Sunday, November 26, 2023

Secrets of the Sorting Hat

 

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.


The original Tigersharp

Here’s a couple of examples.  I picked up a Tigersharp at the SHOT Show.  The company later sold the design to Camillus.  The novelty is the replacement blade eliminating the need to resharpen the knife; just use a new blade.  It's going.

Boot dagger from S&W

Years ago, at the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot, I bought a S&W H.R.T. dagger boot knife.  I am still trying to understand why.  The handle is too small, the blade is sharp on one side but not the other, and I don't typically wear the proper boots.  Bye-bye boot knife.


Boker's Pocket Knife by Mickey Yurco

I bought a knife from Boker, designed by Mickey Yurco, called the Pocket Knife.  Mickey told me he thinks of it as a self-defense tool, but Boker, fearful of public backlash (What!  You mean to tell me you could hurt someone with a knife?) calls it a camping or survival knife.  I wore this on my pack for years.  It's a keeper.

So, there you have it.  When you start thinking about that great collector's meeting in the sky and can't decide what knives need to find a new home, remember, Maybes are just polite Discards.  You really didn't care for them in the first place.