How much is enough?

[XX Case XX]

I have my knives separated into 2 categories:

1. Collector Grade.
2. EDC.

I sometimes wonder though, if there will ever come a day when I look at my collector knives and think to myself "that's it, that's enough". I know I will always want another used, inexpensive edc knife, but I'm wondering if one day I will feel that my collection of keeper knives is finished.

I guess it would depend on how someone collects. In other words, if they were looking to complete some sort of "set" and they still hadn't found that one, elusive knife, they might never be finished.

I don't collect by any "pre-determined" guidelines. I collect whatever catches my eye at the time I can afford another "Safe Queen" so to speak. Therefore, I could be finished at any time if I wanted to. Then again, it could just go on and on and on.

Anyone else out there feel there could come a time when their collection of keepers will be enough?

__________
Mike

[gino]

Never! Then there will come a day when you start edc ing your safe queens at least that’s what I did. My son or daughters have no interest in my knives so I’m gonna enjoy them while I’m alive

[philco]

Mike I'm 62 years old and started collecting knives when I was 12. So far I've never reached the point I thought I'd collected enough knives. I've had stretches when I didn't add many to my collection (raising two kids and paying on a mortgage had a lot to do with that) but I never thought I had all I wanted. I still don't, so after 50 years of collecting, I suspect I never will.

[tongueriver]

I'm in for the long haul, but....

Red Green: "I'm a man..... but I can change.... if I have to."

[FRJ]

For the most part I collect packers. They're easy to fall in love with.
I can't get enough of that.

[KnifeSlinger#81]

As long as old schrades can be found I'll be collecting, probably 'till I die. I'm leaning more to minty knives these days though.

[zzyzzogeton]

I will probably still have incoming knives when I die.

I've shown my nephew, who will be getting whatever knives I have when I pass on, where my spare PO Box key is located so that he can check my box for a while after I get planted, just in case.

[QTCut5]

Anyone else out there feel there could come a time when their collection of keepers will be enough?

I only get that feeling for about a week or so after spending some astronomical amount on a new knife...or until I see another one that I absolutely must have.

~Q~

[Railsplitter]

I think the only way that I would ever stop acquiring knives is if I either lost interest in them or had a financial downfall that required it. I do have a limit as to how many knives I own at one time.

I have display cases that I keep most of my knives in. Each case has 24 slots for knives. When all of my cases are full I sell off a few to make room for more. That's getting harder to do though. I'm finding that I have fewer and fewer knives that I'm willing to part with. I'll buy another display case if necessary but I haven't needed another one in over 10 years.

Right now I've only got 4 empty slots and there's nothing out there that I absolutely must have.

[knife7knut]

Being as how collecting knives is(for me anyway)a lifetime search I expect I will still be collecting when they put me in the ground. The AAPK mantra: "You can NEVER have too many knives" is like the mechanics:"You can NEVER have too many tools" or the vintage car collector:" You can NEVER have too many cars". One of my good customers (and friend) has about TWO HUNDRED vintage automobiles(all registered and insured;no dealer plates)and he is always looking to get more. A couple years ago he auctioned off about 60 of them and went out and bought more!

[espn77]

When you own them all. Then you'll know you have enough.

[Paladin]

I bought about 50 in the last 2 days. I am 77 years old and have no intention of stopping. Or even cutting back.

Ray

[rea1eye]

That is a question I have been asking myself lately. I have 33 Case knives. My non-Case
knives are very few in number. I have not purchased a knife in over 3 months.
There was a stag Case I was really interested in today but did not bid on it because the
seller really over-buffed it and looked like he sharpened one blade with a bench grinder. Ughhhh.
( I was going to post that as another subject)

I don't have part of my collection as mint and one for view only. Perhaps if I were younger I may want them
separate. Life is shorter now and I want to enjoy them all. My near mint knives are carried very carefully
and are not subjected to any hard cutting. There is 5208 pattern I have been interested in buying at a good
price but that has not happened yet. Maybe I don't have enough ????


Bob

[Paladin]

,,,,,,,,,, Maybe I don't have enough ????


Bob

Clearly the case, Bob (pun intended).

[stockman]

I have been selling a few knives,but I also want to keep looking for more. It is fun.

Harold

[deo-pa]

You raise a great question Mike and I've been thinking a lot about exactly this issue. I thoroughly enjoy the hunt and don't intend to stop, but I also recognize that as a knife collector I should have a goal or a plan. Acquiring more and more just for the heck of it is mindless collecting and not a good use of my limited knife budget.

Accordingly, I am leaning toward the following. Select a target size for my collection (I'm thinking 100 knives) and as I buy a new knife I sell another one to stay more or less at 100 knives. Now my collecting goal will be not just to acquire but to make the quality of my 100 knives better and better over time: more minty, more rare examples, etc.

Note that I said "I am leaning toward" this idea. Since my collection is a good bit more than 100 that means I have to part with quite a few knives if I adopt this approach. I've thought about it but have yet to make the actual commitment to a 100 knife collection. In principle I think it is a good idea (at least for me), but it remains to be seen whether I have the gumption and self-control to follow through.

My children aren't collectors, so I also like the idea that this would allow me to leave my children with a modest sized and well documented collection to dispose of, hopefully keeping a knife or two to remember the old man by.

Dennis

[Lansky1]

Funny, I've bought about everything Case makes & have narrowed down my preference to about 4 or 5 patterns. I'm to the point where I'm running out of room - only buying unusual colors or oddities in the patterns I like going forward.

[kootenay joe]

I collect in a similar manner to O.P., i.e. whatever knife speaks to me, not limited by brand, pattern, country, etc.
I used a line of credit to pay and ran it up to $55,000 which i am now slowly paying down.
For many of us knife collecting is a form of addiction in which we can 'slow down' our acquiring but rarely quit entirely.
My fear is that one day i will wake up and find my fascination with knives gone and be surrounded by knives that mean nothing to me. That would stop me from acquiring any more knives but also leave me feeling i had wasted much of my life and all of my money on meaningless knives. A hollow life and a frightening thought.
kj

[TripleF]

Simple answer pal.....depends on what the next knife looks like. If it make you go, oh baby.....that is beautiful, look at the stag would ya?

uh huh.......

[terryl308]

It's the lure of the hunt that keeps me going, probably will never have enough, but cash flow limits my hunt sometimes. Terry

[jmh58]

I have been in this hobby for a long time and accrued 300 plus knives.. I have no rhyme or reason in my collecting direction.. Some times I think it is time to slow the roll and think I have enough.. My daughter likes knives so I know most will go to her, heck she is picking out what she wants now and some to my son..

I guess we all need a hobby or vice and knife collecting is mine.. I really don't know what I would do with out this hobby.. John

[tongueriver]

No end in sight for me at this point. I have noticed something not yet mentioned- Although the 'having' is great, the 'getting' is where the biggest excitement is- the anticipation. That is what addiction to collectibles, gambling, etc. is all about. But then, when the new item is safely out of the mailbox, there is the image collection, the catalogueing, cross-referencing, fondling, chicken-eyeing, sharing, ad infinitum.... yep, I'm in. But I also have changed directions as to patterns, companies, vintages, and condition, so now I have boxes of knives to sell which go run to significant POUNDS AVOIRDUPOIS.

[Quick Steel]

The evidence suggests that I have no good answer to the question. When I was approaching retirement about a year and a half ago, I dispersed the majority of my collection to those relatives, both young and old, who had shown some affinity for knives.
My plan was then, in retirement, to severely limit any future acqusitions. I was thinking perhaps just two or three a year. This seemed prudent as I was now on a fixed income.

But something happened to my plans. I have purchased several dozens of knives since retiring. Now I am left with no choice other than to say, "Hi, my name is Garry and I am an addict.

[glennbad]

As others have said, it's the excitement of the hunt for new deals and hidden treasures that keeps me going. Although, I've been bitten by the Custom bug lately. Expensive disease.

Between that and knife modding materials, ....

[bestgear]

Great question and great (honest) responses.

When I started collecting pocket knives in 1964 I only collected Scout knives, mostly official but some unofficial which I'm in the process of parting-out now. Around 1975 I started collecting Landers, Frary and Clark and in 2000 I starting collecting their predecessor, Humason & Beckley. My "lifetime goal" is to have a complete catalogued official Boy, Cub, Girl and Campfire Girl collection and as many unique pocket knife models from LF&C and H&B that I can find. In 2017 I purchased very few knives because I didn't find any official Scouts (zero) and only a few LF&C's that I didn't have. Now that I have an AAPK store I occasionally play the "upgrade game" and buy I knife that I have and sell the lesser-grade knife in my store but generally I'm only looking for knives that I don't have.

In terms of numbers, I have 221 of the 248 official Scout knives that I've been able to catalog although many of my fellow Scout knife collectors believe that I'm chasing ghosts on the remaining 27. I have no idea on how many unique H&B's pocket knives were produced as I don't have any original factory catalogs to make that determination, but I do have 231 of them. With LF&C's, I have nine catalogs from 1914 to 1931 which indicate 798 unique pocket knives of which I have 453 leaving me 345 to acquire.

For me, how much is enough is known but will most likely never be achieved hence the love of the hunt continues!