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My Knife Collecting Life
I am new to iKC, and thought I would describe to you my knife collecting life (which is not too long). To start with, I am a recently retired structural engineer. I worked 34 year performing stress analysis on aircraft wheels, brakes, and struts, mostly for large commercial aircraft, but also some military aircraft. If you don't mind me "tooting my own horn", I structurally designed the B2 (stealth bomber) main wheels and brakes. I retired in March of 2011, and picked up an old hobby I had as a kid; knife collecting.
I bought some books and read up on the subject. Slowly at first, I began to buy knives, mostly on ebay. As I started collecting knives, I was overwhelmed at the variety. One thing that came early in my knive collecting career, is that I was not interested in assault knives or fixed blade knives (no offense to you who do collect these kind of knives). The variety of sizes, kinds, materials, makers, etc. was very interesting to me. I ended up with quite a few. I bought a big Gerstner chest to keep them in. After about a year I pretty well filled it. I concentrated mostly on Case knives, but really had many different brands. I even splurged a few times and bought some YellowHorse knives.
My father-in-law passed away and I inherited several of his machines/tools. I added a few of my own, and now I can sharpen, polish, and restore knives. It took a while for me to learn, but now I do it routinely.
Next, my wife opened a small booth at an antique mall in Goshen, Indiana. So I got the bright idea of trying to sell knives from her shop. So I bought more knives to stock the store. Well needless to say, my success was minimal, part of it due to lack of traffic by our store. So now my wife and I are moving to another antique dealer where I will see if my luck is any better. I have also sold some knives on ebay.
Hopefully the new location along with the approaching Christmas season will increase my small local business. I do not have a web page yet, but I might do that.
In spite of all this, I truly enjoy knife collecting and working on them. It is a fun, fun hobby.
Stanley May
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Comment by Ron Cooper on October 17, 2012 at 16:12
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Ha! Surely you jest. Sadly, my entire collection would probably fit in a shoe box with room to spare.
And funny you should ask if I've ordered any knives lately. Not more than 10 minutes ago I pulled the trigger on another forum's 2012 Club Knife. (Forgive me. I know this is heresy. *Hangs Head*) It is being made by GEC and was just too gorgeous of a knife to pass up. Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/2012-Blade-Forum-KnifeGEC is just now wrapping up production on these and they should begin shipping soon. So now I am not only waiting for our little beauty, the Geppetto Whittler, I am now also waiting for this #72 Trapper. Santa Claus will be making some frequent, early visits to my house!
I just took a deep breath. See what you can do about that ride, will ya!
Cheers, my friend -- always good to hear from you!
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Comment by Stanley May on October 17, 2012 at 15:58
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Ron, good to hear from you. My Gerstner cabinet is about 26" tall and about 24" wide. It is not nearly massive enough to warrant wheels. I've never seen one on rollers before. Must be big. Perhaps your enormous collection is large enough to get one of these LOL.
Even though I designed the B2 main wheels and brakes, I am sure they would not even let me get close to the plane let alone get a ride. If I ever do get the opportunity to do so, I will let you know and we can both get a ride. Don't hold your breath.
Purchase any new knives lately? I haven't due to lack of cash.
Got to go. Take care.
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It sounds like you had an interesting and rewarding career, Stanley.
I would love to see a picture of your Gerstner cabinet. I know that many of the cabinets they make are on rollers. That would be really convenient if you needed to move it around the house or shop a lot. Does your cabinet have rollers?
And since you were the guy who designed the B2's wheels and brakes. Do you think you can get me a ride in one? I would be writin' songs about you if you could. Let me know. I'm available to go flying just about any day of the week that ends in the letter "Y."
Cheers, my friend! I'm glad you're here!
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Yes I really designed the B2 main wheels and brakes. Lots and lots of stress analysis. I did not work on the nose wheel however.
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Comment by Adriano Demarinis on October 4, 2012 at 13:37
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I hope you to succeed to have great bargain in your shop.
You really designed the B2 wheels?? WOW
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Comment by Sue OldsWidow on September 8, 2012 at 13:07
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Good luck on your kniving adventure and business, keep us posted!
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There was a question regarding my cabinent. The Gerstner cabinent I mentioned in the blog is the one I store the knives in my collection/not for sale. At my wifes store I have two glass display cabinents. They are each about 28"w x 24"h x 12"d. They are entirely made of glass except for the floor. They are held together almost like a "lead glass" material/scheme. Each cabinet has three glass shelves and lockable glass sliding doors in the back. The shelves can be at different heights depending on where you put the brackets. With everthing made of glass, the customer can see all the knives pretty well. Sometime I will send some pictures along to show you what I mean.
Stanley May
White River Knives
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