"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

Is it ethical to sell a knife you received as a Gift or Porch GAW prize?
Why do you distinguish gift from GAW prize? Just curious.
More a personal choice than an ethical one. Ethically, I'd say it is yours to do with as you please. Personally I would pass it along if I didn't have a use for it, but if there were a need, I could see someone selling it. Everyone's circumstances are different.
+1
Technically you may sell it. It belongs to you. Be aware though that Gentlemany standards still exist and by doing so you go over the bridge to Flipperville ..a grimy , commercially depressed town where shysters and con men loiter in the doorways waiting to run their rip off scams on the innocent folk of Porchenberg.
Yeah, but OP is a gentleman, or he wouldn't be worried about his ethics.
Question of Karma......;)
I'd expect neutral karma from selling what's yours.

Really none of my business. The only person with an emotional stake in the fate of your gift would be the giver. And that's a maybe. Every giver's different, too.
 
What say you all?
Is it ethical to sell a knife you received as a Gift or Porch GAW prize?
Or would you simply pass it on to somebody else that may enjoy it?

I'm in the - it's yours, do as you wish - camp but for conscience relief, trading it for another knife or some gear, might seem more in keeping with the natural order of things. The rest of us should not be so vested in what you do in such a circumstance. My 2¢.

Ray
 
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I would hope and expect that anyone who gives a gift or giveaway knife would be rewarded by blessing the recipient. If the new owner would be more blessed by trading or even selling the knife, then that would add to my own enjoyment at helping to make that possible. I say do what you want with it.
 
Regarding gifts one may have received, the ethical conundrums are none of my business.

What if a porch member sent me a knife I did not like or want. Would I be obligated to keep it or perhaps trade or sell it for one I did? What if I sold it for drugs, or food?

Lovely question, OP.
 
I have received two knives from give-a-ways on the forum.

One of them did not really click with me, and there was a new, young forum member who came along and seemed interested in the pattern. I exchanged PMs with the original giver, asking him if it would be OK for me to pay it forward and re-gift the knife. He was fine with it, so it was re-gifted.

The other one I still have, though I did a pay-it-forward of a different nature (a financial contribution to a charity in honor of the original giver) so technically if I ever needed to sell it, which I don't plan to anyway, the karma has been balanced already.

I have done a few of the "Hey, send me your mailing address, I have something you may like" things. Each time, I expressly told the recipient that it was a gift, they could do with it as they please. Use it, re-gift, trade, or sell.

Once I give something away, there are no strings attached. If there were, it would not be theirs. I would HOPE that it would bring them some level of joy of ownership, or perhaps engender a spirit of generosity in them that they might in the future do something similar (a pay-forward), but with no feeling of indebtedness to me.

If I had wanted to keep the knife, I would have kept it. :)
 
Thanks for your thoughts on Gifts and GAWs, everybody.

I think gift knives are special...
Personally, I would never feel right about selling or giving away a gift knife I received from a fellow Porch Member. There is thought and kindness behind that gift that transcends any monetary value. I understand that sometimes events might rise that force the sale of a gift, in which case I'd hope they'd sell it discretely so as not to offend the giver, or get the givers blessing. I have never, and will never sell a gift knife.

GAW prizes I put in a (only slightly) different category...
First, if the GAW prize isn't something you really want, leave it for somebody else to win that might really enjoy it. If you eventually grow tired of the GAW knife or find you don't really like it, then pass it on to somebody else that may enjoy it more than you. GAW prizes are also special to me as they remind me of the generosity and friendship of the Porch. It's totally fine to pass that good will on to someone else. Once again, if the need arises to sell it, do it discretely. I have passed on a couple of GAW knives to family member so they might enjoy them too, but I'd never sell them as I believe it goes against the original intention of the GAW.

I'll throw one more category in there...
Friendly knife deals. If a Porch Member finds out I'm looking to try out a particular knife and gives me a really fantastic deal on one, I am grateful to that member because they would have been able to sell that knife for a whole lot more money. If I decide I don't want to keep the knife, I feel obligated to give the same deal to another member that would appreciate that same gesture. Once again, I feel obligated to preserve the good will that has been placed into that knife. I have done this several times and it makes the new buyer as happy as I was. That makes me happy and I believe it would make the original seller happy. Good Karma as some of you like to say.

These are just my personal opinions and I know not everybody is bound by the same feelings.
Once again, thanks for all the responses.
 
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On a different knife forum a member up and volunteered to send me one of his knives to try out since I was interested in that model at the time. He did, I kept it for a couple of weeks and returned it to him. A very nice gesture for which I was thankful.
 
Thanks for your thoughts on Gifts and GAWs, everybody.

I think gift knives are special...
Personally, I would never feel right about selling or giving away a gift knife I received from a fellow Porch Member. There is thought and kindness behind that gift that transcends any monetary value. I understand that sometimes events might rise that force the sale of a gift, in which case I'd hope they'd sell it discretely so as not to offend the giver, or get the givers blessing. I have never, and will never sell a gift knife.

GAW prizes I put in a (only slightly) different category...
First, if the GAW prize isn't something you really want, leave it for somebody else to win that might really enjoy it. If you eventually grow tired of the GAW knife or find you don't really like it, then pass it on to somebody else that may enjoy it more than you. GAW prizes are also special to me as they remind me of the generosity and friendship of the Porch. It's totally fine to pass that good will on to someone else. Once again, if the need arises to sell it, do it discretely. I have passed on a couple of GAW knives to family member so they might enjoy them too, but I'd never sell them as I believe it goes against the original intention of the GAW.

I'll throw one more category in there...
Friendly knife deals. If a Porch Member finds out I'm looking to try out a particular knife and gives me a really fantastic deal on one, I am grateful to that member because they would have been able to sell that knife for a whole lot more money. If I decide I don't want to keep the knife, I feel obligated to give the same deal to another member that would appreciate that same gesture. Once again, I feel obligated to preserve the good will that has been placed into that knife. I have done this several times and it makes the new buyer as happy as I was. That makes me happy and I believe it would make the original seller happy. Good Karma as some of you like to say.

These are just my personal opinions and I know not everybody is bound by the same feelings.
Once again, thanks for all the responses.

Well said. :thumbsup: Saves me the trouble of typing out an answer to your question (which would have essentially been the same as what you’ve said there). :D
 
not sure if this is the place to ask this or not, still figuring this place out. But what do most of you look for in a Stag handled GEC? What makes one better than another? Whats popular? I just can't quite see what all the fuss is about stag..
Certainly a personal thing. I’m not fond of stag for knife covers. Some are wild for it. I do suspect that fairly symmetrically thick stag would enhance the grip on certain knives, but I haven’t been convinced enough to pick through photos of them, where available, nor pay the premium stag requires.
 
not sure if this is the place to ask this or not, still figuring this place out. But what do most of you look for in a Stag handled GEC? What makes one better than another? Whats popular? I just can't quite see what all the fuss is about stag..

OOOHHHHH! I see a thread topic. Moving that question to a new thread.
 
A new friend showed up in the creek behind our house this past week. I believe it is a pregnant Cooper's Hawk. I've never seen a hawk so round as this one, but she still hunts. I watched her drop on a mouse or vole in the creek, then fly back up into the trees with it in her mouth. Unfortunately didn't have the camera close enough to capture it.

IMG_2614.JPG
 
Aqua Bunny!
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Here is Coco getting his quarterly (or thereabouts) spa treatment. Being a long haired and somewhat elderly rabbit, he suffers from what is officially known in rabbit circles as (I kid you not) “poopy-butt”. A good soaking loosens up the matted material enough that we can remove it. This last time, while I was holding a wet and unhappy rabbit swaddled in an old towel, my daughter couldn’t find the dedicated quarterly-rabbit-rear-end-matted-fur-and-poop-trimming scissors, so I reluctantly let her use my beard-trimming scissors.:eek: Oh well, nothing a good scrubbing with bleach won’t fix, though it makes me wonder if some of the men in that Swiss beard-and-bacteria study weren’t rabbit owners...

( Will Power Will Power ‘s hare picture above reminded me of this)

Let's not get back on the Beardodrama:D let's stick to Nature. But brave man donating your beard trimmers for Rabbit Rump Shearing;) We used to keep house rabbits up until quite recently, three in a row, surprisingly friendly and very interesting little pets (some are huge, went to a show before Christmas some were 7 kg, lot bigger than the cat:eek:) We always took the short-haired breeds, I can see that was a good move...your rabbit is docile, can't believe our first one 'Musta' putting up with that, a friendly rabbit but he didn't mind biting if things weren't to his liking;) So didn't have to do that kind of hygiene chore. Used to keep a lot of Guinea-Pigs when a lad, bred them too, funny that these animals produce their young with fur and eyes open at birth, just like Hares actually. I had a few Peruvian Guineas and they're long coated, they certainly could get matted up after a while carrying a rather vile 'rucksack' around with them :D Tough job getting that off;):eek:

Thanks, Will
 
Saw a description on the auction site that said "Vintage Antique Knife Pretty Old 1856-1930"... Ohh the humanity :eek: I guess the description does cover the date range they gave. o_O It is better than trench art knives from the 1980s I suppose. :D
 
I believe there is an exchange programme between Australia and Switzerland. The Swiss rabbits which have been used as beard trimmer testing animals and are abandoned in their hundreds to wander the Alps looking all hip and trendy but starving...like beards with legs....are traded for Aussie blokes beards ..many of which look as though they have a deranged rabbit clinging to their face.
 
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