Use or ‘Baby’ a brand new knife that might be sold?

If you're already worrying so much about not liking a knife that you think you're probably going to sell it, then just sell it now and move on to the next one.

I know what you mean about first impressions. I've gotten several that I wanted to like but just didn't feel right in the hand or had some other issue i immediately knew would bug me going forward. I didn't bother using those and returned or sold them off ASAP. No point in drawing it out or holding on just to think about it.

Otherwise, use it, see how it works and eat the depreciation if you decide to sell it later. No other way around it.
 
nbp said:
It looked great in pics and videos but you get it and the way the handle fits your hand, the lock style, the clip placement, the size, the weight, the whatever… it isn’t right.
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The only way to know these things beyond aesthetics and the superficial is by using a knife.

nbp said:
Then either I misunderstood your original intent or miscommunicated mine. Haha
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See above.
 
nbp said:
I certainly take your point, but sometimes you just know. It looked great in pics and videos but you get it and the way the handle fits your hand, the lock style, the clip placement, the size, the weight, the whatever… it isn’t right. This is a community that obsesses over the minutiae - it is inevitable that some knives you will know quickly are not going to make it into rotation. Some apparently decide to keep every knife, even if it isn’t going to be used, but that isn’t me.
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Yes, sometimes you do just know from handling. Those I don’t use and usually sell or trade off immediately.

The ones I get in hand and like but still may be a little unsure if they’re keepers I put into use.
 
Acutereference said:
A bit of a problem if you like fighting knives and aren't in the military!
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Apparently you've never seen an old school Cold Steel proof test video ? :rolleyes:

Warning graphic content may offend some :

People also commonly train and test bladed weapons against inanimate targets ;and use trainer versions and protective gear for sparring .
 
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TL;DR: I buy a new knife for me. Why the hell would I keep it pristine for the next guy? I probably don’t even like that fella.

Not intended to come across as sarcastic. My approach would be “preventive,” so to speak. I always buy knives with the intent of using them and enjoying them. If price gets in the way of enjoyment, I just stay away from them. Ideally, we should own our properties, not the other way around.

I think all my knives are under $200 bucks, and 200 is already pushing it. Heck, my daily carry right now is a $50 cheapo Cold Steel.

If you buy a knife with the objective of selling it for a profit later, there’s nothing wrong with that IMO. Just don’t use it all and keep it new in box (NIB).

A rather all or nothing approach, you could say.
 
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nbp said:
Sometimes when trying a new (and especially when expensive) knife that I’m not sure I am going to like enough to keep longterm, I tend to baby it, perhaps just fondling and examining it at home for a bit, with the hopes that if I decide I don’t love it I can sell it and recoup (most of) my money. I don’t do shelf queens, so either I keep it and use it, or I will sell it. However, sometimes I have decided to sell it as it isn’t really for me, but then I am surprised how much value the knife has “lost” despite being essentially brand new. Then I think, well if it is going to lose a quarter or more of its value while still in pristine condition, I should have just used it for real and not worried about marks or scuffs. What was the point of keeping it like new in the examination phase?

How do you approach this situation? I know there will always be some value lost in buying something preowned but sometimes the expected markdown on a Like New item seems a bit unrealistic.
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Sell it immediately. You will quickly rediscover a love for the knives you already have.
 
nbp said:
Yeah, I’m not talking about keeping it for years with the hopes of selling at a profit. I’m not “investing”. I’m talking about a few days or weeks and minimizing losses if I decide I don’t like the knife.
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You’ve answered your own question. If that’s how you feel about it, there’s nothing wrong with it. It doesn’t matter how somebody else goes about it. If you want to maximize your return on a knife you know you’re going to sell, the smart thing to do is keep is as close to pristine as possible.

Yes you will get more for it than you would if you used it and it ended up blemished. If that overrides any enjoyment you would get from using it, don’t use it.

As you can see some of us here don’t care and would rather use it and eat the loss. I used to worry about it also, but I got over it. . .

Edited to add, that I have a couple of knives that are so similar to others they are basically duplicates in my collection. Some of those, one is a user the other a safe queen. So that is another way to go about it.
 
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There's nothing wrong with holding off a few weeks to be sure you like a new knife, but it makes a lot more sense to be sure of your choices before you buy. I find the argument that there's no way to know with out using it first to be unpersuasive. Knives are just not that complicated. People who worry about resale value of minor possessions so they can sell them to fund new purchases are not like me. It's more like they are renting their things. There are people who sign up in a lottery to buy a Rosie with the full intention of flipping it on eBay. I hope they stub their toes badly.

Knives are tools. Use the right tool for the job. Nobody needs a $500 knife to break down boxes when a $10 box cutter will to it just as well. Some knives are so ornate that they are not meant to be used. There are lots of functional Chinese knives which are cheap enough to call disposable even though they have a long useful life. That's what I use for cutting. That $35 knives work so well, makes you realize how expensive a mass produced $300 Spyderco or Benchmade is.
 
Ron Texas said:
There's nothing wrong with holding off a few weeks to be sure you like a new knife, but it makes a lot more sense to be sure of your choices before you buy. I find the argument that there's no way to know with out using it first to be unpersuasive. Knives are just not that complicated. People who worry about resale value of minor possessions so they can sell them to fund new purchases are not like me. It's more like they are renting their things. There are people who sign up in a lottery to buy a Rosie with the full intention of flipping it on eBay. I hope they stub their toes badly.

Knives are tools. Use the right tool for the job. Nobody needs a $500 knife to break down boxes when a $10 box cutter will to it just as well. Some knives are so ornate that they are not meant to be used. There are lots of functional Chinese knives which are cheap enough to call disposable even though they have a long useful life. That's what I use for cutting. That $35 knives work so well, makes you realize how expensive a mass produced $300 Spyderco or Benchmade is.
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I'm feeling a bit foolish now for using my AD20 to cut down a box. I was enjoying my day. Thanks for nothing.

OP, advice is great but you should do what you want. Clearly we are all different here. Some sell, some don't, its all good. Learn who you are. I like to buy knives but when I realize I have way too many then some have to go. I don't like clutter and life is really short to be burried in too much stuff. I can't possibly use all my knives but I don't need to. Sometimes I just like having them until I decide to sell them. I have plenty of users too.

Most things we stress about doesn't matter much.
 
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