glitter gold is very love/hate

 

As near as I can remember, this is a duplicate of my first knife. I had traded it to a friend and later tried to trade it back, but he refused. About 50 years later, I found this one in the 'Bay.

 

I am fortunate that I was able to replace the only knife I wanted back after I gave it away. GEC 66 ebony calf roper. It’s not old or one of a kind, so I had that going for me.

Old knife:



New knife:

 

Mine was a really slim black synthetic handled lockback my dad found in the junk drawer and gave me.
I remember it being pretty much unused when he gave it to me.
The handle had the word diamond inside or underneath a diamond molded into it.

It was probably made in Taiwan or Japan or something, but I just regret trading it because I did so before I knew anything about knives let alone got into traditional knives and would like to still have it today to judge it based on what I know now.
Could have been a decent knife , but I'll never know.

Best I remember it pretty much looked like this.

I know it wasn't a shapleigh hardware diamond edge, but not much more than that.

 

He doesn't even know who put it on his blueprint table. It just appeared. It could have been one of the other trades, cleaners or stocker staff.

I'm just happy to have it back. It's been riding around front pocket for about 5 years now.

 

@JonMcD

I have a used 86 STAG that is just a bit thick and heavy for me. Really wanted to try the Jigged 86 with slimmer covers. Check your profile if you want to talk trade.

 

Looks OK from that shot. What was wrong with it then??

One I got, a bit later than the official time as it was a leftover was /is brilliant and I like it a lot. CS knives in my experience have been very patchy in QC though.....

 

This one. Could be called MIA or Globetrotter....

A humble Spear 15 you exclaim. Yes, but I liked it but it seems fated to go missing. Bought it from somebody on the For Sale thread, trade went fine, price reasonable, condition as described but it took longer than normal to get from US to here Finland. Carried it and liked it, then decided to get it rehandled. The slabs were too thin so I opted for thick Ram's Horn but it took an abnormally long time to get to the US about 8weeks and it was first returned to me only a week after I posted it with no explanation from the PO, back it went! Got rehandled, then it obviously got Covid because it was last seen at Chicago airport 29th March. It could still be there waiting for a flight to Europe but I get the feeling it's a real gonner Let's use the power of thought, prayer, smoke or vibration to get the knife back to me , be a miracle

 

“The man who sells his motorcycle receives money. He spends the money and now he has nothing. The man who keeps his motorcycle still has a motorcycle.”

This old adage applies as well to a knife or a gun.

 

Here's 2 that got away from me (sort of). I had wanted a nice S&M stag sowbelly knife, and had been eyeing up one on a dealer website for about a week. I knew there was a knife show coming that weekend, so I didn't buy the knife from the dealer, hoping I would find a better deal at the show. I did find a nicer knife at the show, but it was more money, and after much thought I decided to go back home and buy the one online from the dealer. SOLD OUT. Oh geez, my bad luck. I went to the knife show the following day, and guess what. SOLD OUT. So I lost out twice on basically the same knife.

I did find another, but it didn't have as nice of stag. Oh well. I learned to buy em when I see em now. Don't wait. What's an extra $15 in the grand scheme of things.

 

Bad recurve and uneven grind that required a full blade regrind to fix. Significant blade rub. The main blade was crinked over so drastically that it was an issue for cutting or sharpening and caused liner rub of the main blade. Badly sunken pin in the middle of the pivot (other side from picture), I wouldn't have minded a GEC style sunken pin in the scale itself but in the middle of the pivot itself it simply looked bad. As you can see it wasn't the only one either. Uneven gaps in the wood around the shield. Big gap between liner and scale due to one of the liners being bent.

I'm glad yours is good! I would have loved mine to have been, as you can see the wood grain is fantastic. It would have been the last knife I would have ever needed. The spec and aesthetics were incredible on paper, ticked every single box I had, even now. Even the more recent 2018 Buck knife which I have and enjoy didn't fit my needs quite as perfectly (mainly due to its small main blade). That barehead serpentine shape is so 'me'. Unfortunately I couldn't deal with the build problems which niggled at me like a fingernail down a blackboard and I sold it at a loss and I've never felt like spending the inflated used market prices trying to find a good one as a replacement.

These days I carry a SAK anyway. Scores a minus on the aesthetic front but it's so blooming useful that I just have to make myself ignore that.

 

The one that sticks with me is a Menefee Zulu Spear I traded off years ago. It's one that I don't know that I would ever be able to afford to replace nowadays.

 

My ebony pony jack is mine as well..

Doh! Shoulda held onto that one

 

Even though I still have a bunch of these, I regret trading these 3 away. They're not as high quality or valuable as some of the other knives on this thread, but special to me none-the-less.

I think I traded them for a Bulldog, which started outgassing, LOL. I ended up modding it and raffling it off during our company fundraiser, so that's something. Those 3 were about my nicest examples, sigh...

 

You should only sell Stag knives on days that end with a " Z " . Never on days that end with a " Y " .

Harry

 

Harry- I needed those wise, fatherly words about five months ago! Point taken.

Take the deer by the horns.

A deer in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Don’t sell yer daggum stag knife.

Solid wisdom.

Have a great evening!