This article will hopefully be the first of many on the topic of knives. I intend to cover general history, blade steels, mechanisms, simple things to customize your knives, what to look for in a knife, custom knives in general, and anything else that I can think of.

Today, I would like to take a look at the types of knife collectors. This may seem like a mundane topic, but it has tremendous influence on what you buy for your own use, or for collecting.

It didn't occur to me for years that there were different types of collectors. I always assumed everyone bought them for the same reasons I did, but I got a big surprise when I subscribed to several knife magazines and discovered not everyone had the same interests I did.

First, let me define the basic types as I as perceive them.

(1) The History collector-This person collects because of the historical mystique of a given knife, whether by owning an actual authenicated knife, or by buying replicas.  These knives will never be used, just displayed in most cases. I wish these collectors well, but my interests lie elsewhere.

(2) The Antique collector-This person loves old things and edged hardware, so what could be better than owning one item representing both! I must admit some of the old knives are interesting to me from a material and mechansim standpoint, but my interests are still elsewhere.

(3) The custom knive collector-This guy has the money to indulge his hobby and goes for the best.  Unfortunately, most of these knives will never see the light of day other than thru a display case. Even he can't bring himself to actually use the knife based on the money spent. In some cases these knives are works of art, never intended for anything except display. In other cases they have custom forged steel, exotic handle materials, impeccable workmanship, and a recognized maker stamp on the blade. I own a few of these and I hardly dare touch them.  Shame on me for not at least using what I spent so much money on.

(4)The mechanism and blade steel collector-Here I am. It took me a long time to realize this was my interest, but I should have known since I am a mechanical engineer by trade. Collectors like me can't get enough of strange and exotic deployment configurations, and when you combine that with some of the new alloy steels or maybe a cobalt alloy, I have achieved nirvana.

 (5) The personal use custom maker/collector-I have to include this type even though it is hard to put into words. The reason-that is what I am. Again, it took me years, and lots of knives, to discover that I really enjoy buying a new knife, and then not leaving well enough alone. I first got the idea of custom modifying a knife when I bought a rather expensive(for me) custom knife that had multiple handle materials with silver spacers. I took a look at this and decided I could do this. So... I plunged in, bought some cheap equipment, epoxy, and handle materials, and went for it. I will discuss the results of this, maybe with some pictures, in future articles.

(6) The basic user-This individual is not really a collector but actually USES the knife he buys everyday. How novel!

 As you can guess, all these various types can overlap. I have a little of each type of knife in my own collection, which I am finally photographing for the first time for insurance reasons. Not an easy task.

I don't want to overwork this topic, but it has an importance because, if you can discover what your knife interests are early, it can save a lot of money being spent on a knife that later on you just wish you could sell and make room for the ones that really matter to you. I speak from experience on this. I look at a few of my knives and wonder what ever possessed me to buy them.

Now that I am getting warmed, up look for some in depth thoughts on blade steels, handle materials, and mechanisms. I wish I had paid more attention to the lone materials course I took in college, because I find the topic utterly fascinating now and I hope I can foster a love of that in all those who buy one of man's oldest tools.