What has collecting taught you about yourself?

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I'm way less cut resistant than I thought, and I have uttered to myself, '"OK, this always looks worse than it is. Where's the super glue?" more than once.
 
Ooh, great topic. I have a few major gripes, and some minor. I find as I get older my taste changes.

1. I will never, ever, in ever of evers, buy another knife with CPM-S30V.

2. Frame locks are getting old. I like more uniqueness.

3. Metal handles make my leg cold. I'm cold enough when it's -20° and 30mph winds.

4. I use my Vic super tinker more than anything.

5. Most thumbstuds suck. Spydie holes and flippers for these arthritic hands.

6. Tip down only ruins a perfectly good knife.

7. Tactical anything is the last thing I need. I can barely walk, let alone "get tactical" on someone.

8. Right tool for the right job.

9. As with everything, what you pay is not necessarily what you get.

10. My wallet hates me.

11. A folding pry bar is as useful as a rubber chainsaw.

12. Three inches (give or take) is the ideal blade length.

13. I don't understand chisel grinds. I'd rather just buy a chisel.

14. Full serrations or none.

15. Well known custom knife makers collaborating with poor quality companies. I understand everyone needs to make a buck, but putting your name and design on a CRKT etc can't be good for your reputation. Ken Onion never should have left Kershaw.

16. I don't understand the concern of early vs late lockup. Shouldn't the lockbar be in the center for ideal strength?

17. Fantasy and tactical blades are. awesome. Well, they were when I was 13.

18. I don't need super steel, but I won't buy crappy either.

19. Variety is the spice of life.

20. Everyone is entitled to to their own opinion. Even though mine is better.

*Edit: Edited my edits for editing purposes. That and my phone likes to change my words around, make me look bad. Kinda like the ex-wife.
 
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Tastes change, rarely does the salty feeling over missing the opportunity on something last (although sometimes it does for a while), I can in fact live without it, I will likely not miss it after I sell it, and even if I do I will find something new, and having a collection/acquisition strategy/concept/metric helps keep me from buying things "just because."
 
vanadium said:
I've been a knife nut since I was a teenager, but I never accumulated more than a handful knives until a few years ago. Never having been a collector of anything before, I've been surprised by the 'mirror' that it provides: observing my own changing tastes, etc.

I'm wondering: What are the lessons people have learned from collecting knives? Or collecting anything else?

This topic has been brought up before, and I think the most common answer is, "I learned that my tastes change all the time!" But what else have people learned about themselves?

Here's mine:

I've become totally fascinated with a couple of knives in the past, which I didn't wind up buying. Now when I consider those knives again months/years later, I feel nostalgia in remembering the time that I wanted the knife! And this makes me want to finally buy it, although I'm not sure it's actually about the knife any more. :eek: So I learned something about just how damned nostalgic I am.

Your turn! ;)
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I am a sucker for stupid self defense knives I will almost certainly never use.

I also learned that I don’t have to own every knife I think looks cool. Usually the only knives I really end up carrying consistantly are ones that are light and comfortable and are relatively socially acceptable to carry around other people.
 
I've recently realized that having 20 knives that sit in a drawer never being used pale in comparison to the one (or two) that is in my pocket.
 
Is the OP talking about collecting? So far no knife has made me belive that I will keep it for the rest of my life. So I guess I learned that collecting is really a temporary thing.
 
vanadium said:
..I'm wondering: What are the lessons people have learned from collecting knives? ... "I learned that my tastes change all the time!" But what else have people learned about themselves?
.....Your turn! ;)
Click to expand...
Somewhat gullible. Can't seem to shake of wants. Remorseful and full of regret at times.
But imho, buying something is probably the best, if not the most exciting feeling in the world :)
In that way having a collection is no different from having a fix.
Its hard to turn it off, there's no denying it This is one nasty hobby that if unfulfilled can be as tormentful as having withdrawal symptoms.
On the positive side, mistakes or unwanted excesses in the hobby has made me into a benevolent knife giving santa clause all year through ;-) and what's better is that i sometimes get love and affection in return.
All in all, i would say that this hobby has made life more interesting in unexpected ways. i have also come to sse and learnt that one man's folly is another man's gain.
And that's more or less the lessons of an incurable knife addict has turned out for me.
 
I like old stuff. Cars, guns, watches, etc ... and now knives. I like purchasing them from a golden era of my definition. New product is on my radar for curiosity, but my purchases are vintage or possibly new product make to an homage like vintage spec.
 
I've learned that after decades of knife collecting that the Spyderco Gayle Bradley 1 and 2 are, hands down, the best folding work knives I've run across.

For bigger blades I'll stick with my Swamp Rat Rodent 9 - perfect balance in my hand and the best heat treat you can get. I don't even want a different big knife - its perfect for me.

Small fixed blade would be my Benchmade NimCub. Perfect little utilitarian knife.

I've also learned that if I could only have one knife for the rest of my life it would be a Swisschamp.

48 years of life have taught me this much.
 
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