What is the focus of your collecting?

Variety is my focus, if that can be called one. I've got some of everything except swords:
  • SAKs
  • Multi-tools
  • Fixed blades
  • Locking folders (many different lock and steel types)
  • Slipjoint folders
  • Balisong
  • Autos
  • Hatchet
  • Small garden machete
Blade sizes vary from sub-1" to 6.5". I'm thinking to add a Choppa soon.

So far, I've found the SAKs and hatchet to be the most useful.
 
It's changed a lot over the years. As a kid I collected traditional pocket knives. Around 2000 I started collecting Benchmades, but mostly buying the desirable ones and selling them later on for a profit. Now my tastes have evolved to mid-techs and full customs.
 
craytab said:
My focus is on things I like and will use.
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This has been why I buy knives, simply put.

Since I can t bring myself to use 400.00 knives, I quit buying them, even though I might like them. I find plenty of knives that I like that are much less expensive that I will use.

My taste in knives may be regressing rather than becoming more "sophisticated".
 
I get a kick out of finding and purchasing knives that I perceive to be high value, or bang for the buck.

I have not ventured into the $150 and up range on a single knife I’ve bought. I certainly could, and maybe will one day.

I have no idea why I have hundreds of less expensive knives instead of a handful of more expensive ones. It’s just how I roll.
 
MolokaiRider said:
I have no idea why I have hundreds of less expensive knives instead of a handful of more expensive ones. It’s just how I roll.
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You answered that yourself in the first sentence - you get a kick out of buying.

One of my favorite quotes is from Mr. Spock on the Star Trek episode where his wife chose another Vulcan instead of him. He told that guy, "You'll find that having a thing, is not so pleasing as wanting a thing". Or something to that effect.

I know I wore a path to the mailbox this past week just to see if the USPS was somehow off with their messaging system & my knew knife had been delivered and was shivering in the cold in the mailbox all by its lonesome & needed to be fondled by me ASAP!

Admit it - you get that "I can't wait till Christmas morning" rush when you buy a knew knife & love it!! :D :D
 
I don't consider myself a collector per se. I mostly buy knives I intend to use because I think the offer me something that the knives I already own don't. No safe queens and no will to sell any of them in the future, ever.

Mikel
 
Smaug said:
Variety is my focus, if that can be called one. I've got some of everything except swords:
  • SAKs
  • Multi-tools
  • Fixed blades
  • Locking folders (many different lock and steel types)
  • Slipjoint folders
  • Balisong
  • Autos
  • Hatchet
  • Small garden machete
Blade sizes vary from sub-1" to 6.5". I'm thinking to add a Choppa soon.

So far, I've found the SAKs and hatchet to be the most useful.
Click to expand...
Do consider a Kukri for a big blade. They kick ass.
 
I buy/ collect EDC knives. Folding that locks usually black in color. I buy different style blades some coated in black. Blade length 3" to 3.5". Now really only buy USA made until the US economy is back on track after the virus stuff.
 
My focus for the past 40+ years has always been, in this order - Western, Kabar, US Military, Bayonets, Swords/Sabers, Dive knives. If it doesn't fall into one of these categories, I seldom buy it unless for some reason it "speaks" to me.
 
Currently I’m collecting Italian knives. They’re always folders too. When I have all that I want I’ll move onto something else.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
My focus for the past 40+ years has always been, in this order - Western, Kabar, US Military, Bayonets, Swords/Sabers, Dive knives. If it doesn't fall into one of these categories, I seldom buy it unless for some reason it "speaks" to me.
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Which bayonets?
 
I took this thread as an opportunity to think about what I like in a knife. I don't limit my purchases to a specific theme, but most knives I buy have the following:
-Slicey blades (e.g. flat-ground or thin blades)
-High quality mechanisms/locks with smooth, efficient action (e.g. shirogorov)
-Blades on the short to medium side (3" or less)
-Standard versus unusual blade shapes (e.g. drop or clip-point versus Norseman style blade)
-Comfortable handle ergonomics without hot spots
-Good-looking or interesting handle materials
-Sometimes I will buy a knife with unique features (e.g. mirror polished blade, or a one-off design)
 
killgar said:
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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It's remarkable many times how wonderful little things that are passed on to the next generation...
 
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Pretty small pocketable slicey modern traditionals or 3 inch edc folders.
 
sabre cat said:
Which bayonets?
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I started out with 20th century US bayonets. Then I started adding 19th Century US bayonets and non-US 20th Century bayonets. Obviously, at only 294 bayonets, I don't have all of the possibilities. Still missing a Colt M7 West German made bayonet, several early 1800s US socket bayonets and lots of foreign bayonets.
 
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