First of all, let me start by saying this is a work in progress. We know how difficult it is to determine the age of a Boker knife. Tang stamps, steel, bolster and liner materials, blade etches, and scale materials all tell a part of the story. Another method is by looking at the shields. It is tricky, because one needs to be certain that the shield is original to the knife. For the sake of argument, let's say that you can be sure ...

Here is a collection of shields, and my attempt to…

I feel your pain.

Part of the excitement - and misery - of collecting Boker knives is the research.

Why is it so easy to find information on knives made by W.R. Case, but not H. Boker?

Well, back in 1970, Case started using tang stamps, dots, and now stars to help the collector. You can look at a Case knife from post 1970 and find out the exact year in which it was manufactured. You just have to know the code.

No such luck with Boker. There were a few years in the…

That's the name of our new group. If you enjoy innovative design, we hope you will join. For years both knife makers and the manufacturers have come up with alternative ways to open the knife and lock the blade. There are probably several hundred differently constructed folders out there now-- and more will surely to come.  Hopefully we can share pictures of our unique…

iKnifeCollector stands out prominently among all web-based knife sites.

From our community's early days it was apparent iKC was unique- unlike anything online knife related. It was noticeably more personal and to some, because all they knew was the posting board knife forum format, iKC was too personal. Those members elected not to become a part of our community at…

Recently we started the iKC Name Game to see who can be the first to identify the person I have selected and added to our community.

The Name Game is all about knife personalities and historical cutlery characters.

To play the game you must first- find the picture of the individual and then you must come back to this blog and put their name. The first to correctly ID this person wins! It's that simple.

Don't cheat :) You either know it or you…

Today I was approached to fulfill a vacancy on the board of directors for the National Knife Collectors Association for the balance of the term which runs through the end of 2011.  I agreed to allow my name to be submitted to other board members for confirmation.

I agreed to be considered for the NKCA board for several reasons:

• I care about our hobby and about the NKCA.
• I have a passion to help spread the word about how much fun our hobby is. In the…