Use the heck out of them!

I very much understand the sentiment. My father has many nice possessions, but the ones I'd like when he passes are comparatively inconsequential in terms of money. I want the old wooden bow that he used to use when he taught me to shoot. I want the old beat up Martin guitar he played endlessly for me on childhood hay rides. I'd love to have the old pair of Steiner binoculars we used to use when we went bird watching together. The newer expensive stuff of his means nothing to me really. It's the shared memories that I want to hold onto.

When it comes to knives, I have my very definite users. There really aren't all that many. Maybe ten. Then there's my scout knife collection. Most of that collection isn't really about using at all. It's more of a historical record than anything. Lots of war time knives and old Boy Scout knives. I don't use most of them. I own them more for historical preservation than anything, and they'll likely be passed onto another knife collector eventually. Then I have some knives that are new in box that are trade fodder, waiting for the day when I really want something and don't have the money.

But the point is well taken. I do have a few knives in my collection, that I've always wanted to carry, but have been too afraid to ding them up. Just for Carl today, I'm going to start carrying my mint old cross Victorinox Farmer. I bought it maybe ten or fifteen years ago, and always wanted to carry it. I love old cross red alox, and have forever desired to take one from new and watch the pocket wear develop over decades of use. I just knew that it was worth far more than the twenty dollars I paid for it; probably a few hundred bucks these days. I'm also not sure whether my pocket will grow to love the extra layer and weight required by the wood saw. But I guess I'll never know until I break down and give it a try.

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True words, though this is probably one of those ideas that most must come to on their own. I know I would have saved a lot of money if I had realized early on that my favorite knives were the few we’ll loved ones that I had got from my grandfathers.
 
kamagong said:
Just for you Buzz I'm going to tote this Pioneer along today.

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Don't forget to take out Doris this weekend. Haven't heard much from her lately.
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That's a lovely Pioneer. I see it has the brass liner too.

That's an outstanding idea to carry Doris this weekend. I head out Thursday night, for a 4-day long camping and fishing trip in the Adirondacks. I think I'll make Doris and the Farmer my knives for the trip. See if I can build up a few more memories with them.

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I was a collector once...I had a great collection of USN MK 2/Kabar knives. They reached from an original 1942 model all the way up to the (then) latest Ontario version. One day it dawned on me: what am I going to do with all of these? I sold them. The only knives I have now get used all the time. It's like you said, Carl, it's just "stuff!" And, at the end of the day, "stuff" doesn't matter.

Regards,
Ron
 
I don't keep things I don't use. I've told this story a time or two but it needs repeating...

One of my good friends is a fairly wealthy individual, we hunted and shot together a lot in the 80's. He had some really nice firearms. His pride and joy (at that time) was an unfired 1920's vintage CE grade Fox 20 gauge double, it still had the hanging tag on it. Worth about what you would pay for a new Honda Accord. I asked him what was he planning to do with it? He looked at me for a minute, then said, "you know, who am I saving it for?" We drove to a gunmaker that specialized in vintage doubles (long out of business now) and in checking the chokes found it was not Mod and IC but both barrels were Mod. He had it bored to the correct chokes and used it on a quail hunt some months later. It was a great little gun, it would have been a travesty to let it sit in a case for another 60 years unused.
 
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A very interesting and thought over subject for me. I'm relatively young, with no kids or anything yet. At this point, I have convinced myself to keep at least a few in good condition. I am not sure why, though I did write an article on styles of collecting, I should probably write one on why I collect what I do and what they mean to me. Thanks for a good post.
 
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Some say "it can only be original once" I've said it for certain things, but I also say "I may only have once to enjoy an original" Take these two for example, the 44 was a gracious gift from @r redden. That fact alone makes it special to me,but only by using it did I fall in love with the pattern. And I think Randy wanted me to use and enjoy it, so I do and will. And in doing so,make someone else happy knowing his gift is well received and appreciated. The Remington I found brand new old stock, still in the box in the plastic wrapper. The spey has etched "first production run". Probably not worth much more than I gave,but it was mint. For someone who collects this series it may have made a nice addition. But for me it's a chance to own and use a brand new Camillus made Remington. I do have a couple safe queens ( I don't have a safe so not sure how that works out lol) and I'm ok with that :)
 
I don't own a knife that I won't use. Having said that, I have many more knives than I could possibly ever use. I recently examined my collection (more of an accumulation than a collection) and removed all those with particular sentimental value. I put them into a separate box and added a note with each that told its story so that my kids can easily identify them when the time comes and know the history behind the knife.
 
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