Why do I keep buying new knives?

powernoodle said:
By buying knives, you are anesthetizing yourself (as with drugs or alcohol) from the pain of emotional angst. The thrill of the hunt, the purchase, the package in the mailbox, the opening, the first usage of the new knife - it is a temporary balm on an emotional wound. The balm dissipates, and you buy another knife. Click on my signature line if you think I don't know what I'm talking about. :)
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Do you play a psychiatrist on TV? ;) Very well put.
 
tommyg805 said:
Why do I keep buying more knives when all I carry is a small sebenza 21?Does this ever happen to anyone else?
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Why? Because you are a knife slut! Nothin wrong with it, won't last forever either. Why fight it, embrace it.
 
I just received the Spyderco Para2, black blade and cammo G10 for $120. I thought about the Sebanza, but for 1/3 the price, the Para2 had the same blade S30V. I decided to wait on purchasing the CRK Small Sebanza. The Para2 arrived razor razor sharp slicing paper. The blade sits in the middle of the handle. I like it and now its my EDC. I just need to sand down the G10 under the clip so it can slip onto my pocket quicker.
 
A year or two ago I realized I'd found the perfect black-tie event knife, the perfect casual dress knife, the perfect EDC, the perfect hard-use knife, etc. and I quit buying steel all together. It had always been a quest, not a hobby. I'm still perfectly happy with the same 5 knives for EDC, but I am crawling out of my skin wanting a new toy to play with!

Bottom Line- You are helpless to resist it, just enjoy the ride.
 
tommyg805 said:
What knife could possibly be good enough to replace my sebbie?
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Two Sebbies!

I sold off most of my folders after getting my micarta Sebenzas. I have a few folders again. When you're a knife nut, you know it's a sickness with getting new knives. At least you're addicted to knives, not drugs!
 
jonshoup said:
A year or two ago I realized I'd found the perfect black-tie event knife, the perfect casual dress knife, the perfect EDC, the perfect hard-use knife, etc. and I quit buying steel all together. It had always been a quest, not a hobby. I'm still perfectly happy with the same 5 knives for EDC, but I am crawling out of my skin wanting a new toy to play with!

Bottom Line- You are helpless to resist it, just enjoy the ride.
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So you're claiming you've been out of the game for a year? Or is that 2 years? Sounds like the alcoholic who always claims they've "just had a couple" (cases, fifths, gallons or hooch??).

Why do you still come here? For self inflicted torture over every cool new knife release?

I'm thinking you're a closet buyer and not letting on cuz you can't even keep track of years in your story etc.. :D
 
I guess you guys are right. If a small seb is my grail knife, then a large one would be even better. And then I'll get a para2 just to shut the voices up. I need to stop buying cheaper knives though. It sucks to put a lesser knife in my rotation. After a couple hours I just want my sebbie back!
As for all that emotional stuff, thats heavy, man. I think denial is a much more feasible alternative.
 
tommyg805 said:
Why do I keep buying more knives when all I carry is a small sebenza 21? I tried out a sage 1 as a remedy to this, then the g10 delica, but to no avail. Lately I've been lusting over the paramilitary 2 but will it be able to compete with my sebbie?

Does this ever happen to anyone else? What knife could possibly be good enough to replace my sebbie?
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Because no matter how nice a knife is, over time it won't be able to give you the high you get from the anticipation and uncertainty that comes along with getting something new. There's nothing wrong with getting new knives to try out. You can always sell them if they don't appeal to you. Keeping a bunch of knives when you don't use them or buy them for collecting purposes is weird.
 
jonshoup said:
A year or two ago I realized I'd found the perfect black-tie event knife, the perfect casual dress knife, the perfect EDC, the perfect hard-use knife, etc. and I quit buying steel all together. It had always been a quest, not a hobby. I'm still perfectly happy with the same 5 knives for EDC, but I am crawling out of my skin wanting a new toy to play with!

Bottom Line- You are helpless to resist it, just enjoy the ride.
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Out of curiosity, which five knives did you settle on?
 
tommyg805 said:
I guess you guys are right. If a small seb is my grail knife, then a large one would be even better. And then I'll get a para2 just to shut the voices up. I need to stop buying cheaper knives though. It sucks to put a lesser knife in my rotation. After a couple hours I just want my sebbie back!
As for all that emotional stuff, thats heavy, man. I think denial is a much more feasible alternative.
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I personally suggest not to avoid knives just because they're in a lower price range than your primary EDC. I rotate between 2 $500+ knives, a Spyderco Military and a $35 Case trapper. They all work and they all are great to own and use. I have a Darrel Ralph custom in the mail and I plan on getting a Spyderco Paramilitary and a Kershaw Zing sometime this year. I've bought Zings for 3 people because I like them so much. I had one and gave it to a friend and now I want one for myself.

Price in itself is no indication if a knife is a great design. I think anyone who avoids knives simply because of price is doing themselves a disservice. The production knife/ lower priced knife industry is just too innovative to ignore.
 
I have a whole tub full of brand new knives and it doesn't keep me from buying more. Someday when I'm in the ground, somebody is going to be rooting through my stuff and wondering why so many knives. But I don't care. I see something that I like that is reasonable in price, and I buy one. Some I use immediately and others just stay on my desk and eventually end up in storage. My ESEE 4 is a good example. It has not seen any use yet. I have a particular weakness for SAKs even though I pretty much settled into the "one" that I carry as an EDC along with another blade that gets rotated.
 
I think the problem lies in your motivation and logic. You carry a knife because you think you need one, but you use it so rarely you are not really sure what you need it for. Naturally you are always looking for a "better" knife, but have not yet determined what "better" means because you still dont know what you need in the first place.

Or you just like knives. I have decided what my ideal edc knife is and use it exclusively for edc, but I still buy other knives cuz I like 'em.

It could be "emotional balm" but then what isnt? You have friends to make you feel good, tasty food to make you feel good, nice colorful clothes, fine arts, etc. All of it is arguably a distraction from some unhappy reality. Unless you are an ascetic monk who sits in a desert with an empty mind, you are probably consuming things to make you happy, as an "emotional balm." It is not necessarily bad.

Just my 2cents tho
 
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I've been hoarding knives since the 70s,why,because I love sharp n' shiny things.I've been slowing down on my buying lately(last several months),think I'm burning out a little.The addiction does that now and then,it happened with my firearms purchasing.Besides,I'm running out of available space.But,you never know when the yearning to accumulate a few more knives will rear its ugly head.
 
Give that Para 2 a try... It's a great knife and might slow down the purchasing for a while since it will be hard to find something better.
 
I try to moderate my pocket knife purchases, i ask myself where a considered purchase will fit in my line-up. I usually buy knives that are different designs/steels from my others, but it also helps that I buy kitchen knives ;).
 
Jet B said:
Give that Para 2 a try... It's a great knife and might slow down the purchasing for a while since it will be hard to find something better.
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I like my para2 so much I have to talk myself out of buying another one. I have a feeling that by the end of the year I will own another.
 
I just got a new ESSE RC-4 today. As soon as I opened it up and handled it I remembered why I sold my 1st one. The blade to handle ratio requires a larger finger choil. To simply hold the handle and dig into some tough wood for shavings etc. makes it unwieldy and puts all of the pressure on your wrist.

This might just be due to my personal build and arm, hand, wrist set-up. Most like the RC-4 better, not me and now I'm sure it wasn't a mistake to sell the 1st one.

Unlike my RC-3 MIL or Izulas that put all of the power right at the end of your fist for cutting that doesn't tire or stress the wrist. Another new knife at a good price for a forum member. :o
 
cziv said:
There was a post with an IKBS conversion in it. Very nice but entirely unneccesary. If your Sebenza is that much more to you than your XM-18, I'll trade you a LNIB large 21 S35VN for it since you've never really sounded happy with it.

Sounds like a win/win to me since I think the XM-18 is made to as tight a tolerance, with f&f of a Sebenza and has better blade steel but it's chunkier and built for harder use. The Sebenza does have a slight edge on blade length and slicing though. Shoot me a PM. ;)
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No thanks. If anything I like the XM-18 more due to the fact that it "ages gracefully" and feels better in hand. It's just that the blade shape isn't good for cutting and the detent is pretty much nonexistent, which would technically make it a gravity knife.
 
Noctis3880 said:
No thanks. If anything I like the XM-18 more due to the fact that it "ages gracefully" and feels better in hand. It's just that the blade shape isn't good for cutting and the detent is pretty much nonexistent, which would technically make it a gravity knife.
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I can't argue with those observations. My offer stands on the Sebenza trade though. ;)
 
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