Welcome Home...THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR COMMUNITY

iKnife Collector

The online community of knife collectors, A Knife Family Forged in Steel

The Knife Collecting Hobby - Why did you ever start?

So you got the bug? Can't stop reading about knives? Can't stop buying those knives?

What in the world got you started?

Tags: addiction, collecting, hobby, knife, start

19 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on December 2, 2012 at 12:30

That's funny considering how downright enthusiastic you are about knives today! Well sometimes a late start may be good. I know from talking with Donnie he is a long time collector and probably had knives since being a kid. For some they start and never stop and for many folks here on iKC that seems to be the case.

Jan Carter said:

A was a late comer to the hobby. Donnie had collected for a bout 20 years when I decided to buy him a knife for Christmas. First order of business was to find out what the name of that odd looking blade he liked was. We had no idea how involved I would become from that one day of looking for a nice wharncliff blade to share with him LOL.

▶ Reply

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Craig Henry on December 2, 2012 at 15:49

A late start is better than no start! LOL!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on December 2, 2012 at 16:56

Handmade,

Gotta love it when you put up that special knife and immediately forget where you hid it from yourself LOL. We still find one every now and again that was put up, awaiting a trip to the safe.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on December 2, 2012 at 18:45

Thats a great story and a text book case of how to get a youngster involved in a lifetime of collecting knives. If you have any stories about the infamous Buck 110 don't forget our special thread devoted to this 50 year knife:http://www.iknifecollector.com/group/buck110group/forum/topics/the-...

Thanks for telling us how you got into the hobby, I must tell you I am more a user than a collector but these days I really do both.

Handmade Blades said:

Well this could take awhile but I will try to keep it short. I can remember as far back as five years old and having a very small pearl handled pocket knife. My grand dad gave it to me one evening when we were fishing.I thought I was THE MAN with that small pen knife. After that my mother would get me knives for my birthday , say about every other year. Around here about all you could get were old timers and Buck 110s . So early on I guess I just accumulated knives rather than collect them. I was more into their use as tools instead of any asthetic value.

In 1994 I found my first case knife at Wal Mart. It was a serpintine stockman with brown jigbone handles. I wowed over it and thought it was just tooo nice and pretty to get dirty , so I bought two. I used one and kept the other in a safe place. I guess its still in a safe place because I have no Idea where it is now LOL. Since then I have collected several from Case , Kershaw , GEC , Benchmade , but aside from a special few almost all of my collection go into my pocket for awhile. I guess I am more of a user than a collector.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sue OldsWidow on December 3, 2012 at 19:24

well, it was a socialization thing, with my cousin, he liked knives ...he was into colorful handled switchblades...talk about a combination, and my hubby got intrigued with these, so we would get together and go to local knife/gun shows...the guys took off together and gleaned the knives, us lady's we checked out the jewelry and antiques that were available...after a few shows and how little there was for women, we chose to find something to collect also...she chose more pearl handled fruit knives, and I chose the mini coke bottle..hubby went full blown Case COLLECTOR ........books, knife rolls,glass displays, and a multitude of case knives first the 70's then older specimens....she changed to custom knives , cousin he went full blown Silver fruit knives too.... I stuck with the mini coke bottle style of all knife brands since case was so difficult to find.

So friendship and hobby started it ALL !.....lol

WE all still collect but with INPUT and a mission on what we want and what condition benfits the collection....lol

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on December 3, 2012 at 21:40

Friendship started and of all things a cousin got you into knives just kind of grew from there and yes your husband is a full grown Case Collector! What a great way to get into and stay into a hobby!

Sue OldsWidow said:

well, it was a socialization thing, with my cousin, he liked knives ...he was into colorful handled switchblades...talk about a combination, and my hubby got intrigued with these, so we would get together and go to local knife/gun shows...the guys took off together and gleaned the knives, us lady's we checked out the jewelry and antiques that were available...after a few shows and how little there was for women, we chose to find something to collect also...she chose more pearl handled fruit knives, and I chose the mini coke bottle..hubby went full blown Case COLLECTOR ........books, knife rolls,glass displays, and a multitude of case knives first the 70's then older specimens....she changed to custom knives , cousin he went full blown Silver fruit knives too.... I stuck with the mini coke bottle style of all knife brands since case was so difficult to find.

So friendship and hobby started it ALL !.....lol

WE all still collect but with INPUT and a mission on what we want and what condition benfits the collection....lol

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steven Matthew on December 4, 2012 at 10:00

My dad told me, when I was young, that you only needed 3 things in life to get through life.

1. God

2. a good pair of boots.

3. a good knife.

As I got older in life I realized that every time I used a hammer up, I'd replace it.

Every time I used a screwdriver up, I'd replace it. And so on and so on.

BUT, that small (or large) tool that was my knife, when it was used up, I'd throw it in a drawer.....couldn't stand to get rid of it on purpose. Every knife I had held some amount of sentimental value to me.

Also, I still miss those that I have either not been able to find, or lost for what ever reason.

It's more then a tool. It may be easier for someone else to explain, but I can't. They just mean more to me.

Saying that, I know that there may be a time when I can run out of gas, bullets, money, or any one of a million things, but as long as I have a good knife, I have a great tool that can aid me through any job.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on December 4, 2012 at 11:03

Well I will say Steven your Dad got that right. I guess we do form a bit of an attachment to a knife. I could never bear to throw away a knife. Possibly because it has served us well, either as a work of art or a tool with function. If you were out in the wodds and all you had was that knife, well there is quite a bit that you can do with it!

Steven Matthew said:

My dad told me, when I was young, that you only needed 3 things in life to get through life.

1. God

2. a good pair of boots.

3. a good knife.

As I got older in life I realized that every time I used a hammer up, I'd replace it.

Every time I used a screwdriver up, I'd replace it. And so on and so on.

BUT, that small (or large) tool that was my knife, when it was used up, I'd throw it in a drawer.....couldn't stand to get rid of it on purpose. Every knife I had held some amount of sentimental value to me.

Also, I still miss those that I have either not been able to find, or lost for what ever reason.

It's more then a tool. It may be easier for someone else to explain, but I can't. They just mean more to me.

Saying that, I know that there may be a time when I can run out of gas, bullets, money, or any one of a million things, but as long as I have a good knife, I have a great tool that can aid me through any job.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on December 6, 2012 at 20:55

Any more stories?

▶ Reply

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Craig Henry on December 7, 2012 at 0:19

My son's stories..........

...after I got into serious knife collecting about 36 or so years ago, my two sons got interested too. Both of them started to collect Parker-Frost and Parker knives. They kept on buying knives mainly for using, so now their collection is a collection of using knives of all brands and types.

My wife.....Cass, started to collect too when I got serious about it. She had a rather large collection of Parker-Frost and Parker Abalone handled knives. She sold the whole collection off a number of years ago. Now she just has a few using knives, but has input about what I should get, so, I guess you could say we collect together.

A family that collects knives together, stays together. (We've been married for just over 44 years)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Luke on December 10, 2012 at 7:21

Through the years though I have been given many knives that are very old. My grandfather gave me one that he used around his wood shop at home, others came from a neighbor that passed away and his wife was going to throw them away. They are nothing special really. No "name" attached to them. However I became fascinated with the history they might have. What purpose did they serve those who used them before me? Since then I've gathered all that I own and hope to one day pass on that wonder with the knives I've used. I didn't realize I was collecting until I had seen them all together and really admired the different shapes and sizes and materials used. Now I'm hooked on the look of my current knife made by Schrade. It's the Uncle Henry 153UH.