Had a comp finish BWM. It was a thing of beauty. If I still had it, it would be eating trees today. Awesomeness that needed a beating.

I like to use most of my knives. I consider myself a collector, and a user of that collection. There are only a few that don't get used. Even then, some of those have seen very soft use ie: slicing up a rib fillet or cutting a sliver of cheese at wine time for the fun of it.

It's awesome think "What blade shall I use to split the firewood this evening?" and pick one out for the job. Or "I think I'll use the 411 at the pub tonight."

So much fun. I really don't give a rats about $ value. The ones that don't see use are purely left alone so they continue to look pretty.

I ended up with an Infimandu in trade. I didn't want to take it in trade since I'm not interested in satin blades, but alas its in route. Watch for it on the X.

The InfiManDu is a pretty sweet knife!

I saw that you had several knives up for sale. I hope you're just changing directions and you're not in a bind.

After a lot of soul searching, I've chosen my path on this topic. I'm going to be a user with some knives that might not actually get used. I'm aware this sounds stupid. Allow me to explain:

I'm looking for the perfect knives for a variety of "knife needs" that I perceive to exist. Since you can't buy Busse(kin) locally you have to purchase a knife to figure out if you like the fit, feel, balance, blade geometry, etc. Therefore, from this point forward I'm only going to buy knives that I think might be the best (or better than what I currently have) for one of my perceived "uses". Once I receive the knife if it indeed meets my expectation I'm going to put it into use and sell whatever it replaced. If I'm not sure, then I'm going to wait to see if I find something that might be better.

Summarily, I'm going to be downsizing my collection SUBSTANTIALLY. I have a bunch of Busse and Kin that I bought because they were "the best" at the time or because I just liked them. I'm also going to let go of my unnecessary duplicates. To that end, I'm letting go of some good stuff to include:

Busse: Leaner Meaner, BA TAC, Terror Monkey Hell Razor, Team Gemini LB, ASH Battle Mistress, Tank Buster, Axe Hammer.

Scrap Yard: Dogfather, Scrapper 6, Son of a Dogfather.

Swamp Rat: Warden, Vex, Ratmandu, Infimandu.

I just can't justify keeping everything I have - especially considering I have duplicates of most of these. Its been a tough decision, but in the end I need to shrink my collection. I have a feeling I might regret this decision down the road, but for now it appears to be my best option.

Adam,
I'm changing directions, and its been pretty tight here lately. This is doubly true in light of my Busse buying blitz. I've picked up a lot of knives this year, and cannot rationally justify keeping everything.

Well that answers that.

That's pretty much what I do when I'm searching for the perfect knife.

That was in response to your previus post.

I sold my Bus/Rat/Scrap collectors. The rest are planned as users but having been used given the lack of any outdoors to call my own.

Probably wouldn't go over well if I went to chopping up the trees in the city park.

Im a user as well.

I'm a user and an abuser. The knives that I collect are to replace the ones that I use or give away.