Choosing a Collectors Knife

 

Choosing a knife in which you want to collect first depends on what type of knife interests you. Essentially any type of knife can be collected as long as it has some form of value. Types of knives can be survival knives, hunting knives, pocket knives, souvenir knives, fixed blade knives, folding knives, Damascus knives, daggers, and many more. Though there are many factors which apply to choosing a knife of a certain type, which is beyond the scope of this article, there are several common factors to take into consideration when choosing a knife to collect.

 

A quality knife worth collecting is a knife that has high quality materials and quality craftsmanship.
For quality materials, the country of origin can say something. Knives from Germany, France, England or Japan are known to be quality knives. If a knife is farmed out to cheap labor countries, it is likely that cheap metal is also used. Quality knives will not hide the place of origin. The quality of knife also depends on the type of handle which is normally made of ivory, horn, bone or shell. The quality of the handle can be determined fairly easy by inspecting the texture, grip and feel.

The craftsmanship is also very important to a collector, so that the knife holds its value. Craftsmanship is fairly intuitive as a quick visual inspection can find flaws most cheap knives. A quality knife will have seamless joints, the blade will be firmly fixed to the handle with proper symmetry, and the whole knife will be free of any burs, chips, or irregularities.

The easiest way to start collecting knives is to select a knife from a manufacturer known for high quality knives. This way it is guaranteed that you will have a nice high quality collectors knife.