Anyone else collect knives?

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I started when I was in my early teens with Swiss Army knives. I had the Tool Chest Plus from Wenger and the equivilant from Victorinox. Ultimately, my attention focused on Wenger. The last Wenger I bought had the fixed needle nose pliers among other functions. That was sold a while ago after buying my first Boker.



Since that Boker, the model name was Stellar Superliner Titanium, I have branched off to Walther, made by Umarex. I am not into guns but I have much admiration for this brand and their knives live up to the standard you might expect from them.

Introducing the newest member to my Walther collection: the P99. This knife is Walther's best yet. It comes with a 440SS blade coated black, synthetic handles, and 3 enter changeable palm grips for a precise comfort fit. The easy single hand opening is super smooth and requires little effort. Yet it has a nice 'click' sound so you know it is truly closed. The box includes a mini double sided screw driver for dismantling for cleaning and a sheath with a snap closer.



P99 and PPQ


Show off your knives.
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I don't collect them, but I like custom knives, and have owned two. Here's the one that I currently owned, an S.R. Johnson with a Micarta handle, followed by a Ricardo Velarde that I sold some time ago...

SRJ2.jpg

velarde23.jpg
 
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It's not a collecting focus but I have collected a few knives over the years. Mostly military stuff. Don't have a lot of photos of knives though.

World War II era second pattern (bottom) and third pattern (top) Fairbairn Sykes knives. Shown with a Webley Mark IV. I love both U.S. and British militaria.
 
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I used to have a fairly large pocket knife collection but I sold most of them because of NYC's hostility towards the right of a civilian to be able to protect yourself and loved ones.

The penalties in NYC for "criminal" possession of a knife are arbitrary, capricious and draconian. I'm not exaggerating when I claim that you will do less jail time for shoplifting a $20,000 wristwatch than for simple possession of a simple knife.

Ironically, I'm one of a literal few citizens in this fair city who can carry a registered handgun but there's no licensing procedure for other "weapons" for self defense.

My kid brother is one of the leading experts for all of New York regarding our penal code and even he can't figure this crap out.

I don't really like guns but I accept that they're a necessary evil. I understand the arguments that a gun is just a tool and a gun in and of itself it no more less good or evil than a bottle of bleach or a hammer.

Not looking for any arguments. Oh, jeez, please no lol
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My understanding is this thread would get you the instant ban hammer from every other watch forum.

This is because of conflicts of interest regarding trademarking and advertising for the registered owners of the message boards and the watch outfits they shill for.

Basically, the weasel in-house attorneys for Rolex and the like allow certain parties the right to use their intellectual property, tm's and cw's in exchange for constant censoring and control of content. Those weasel's live under constant fear of a C and D and the end of their little gravy trains. Posting on TRF is like paying someone to shove a hot poker up your rear end.

1st amendment, be damned. What a joke. Europeans are trained from birth to be less reverent about "freedom of speech" or, more specifically, the right of a person not to have words censured by a governmental agency. Blech. Sorry guys but it's true. Not your fault - it's just the way it is.

Dennis Is 100% correct when he rants about the arrogance of the Swiss and their their bitter contempt for local law and authoritiy - even (or, especially) towards the United States. The Swiss have twisted our Lanham Act into a pretzel and Rolex uses US Customs as their private police force. It's an embarrassing disgrace.

This is why I love when someone like Al Archer starts ranting lol

He'd get the boot in warp speed from TRF lol


I love when Al Archer rages against the machine because he has their number, plain and simple. He's kinda like my hero and I'm not kidding.
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I collect them and restore them when needed. Here's the latest project, a liner lock from (now deceased) Phil Boguszewski, one of the best folder makers to ever grind a blade. This one was a wreck when I got it: blade was scratched and over-sharpened, bolsters (originally anodized) looked like they'd been scrubbed with 80 grit sandpaper:

I took it apart, reground and mirror-polished the blade, satin-polished the bolsters, and cleaned things up in general. Here are the 23(!) pieces:

And here's the finished product, ready for another 30 years of service:
 
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Is that "Walther" spring assisted (or, contain a torsion bar?).

It's beautifully made... gorgeous.

Spy Spy
I started when I was in my early teens with Swiss Army knives. I had the Tool Chest Plus from Wenger and the equivilant from Victorinox. Ultimately, my attention focused on Wenger. The last Wenger I bought had the fixed needle nose pliers among other functions. That was sold a while ago after buying my first Boker.



Since that Boker, the model name was Stellar Superliner Titanium, I have branched off to Walther, made by Umarex. I am not into guns but I have much admiration for this brand and their knives live up to the standard you might expect from them.

Introducing the newest member to my Walther collection: the P99. This knife is Walther's best yet. It comes with a 440SS blade coated black, synthetic handles, and 3 enter changeable palm grips for a precise comfort fit. The easy single hand opening is super smooth and requires little effort. Yet it has a nice 'click' sound so you know it is truly closed. The box includes a mini double sided screw driver for dismantling for cleaning and a sheath with a snap closer.



P99 and PP


Show off your knives.
 
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Not a pocket knife collector, but I have a one or two dozen kitchen knives (okay, maybe or threee or four dozen 😗 ) The pocket/ neck knives I have are a couple from Randy Haas and one from Case with damascus made by Devin Thomas. Need to dig up pics...

(couple pics added) Here is the folder from Randy Haas (HHH):



Here is the Case with Devin Thomas's Damascus (spells out Case in the pattern):


And here is a pic of most of the chef knives/ gyutos, with a couple pettys thrown in:
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The only other photo of a knife that I can muster is my daily toter, a Case Baby Butterbean seen in these older photos. Just since the weekend it's gone AWOL and I feel lost. Likely somewhere in the laundry for the jillionth time.



 
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I collected traditional slipjoint patterns by custom makers from Bose to Zscherny. About five years ago I switched my resources to watches but I'll always love knives.
Here's one of mine by the illustrious Don Hanson with gorgeous stag covers.
 
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I spent a couple of months walking off piste in the Myanmar jungle in 2013, and it was a great opportunity to buy some nice kit. Ended up with a Fallkniven F1, which is better made and better balanced than any knife I've ever owned. Picture from the net
 
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It's not a collecting focus but I have collected a few knives over the years. Mostly military stuff. Don't have a lot of photos of knives though.

World War II era second pattern (bottom) and third pattern (top) Fairbairn Sykes knives. Shown with a Webley Mark IV. I love both U.S. and British militaria.

I can just imagine the sort of action those tools have seen.
 
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I collect them and restore them when needed. Here's the latest project, a liner lock from (now deceased) Phil Boguszewski, one of the best folder makers to ever grind a blade. This one was a wreck when I got it: blade was scratched and over-sharpened, bolsters (originally anodized) looked like they'd been scrubbed with 80 grit sandpaper:

I took it apart, reground and mirror-polished the blade, satin-polished the bolsters, and cleaned things up in general. Here are the 23(!) pieces:

And here's the finished product, ready for another 30 years of service:

Outstanding work!
 
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Is that "Walther" spring assisted (or, contain a torsion bar?).

It's beautifully made... gorgeous.

Thanks. It is not spring assisted. Just a thumb stud and flipper for opening.
 
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I have a bunch of knives - I would not call it any kind of collection and most were bought when I was in my teens...







A few years ago I met a fellow watch collector in Toronto who was very much into knives, and he pointed me to a maker in the US who was very reasonably priced, and after a few emails, I ended up with this (also seen in last shot above):



Nice little pocket knife for daily carry, with black MOP. I started looking at knife forums, and after a few days of reading and looking at the wonderful pieces people were having made for them, I made the decision to close the page and not look there again! If you thought watches were expensive...holy crap! Many here give the advice to leave now before your bank account is drained, and I made that choice on those forums...

I have always carried a knife of some kind or another, except when flying of course. Right now I carry the smallest of the folders shown above - a little Schrade Uncle Henry my late mother gave me years ago, when they were still made in the US.

I've actually just recently gotten back into knives, but only watching them being made on TV. If you can see it on line or on TV, try watching the series Forged in Fire. Reality TV show where contestants have to make a knife from supplied materials in the studio forge in 3 hours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forged_in_Fire_(TV_series)

Then the final 2 make a weapon that the show picks (based on some historical weapon) in their own forge over 5 days. Some of the guys can do a lot in a very short period of time, and some are complete failures of course. Suddenly I want to buy a forge and make some Damascus steel....

Cheers, Al
 
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Toledo Steel from Spain, one of my favorites. I would highly recommend any of the Toledo knives to any serious collector.
 
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EDC
Burt Foster laminated ( one of USA,s best knife makers)
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