I've been looking at my pile of knives lately and trying to figure out what to do with them all. That drove me to ask the following question: Do you view all of your knives as users / potential users or do you have some that are just "collectors" that you really have no intention of ever using?

I'm not talking about family heirlooms or similar. I'm referring to knives you've sought out, bought and/or traded for.

I'm currently in the following situation: All of my knives are "up to the challenge" of being used (no junk in my stash o' blades), but I do have several that I own just because I like them. An example is my Busse SFNO. I have ZERO plans of using it even though it would be a great "if a guy only could carry one knife, knife". My solution, to date, has been to only buy knives that could take a beating even if I had no intention of beating on them at the time of acquisition. This enables me to change my horde of blades around without worrying about not having my bases covered.

So, where do you stand? All users and potential users...or...users/potential users PLUS collectors?

Ninja Clarification:

When I use the term "collectors" I'm not referring to "collector grade knives". I'm using it as a adjective not a noun.

ETA: I can't believe I used adjective vs noun on the errornets.

I use each and every one. And if they don´t feel that great or don´t performe as I think they should. They get sold. It´s the hunting for the perfect outdoor knives that brought me to this site...

feederle,
It was the hunt for the perfect survival / bush knife that brought me to Scrap Yard in 2008 too.

The hunt is part of the fun with knives. I owned so many non-Busse(kin) before finding The Kin that I couldn't even begin to write it all here. I sold everything but Busse(kin) after testing the first one, but now I find myself looking at other options again. However, that's a subject for another thread.

The hunt for hard use knives, was that took me here too.

Most of my knives are users.

Some to a greater extend than others. And lately, I have sold a few, non-Bussekin.

The few that I do not use are;

Strider Buck 888. Can't bring my self to use it.

Swamprat Taliwhacker LE. Haven't found a use for it yet, but some day I will use it.

My SFNO Le get frequent beatings...

Rasmus,
I'd like to move toward almost no "collectors" and all users.

I'm not a collector. I haven't used all of my knives, but I bought them with every intention of using them. Almost every knife I have bought was already used, so I'm less likely to just put them away.

Every time I consider not using one, I sell it.

All of mine have tasted blood or wood, depending on their purpose. My bloodletters get more use than the woods knives...mainly because I like hunting more than chopping.

I'm moving increasingly toward everyone who has posted in this thread's position.

These knives are a big investment, and I'm starting to want more out of them than just the occasional joy of viewing them.

If I were to streamline down to just the knives I think I might actually use...I'd have a bunch to sell. This could finance my ever elusive FBM.

Well I've got an armload of Busse Combat Group knives. Mostly Dogs cause I can't see spending the higher cost (that's just me). Not saying they aren't worth it, but that I'm cheap.

All my knives have to be POTENTIAL users, otherwise I don't want them. Meaning NO WALL HANGERS that can only look pretty. I don't use all my knives, but they have to be user type if you know what I mean. There's not one single knife I wouldn't use if I needed to.

I like this thread!

I only buy knives with the purpose of using them. I also came by Scrapyard looking for the ultimate hard use knife. I only have around 8 knives or so and I think that is too many for me.