What do you collect? Country, style, brand? Mostly users or not?

C

Chadentwistle

Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
237
Just curious what you all collect, and methods to your madness!
Do you Like collections by: country, auto, assist, fixed, high end?

My collection has no real rhyme or reason, and not all that many, perhaps 30 total, not too many over $50-$100 either.
I have fallen into autos lately, but also like fixed too. I have anywhere from benchmade to gerber.
Case to bark river. Swiss army to el cheapo Barlow and some fairly old timey garage sale stuff.

I don't really have a method of collecting yet, but I do have a crazy thirst for more!

Also, as much as I sometime hate it, I mostly use them, or at least carry them.

Chad
 
I collect only fixed and unassisted knives. Most, but not all, are users. Some are just too damn purdy to scratch up. I admire them as visual and tactile works of art, much as others admire paintings or perhaps sculpture. However, they are in the minority. Others I "store" are duplicates of my most beloved knives, complete with their boxes, contents, and sales receipts. Never ever to be sold, as they won't be manufactured forever (the Spyderco Dragonfly 2, Chaparral CF, Caly 3, Manix 2 Lightweight, Military, and BM 940 Osborne come to mind, for folders). When it comes to fixed blades, I am partial to high value knives such as the Becker and Cold Steel lineups of bush knives and choppers. The duplicates I have of those are limited - the Cold Steel Trailmaster and Recon Scout in San Mai, and the ML Kephardt osage handled custom.
 
I mainly have users, or at least knives that I don't feel bad about using. Mainly in high end steels. I also have a few higher end (material wise) knives that I have, but why use those when my $105 ZDP Stretch will perform better and I won't feel bad about using it for whatever needs done? I've recently gotten into small fixed blades. After all, a fixed blade is generally better in every way to a folder, besides carry-ability.
 
I've realized something over the last several months- I don't collect and I have zero interest in being a collector. I am a user, I own a handful of knives that i use and collecting more doesn't appeal to me in the least. My enjoyment come from the use and maintenance of my small number of knives, not in shear number owned. I tried collecting, it actually made me feel less enjoyment than doing it this way.

Not trying to say people who are collectors are going about it wrong, if you want 18 slightly different versions of PM2 or whatever your thing is go for it, I collect some crazy off the wall shit myself, but knives aren't one of those things.
 
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I have a total of 12 folding knives, so not really a collection. One is a Victorinox Fieldmaster and it gets rotated around with a Leatherman Juice 2. My other knives are from the USA (ZT, Benchmade), Germany (Boker), Italy (LionSteel, Fox), Taiwan (Spyderco), and China (Kizer). I guess you would classify them as "tactical style" knives. They are generally large, with thicker blades, and are on the heavier side. But this is what I like so this is what I acquire. I have really little use for a knife now a days, and if I do the SAK or Leatherman will usually suffice, unless I just want to use the knife I'm carrying that day.

As for fixed blades, I have two, 1 big and 1 small. A Browning Crowell/Barker Competition Cutter, and a Boker Plus Krein PSK. I don't get to go out to the woods any longer to do any chopping, but if I could the Browning would cut up a load of wood! Just got the Boker today, so can't tell much about it yet.

Whether I use them or not, I still will continue to pick up knives that interest me and continue to carry them even if all I do is pull it out of my pocket to play with it!
 
I pick up any knife that strikes my fancy and that I can afford. I like all kinds of knives, from traditional slip joints to tacticool mall ninja stuff. I can't say I have a preference for any particular style, steel, handle material, country of origin, etc. I use every knife I own (not all at the same time, of course :D).

edit: I will say that I do have an unusually large collection of Opinels. They are so cheap, so functional, and so easy and fun to mod that I can't help myself. :thumbup:
 
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I only collect folders, because they're the only knives I'll carry and use. Specifically, I look for the roles of edc light utility, overbuilt heavy utility, and self-defense, and varying sizes/weights for those roles. Of course, I always pick ones that look good to me.
 
First let me say I have only collected knives for 1/2 year despite using them most of my life. I was a lurker on bladeforums for all my knife research so thanks guys and gals. I collect knifes I can use for dressing deer and fish. I resharpen and use Every knife I have from custom down to budget blades. I have only been collecting for a few months but have used regular knifes for years. Ie buck and puma. I decided I wanted to get into nicer knives as gun collecting was increasingly difficult due to lack of ammo availability. Started by watching virtuovice and came to appreciate his angle for hunting knifes and the convex blade shape. I got a few bark river knifes, a set of naniwa chosera stones in 600,1000, and 3000 grit. They are excellent stones. I also was given my dads russian shell strop(horse hide) and bought some enkay green to go with. I added around 25 fixed blade knifes from tops, a few custom snody boss blades, svord,. This lead to my discovery of helle blank blades. I built my own crashcarta handles for 3 of them thus far with reasonable success. Slowly got into sanrenmus and bought a few of those. They are decent. I am now into folders and have decided to slow my collecting after a huge splurge recently. I have discovered enduras recently and have became quite a spyderco fan..I have over 50 folders now but here is what i added in the last 2 weeks-buck 110,kershaw wildcat ridge,blue delica vg 10,endura zdp 189, tops xcest delta, emerson horseman, cts bd1 manix, and a spyderco gayle bradley. I am way behind on my sharpening but the bd1 manix I sharpened tonight sliced paper just as good or better than my enduras. I buy USA made if I am able.
 
I am not a knife collector. I have a small assortment of knives I use, as the tools they were meant to be. I have owned probably well over 500 different knives, but I think of the ones that have passed through my hands as "rentals". I guess I could say the ones I have owned and let go got me to this point. I have a very small, but extremely selective group of blades that I carry and use every day. I have a knife for every purpose I have and no more.

Most of my knives are fixed blades. I really only own 3 folders now. I very much prefer fixed blades due to their simplicity, durability, and relatively low maintenance. Plus, nothing beats a fixed blade for speed of deployment. When you draw a fixed blade it's already open! Nothing beats that - not the wave, not speed safe, nor autos. If it ain't fixed, it's broken.

All that said, I can appreciate knives as art. I can understand why someone would want to own a knife they never use. It just isn't me. My blades get used or sold or traded. So I guess one could say I collect only knives I use.
 
Aside from a couple SAKs of minimal value and a Kiwi with sentimental value, my collection consists of two folders and one fixed blade. For years, I've had a dedicated #1 high-end folder(from a maker like CRK/Hinderer/Strider/etc...) plus another folder of lesser value. The #1 sees the majority of carry and use, while the #2 tends to scratch the "looking for a new knife" itch.

It seems like I've basically got X number of dollars tied up in the hobby and am constantly using that sum of cash in different combinations to try different folders.
 
I initially picked up where I left off as a teenager, buying fixed blades along the lines of the Gerber Prodigy and LMF II, various Ontario Spec Plus models and so on. Nothing especially unique to begin with, but with more of an effort to buy American-made knives than when I was a kid who didn't care. I have always been a tanto fan above all else, so my first purchases from brands like Boker, Cold Steel and Ka-Bar were tantos. Once I became interested in folders, it was with an "anything goes" attitude toward design, brand and country of origin. My usual EDC folders are Kershaws and Gerbers that I can easily afford to replace if necessary, but just about any folder I buy could serve in that role. There are some that I bought strictly because I liked the look (Zero Tolerance 0801, SOG Mini Vulcan, Spyderco Ulize) that I realistically am unlikely to carry, not because they aren't capable, but because they aren't going to serve me any better in that capacity than the various $20-30 knives I already rotate through on a daily or weekly basis. Overall, none of my knives were bought with rarity or resale value in mind - anything I buy has to be interesting to me.

My last few purchases have been made with much more attention to intended use than collecting: Benchmade Adamas for a hard-use folder, Camillus Barbarian for a general outdoors fixed blade, Kershaw OD-1 for a "modern pocketknife," etc. Each one appeals to me as a collector, but was bought to be carried and used,
 
I have about 6 folders I use and don't "collect" anymore, I may keep some stuff NIB, if I'm on the fence about so I can sell them if need be. The user knives in my rotation are some of the "classics" from various manufactures.
Benchmade 940, 710.
Spyderco Military and Delica.
ZT0350.
Emerson CQC7.
It just ended up this way, no surprises as far as design and I'm very happy with them.
 
Strictly users. (Although I have prepped a fixed blade.) Don't buy "uncomfortable" folders anymore: so what I "collect" so to speak, has to be tip-DOWN and preferably a liner- or frame-lock and no hollow grind.

Further, I don't give a F about where a knife is made. I'm a big advocate of free-market capitalism.
 
I collect what I like. Some I carry, some are things I will never use(I just ordered a sword from Traditional Filipino Weapons, it looks beautiful, but I certainly have no practical use for it).

Brand doesn't really matter to me, nor does place of manufacture. The one thing I do look for is quality-even if it's a knife I'll never use, anything I buy now has to be something that would be decent quality if I DID decide to use it for some reason. I have no need of a fighting knife, but when I BUY combat knives, it will be Ka-bar, or Ontario, or similar brands, not some junky no-name "Rambo knife". I have no need of a sword, but if I DO buy a sword, it will be something like Cold Steel or Traditional Filipino Weapons, not some United Cutlery "Master Ninja Sword" or whatever.
 
I like tacticals,folders mainly,fighter bowie blades false edges,also art knives like Brian Tighe,give me carved ti, multi color anodizing,recurves,also like different locks,like axis,rolling,got many framelocks,too.ive become much more selective lately so i dont end up with lots of knives i wind up getting rid of.
 
I am generally a collector of Spydercos, though most of my other knives are users in various roles. I will generally only collect American made knives, although I do have several from Taiwan that I enjoy, such as my RATs, Zancudos, and my Taichung Spydies. Otherwise, I generally only buy American. I do not buy knives from China.
 
I collect knives that interest me. I have knives from $1800 to $5. I have modern and traditional. Tactical and survival. USA and foreign. So - when I see a knife that I like, I put it on my wish list, prioritize them and buy when I can afford to. I have no theme although I have a handful of knives where I collect variants (Blur, Skyline, Ripple, Peanut, etc.) but for the most part I just collect one of each.
 
My main collection is comprised of the peanut pattern but trappers and whittlers have snuck in on occasion. I mainly use Kershaw speedsafe knives so I have an accumulation them as well perhaps 8 or 9 at this time. I have several fixed blade knives including a Becker machax and a generic machete, a Schrade sharpfinger and a handmade hunting knife by Steve Skiff I acquired in a tool trade quite a few years ago.
 
Mostly folders, I have 20 at the moment. One of the things I like is a variety of high end steels, although several are S30V as so many good, using folders have it.
I won't buy a knife I won't use, although a few are treated gently.
 
I have about five User knives that do everything I could ever need.

Of the 500 knives that have never been used, about 25% are made in the USA Schrade Old Timers that I have purposefully Collected. The remainder are just an Accumulation, a wide assortment of styles and brands from all over the world.

I don't really have a method of collecting yet, but I do have a crazy thirst for more!
Click to expand...

That's the best way to learn, have fun, and gain the most experience. :thumbup:
 
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