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There has been discussion in our blog- http://www.iknifecollector.com/profiles/blogs/the-future-of-organiz... about what the future of "organized" knife collecting looks like and I want to ask a few more questions.

Exactly what would you want from an association for you to join?

If a "new" association formed tomorrow- what would it take for you to become a dues paying member? And how much would you be willing to pay yearly in dues for those member benefits? (don't worry, I'm not planning on starting a new organization, I'm just curious)

What focus or emphasis would you want that organization to have?

Tags: Association, club, international, national

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Scott King said:
Great feedback Kevin- thanks for helping us thing this through.

Very good thread Scott. I'm watching with great interest.
Kevin

I certainly agree with Scott on this one. An abundance of pics of tactical knives only mean those collectors are more active in uploading pics.

 

A knife is a tool but there also exists martial arts focused around edged weapons, some even focused on knives only. On the other hand, there are a few members here that really likes the tactical look, but what is wrong with that? It only means that many collectors of tactical knives like to share their pics.

I doubt that many people on this forum except police/military is getting tactical knives with the thought to actually put it to use (or I want to believe so), and that is also another "killing blade" section that has always existed among knife enthusiasts.

 

Pardon me for going offtopic here but wanted to give my take on the "killing blades" being shown here.

 

Scott King said:

While this discussion isn't about this site- but I hear you John. Why don't you help us add more about the old knives then? Or is it just the "killing blade" knife folks are more willing to help provide the content they like? Just saying...

john a shavel said:

Hi guys. An association that talks about new knives is great. But a lot of us also collect old knives. This site seems to have guys who only care about the latest "killing" blade. Guys ,a tad less on the Rambo crap would be nice. Now ,that's not to say that I don't dig slice and dice the bad guy stuff.But let's face it most of us will only have to face a pissed off boss or wife( if there's a difference).

I have a large collection of new and old stuff. The new stuff is easy to know and understand. The old stuff,well I can use some help.Hint,hint

john

At my age joining any club is not going to do me much good.  I have noticed more each year that the major knife collecting is with newer knives and my collection of Cattaraugus and Jack Knife Ben knives only involves about 5 % of the members.
 Most of the new collectors don't know  what a cattaraugus  or Jack Knive is . Thats why people like you could show your knives and give a little background on your collection . Untill they hold an old knife in there hands and think about what workmenship that  goes in every antique knive will  they apprecate  them. That was a lot off the subject oh well

DELBERT COVER said:
At my age joining any club is not going to do me much good.  I have noticed more each year that the major knife collecting is with newer knives and my collection of Cattaraugus and Jack Knife Ben knives only involves about 5 % of the members.

Well first off the "new association" must promote a wide range of interest, hobby, collecting, making of knives as will as promoting and preserving the history of all types of cutlery. You'll need to be able to attract younger members, and give them a way to feel productive within the group.

 Create really cool stuff for members, membership cards, caps, tee shirts. Make some really cool images they can use on their phones, ipods, computers, and panels. Which means of course a very cool website like iKC.

Have a really cool please to meet, with a place to learn, make, sell, or trade knives, and maybe throw knives. Have people come in and give classes on knife making, buying and selling, e-bay, self defense, and make it open two or three days a week with different things going on all the time. Cold drinks, Webber grill or two so people can have a put luck get together every now and then.

In order for anything like this to work it must have the support of the community and some type of sponsorship in order to make it.  I’m not going to go into a lot of detail you know what I mean people with skills known within the community with a common interest in knives who may have property, connections, or money. Local businesses that would like to put a banner on your shop, that sort of thing.

Membership must be reasonable say $50 the first year, and $25 every year after, something like that.

Give members resonable access and good prices on "made for them only" knives, you know knive for members only limited number small run.

Being a member gives you access to all the cool stuff, jackets, discounts on knives, discounts on classes, and so on. Become members of different groups within the club that sort of thing.  

In order for anything like this to work it must have the support of the community and some type of sponsorship in order to make it.  I’m not going to go into a lot of detail you know what I mean people with skills known within the community with a common interest in knives who may have property, connections, or money. Local businesses that would like to put a banner on your shop, or something like that.

Membership must be reasonable say $50 the first year, and $25 every year after.

Being a member gives you access to all the cool stuff, jackets, discounts on knives, discounts on classes, and so on. Become a  member of different groups within the club that sort of thing that you can't do without be a member.

 

Well that's all for now if I come up with anything else I'll let you all know.

 

Thanks Robert! Appreciate your feedback. Good stuff here.

Robert G. Mitchell said:

Well first off the "new association" must promote a wide range of interest, hobby, collecting, making of knives as will as promoting and preserving the history of all types of cutlery. You'll need to be able to attract younger members, and give them a way to feel productive within the group.

.....
Well I didn't say it earlier Kevin, but you've done an excellent job with the Custom Knife Collectors Asso. you started from scratch.

Kevin Jones said:
Scott King said:
Great feedback Kevin- thanks for helping us thing this through.

Very good thread Scott. I'm watching with great interest.
Kevin
Another thought that must be considered in thinking about being a part of a club/asso. whether it is a new club or an existing club is this- it takes member support to make it happen. I know it takes good leadership too, and having involved directors/management team- and yet, the membership must rise up and support the club and take active part- more than just visiting their forum..hitting a show...reading a nice color mag- they must be active at a grassroots level.

This level of active involvement is/will be critical to any organization- yes, the leadership is responsible for communicating his/her/it's vision, then the members must step up and say- "What can I do to help?"

....and that is one of the things I appreciate about our members here at iKC, incidentally- Many of our members are volunteering to help ...although I know this discussion here isn't about iKC :)

Thanks Scott, but if took a lot of time and effort from quite a few people to get the CKCA to the point where it is now. We now have members in 15 countries after a collector from China joining last night.

I agree that member support is the key to an association's success. You need both financial support and those willing to roll up their sleeves and help get the work done.

Scott King said:

Well I didn't say it earlier Kevin, but you've done an excellent job with the Custom Knife Collectors Asso. you started from scratch.

Kevin Jones said:
Scott King said:
Great feedback Kevin- thanks for helping us thing this through.

Very good thread Scott. I'm watching with great interest.
Kevin
Thanks for the support Clint. All feedback is welcome :)

Clint Thompson said:

As a writer for Knives Illustrated I like to just set back and read all of the likes and dislikes from the members of IKC.  From these posts I can really get a good feel for the knife enthusiast here in North America and International knife lovers as well.  I have traveled overseas a great deal and am amazed how different the laws vary from one country to another.  Here in the USA the knife, or weapon, laws vary as much as they do from country to country.  In my articles I always tell the readers to check their local weapons laws before buying and or carrying knives.

 

As for supporting a new knife association, I would agree with our cousins abroad in regards to the political power the association could bring.  Being a Life member of the NRA I see the results such organizations can bring.  I would suggest strong chapters in those countries to bring the desired political pressure.

 

I would say 20 USD would be a good price for basic members in North America and International chapters charging a manageable fee to their members.

 

In all I just want to say hi and help out on Scott's quest.

I am already a life member of the Case Collectors Club so I am inclinedmto be a member of a club that supports the great hobby that I enjoy so much! I would like to see an association that wou share information about collectors events and news from the world of knife collectioning. Having been the general manager of a store that had as 1/2

it's sales retail knifes, I quickly learned that like most hobbies, there are two distinct divisions in the business. (1) The group who buy inexpensive (under $50.00) knives for everyday use and (2) Those who buy expensive  (over$150.00) custom and factory knives as collectible assets. I would like to get news from both sides. Again, I am a serious collector with a fairly extensive and expensive collection and I really enjoy exchanging information with like minded folks!

Thanks Phil. Appreciate the insight.

Phillip W Jones said:

I am already a life member of the Case Collectors Club so I am inclinedmto be a member of a club that supports the great hobby that I enjoy so much! I would like to see an association that wou share information about collectors events and news from the world of knife collectioning. Having been the general manager of a store that had as 1/2

it's sales retail knifes, I quickly learned that like most hobbies, there are two distinct divisions in the business. (1) The group who buy inexpensive (under $50.00) knives for everyday use and (2) Those who buy expensive  (over$150.00) custom and factory knives as collectible assets. I would like to get news from both sides. Again, I am a serious collector with a fairly extensive and expensive collection and I really enjoy exchanging information with like minded folks!

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