So I asked my wife, I said "Dear, what would you, as a non-knife-person, like to read about on a blog about knives?" And she basically said "Why Knives?"
So I want to write a little bit about why I like knives, and why a lot of people like knives and the various reasons for collecting them.
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| Bob Loveless in his workshop. Seriously...the man wore the coolest hats. |
Knife making legend Bob Loveless said the following about knives:
"When a man picks up a knife, there's an old memory from the collective unconscious that surfaces. A knife is an atavistic experience. It was man's first tool and weapon. Man was chipping flint into cutting edges before he invented the wheel. No matter how sophisticated we become, a knife takes us back to the cave."
(Interview with Bob Loveless, Sports Illustrated 1980)
And in a way...that makes a point with me silly as that may be. When I hold a knife....it makes me want to do something with it. It makes me want to see how sharp it is. How long it will cut, how good it'll keep on feeling in the hand. It makes me want to go out into the woods and build a shelter, cut wood and MAKE something.
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Shiny....sooooo shiny...must cut.....throats.. |
Well that's just me though. That said, my collection of knives is pretty humble. I spend a LOT more time and money on MAKING knives. So for me the interest in collecting them is also in learning from them about how to make a better knife. Sometimes I learn something about how a knife is built, and sometimes I learn how NOT to do something from the way a knife is built.
Apart from what I like about collecting knives there are a lot of other motivations for people. Here's a few collectors stereotyped.....and please note. A lot of collectors fall into more than one category. You'll also see a lot of these collectors in other collecting hobbies like Fountain Pens, Camera's, Watches etc.
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| "I finally found that goldcovered feather duster with diamond inlayed tip! Now my feather duster collection is complete!" |
The one pattern guy:
This is the collector that just REALLY likes ONE type of knife. Or maybe it's one manufacturer or one handle material. His (her? There seem to be fewer lady "collectors") goal is basically to "Collect the whole set" Some people collect a Peanut Pattern, others collect knives in Mammoth Ivory (no, that's not illegal...mammoths were already extinct for a loooong time, no one is hunting them), others prefer Mother of Pearl or maybe they collect hand forged bowie knives. Maybe it's just from a certain smith or factory. The hunt for that one missing piece is a lot of fun and sometimes it takes YEARS to find that one that's been eluding you for so long. The person hunting for "The one" will pay a LOT of money that, to someone who isn't in the know, will not really seem worth it. But to this collector it is because of rarity for instance. When not coupled with common sense the One Pattern guy will turn into the Fanboy.
The Investment guy
The Collvestor is basically looking at his hobby as a way to make money. However it's mostly the trading that he likes. He'll be buying low (if possible) and selling high. However this guy knows that it's pretty difficult to make REAL money through his collection. It's basically turned into a personal challenge. He'll be scouring E-bay and trade shows. Looking into garage sales and secondhand stores.
At the higher end of the scales he'll be looking at newer custom makers and trying to predict which ones will become famous and go up in value. There are a lot of Collvestors who aren't very good at it. being a good Collvester takes a LOT of research, time energy and often money. For a lot of these people the game is a lot more important than winning though. And they often don't mind all too much if they lose some money on a deal. Someone who's got quite an eye for this (and literally wrote the book on it) is Les Robertson.
The Trend Chaser
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| I kill the CRAP out of those boxes! |
The Trend Chaser is someone who's always looking for the latest and greatest. He sees folding knives with a new locking system? He's gotta play with one. He sees a new type of steelcoming to market? He's gotta get one. It doesn't matter if he has any real use for the knife or not. Some trend chasers use knives in their daily lives, others just chase em to collect em. Some will take them out on militairy deployment, others into the woods. Others will just sit and open and close them in front of the TV. (And open the occasional box with em)
What you do with the knife isn't really as important as the fact that you own one and have actually held one. These guys are the early adopters of the knife world. And sometimes they can make or break a makers reputation.
The I-collect-what-I-like guy.
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| You're not my real dad!..I do what I want! (Source, We're the Millers) |
This guy is usually a mix of all of the above. (And this is what MOST collectors are like). They'll just buy things that they like. Sometimes that's because they like the history, sometimes because of the price, sometimes because the materials or the design are something special. These guys are most often called "Accumulators" rather than collectors by some of the other groups. There's no real order to what they like. But they don't care. They like what they like and if they lose money on it, or if it doesn't fit in with the rest of the collection then that's just fine. Their collections are one big mishmesh of patterns, materials, makers, priceranges and era's of knives. They like what they like and they'll do what they want. No apologies.
The User
He might be a woodsman, a butcher, a chef, a militairy man or all of the above. But the User buys his knives to USE and will let everyone know. The knives in his collection will show patina (a light form of corrosion), sharpening marks and scratches.These guys are often LOVED by knifemakers. They can tell a knifemaker how to improve his work in a functional manner. Some of these guys will buy VERY expensive knives and use them in the same way they'll use a $50 knife. Some of these guys don't know much about making knives, or steel chemistry or things like that. But they know what makes a knife work well. Some makers will even send these guys knives for virtually free just to get some valued feedback. (Or at cost of materials)
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| Don't be this guy.....just don't. Source |
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