Worst beginner knife collecting/buying mistakes?

B

Brew-Jitsu

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Oct 22, 2012
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I'm learning how to make smarter knife buying decisions (after some not-so-great purchases), but I was wondering what some of you have experienced as rookie mistakes when you got into buying and collecting knives.
 
buying combo edges was my big one, bought a tenacious and a delica both with combo edges as my first knives. Found out later its better to just have a full serrated on stand by should you need that. Which I rarely do.
 
Buying combo edges and buying a bunch of $25-50 knives because you can't afford a $100 knife. Save up for that $100 knife and you'll be much happier.
 
1) Not keeping good records. Where, when, how much, etc.
2) Not keeping collection secure.
 
The mistake would be not doing your research.

I started out buying low-quality knives because I didn't know any better, and because I didn't have any place to learn.

Here is the largest resource for knives in the entire world. Look, read, hold onto your money until you've found a knife that holds your attention for a while.
 
The best advice I can give you is to pick a theme, pick a pattern or pick a scale material but pick a direction for your collectin' hobby, don't become an accumulator.

Unless of course ya wanna build up a stockpile. When ya pick a pattern or a theme ya can focus your attention and funds on a smaller more refined quality collection.

Unfortunately I haven't in 40 years been able to take my own advice.

Hello, my name is Ted and I'm an accumulator... ;)
 
I bought a lot of partially serrated knives and I've grown to loath serrations. When I was about 15 or so I bough a Ka-Bar black fighting/utility with the hard sheath but I got the combo edge. I ended up selling it about a year ago because it was just no good to me. I might get another with just the plain edge eventually.

The other big mistake was just buying whatever looked cool instead of trying to sniff out quality blades. Most of my knife collecting was from about 12 to maybe 16 or 17 and then it tapered off somewhat until a couple years ago. Some of those blades turned out to be good, like the ka-bars and the glock field knife. then there's the $50 I dropped on some crappy Rambo knockoff "survival" knife with a hollow handle that would be useless in the woods. I've seen them today, more than 10 years later, for as low as $35 and they're not even worth that.
 
Trading a really nice/expensive knife for a rather cheap knife... 110% regret trading away my Fiddleback Forge bushcrafter for two knives that could have sold together for probably half the price of the Fiddleback. Impulse trade.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
The best advice I can give you is to pick a theme, pick a pattern or pick a scale material but pick a direction for your collectin' hobby, don't become an accumulator.

Unless of course ya wanna build up a stockpile. When ya pick a pattern or a theme ya can focus your attention and funds on a smaller more refined quality collection.

Unfortunately I haven't in 40 years been able to take my own advice.

Hello, my name is Ted and I'm an accumulator... ;)
Click to expand...

I Accumulated for over 20 years before picking a brand or two or three for serious Collecting. And ya know what? I still get a kick out of buying a wide range of bladed tools. Hurray for Accumulating! :D
 
Bob W said:
1) Not keeping good records. Where, when, how much, etc.
2) Not keeping collection secure.
Click to expand...

Some more good advice, as your collection grows, it becomes harder to document your knives if you don't stay on top of it, when ya bought it, how much, where ya got it...

Not hard when ya got only a dozen or so blades but when ya get twenty, fifty, a hundred knives and ya haven't documented anything it takes a long time to do all this.
 
Buy what you like. If you can't afford it now, save up. Otherwise you will be disappointed and end up buying what you wanted anyways (after spending a bunch of time and money on other stuff).
 
one of the first mistakes I made was thinking tantos looked cool, but now I think a clip point looks much better and works better for my needs also.
 
If you're buying old knives, school yourself on fakes, and always buy the best condition you can afford.
 
Reiterating what a few members have said already.... Don't buy a bunch of the $20-$30 knives because they are affordable and easy to find at your local walmart. Save up and buy the $100-$200 knives and you will still value them when you are a few years into the hobby. I have a bunch of crappy knives in the $30-$40 range that I don't like and they aren't worth anything so they just sit.
 
1.) Buying what looks cool, not what you need and will use.
2.) Buying cheap because you think it's a good deal.
3.) Not reading and looking at reviews.
4.) Buying several cheaper knives at the same time and spending $100, thinking it's a good deal because you're getting several cool decent knives, when you could spend that and get one outstanding knife.
5.) Starting with Gerber and Winchester knives.

I started with Kershaw and CRKT. I learned these are probably the best cheaper knives to start with. Or the cheaper Spyderco and Byrd knives.
Really I'd save up now. But if you're just starting, you really can't go wrong with the above.
 
I started collecting knives about 13 years ago. This was shortly before bladeforums was launched, not that I had a decent computer then, anyway. I bought a bunch of pakistani bullcrap from fleamarts. Talk about garbage. I made my mistakes long ago with cheap blades, llike United's crap. Glad it was with cheap stuff. Moral is, the forumites are here to help. Listen to them. Wish I had known about this site when it went online. Coulda saved me tons.
 
The biggest thing i have learned is that The trade section is your friend. :) if I get a knife that I don't like, I trade it.
 
I loved one knife from the start. When I started to collect them there wasnt much demand for them. I saw many rare ones go up for sale and I thought "Ill just get it latter." I also didnt realize how rare they were. I thought if they are here now, they will be around latter. Well its latter now, the ones I saw sell for $40 are now $300 and there are a few I saw once and have never seen again.

Be wise in your ways, but dont hesitate too much.
 
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