How do you scale back?

Warrior108

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Apr 24, 2012
Messages
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Can you have too many? "Maybe" is all I keep coming up with. But, you just might have too many if:
  • You find a knife (or knives) that you don't remember having, possibly even buying.
  • You can literally never put each of them to "good use".
  • It would require a day off of work just to oil the blades.
  • You could use a knife till its dull, go to the next one and not have to sharpen a knife for a year, maybe two years.
  • A hurricane is on the way, there's limited room in the car and you have to decide on kid vs. knives.
  • The wife says, "I want a divorce .. and half of what is in the safe." and your response is, "OMG, NO!! NOT THE KNIVES!!!"
  • Your BladeForums user name is Choppaman Choppaman


Well, I'm pretty sure I ought to scale back. Then I saw @Comprehensivist 's post a couple days ago showing how his collection grew and then got scaled down to 3. Yes Phil, this is all on you. ;) I'm kidding of course. Scaling back has been on the list for a while and you just showed that it was possible. But, 3? Just 3??? I'm seriously thinking that ONE of us needs therapy but honestly don't know which of us. :D

I spent the better part of today going over my fixed blades arranging, rearranging, sorting, reminiscing. There are knives that were gifted, knives that have sentiment tied to a friend or relative or child, your first Fiddleback (that you sold and then hunted down). In my case, I had tracked down blues for my eldest daughter, reds for her younger sister, and I liked bog oak and blacks. (then I REALLY got hooked on black bolstered ruby) Given that there are decent sized sets of configurations, it would be tough to pare down to just 3 per set, so it feels like I painted myself into a corner. I know, I know, 1st world problems.


How about some pics and then more commentary?

Fiddleback Family (Fiddleback, Osprey Knife & Tool, WA Surls, Jarrett Fleming)
Custom Group 2_copy_1280x992.jpg

The rest of my fixed blades while we're at it
20200611_171212 (2)_copy_1280x715.jpg

Reds (and that part of the rainbow)
Bushfinger, Kephart, OS Ladyfinger, Garrote, Asp, OS Bushnub, Patch, Lonestar, Hiking Buddy
20200611_153259 (2)_copy_1280x1349.jpg
OS Ladyfinger, Bushfinger, OKT Warthog, OKT Warthog, WAS Big Palmer, Asp, WAS Shark, OKT Warthog

Blues
Gaucho, KEB, Elf, Lonestar, OS Karda, Monarch, Handyman, OKT Poon Tipped Mini Mamushi, OKT Poon Tipped Tusk, Snowbill, WAS Palmer
20200611_145759 (2)_copy_1280x1056.jpg
Asp, Fleming Osprey, Hiking Buddy, Lil Lady, Pocket Kephart, KEB, Bushnub II, OS Karda, Esquire

Bog Oak
OKT Hunter, Bushfinger, Gaucho, OS Ladyfinger, Monarch, OS Bushnub, WAS Inlander, OKT Warthog
20200611_144200 (3)_copy_1280x1231.jpg
OS Bushnub, Handyman, Bushcraft Karda, WAS Bobcat, Fleming Noname, WAS Big Palmer, Sylvrfalcen, WAS Palmer

Black (Carbon fiber, Canvas, Micarta) and a Grey
OKT Shrike, OKT Apache, OKT Mamushi, OKT Warthog, OKT Poon Tipped Mini Mamushi, OKT Warthog, OKT Poon Tipped Mini Mamushi, OKT Mini Mamushi
20200611_153918 (2)_copy_1280x1168.jpg
Gaucho, Handyman, Hiking Buddy, Production Hiking Buddy Regrind, Esquire, WAS Patch, D Humpback, OS Karda, WAS Minuteman

Misc Wood
20200611_154807 (2)_copy_1280x678.jpg
OKT Vildmark, OKT Shrike One-off, OKT Mamushi, Solo, Esquire, Bushboot, Kismet Practical Hunter, Hiking Buddy, Sylvrfalcen, WAS Nomad, Handyman, Fleming Starling

And the ones that will be culled
Error.jpg
... j/k:p


I'm not posting this as part of a sales pitch but inevitably there's bound to be some folks with interest. So to that point, if you really feel the need to ask about dibs on something, please email me so we can keep that "extra stuff" out of the thread.
warrior108 at gmail

Feel free to comment in the thread what you use for criteria or what you use for a process when you're scaling things back. Do you use a spreadsheet? Is it spur of the moment you decide you can do without something? What if you haven't touched a knife for a year? If you collect reds, blues, blacks and bog oak but have 4 Gauchos, do you only need one? How do you choose which to part with; material, grind height, blade thickness?? Ugh!

I guess I did make some headway but not as much as I was hoping to when I woke this morning. I have a long way to go to "be like Phil" because I definitely couldn't part with any of the ones in yellow. And parting with most of the remainder would be tough. To give me some credit, keep in mind that I have sold somewhere between 30 and 40 Fiddleback family knives over time. Who knows, it could be over 50 but I lost track. For example, I was up to about 10 or 12 oranges at one point, and am now down to my 2 favorites. One is THE MOST incredibly comfortably handling Asp you could ask for an the other is a WA Surls Shark that is super rare, just an outstanding knife, great in the hand but for some reason, he hasn't made any more. I could ramble on all day about the rest.

Custom Group 2 Cull List.jpg

Next thing to do is schedule a day off to go over my folding knives. :confused:
 
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Maybe I don't have a problem, after all...



Yeah, I do. I keep starting to scale back, then quitting after a couple knives when the decisions start to get tougher. I would love to get down to a dozen knives, total; but don't foresee that happening quite yet.
 
Which ones have the best memories?

Keep those
The most infamous one is the DIW Esquire aptly nicknamed "The toe knife". It was Christmas morning 2016 and I had selected that Esquire to be the official package opener (for the difficult stuff, not every package). Sitting on the floor, I had backed up to the wall so I could keep an eye on where the kids were. Two minutes into package opening and I had just taken it out of the sheath, holding it around 4 o'clock by my belt, I then felt something on my left shoulder and then screeching. My daughter who was 5 at the time was apparently determined to go somewhere so she tried stepping over my back, between me and the wall. Very mild cuts across the tops of 3 toes but bleeders nonetheless. Christmas was put on hold, the wife whisked the kid to the bathroom for bandaids and when she returned, she put out her hand and growled "Give me that knife" I was skeered for the Esquire but got it back the next day. Daughter still has a scar on one of her toes. They still give me shit every chance they get. The Esquire will likely be presented to her in a shadow box as a wedding present .. or something like that. :)
 
That is a very impressive collection. I have nowhere near the number you have, but I also have tried to scale back my fix blades over the past year. I am now in the 25-30 range and have implemented a one in / one out policy. Although that sometimes ends up being two in / one out. I feel your pain. Good luck.
 
Jerry Thanks for reminding me that my measly 70+/- Knives are a mere drop in the bucket. Over the years I’ve been lucky to help you thin the herd! That “Bog Oak” Gaucho tho ;)
 
To mirror @Comprehensivist 's comments/feelings in the Battle of the Blades post, he and I are really on the same page. I was just giving him some friendly ribbing and I'd also like to toss out a couple additional comments/disclaimers ..

I'm am not saying that everyone's or anyone's goal should be to scale back and I'm not saying folks should set a limit to their collections. This is an absolutely personal hobby where nobody is right and nobody is wrong because, at the end of the day, we buy and keep what we prefer as individuals. There's just no way that I could ever see me getting down to a single digit collection. I simply like having a variety of models and the ability to choose. If you look at my folder collection over time, that thing has fluxed back and forth so much that it's ridiculous! It started Benchmade heavy and I thought Spydercos were wonky looking. Then I got the Spydie bug, sold most of my Benchmades and can't tell you how many of the PM2 varieties I had at one point. The past year, I'm just not feeling the necessity to have a pile of one model so those PM2s got pared down and then I got interested in Benchmades again. Besides that, Blade '18 kicked off a Hinderer phase and Blade '19 kicked off a Medford phase, which then got me into trying a whole pile of other makers. I'll even go through phases over time where I won't go anywhere without having both a folder and a fixed on me, and then there are phases where I'll just prefer a folder in the pocket, not wanting to mess with something on the belt vs my most recent phase of "If you only had one knife on you, it better be able to do anything .. so go big." This most recent phase really goes against my past preferences of thin blades around the average of 3". And, I think I just made the mistake of buying two higher-end hatchets this month, because "more" are calling to me.

So looking at just my own historical patterns, knowing that my preferences are going to change, I'll keep certain knives that I'm currently not crazy about because I know I'd kick myself in the arse down the road when my preferences shifted back.

If I did have to keep just one fixed blade though, it would be a tough battle and (today) it would come down to one in this short list:
Fiddleback - Bushfinger, KEB, Kephart or Monarch
Osprey Knife and Tool - Hunter or Apache
 
You guys make me feel almost normal!!
I have way less knives than some of you. Closet full of Marlins not withstanding.

I have tried several times to downsize, it never works out. I always end up with more.

I rationalize it this way.
I don't smoke, I don't go to bars. I don't own a cell phone, so I don't have a cellular bill. I don't own a television set, so I don't have a cable bill. No Sirius Radio.

Even my used Fiddlebacks, which equates to all my Fiddlebacks, have residual value. last month's cable bill is gone forever. Cigarettes are literally up in smoke.

We don't have kids, we live simply, I have an outdoor fire 2-3 times a week. That is way down since I moved to PA. But I expect it to increase sometime in the future.

Knives are somewhat recession and inflation proof. Although I would never recommend them as an investment.

I equate knives to a motorcycle in that regard. Anybody that buys a motorcycle thinking they will save money, will have a lot of fun, and enjoy life more. But they won't save any money.

If your bills are paid, your kids are fed, and your wife is happy, have as many knives as you want.
 
You guys make me feel almost normal!!
I have way less knives than some of you. Closet full of Marlins not withstanding.

I have tried several times to downsize, it never works out. I always end up with more.

I rationalize it this way.
I don't smoke, I don't go to bars. I don't own a cell phone, so I don't have a cellular bill. I don't own a television set, so I don't have a cable bill. No Sirius Radio.

Even my used Fiddlebacks, which equates to all my Fiddlebacks, have residual value. last month's cable bill is gone forever. Cigarettes are literally up in smoke.

We don't have kids, we live simply, I have an outdoor fire 2-3 times a week. That is way down since I moved to PA. But I expect it to increase sometime in the future.

Knives are somewhat recession and inflation proof. Although I would never recommend them as an investment.

I equate knives to a motorcycle in that regard. Anybody that buys a motorcycle thinking they will save money, will have a lot of fun, and enjoy life more. But they won't save any money.

If your bills are paid, your kids are fed, and your wife is happy, have as many knives as you want.
..and a motorcycle.
 
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