Ham, potato salad, broccoli casserole, buns, deviled eggs, sweet potato pie with cool whip and sweet tea. Just me and the wife. We will see all the kid and grand kids later in the day so we cut back on having a big meal this year. See ya'll at the Palmetto cutlery knife show next weekend. I want a knife so bad.

Another year has past and now iKC has hit the 2 year mark.

2 years ago there was…

I'll never forget my first Knife Show. I didn't know a soul there, only knew I liked knives and the hobby of collecting them.

After living in the iKC Community, I've learned most members have yet to attend one- for whatever reasons, but we who attend shows know if these members went they'd experience even more fun with our hobby, plus they'd meet folks as…

Due to the increasing demand in a restless political era, Hermann and Robert Boeker decided in 1829 to ѕtаrt with the manufacture of sabers. Aѕ early as September 1830, the accounting records indicate a weekly manufacture of 2,000 items, made by 64 smiths, 47 grinders and a large number of unskilled laborers. In view of the constantly increasing variety of tools and cutting instruments and the good opportunities for worldwide sales, the family realized that the individual steps in the…

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…

Ebay changed rules and some other things back in 2008. There used to be a 3 month history of completed auctions and buyers history but that has been reduced to 4 weeks or so. Still you can tell who outbid you at the last second on that item you bid on.

Any Ebay user can do this and its all perfectly legal since it is public information.

1. First thing is to click on the "Advanced Search" link to the right of the main green…

Gonna have a little fun- and if anyone here gets PO'd at me, well, I'm sorry. But this will be fun and keep you on your toes.

Starting today, I'm starting a series called The Name Game. Yeap, I'm going to post a picture of a character from the knife industry or cutlery history and your job is to guess who it is. I'll provide a little clue too. Prizes?…

1. A knife structure comprising:

a handle body having a trench mounted on one side thereof for receiving at least a foldable tool and a media player mounted on the other side thereof, wherein the media player comprises a plurality of function keys, a monitor, a LED light, an identifier, a microphone, a camera lens,…

I've been struggling with trying to see what the future of our traditional knife clubs and associations looks like.

For years, our local clubs provided a social gathering for like-minded collectors. Then you also have the regional and national associations providing certain benefits to their members in exchange for dues. These benefits included, among other things, newsletters/magazines, organized knife shows, club knives and identity.

Now it seems these…