accidental collector
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:59 pm
My father-in-law was a product of the 1940's, he served in WWII as a B25 pilot and later became a truck driver hauling explosives. He passed away this last year and I had the sad duty of helping to take care of his estate. Soon I started finding pocket knives; a couple shoved in the back of a drawer, some in parts of tool chests or maybe one or two in the closet - in shoe boxes, under cloths, in every nook and cranny of the house there were pocket knives. I probably found 40 knives all from earlier than the 1950's
I've always carried a knife and had an appreciation for the knives of my youth but the passion for collecting was never sparked until this treasure trove of knives fell into my lap. At first I just threw them with all of the other things that we were going to sell in an estate sale but once I saw how many there were I started to get the bug and I pulled them all aside and began thinking about building my own collection right there.
Now Bud was not a knife collector, he was an avid knife user. He did not care for these tools, he used them up but never ever threw them away. He must have considered himself a man who knew how to sharpen cutlery but believe me he was a hack! I think he needed a intervention. Most of the knives lead full lives but few are what a collector would call treasure. Most of them had blades that were broken or ground beyond recognition and severely ham-handled, and all were greasy and filthy. But a few are still in pretty good shape and one or two are even good collector pieces.
So I started learning and researching and I developed my own sense of what types of knives appealed to me and I started collecting a few on my own, some vintage and some more modern reproductions like the things built by Case, Boker and GEC. This last gun show I came home with six knives, two are really nice vintage examples from Cattaraugus and New York. And now I'm an addicted traditional pocket knife collector and I may be the one needing an intervention.
So that's my story and that's why I'm here. I look forward to learning more and hopefully contributing here as well.
I've always carried a knife and had an appreciation for the knives of my youth but the passion for collecting was never sparked until this treasure trove of knives fell into my lap. At first I just threw them with all of the other things that we were going to sell in an estate sale but once I saw how many there were I started to get the bug and I pulled them all aside and began thinking about building my own collection right there.
Now Bud was not a knife collector, he was an avid knife user. He did not care for these tools, he used them up but never ever threw them away. He must have considered himself a man who knew how to sharpen cutlery but believe me he was a hack! I think he needed a intervention. Most of the knives lead full lives but few are what a collector would call treasure. Most of them had blades that were broken or ground beyond recognition and severely ham-handled, and all were greasy and filthy. But a few are still in pretty good shape and one or two are even good collector pieces.
So I started learning and researching and I developed my own sense of what types of knives appealed to me and I started collecting a few on my own, some vintage and some more modern reproductions like the things built by Case, Boker and GEC. This last gun show I came home with six knives, two are really nice vintage examples from Cattaraugus and New York. And now I'm an addicted traditional pocket knife collector and I may be the one needing an intervention.
So that's my story and that's why I'm here. I look forward to learning more and hopefully contributing here as well.
to the site. 
and yeah mumbleypeg, I think there was a knife collector inside me all along. When I was about 14 my Grandfather gave me a giant folder that looked a bit like a camp knife but about two times too big. He told me it was issued to him in the Navy. I absolutely worshiped that knife and have kept it all these years. I still have it today and it sits proudly at the head of my collection. so yeah, its always been there and I just needed something to get it jump-started.