# The knives make me sad. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959 "2019-04-23T22:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/1 "2019-04-23T22:46:00Z")
I took a sick day today. I won’t go into too much detail other than to say it is a chronic gastric disorder. In between trips to the toilet or to rehydrate, I decided to go through a couple cedar chests that I haven’t opened in a good many years. Both were full of knives that, in most cases, I forgot I had ever owned. Call it age. Call it the lingering effects of a stroke. In any case, a fair few of them were new to me today. Some of them are worth a not inconsiderable amount. I will give them to my daughter when she graduates from HS next month. She can do what she wants with them. They make me sad because I can’t remember why they mattered to me in the first place. Mock away. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/2 "2019-04-23T22:58:43Z")
Think of it as growing. Your daughter means something to you, but knives, not so much anymore. Similar story: my high school reunion is coming up. I went through the yearbook, and I recall a lot of the names, but not WHY I know the names. Were those people mean to me? Nice to me? Went to my elementary school? I have no idea. I like to think I have put my high school angst finally behind me. I hope you feel better soon, **Scumpup**. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/3 "2019-04-23T23:03:48Z")
I’m sorry. I had a similar experience recently. I’ve had a large family cedar chest for years. I haven’t touched it other than to use it as a staging area for putting clothes away. This summer I finally opened it. So _that’s_ where my sweater went, and the baby quilts from the relatives, and various other things. I had forgotten completely. Some of the items I didn’t recognize at all. I put it down to not using those things for 12 years or more. I understand why this makes you sad, but “out of sight, out of mind” is real. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/4 "2019-04-23T23:07:40Z")
What sort of knives? Cooking knives? Hunting knives? Woodcarving knives? Special forces bayonets? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/5 "2019-04-23T23:16:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What sort of knives? Cooking knives? Hunting knives? Woodcarving knives? Special forces bayonets? They are high-end factory knives, straight and folders, from the 80s and early 90s for the most part. Couple custom items from makers I am not sure are still alive, much less active. I moved these chests from home to home without ever opening them, ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/6 "2019-04-24T01:00:42Z")
You are right, stuff like that could be valuable. I have seen high end knife sale cases that were locked so folks could not take them down without the salesperson. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/7 "2019-04-24T01:02:04Z")
I love, love this. I clean out storage areas just on the chance I may find a forgotten box or item. I recently unearthed a tin box and opened it to find my Mothers sewing things. Her scissors alone brought me to tears. They were a prized possession of hers. I may be mistaken but they might have been her Mothers scissors. ETA, I’m gonna put a note in that box in case they are found later by one of my kids and I have died or forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/8 "2019-04-24T01:28:56Z")
It’s starting to be where I can find hand written notes from me and I don’t remember what the hell I was doing. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/9 "2019-04-24T02:13:27Z")
I have a few unopened cartons, from when I relocated from NYC in 1995. I guess they’re filled with “stuff that I’ll need someday.” I’m afraid to open them. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/10 "2019-04-24T02:14:56Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > Think of it as growing. Your daughter means something to you, but knives, not so much anymore. > > Similar story: my high school reunion is coming up. I went through the yearbook, and I recall a lot of the names, but not WHY I know the names. Were those people mean to me? Nice to me? Went to my elementary school? I have no idea. I like to think I have put my high school angst finally behind me. > > I hope you feel better soon, **Scumpup**. I like to think of things in this manner. Some months back I noticed I hadn’t touched a certain jazz guitar in over five years–it had been in its case under my wife’s piano for so long. I had wanted to love it when I got it, and I had dreamed about it for a couple of years before I bought it. But it never meant anything to me. Rather than deal with the hassles of selling it online or having weird folks coming to my house I simply asked an old guitar teacher to make me an insane lowball offer for it, which I accepted. The thing is, he is regularly gigging with it and getting enjoyment; I am happy to not have it being a burden to me–an expensive item that didn’t bring me joy. We are both happier now. It’s a “getting older” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/11 "2019-04-24T02:38:27Z")
One of the nice things about getting older. You tend to value your friends and family more and your trinkets less. I’ve collected a few things over the years and can now give them away as gifts to younger people who appreciate them or sell them to a collector who will enjoy them as I did. I have a collection of historical images that I will scan for personal use and then off they go. I’ll still have the images to enjoy and the money will go towards retirement. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/12 "2019-04-24T02:59:36Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I have a few unopened cartons, from when I relocated from NYC in 1995. I guess they’re filled with “stuff that I’ll need someday.” I’m afraid to open them. Invite me over. I’ll walk you through it. We’ll have fun. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/13 "2019-04-24T11:41:14Z")
I have hundreds of beer glasses, many duplicates among them. I have maybe 6 that are in my regular rotation. When my gf grabbed one for her desk at work, I said, “NO! Not that one”. Knives too. The other day I stumbled across three identical Kershaw assist-open knives, all three new. Very nice knives, the kind you’d use as an EDC. Those knives were like an earworm for two days. I finally remembered getting them as a woot close out for a really good price. I sharpened them and put them away. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knives-make-me-sad/832959/14 "2019-04-24T21:10:14Z")
No mocking here, **Scumpup** - in fact, I get it. I have a bunch of knifes as well, all but my every day carry (actually a small multi tool) live in a container in the top of my closet. The first knife I ever owned lives there. Many moons ago, when I was about 5-6 years old my mom dragged me along with her to a large flea market. She gave me a penny (told ya it was many moons ago) and sent me of on my own so she could look around unhindered (it was a _really_ long time ago!). With the penny I bought a smiley face button, then a bit later traded the button for an old, rusty hunting knife with a bare tang. That one I remember well. When we got home Dad was impressed with my haggling skills. Most likely the button vendor and knife vendor got a chuckle out of negotiating with a munchkin and decided to humor me. I tried to trade the knife for a minibike, but apparently there ain’t that much humor in the world. Probably a third of them, though, don’t trigger memories anymore. I know they’re there, but I can’t recall when or where I got them. I get them out every once in a while, make sure they are sharp and in good working order, then put them back. I’m “only” 55 but I get it.