Less is More?

[Holland]

Figured I would see if I am alone in the mind set of having less spydies being more enjoyable. At one point I had 25+ spydercos, including 10 para2's. I have sold a lot of knives and am down to JUST 17 spydercos and looking to sell my cf caly3 and blue chaparral. I find having less knives lets you use the ones you have more often and get more enjoyment out of each individual knife. Anyone else share this mentality?

[crow2071]

I totally agree!!! I was trying to edc around 50 knives, I just narrowed it down to around my favorite 20. I can't bring myself to sell any, they'll just sit in the spyderpacs.

[xceptnl]

Figured I would see if I am alone in the mind set of having less spydies being more enjoyable. At one point I had 25+ spydercos, including 10 para2's. I have sold a lot of knives and am down to JUST 16 spydercos and looking to sell my cf caly3 and blue chaparral. I find having less knives lets you use the ones you have more often and get more enjoyment out of each individual knife. Anyone else share this mentality?

I am now at over 100 spydies including Mules and I can see the logic I your mindset. I have been trying to take a page from gbelleh and specifically rotate daily. I have toyed with the idea and think I could be happy with a choice select handful.

[bearfacedkiller]

I don't collect so I don't see the point of having knives and not using them so I agree with you totally. I think once you have more than you can fit into the rotation or more than you have a use for you are kind of a collector even if they are all broke in and have been used.

I think it depends on if you are a collector or a user or somewhere in between.

I EDC about a dozen knives and have some other knives just for things like fishing, hunting or camping.

[BT-Blades]

I agree. Even though I just bought 5 MORE Spydies this month! lol. I go through periods where I don't buy any knives though, just so I can enjoy and appreciate the ones I have! :)

[gbelleh]

Not for me. I like having dozens and dozens of Spydies. They all get attention (and I'm trying to actually rotate through them all). But I get as much or more enjoyment just handling them, as I do cutting with them. Collector/user, whatever. I'm just an appreciator of fine cutlery. Both for useful utility, and appreciation of design. They're like little pieces of art that you can take along almost anywhere.

[Blerv]

I did more selling than I should have a couple years ago due to some tight finances. I still have the pragmatic angle of if I don't carry it, it probably will be sold.

I think right now I have 22 Spydies which I adore. Trying to do less trimming these days but having a smaller number seems to give the normal ones more carry time. The genius of the Stretch is easy to pack away for something more shiny .

[Evil D]

I only have quantity because there is variety within it. Every knife is different and serves a different purpose.

[jabba359]

I often feel that I have more Spydies than any one person really needs. Although I rotate through them, I feel that they don't get used nearly as much as I want them to. My day usually doesn't involve much cutting, and even less of material that is going to noticeably degrade my edges. My normal rotation consists of 29 knives. 4 are tip down and go into my left front pocket rotation. 2 are ladybugs and rotate in my change/watch pocket (if my pants have one). The other 23 tip up knives battle for pocket time in my right front pocket. That means that for my front right pocket, each knife only sees about 16 days of carry each year (if I were to rotate evenly, which I don't). Considering that I don't cut a whole lot of things, the edges last me quite some time. In fact, the majority of them still have their factory edges.

Of my left pocket knives, I've resharpened all four (since they each average 91 days of carry every year). I've resharpened one of the two ladybugs (the serrated H1 hawkbill just doesn't seem to get dull, despite doing more cutting than just about any other knife I own). The right pocket knives are mostly untouched, with only 7 out of 23 getting the Sharpmaker treatment (and two of those were correcting dullness from the factory).

I feel bad that I own all these great knives, but am not able to put them to as much use as they are designed for. But like David, I only own quantity due to the variety. There are very few knives I own more than one of, as I prefer to experience the broad range of offerings rather than multiples of a narrow range. I guess I'm sort of a strange hybrid of collector and user. I collect only because I like to use them, even if my use may be more infrequent than I would care for. But deep down inside, I know I could sell off the majority of my collection and be happy with owning just a select few. Despite ups and downs the last few years with work, I've been fortunate that I have not needed to sell off more of my collection, so will continue to use and enjoy the knives I have for as long as I own them.

[glbpro]

You guys are lucky - Spydies are so expensive here that I pay more for less :D

[GoodEyeSniper]

I feel the same, but your definition of less is my definition of way too many. I have something like six spyderco folders. and while I would love to "collect" many more models I understand that the pinnacle of my enjoyment comes when I realize I've used the same knife for three months straight and have no intention of changing any time soon. quite frankly I feel that all but two of my spyderco knives are too much. between my cpm m4 military and super blue Delica, I can't get a single other knife in my pocket.

[bearfacedkiller]

Just because I take a pragmatic approach to my knife collection and claim to have a need for each one I buy I am sure I fabricate a need for some of them. :-) I can give a reason (or excuse) for why I own all of my knives. My para2 and my leatherman are probably all I really need but variety is the spice of life.

It may also depend on if you like to rotate daily or not. I don't, I kind of go through phases. Some knives get left out for quite a while. I think if you are going to have a lot you need to rotate often.

[Reject]

Spydie collecting Welcome to the dark side.



Once bitten; there is no way back.

[Brock O Lee]

I agree, less is more.

Less choice, more sharpening... :)

In general all 16 my folders differ enough to cater for different needs (including some redundancy). The 3 fixed blades live in the kitchen.

I have reached the point where its really hard for me to justify any new purchase. Every time I feel I might be missing out on one of the latest and greatest one's, I just grab one of the great models I already own, and appreciate it even more.

[Surfingringo]

Agreed. I start feeling overwhelmed if I've got more than about 5. Like they are getting neglected. I've got 5 right now and love every one of them. I don't have a need for anything at the moment but when I decide I've got to have something new I will probably sell off whichever of my current knives I use the least. It's not about the money, i just hate feeling like a packrat. I would rather give a knife away than have it sitting unused in a drawer.

[eric m.]

Spydie collecting Welcome to the dark side.



Once bitten; there is no way back.

That picture says it all! I've accumulated about 60 Spyderco knives over the last 5 months, but over half will never be carried. They are collectors. Even still I appreciate the different Spyderco designs and quality enough that I will still take them out and handle them all, plus show them to interested family and friends! :spyder:

[O,just,O]

More is more. Less is a sad situation.
They are my pets & I love them.
My wife may understand your mentality.
To me it is just mentality.
O.

[vaisforlovers]

Wise is the person who has embraced the "less is more" philosophy before having tried the "more" first. There are those that wisely limit their rotation/collection out of financial restraint. But equally impressive to me are those that have limited their collection because they have found what they are looking for and stopped accumulating.

I myself have felt the need to try the "more" first in order to make an educated decision about what I like and what I don't. Reading a catalog all day dos not provide me the same first hand experience as handling a knife. I envy those that have found that ability. Because of this I have accumulated a lot (by my standards at least). I am a little embarrasses by my lack of restraint in accumulating more and more. I wish I had the personality to be satisfied with less. I really do.

[kbuzbee]

I often feel that I have more Spydies than any one person really needs. Although I rotate through them

I'm with you on your first point, Kyle. I feel that way pretty much always.

On your second point, not so much. I pretty much only buy a knife to EDC. In that, every knife I buy has potentially the chance to replace my current EDC. If it does, the current EDC is relegated to occasional use and the new EDC sees 90% of my carry and use.

I've tried several times to analyze what makes for a perfect EDC in my mind, to limit the number of false starts but I'm constantly caught off guard, liking certain models way more than I expected to and others less than I thought I would.

I've tried to follow some folks leads and bring former #1s back into the rotation but that never seems to last more than a day.

So I have 80+ that sit unused.

Now, logic would dictate (since I don't consider myself a "collector") that I should go through my unuseds and sell them off, but I very rarely ever do that. Why?

Acquisition Disorder? Yeah, definitely a factor.
Planning for the coming Zombie Apocolypse? Yeah, some of that too, I'm sure.
Little voice that says 'it used to be a favorite (or I thought it could be) maybe one day it will be (again)"? Maybe.
Maybe selling is just something I'm not too comfortable with (and kind of a hassle)? Yeah, that too.

I will occasionally sell one if I find a brother looking for that one. Or I may trade some for something I want more. (Yeah I understand that selling->cash->buying those other somethings, but somehow that's different.)

So, while I can fully appreciate a more minimalist approach, it doesn't seem to be something I strive for in my life. Maybe one day I'll "see the light" and be free

Ken

[akaAK]

I only have quantity because there is variety within it. Every knife is different and serves a different purpose.

+1 on this. Also my buying habits have slowed down considerably but I still find the occassionaly knife that I really want. They all get used but every year the collection gets bigger and bigger. Every so often I come accross one I haven`t used in a while and it is like getting a brand new knife.

When I`m dead the should get spread around and used more frequently.