All About Pocket Knives

So, question, when do you consider a knife too used. When is a knife so worn out that it just needs to get thrown in the trash. I say this cause this knife here has to be the most used knife I have seen in this lot, the dirtiest slots, handle so worn you can hardly see jig pattern, and blades so used they look more like exacto knife blades than pocket knife blades, sure it is a whole knife and all the blades have a varying snap still so its not broke but there is nothing you can do to fix it either. Someone please help me I have the hardest time letting thigns go especially when technically it still works

I’ve seen way worse than that for sale on eBay! A few years ago there was a post here from a member wanting functional knives for donation to a Scout troop. It’s your knife so do with it as you wish but as the old saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Fri Aug 18, 2023 5:04 am I’ve seen way worse than that for sale on eBay! A few years ago there was a post here from a member wanting functional knives for donation to a Scout troop. It’s your knife so do with it as you wish but as the old saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

Ken

Probably was listed as "can be buffed to mint" on ebay. lol I would keep it as a parts knife, a spring could be used to repair a knife with a broken one. I have also made knife picks out of that sort of thing.

The answer to "when" to throw it away is easy - when it no longer has any value (in terms of usefulness or sentimental) or appeal to you.

Then the question becomes "where" to throw it away -
Trash bin?
AAPK POS Exchange?
Parts pile?
Ebay?
Friend?
???

Tyall for your answers and a special ty for your service, Steve, I got my son out at McDill doing radar maintenance

If it were mine I would not throw that knife away.

I suggest you clean the blade well and oil the joints. Maybe buff the blades with some steel wool and sharpen it and put in your pocket.

What do most of us use a knife for; not much and that knife will cover all of that.

I wonder who made it. I suspect whoever took it to that level was quite fond of it. I say it's a keeper.

That one's just getting broken in!

From your pictures it looks like it just needs a good cleaning, maybe replace the front pivot pin, feed it some oil, and get another 50 years out of it.

Lots of life left in her

Please step away from the trash can

If I owned that knife when I was 6ish, it would have been one of the most valuable things in existence.

I'd wager to say that there is a home for it somewhere.

Most of my oldest doesn't look much better. I mostly buy them as filler until I can afford something nicer, but I've changed my opinion when I get them in lots. when I see a knife in this condition, I like to wonder about what all it was used for in its lifetime. Thus, a lot of these have been honorably retired to my display case. In fact, I have more of these on display than I do nice newer knives.

This is a few of 'em.

O. Barnett Tool Pliers Knife. Good ones are about $200-300, and busted ones not much less. I pulled the eBay listing photos from one I'd bid on a few years earlier (as I thought me winning it was a shoe-in), and best I can tell, this was the same one I got outbid on by $20-30. The guy paid $50-60 for it, and I bought it from him for $20, as it sat for a year without a buyer.

As is common, the blade is busted off. The guy that I got it from was thinking about sticking a blade from TL-29 in it. Better a busted relic than a ruined frankenknife.
This one is probably 130+ years old. Wostenholm, Senator pattern I think. One of the blades is broken, and it's obvious the knife was used for many, many years.

As I understand, new tariff laws required the country of origin to be marked. As this one has no "ENGLAND" it has to be before then.
This F.A Koch and Co. was carried by my great-Granddad from the 1920s when he was a boy, until his death in 1993. My grandparents gave it to me when I was a teenager, and it currently resides in a display case.

Front scale, gone. Shield, is gone. Wharncliffe main--worn down and tang illegible. Nailfile secondary, cleaner tip broken off.
This Wadsworth and Son I got in a POS Exchange a couple years back. One of the bolsters is gone, the blades are well-worn, one is hard to get at, and the MOP is cracked up.
Got this 1940 Wostenholm British Army Knife in a bulk lot. It likely was carried by a soldier during the war.

Main--wobbles like crazy, worn down. Spike, tipped, wobbles. Liners, bent up. Screwdriver, well-worn. Can opener, about the only thing that isn't damaged.

Currently resides on a display case alongside some pretty old books--some more than 200 years old, and due to be returned to a scientific association founded in England by their original owner as soon as I can convince myself to do so, and figure out the shipping arrangements to Yorkshire. I was given them, as they were given to family friend to get rid of; as the person who did so thought they were trash. The two green ones in the middle are WV state history books from the 1890s and 1910 I think. The one on the very end was from the seminary school at a local college during the late '40s. I thought about giving it to that college, but the problem there is, I'm betting they are the ones who donated to the local library's free bin in the first place.

Give it away, but don’t throw it away!

pearlgearl wrote: ↑Fri Aug 18, 2023 4:17 am So, question, when do you consider a knife too used. When is a knife so worn out that it just needs to get thrown in the trash.

NEVER

If you throw that knife away then next week there will be a thread where that knife will be a perfect example of something.

I would clean the blade well a bit with a brush and use it for a photo prop. It has a lot more character than a new knife. If you really must get rid of it, then next time you are out hiking, drop that knife in the trail. The next day you will probably see a photo of it on this forum as someone's really cool find!

That's patina and just adds yo the value!

I had bought my dad a few Buck stockmans over the years and he'd break the blades prying with them. He'd then toss them out.

I wish he/we knew Buck would replace those blades for $10.

I hold onto them. I think they are interesting. But I’m not flooded with them either.

As has been said someone loved that knife and carried it for a long time. It’s not broken just worn. When I hold that knife I have a connection with that person. That persons grandson would treasure that knife.

If it were abused, smashed, bent, with grinder marks. No parts worth saving. I’d loose it somewhere. Even then it would be hard to just throw out a knife.

If you are buying knife lots, you must sell some of them? Either put together your own lot and sell it on ebay. Or stick a clunker in the box when you sell a good one.

I am not buying knives, I inherited of the sorts, tons of them, Id say around 200lbs of knives

"So, question, when do you consider a knife too used. When is a knife so worn out that it just needs to get thrown in the trash."

..... NOOOOOO!!!!!! Never!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pearlgearl wrote: ↑Fri Aug 18, 2023 3:33 pm Tyall for your answers and a special ty for your service, Steve, I got my son out at McDill doing radar maintenance

I really enjoyed my time in.
I pray your son fares well with Idalia heading his way.

Whenever you think about throwing one away, first take some time to browse this old thread viewtopic.php?t=25402

Ken

That knife looks like it's been in sombody pocket every day for decades. I've always felt that it's too bad the persons family doesn't appreciate the love the man had for that knife to use it that much - and just keep in the family for posterity sake. I have my grampa's old no-name knife that he carried for most of his life - it's very worn, but it was good enough for him up until the end ... it's the one knife above all others I'll never sell. I makes me sad to see a knife that loved that nobody appreciated enough to keep it in the family ...