All About Pocket Knives

I have been interested in knife collecting for years but have only begun to start. Any ideals?
Thanks for the input...

welcome joet. collect the ones you like , brands, patterns even handle material. have fun and show us what you get.

Welcome JoeT!

Johnnie is right on the money.

Collect patterns you like old or new. Do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions if you get into vintage knives, especially for the pricey ones.

Folks around here are very willing to help if they can, and seems we have a knowledgeable group for just about every maker.

welcome JOET,this is a GREAT SITE....AND YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!ANY QUESTIONS ON 99% OF ALL KNIVES CAN BE AND WILL BE ANSWERED HERE....AGAIN WELCOME!!

JoeT, buy some books!

Stockman

Welcome to the hobby JoeT. You've been given good advice, collect what you like, and buy reference books. In fact, you may want to buy the books first.

And read our forum posts! Plenty of good info here by knowledgable people.
Phil

JoeT Hello; .... You asked "Any ideals?"

I was new to this only 3 years ago my self.

When you asked this it made me think...

What did you really mean by that ? Perhaps you meant to ask what is a good company name to start collecting. So I do not wast my money buying the knives that will not be worth much in about ten years.
If this is what you meant. That you want to buy knives that will increase in value and be in demand down the road. Then you want to INVEST your money and get a grater return on it.

MY thoughts on this would be then Schrade USA knives. Do to the reason that they are not made in USA any more. The company was forced down the tubes into going out of business. Now they are made in China. It's like investing in land because they do not make any more land now days. So the OLD USA Schrades would be a good INVESTMENT. If you hold them for ten years I feel the value should be worth more...

The prices went up a lot right after Schrade closed their doors. One type of Schrade knife that seems to have gone lower now is the Scrimshaw's.
You can pick up some nice deals on them now (compared to the prices 2 yeas ago).

The scrimshaw is mainly just ink added to a handle to show a pitcher of some thing the artist wanted on the handle. In time and buy using the knife the ink rubs off. So there for if handled a lot and if chemicals tuch the ink it will be removed. Hence less unused real neat looking knives and the price of them should go up in ten years.

So this is one type of knife collecting for investment that mite be of interest to you. Here is one I have just to let you see what they look like.

This is all just my opinion you understand. Most here collect knives that they like but not manly for investing to make a profit, but hope some day will be worth more than the paid...

JoeT,
Don't figure on ever making a cent on your collection, or ever breaking even. That kinda thinking will suck the pleasure right out of your new hobby. There are people who have been in the game for many years that cannot predict with any regularity what will appreciate in value. In my opinion, Schrade USA knives (Scrim, Old Timers and Uncle Henrys) are the dogs of knife collecting right down there with recently made Camillus products. The knives I own that I THINK might continue to appreciate are Randalls and very old Pumas, but I am not betting on it. I keep those brands and add to them because I like them, appreciate the workmanship, beauty and history.

For good investments, see a trusted financial whiz.

Knives are one of the better investment tools in my opinion. But the old saying on stocks, "it doesn't matter what you buy - just when you buy it and when you sell it", does not hold true. You can't buy retail and sell wholesale as many people end up doing.

Don't rush in buying everything that catches your eye. Look for good deals in products that you enjoy rubbing. I know people that buy a knife on ebay and sell it the next week for a 50% profit consistently. It only takes experience to know what a knife is worth and how to advertise it. If you even make 10% per sale, but you roll that sale over 12 times a year; that is an outstanding return. Trying to make the old gun show 500% profit will leave you carrying a lot of knives around.

If you get to the point that you have to sell an entire collection for one money, the dealer is going to need to get them at wholesale. He won't stay in business long buying at retail and selling at retail. These trade forums are great, but don't have 10-20 thousand knife collectors shopping daily like eBay does.

At some point you may get like some of us, where you have to deal to support your habit (much like a dope dealer). Then you will look for really good deals on the stuff to re-sell and pay what you have to for the knives you lust over.

Thanks for all the input. I have been reading books for awhile now. I just didn't want to buy junk. I live near the Bear and Sons plant and once a year they offer seconds quality runs of there knives. The local area is flooded with them. Also the new China market such as Rough Riders are dirt cheap, but what about five to ten years from now.

They will still have been made in China. You narrow your chances of resale to the few interested in them.

I have three such knives, and I'll tell ya, the quality will rival some USA makers. The prejudice that exists today may not exist in ten years; but, then again I know of some real good looking penny stocks!

Knifeswapper, that's great advice about not buying everything that catces your eye. I wish that i had done that a couple of years ago. i bought everything! It did however, alow me to focus on some specific knives of interest. Now I'm going to have a major Ebay garage sale so I can buy more stuff. This sure is a fun hobby and having a site like this makes it all the more fun. Peace

I didn't mean to upset anyone about the Rough Rider knives. I carry a RR578 Rough Rider Gunstock Bone Brown Copperhead. I really like the knife. And have even considered collecting them. On the Schrade Scrimshaw that justold52 has, to me that is a great looking knife. I did a search on them and they're bringing a good price. Not everyone has $50.00 to invest in a knife but can afford a five to ten dollar one. Since we invest a lot at the gas pumps today...Penny stocks been done that

I have sort of a weird sense of humor, you didn't offend me at all.

I was saying (not so clearly) that IMO buying Chinese knives is like buying penny stocks, more than likely, not a good investment.

Folks around here are pretty mellow................more than likely if someone gets rubbed wrong it doesn't last long. We've figured out it's a total waste of time and energy to stay mad.

Most times it's a simple misunderstanding. Making yourself clear in a 50 word quip is hard sometimes.


Take care