Having decided that the best knife for a particular job is the one you actually have to hand when it's needed, I started distributing my collection around various locations. So now I have an emergency bag in the car with a Mora, a machete, an axe and firelighting materials. I have a Spydie Grasshopper, a small kitchen knife and a butter knife in my desk at work. I have my knife collection in boxes and bags at home, and then I have some general users scattered around the house and toolshed. I then realised that, far from having too many knives, I actually didn't have enough knives in the right places. So I bought some more.....
I can certainly identify with this.
My first knife was a Buck 110, it got me started. Then I started buying knives cheaply off eBay to learn about the different styles and in particular the different locking mechanisms (lockback, liner, frame, axis, etc) and different brands. These knives came from a guy who got ex-confiscated airport security stock. Then I got more refined in my quest to find a knife with ergonomics that work well for me, and one that I could open and close one handed quickly. That knife turned out to be the BEE L05 (and L05-1), which are cheap knives, so I bought 10 of them. Now there is one of these on my desk, by my bed, in the garage, in the car - always handy. They are useful and a pleasure for me to use. I can give them away or lose them without any stress. I also have a Leatherman squirt P4 in my pocket most days.
I am no longer actively buying. My most recent purchase is a Kershaw Leek 1660BR, which is my first (and probably last) assisted opening knife (because they are .. um.. not exactly legal here). It's a fine knife, in both ways you might use the word "fine", perhaps just a smidgen small. I like just opening and closing it, and using it to open letters. I look at the likes of the large Sebenza and would like to handle one before buying one. I feel I have explored the "cheap" end of the knife world quite well, and am moving up the price scale. This is slowing me down a lot.
So, many of the eBay knives I bought early on are no longer used. Somehow thought they are part of my journey with knives so they now have a sentimental element to them. I have given some away. For now, I like keeping them. They don't take up much space, and are nothing compared to my wife's shoe collection!
ps. On torches - I recently purchased a LED Lenser P7 - and it will do me for the indefinite future, it's great. I am not a torch collector, and have had only a few in the past.
