What is the focus of your collecting?

What is the focus of your collection? Is it a certain type(s) of knives, or a certain brand(s), or national origin(s) or "firsts" or what?

My tiny collection has largely always focused on actual needs: work, hunting and now, defense.

But I would like to branch out and begin collecting the knives which different nations are best known for (e.g. USA: Bowie, Spain: Navaja, Italy: Stiletto, etc.)

I am not a collector, more an accumulator. I like to try different knives and different steels so I end up with a collection. Then I thin it down to the stuff I really like and start over. Their are some things I won’t ever sell, though. Stuff my grandfather and father used or I had when I was a kid.
 
I’ve noticed that I try to do stuff in groups of two or three. A smallish folder, larger folder, and a fixed blade. Or just the folders.
In other words, a dress knife (or semi-dress) for light duty, a larger folder for medium/heavy duty, and fixed for heavy stuff.
Kind of a stand alone three knife set.

As you can imagine, I have some repetition. Four Griptilians, five or six SAK Spartans, four Pioneers.
You get the idea.

The funny thing is that my wish list is basically same as it was three or four years ago. It hasn’t grown very much. I think I added a PM 2 about this time last year.
The list is not that long actually. Less than six.
 
I’ve begun to focus on prismatic rainbow finishes and mermaids. This knife really checks a lot of boxes for me.
View attachment 1470962
Other than that, I need to want the knife for my collection.

You may want to get this one.

switchblade-mermaid-knife-gold-pink-1_grande.jpg


n2s
 
I collect/accumulate all sorts of sharp, pointy things. Whatever strikes my fancy at the time.
Rich
 
Whatever strikes my eye. Really no rhyme or reason as far as what I buy. Steel really doesn't matter. I'd prefer micarta over anything else on a handle but.I'm flexible if it grabs my eye.
 
I wish I had the discipline to focus on one knife pattern or maker but I buy the knives that appeal to me. It’s just that there’s so many I’d like to have
 
I like a lot of different types, but mostly traditional. That is, no thumb studs or pocket clips for me. I mostly carry in my left front pocket, sometimes with a pocket sheath, depending on the knife. Also, sometimes a belt sheath.
Lately I am focused on French knives, like these:
OWdVzO6.jpg

The top two (Laguiole and Opinel) are in my pocket the most. I am partial to wooden handles and stainless steel. Anyway, the next two or three knives on my list are French. I like the history and variety, but most of all the aesthetics and utility of these knives.
 
I had a focus for a few years when I started. I wanted every knife to have something new I didn't have before. A different lock type, blade shape, materials, sizes or manufacturers.
After that my focus was going up the price range.

Current thing I wouldn't really call a specific focus. Just no safe queens, only practical users where fanciness don't reduce performance. And a new one only after I used the last one for at least a couple of weeks. If I think it has a fair price, good value, nice and functional design, none of my dealbreakers and is easy to find and replace, I buy it.
 
It's amazing to me how drastically one's need for knives can change. I used to use knives all day at work, often hard use. I did so for several years. But since retiring I now have virtually no need for knives at all (outside of the kitchen). I'm not a camping/hiking/fishing type of person anymore, and in my current life I'm confident I could likely get by without a knife.

I have more user knives than I could ever possibly need. I don't really need the users I have, so I have no justification to buy more users. Factors like need or use no longer play any part in my interest in knives.

In a word, my interest in knives these days is all about "cool". More specifically, my interest is based on the knives I considered "cool" as a child, and growing up, but wasn't able, or allowed to have. Much of my interest in knives now is based on how much I would have loved to have the knife when I was a kid.

I was allowed to have and carry knives as a child. But my mom had one rule- I wasn't allowed to have any knives that she considered weapons.

My uncle was a hard-core biker. He was the "crazy" uncle in the family. The kind of uncle whose visits were dreaded by my mother, but looked upon with excitement by the childhood me. To me, he was the "cool" uncle. He would give me rides on his bike (no helmet), give me firecrackers, let me drink his beer, and he gave me my first switchblade, etc, etc.

In the time I knew him my uncle carried a few different Italian stiletto switchblades. And just as my uncle was the epitome of "cool" in my eyes, his knives were also the epitome of "cool". I was fascinated by the idea of a folding knife specifically designed and intended as a weapon. They were something dark and taboo. And my mom forbidding me from having one naturally made me want them even more.

As a result, the folding stiletto has been a subject of fascination and desire for me for most of my life. In years past, when I needed to use knives to cut things, users were the main focus of my interest in knives. But now I'm interested exclusively in those knives I consider "cool". Specifically, folding stilettos, both manual and automatic.

Below is a pic of the prize stilettos in my collection. Some autos, some manuals. None of them are "off the rack". And each time I hold one the little kid that still lives somewhere inside me is filled with joy.

YTWutOm.jpg
 
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As all of you... I have a good gathering of knives. I also only am interested in a knife I can or will use.

As of this year I found out I really like spyderco.Almost all the knives I am considering adding are spyderco.
 
My collection gravitates around the concept of American modern tactical knives.

it was not really intended but I realise that I like this kind of knives

I have started with a ZT0350 and it has really set what I enjoy in knives

Since that time I have tried to experiment different blade shapes, materials, locking mechanisms, designers, etc.

My only “nothing American at all” knife (beside some SAKs) is a Ruike p801 that I use as a benchmark to have a sense of the value of what I experiment

picture of my current collection - I try to limit its size under 40 folders
EclcAbw.jpg
 
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My "accumulation" (I don't "collect") is based on patterns I like and will carry and use: Buck 110/Old Timer 6OT/7OT, large Stockman, Scout/Demo, Canoe, Barlow, Moose, 2 blade slipjoint Folding Hunter, and large Sunfish, make up the majority of my accumulation.
Then there are a few I needed for specific jobs/tasks over the years, such as a Marlin Spike, a Pruning/Linoleum/Carpet knife, and a Stanley box cutter with tooless interchangeable blades for boxes and drywall. :)
 
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It's amazing to me how drastically one's need for knives can change. I used to use knives all day at work, often hard use. I did so for several years. But since retiring I now have virtually no need for knives at all (outside of the kitchen). I'm not a camping/hiking/fishing type of person anymore, and in my current life I'm confident I could likely get by without a knife.

I have more user knives than I could ever possibly need. I don't really need the users I have, so I have no justification to buy more users. Factors like need or use no longer play any part in my interest in knives.

In a word, my interest in knives these days is all about "cool". More specifically, my interest is based on the knives I considered "cool" as a child, and growing up, but wasn't able, or allowed to have. Much of my interest in knives now is based on how much I would have loved to have the knife when I was a kid.

I was allowed to have and carry knives as a child. But my mom had one rule- I wasn't allowed to have any knives that she considered weapons.

My uncle was a hard-core biker. He was the "crazy" uncle in the family. The kind of uncle whose visits were dreaded by my mother, but looked upon with excitement by the childhood me. To me, he was the "cool" uncle. He would give me rides on his bike (no helmet), give me firecrackers, let me drink his beer, and he gave me my first switchblade, etc, etc.

In the time I knew him my uncle carried a few different Italian stiletto switchblades. And just as my uncle was the epitome of "cool" in my eyes, his knives were also the epitome of "cool". I was fascinated by the idea of a folding knife specifically designed and intended as a weapon. They were something dark and taboo. And my mom forbidding me from having one naturally made me want them even more.

As a result, the folding stiletto has been a subject of fascination and desire for me for most of my life. In years past, when I needed to use knives to cut things, users were the main focus of my interest in knives. But now I'm interested exclusively in those knives I consider "cool". Specifically, folding stilettos, both manual and automatic.

Below is a pic of the prize stilettos in my collection. Some autos, some manuals. None of them are "off the rack". And each time I hold one the little kid that still lives somewhere inside me is filled with joy.

YTWutOm.jpg
Stillettos are the coolest. I had a small one I ordered from a comic book ad almost 50 years ago. Gotta get me another one!
 
My focus is "fun stuff." I have no practical reason for owning a Boker Kalashnikov XXL or a 4-Max Scout, but I thought they were cool, so I bought them. I don't really buy knives with specific uses in mind, but I have bought to try out new styles, lock types, brands, designers, etc. In fact, I recently acquired an Inkosi to try a CRK, and bought a 940 to see if I like Benchmade.
 
Stillettos are the coolest. I had a small one I ordered from a comic book ad almost 50 years ago. Gotta get me another one!

My first stiletto was from Westbury Sales Co. (they advertised in magazines and comics). It was a small lockback stiletto with a bayonet blade, black plastic handles, and "derby" guards (both guards pointing upward). It was also my first locking knife. Between being a locking knife and having a bayonet blade, it was the coolest.

I bought it from a classmate in the 6th grade. From the moment I saw he had it I would ask him every day if I could see it. He was cool enough to let me, and each time I would offer to buy it, and each time he declined. Until one day I offered him the sizable amount of $3.50, which was a lot of money to us back then. I guess that was the magic number because he happily said yes.

I was THRILLED to have that knife. It was my prized possession and I carried it everywhere. Unfortunately it didn't survive the abuses of youth, but I still have the memories.
 
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