All About Pocket Knives

I am looking for a Schrade SUSA4 "Fire and Ice" automatic in "Abalone". I might consider a "Gold Sparkle" or othe "flashy" material.

WOW ! Auto ? i did not know these existed. Did GEC make them auto ? or after market ?
Roger, you get the first one, i'll take the second one please !
kj

They were made back in 2007-10 as I understand. They are bolster release like the Aerial & Olsen/Jaeger Bros. and made in limited production. They came in about 7 handle materials. Jigged bone, stag, and synthetics. I have one in red smokey acrylic. They look like the same design as the Fire and Ice 2 blade trappers but single blade and auto.

The regular 'Fire & Ice' folders came in 2 sizes, #23 & #73 both released in either late 2006 or early 2007. Were the autos made at the same time ? or a later run ?
Could it be that these autos started out as a slip joint and the modification to auto was done by a knife mechanic after leaving GEC ?
Someone here must know for sure.
kj

These are made by GEC/Taylor LLC with the Schrade stamp and blade etch. I think they were a limited edition contracted by Sharper Deals.com. Very cool knives.

Here's a little info for ya

Prototype (Red Bone)....... 8/15/2008... 31 pcs
Light Red Bone….M# SUSA4 8/28/2008... 80 pcs
Dark Red Bone ...M#SUSA4 8/28/2008... 82 pcs
Honey Bone...M# SUSA5 ...... 10/8/2009... 95 pcs
Stag.................................... 3/10/2010... 86 pcs
White Bone...M# SUSA7......... 6/3/2010... 54 pcs
Red Abalone...M# SUSA8........ 6/3/2011... 56 pcs
Glitter Gold.......................... 8/10/2012... 24 pcs
Pumpkin Patch..................... 8/10/2012... 30 pcs
Kings Wood......................... 8/10/2012... 30 pcs
Makassar Ebony Wood............ 1/25/2013... 20 pcs
Smoked Acrylic.................... 2/4/2013... 16 pcs
Black micarta...................... 2/5/2013... 19 pcs
Smooth White Bone 2013....... 10/18/2013... 25 pcs
Black Pearl Acrylic............... 10/21/2013... 16 pcs

That's the knife! Thanks! Those are great little knives, well made. Mine is the "Smoked Acrylic" which is a translucent ruby red with a faint dark swirl. I'd like to find an abalone. Thanks for posting the info!

dweb, wow ! thank you for posting 'all ya need to know about F & I autos' including pictures.
These autos were a different run, different year even, than the slip joint Fire & Ice.
Any idea of what these sell for now, if you can find one available ?
kj

The red smoked acrylic I paid $300. for. I've seen black micarta go for $280.

Here's the one I have. Smoked acrylic.

Always happy to share what others have shared with me. I'd say you are right in the ballpark at $300. Finding one that is for sale is the hard part...and having the money at the same time.

Quote: ".and having the money at the same time."
That is why it is important to have your PP connected to your Line of Credit bank account ! Never miss out for lack of funds ! Play now, Pay later !
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Quote: ".and having the money at the same time."
That is why it is important to have your PP connected to your Line of Credit bank account ! Never miss out for lack of funds ! Play now, Pay later !
kj

What's this Line Of Credit thing you're talking about

Line of Credit is like a loan but you take money in small amounts when you need it. Must be secured, usually registering your home/property in case you borrow $$ and do not pay it back.
Say you have a L of C for $100,000, you can use this to pay for anything you want. Win a knife on ebay for $20, pay with PP. PP then takes $20 out of your line of credit which is one of your bank accounts. You can keep doing this until you have spent all $100,000. Or you can pay some or all of it off from time to time. Interest rates are usually about Prime plus 1% which is low for what is essentially a loan.
You need to be careful to not spend more than you can pay back or eventually you could loose ownership of the property registered to secure the L. of C.
I did this and after 10 years had spent $55,000 more than i had paid back on a L of C for $100,000. This is why i am now selling many (most ?) of the knives i bought with this money. Still have $9,000 to pay off.
I was being facetious when i posted link your PP to a Line of Credit bank account. It is a dangerous way to purchase discretionary items, but it does enable you to bid high enough to win every knife you want.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Line of Credit is like a loan but you take money in small amounts when you need it. Must be secured, usually registering your home/property in case you borrow $$ and do not pay it back.
Say you have a L of C for $100,000, you can use this to pay for anything you want. Win a knife on ebay for $20, pay with PP. PP then takes $20 out of your line of credit which is one of your bank accounts. You can keep doing this until you have spent all $100,000. Or you can pay some or all of it off from time to time. Interest rates are usually about Prime plus 1% which is low for what is essentially a loan.
You need to be careful to not spend more than you can pay back or eventually you could loose ownership of the property registered to secure the L. of C.
I did this and after 10 years had spent $55,000 more than i had paid back on a L of C for $100,000. This is why i am now selling many (most ?) of the knives i bought with this money. Still have $9,000 to pay off.
I was being facetious when i posted link your PP to a Line of Credit bank account. It is a dangerous way to purchase discretionary items, but it does enable you to bid high enough to win every knife you want.
kj

What a temptation that would be, to be able to bid high enough to win every knife you want. I always say that I collect for the enjoyment and not for investment, as do most of us, but I'm sure that at one time or another we all hoped to make money doing this. After watching the value of my collection decrease year after year while still buying knife after knife, what else can I say...that I took all this hard earned money and all the time I've spent on this collection and invested it in something that is now worth two thirds what I spent. Of course I'm going to say that I do it for enjoyment. and don't get me wrong...I do enjoy it. However, if suddenly all our collections were worth 3 times what we have spent on them, I have no doubt that we'd all be sitting around commenting on what shrewd investors we were.
Hi, my name is Doug and I'm a knife addict.

Me too. Most of my knives are worth less now than what i paid. I see this as the price of my hobby. If instead my passtime was skiing (which it used to be) then i would have spent money on skis, boots & ski passes. Life costs money but at least with knife collecting we get some money back when a knife we own gets sold. And, if knife collecting becomes more popular, we might break even, or better. It could happen.
kj