WHY are we like this???

We COLLECT knives because we don't NEED knives.

I carry 3 EDC and seldom need any. I look at my dad's ONE old hunting knife and think "Jeez, he only had ONE knife." Actually he had TWO but the other was his "pocket" knife. Again.....only ONE.

Most of us no longer have the pleasure of the "outing" in the woods that previous generations had, so we occupy our time and minds with ...variety.

We gaze on knives that really ARE too nice to actually ....USE. But....they are "state of the art" if you HAD to use them.

And I'll bet there are more on this forum than we know who will even go GET a crummy knife for a destructive job rather than use the one they carry.

It's like the Mercedes. You know it GOES 130+ but you don't do it.

Guns have been removed from easy collecting. I used to be able to get a gun in the mail and Lugers were $39.95.

Knives are replacing guns as "collectibles."

And "collecting" fills a need for accumulation of ...things. Valuable things and things that bring like-minded people together to discuss.

Basically, a TRIBE is the best and simplest form of government and KNIVES are our tribe.
 
Others have pretty much said it already, so all I can really add is the following:

I like toys, too. I'm stuck on pens at the moment.
I like tools - got that from my father, I suppose.
I like pretty/shiny things.
I like tools I can use to make other things - I can carve with knives. Maybe that should be under the "tools" heading.
I embrace the primal part of my brain - it even keeps me out of trouble sometimes.

I'm not sure what's behind some people's fear of knives - that seems rather primitive also, but in a different way. They seem to be afraid of a knife jumping up and stabbing them?? I don't imagine they deal with pain very well. And I wonder how they deal with crises, also.
 
Sundsvall said:
Its a sickness.
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If you think knives are a sickness, it's really the collecting, I've been collecting everything my whole life. If one is good 10 are better, and if you can get them all, like with certain types of antique cars or motorcycles (you can actually own all the models left) that's the best.

Try collecting cannons, miniature steam engines or antique toys and games.

When I'm dead and gone, the person that winds up with all my sh*t will have a field day pickin' through my assorted collections.

So why am I like this? Because there's still stuff left to accumulate. :D
 
T. Erdelyi said:
If you think knives are a sickness, it's really the collecting, I've been collecting everything my whole life. If one is good 10 are better, and if you can get them all, like with certain types of antique cars or motorcycles (you can actually own all the models left) that's the best.

Try collecting cannons, miniature steam engines or antique toys and games.

When I'm dead and gone, the person that winds up with all my sh*t will have a field day pickin' through my assorted collections.

So why am I like this? Because there's still stuff left to accumulate. :D
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Thats what I mean. Its an obsessive, compulsive, sickness.

Fun, but sick.
 
But the CURE is easy. We all get together in a circle and run files over:

Original 1800's Bowie knives
Anything made by Randall
All handmade and custom knives
All Japanese blades (especially if signed by a master)


Then we all get a safety razor for completing the therapy.

:D
 
I’m not obsessive about it, but I do appreciate fine workmanship, quality and function in knives, guns, cars and women. I’ve been carrying knives for over 50 years and use them on a daily basis. When I put on my pants I open my bedside drawer and pick an appropriate edc for the day. My next move is to purchase a grinder and other equipment and finally start making knives the way I want them. I’ve been reading and reading about it and I haven’t made a knife since metal shop in the 10th grade (which I still have). This will be one of my retirement hobbies.
 
Piney, don't wait until retirement. There's no guarentee you'll liv ethat long and your eyesight won't be any better by then if you do. Besides that, with all the manufacturing of everything going to China, there's never been a better time to buy machine tools as good old American made precision machinery can be had cheap these days.

John
 
Runs With Scissors said:
First I like the traditional aspect of knives as tool. My Grandfather taught me how to sharpen knives and whittle when I was about six years old, and sadly I'm the only one in my family that really has a clue with knives and sharpening.
The smell of Cedar and the sight of a good slip joint still bring back memories of lazy summer afternoons whittling with my grandfather. (he's also responsible for teaching me how to fish, hunt, shoot, and most other things I learned about the outdoors as a child)
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Your grandfather sounds like a *great* guy. I wish that I could have met him. I was going to say something like treasure your memories with him, but I'm sure by reading your post that you do. You definitely honor him with your memories, and I think that's a wonderful thing to do.

As for me, it's a combination of things. Knives bring back memories of my Dad, I remember when he took me to a department store in Frankfurt to buy my first knife, a Victorinox. Same store he took my older brother to for his first knife. Both of them are gone now, but the knives are now safely stored, along with the memories.

I think they also connect us with a more distant, primitive self that we have in each of us. Even if we are just "keyboard commandos", folks like to at least think that, yeah, just in case, I could.....
 
It is not a sickness. We collect tools that have many uses, including self defense, and by a minority as weapons. I enjoy collecting knives, the look, the feel, the sound, and among the many tools I own I find my Endura and Swiss Army Tool to be the most useful on a day to day basis. There is always something to be cut. People collect many things, stamps, comic books, furniture, etc. How are we that different? You like what you like. :D
 
One of the great things about knives is that they can make and modoify more/other tools :D I find that very appealing. By the way moondrop and planterz sorry if I sounded like I'm copying you but i had the same thought before I read your ones :D
 
One nice thing about knives, especially folders is that I can carry my hobby around with me every day, and it's a hobby I can use practically every day, unlike some other hobbies I've had. Nice.
U
 
Dragon_Man said:
It is not a sickness. ... People collect many things, stamps, comic books, furniture, etc. How are we that different? You like what you like. :D
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What makes you think that the other collectors aren't sick as well?
 
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