The Knife Edge: Secrets of the Sorting Hat

H. Clay Aalders
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I’ve moved, which forced me to confront my knife collection with the certainty that all good things end. My previous dwelling had plentiful storage, but the new digs, well, not so much. I’ll add cabinets, shelves, and drawers for storage, but I need to deal with limited storage and the need to put things away.

The move has also prompted a confrontation with my mortality. Do I want to continue to curate knives I have for no apparent reason? As much as I wish it, I do not have a Harry Potter sorting hat to make determinations for me.

I realized that all my possessions could be categorized into two distinct classes and a third, more nebulous one. The first two are obviously “Keep” and “Discard.” The third is “Maybe.”

Don’t let this fool you. There are only two options. Maybe is actually a Discard. If a knife doesn’t create enough passion to become a Keep instantly, it’s a Discard you’re trying to be polite to. Ditch it.

Probably Frank’s best piece to date. At least on his blog. I have always liked his pieces in the pages of KNIFE.

Read the whole thing at The Knife Edge…

 

 

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H. Clay Aalders

H. Clay Aalders is a lifelong edged tool user. He spent the past 20 years as a woodworker and fishing guide in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Tennessee. While guiding in Idaho, Clay worked part-time writing for a local newspaper, and upon moving to Tennessee began writing for the blog The Truth About Knives - spending his last 5 years there as Managing Editor. His background is in fixed-blade hunting and bushcraft knives, but has jumped into the world of vintage slipjoint collecting with both feet since coming to work at Knife Magazine. Clay’s primary role is as Digital Editor, curating and creating new content for our website and blog, as well as maintaining the Knife Magazine social media accounts (FB/IG: @theknifemag, Twitter: @knifemagazine). He is also a contributor and Associate Editor of the print magazine.

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One Response

  1. Recently, and “On-Going”, I am working my way through my “Keep, Discard . . . Maybe” inventory of knives. I have two categories: Custom and Production. The custom knife collection has been winnowed a bit lately due to the recent “Bill Moran All-Forged Knife Show”. There are approximately ten knives by mostly ABS Master (MS) and Journeyman (JS) bladesmiths in this selection. There are several custom fixed blades by “not yet” MS and JS makers. Regarding the “Keep” category, I have a “Never” class of heirloom custom knives which include my Aubrey G. Barnes, MS/ABS (“Barney”) knives; Billybob Sowell MS/ABS; et al.

    I do have a few “Keep” custom slip-joints, e.g. “Albers Cutlery”, “Butch Sheely”; and, a few 100-year old ones: “Russell”; “New York Knife Co.”; “Napanoch” et al.

    My “Discard” category is my “Peddler” . . . I am getting better at “what” goes in this bag of knives. I look for the “NIB and MIB” knives that are “Made in U.S.A”. I do buy production knives, e.g. slip-joints, flippers, that I inspect closely. Pretty much all my newer production knives end up in the “Peddler” bag . . . sooner or later.

    I agree with the author, “Maybe” means the passion at first ownership has waned. It is always tough to let an attractive well-built knife of any type leave you.

    I have a book by Dewey P. Ferguson, “Romance of Knife Collecting”, 3rd Ed. 1972, which in “Chapter I – To the Beginning Collector” he speaks to the many facets of knife collecting. I especially enjoy his “Nine Commandments” on Page 13.

    Hocky

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