Thinking about selling nearly all my knives. Anyone get that far out of collecting? How did it go?

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Dadpool

Dadpool

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Currently feeling the winds of change blowing through my life and thinking about paring back my daily carry options to like five or six knives, plus thinning the purpose-specific knife herd for good measure. 🍃

For carry options, I'd keep something along the lines of 3-4 modern folders (one medium "does it all," one lightweight, one rustproof serrated, one medium flipper just for fun) and two slipjoints (one Barlow, one SAK).

Even though I've had a scaled-down collection for the past several years, this degree of scaling down would be a first for me. If you've done something like this, how'd it work out for you? Any tips on avoiding regrets?
 
Dadpool said:
Currently feeling the winds of change blowing through my life and thinking about paring back my daily carry options to like five or six knives, plus thinning the purpose-specific knife herd for good measure. 🍃

For carry options, I'd keep something along the lines of 3-4 modern folders (one medium "does it all," one lightweight, one rustproof serrated, one medium flipper just for fun) and two slipjoints (one Barlow, one SAK).

Even though I've had a scaled-down collection for the past several years, this degree of scaling down would be a first for me. If you've done something like this, how'd it work out for you? Any tips on avoiding regrets?
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I feel like you took these words out of my brain. I can definitely relate, Poolman.
 
Quiet said:
This. 👆👆👆👆

Whelp, that's the thread. Time to shut it down!!

🤣
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Nah , maybe somebody has some great ideas for avoiding regrets in selling . 🫤

I've tried to develop some criteria for sorting mine out , if we have to move to smaller quarters .

Not gonna happen without some real pain for me . Because I love the big ones , logically should be the first to go . 😭
 
I went through some tough times awhile back and sold off a few from the ole collection, but I'm sure glad I didn't sell the rest. I would've regretted letting some of them go. But at the end of the day knives are objects and well being is paramount, so ya gotta do what ya gotta do
 
I like Joe Rychetnik's way of doing it, where he gathered up all his knives every few years, and divided them into piles after handling. Pile 1 were knives that he still really liked and weren't going anywhere, Pile 2 were knives he couldn't decided on, so they stayed around another few years, and Pile 3 were knives he didn't care for anymore. Those were sold or given away. Every few years he'd do this till the pile was small and manageable.
 
My tastes change over time, and then sometimes back again. Things I might let go now may become a must-have later. It happens. So I try to avoid letting something go that cannot be replaced again in the future. Some discontinued models are available for a long time, some disappear and later demand big bucks. You can’t really predict it.

I’m lucky though, so far it is not a burden to carry a few extra…
 
tltt said:
I like Joe Rychetnik's way of doing it, where he gathered up all his knives every few years, and divided them into piles after handling. Pile 1 were knives that he still really liked and weren't going anywhere, Pile 2 were knives he couldn't decided on, so they stayed around another few years, and Pile 3 were knives he didn't care for anymore. Those were sold or given away. Every few years he'd do this till the pile was small and manageable.
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I've never heard it put this way, but that's sort of what I've been doing for the past few years. I guess this would just be making a deliberately small Pile 1 and selling Pile 2 and 3.

I'm thinking about things more like how I approach watches. (Which, as an aside are waaay too expensive for the "rental model" I've adopted for knife collecting.) In terms of daily drivers I have "my" watch, an automatic diver (6 oz.); a 2 oz. G-SHOCK for summer and anytime I want something really lightweight; and a just-for-fun dive watch right in between the two (4 oz.). That's the perfect number of watches for me to have as a rotation. They all get roughly equal time throughout the year and they all bring me joy.

Obviously knives != watches, but some version of that is what's calling to me.
 
Dadpool said:
Currently feeling the winds of change blowing through my life and thinking about paring back my daily carry options to like five or six knives, plus thinning the purpose-specific knife herd for good measure. 🍃

For carry options, I'd keep something along the lines of 3-4 modern folders (one medium "does it all," one lightweight, one rustproof serrated, one medium flipper just for fun) and two slipjoints (one Barlow, one SAK).

Even though I've had a scaled-down collection for the past several years, this degree of scaling down would be a first for me. If you've done something like this, how'd it work out for you? Any tips on avoiding regrets?
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DO IT!

I did a huge downsize years ago and it was liberating. sold off the custom stuff, gave away the rest, only keeping a few SAk's, and a few old favorites. had zero regrets at all. The kids, grandkids and friends made out. Now I can hold my entire knife accumulation in one hand, and I don't have real big hands. Did the same with my gun collection and tools and other stuff. We downsized from a three level 3200 square foot home to a one level 1600 square foot home and feel free.

In essence my wife and I scaled back to where we were when we first got hitched. If something happens to us, the kids don't have a mess to clean up and dispose of, or argue who gets what. We reached an age where material possessions just don't mean much to us.
 
This might help and it’s fun. However many knives you have, if you can pick out your top 12, 24, 32, 64. Rank them top to bottom and then place them according to ranking just like a March madness bracket.

I actually laid out my top 32 on the table in a bracket style so that I could handle each one as I made the decision which one moved on to the next bracket and which one lost. I was COMPLETELY surprised with what made the elite 8 and the final 4. The hardest part was picking the Champion, as in the only one I could keep and the ultimate winner.

Some knives that I thought were my favorites didn’t make the cut when I had to pick a winner and a loser at each level. Pretty fun overall and you might find out which ones you won’t miss as much if you sell them.
 
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