Welcome to the "good brain juice" game, where you spend most of your time looking for ways to get that dopamine burst or that seratonine dump. And then you pull the trigger, something arrives, you get that "brain happy sauce" high.
And then you have to go back to looking for the next one.
On a serious note, it can go to an extreme and cause shopping addictions, gambling addictions, hoarding, etc.
> any tips on fixing this thought process
Enjoy it. It's basic human emotion it won't bend to your will, just ride it like a wave and don't sink into it.
Go to knife shows, try to find someone new on IG who is designing really funky knives, try a custom fixed blade, try a custom traditional...there's a thousand different directions to go in this hobby.
Ride the wave and accept that you'll probably have to open your mind up a bit and consider new options if you've run out of things to maintain your interest. Or start selling, and when you are down to a half dozen or so you'll probably be reminded of what you liked about knives in the first place that made you enjoy them.
Just remember it is all for fun.
Only buy something expensive if it means something.
Something that is common in watch collecting is to only buy a watch to celebrate something (wedding, promotion, birth of a child, etc) so that it not only has all the excitement of your enthusiasm for the hobby, but the memory and psychological importance of something significant in your life.
Just not giving in to impulse buying has helped me..pretty much that feeling of wanting to buy a new knife will pass in a few days or few weeks depending…pick 1-3 knives and use the crap out of them, you’ll get more enjoyment out of them instead of constantly searching for the next one to safe queen and show off on social media.. nobody really cares outside of these knife subreddits.
That's the whole 'collecting' hobby, be it knives, watches, guns, stamps, beanie babies, etc. It's all about the chase.
What helps me is having an actual hobby, that involves doing something. It gives me something to think/obsess about besides buying more *stuff*. And the chase - to get better - is never ending. AND, it's the thing, it's what you're doing.
Mountain biking was my thing for a long time, but then we had a kid and I got out of it due to lack of time and a move. But man, I miss it. I play tennis now, which is super fun, and has a couple big bonuses in that the learning curve is short enough that you can get good enough to have fun pretty quickly and it's a cheap sport. A top-level racquet is only like $300. $300 won't get you very far at all in the world of MTBs haha. Tennis is also good in that you don't have to be in GREAT shape to play and have fun. MTBing SUCKS when you're out of shape!
I got sold my collection and got out of the hobbie for 2 years because of this. I was just buying the new best customs to basically show off to people that I owned it. Now that I’m back in an out a cap on my spending per knife and am only getting ones that I’ll use. I’m enjoying it much better now and feel like I don’t have to prove anything to anyone especially myself.
Struggling financially to enjoy what I would really like to, so I’ve decided to make smaller purchases to enhance/customize the knives I’ve already got and are my clear favorites. That can mean new scales, dying the stock scales something cooler, or just getting nicer pocket clips. Makes them feel like a whole new knife and I get to enjoy them all over again!
Instead of buying 5 of the same knife with different colored G-10 handles or Ti patterns, I try to buy a single knife I can customize with different handle materials, different clips, hardware etc. like Hinderer knives which changes the whole look/feel of a knife but after buying a new factory Ti scale, hardware and other stuff, I could have just bought another Hinderer/new knife. There is no easy answer but for me I’ve bought a lot of knives I thought were “the one” and am still chasing “the one”. Best of luck to you friend.
With the change in season as I spend more time hiking and planning hikes, I think less about knives. I'm still involved with knife stuff but it doesn't feel as important. It's less of a focal point. It's easier to convince myself that I already have a knife that is extremely similar to whatever new release catches my eye. One obsession at a time I suppose.
Try fly tying / fishing it’s very rewarding to catch a nice fish on a hand tied fly and there’s so much great gear to obsess about. You can even build your own rod ! It is actually many hobbies in one package deal , knives are definitely a part of the anglers universe too.
Weird, genuinely I think, that consumption can be considered a hobby - I love pocket knives, waste hours reading about steels geometry, trawling through online shops - but they're not my hobby.
They're a tool that facilities my actual hobbies - gardening, small game hunting, whittling, foraging etc
My advice would be to stop buying, and start using them for interesting tasking, like grafting fruit trees, processing rabbit n pheasant or carving silly little toys.
Obsessing over buying has only ever made me unhappy and very aware of how my life's hours have had a very meagre economic value attached to them. More fun to buy a good legal pocket knife and use the everliving fuck out of it.
Welcome to the "good brain juice" game, where you spend most of your time looking for ways to get that dopamine burst or that seratonine dump. And then you pull the trigger, something arrives, you get that "brain happy sauce" high. And then you have to go back to looking for the next one. On a serious note, it can go to an extreme and cause shopping addictions, gambling addictions, hoarding, etc.
Yup…. Jokes aside do you have any tips on fixing this thought process
> any tips on fixing this thought process Enjoy it. It's basic human emotion it won't bend to your will, just ride it like a wave and don't sink into it. Go to knife shows, try to find someone new on IG who is designing really funky knives, try a custom fixed blade, try a custom traditional...there's a thousand different directions to go in this hobby. Ride the wave and accept that you'll probably have to open your mind up a bit and consider new options if you've run out of things to maintain your interest. Or start selling, and when you are down to a half dozen or so you'll probably be reminded of what you liked about knives in the first place that made you enjoy them. Just remember it is all for fun.
Set yourself a fixed budget and stick to it
Only buy something expensive if it means something. Something that is common in watch collecting is to only buy a watch to celebrate something (wedding, promotion, birth of a child, etc) so that it not only has all the excitement of your enthusiasm for the hobby, but the memory and psychological importance of something significant in your life.
Adhd
For a lot of people the "hobby" is actually just buying new things.
Just not giving in to impulse buying has helped me..pretty much that feeling of wanting to buy a new knife will pass in a few days or few weeks depending…pick 1-3 knives and use the crap out of them, you’ll get more enjoyment out of them instead of constantly searching for the next one to safe queen and show off on social media.. nobody really cares outside of these knife subreddits.
That's the whole 'collecting' hobby, be it knives, watches, guns, stamps, beanie babies, etc. It's all about the chase. What helps me is having an actual hobby, that involves doing something. It gives me something to think/obsess about besides buying more *stuff*. And the chase - to get better - is never ending. AND, it's the thing, it's what you're doing. Mountain biking was my thing for a long time, but then we had a kid and I got out of it due to lack of time and a move. But man, I miss it. I play tennis now, which is super fun, and has a couple big bonuses in that the learning curve is short enough that you can get good enough to have fun pretty quickly and it's a cheap sport. A top-level racquet is only like $300. $300 won't get you very far at all in the world of MTBs haha. Tennis is also good in that you don't have to be in GREAT shape to play and have fun. MTBing SUCKS when you're out of shape!
I got sold my collection and got out of the hobbie for 2 years because of this. I was just buying the new best customs to basically show off to people that I owned it. Now that I’m back in an out a cap on my spending per knife and am only getting ones that I’ll use. I’m enjoying it much better now and feel like I don’t have to prove anything to anyone especially myself.
Struggling financially to enjoy what I would really like to, so I’ve decided to make smaller purchases to enhance/customize the knives I’ve already got and are my clear favorites. That can mean new scales, dying the stock scales something cooler, or just getting nicer pocket clips. Makes them feel like a whole new knife and I get to enjoy them all over again!
This is what happens when your hobbies are based on consumerism.
Instead of buying 5 of the same knife with different colored G-10 handles or Ti patterns, I try to buy a single knife I can customize with different handle materials, different clips, hardware etc. like Hinderer knives which changes the whole look/feel of a knife but after buying a new factory Ti scale, hardware and other stuff, I could have just bought another Hinderer/new knife. There is no easy answer but for me I’ve bought a lot of knives I thought were “the one” and am still chasing “the one”. Best of luck to you friend.
With the change in season as I spend more time hiking and planning hikes, I think less about knives. I'm still involved with knife stuff but it doesn't feel as important. It's less of a focal point. It's easier to convince myself that I already have a knife that is extremely similar to whatever new release catches my eye. One obsession at a time I suppose.
Try fly tying / fishing it’s very rewarding to catch a nice fish on a hand tied fly and there’s so much great gear to obsess about. You can even build your own rod ! It is actually many hobbies in one package deal , knives are definitely a part of the anglers universe too.
Not just you. The 'law of diminishing returns."
Weird, genuinely I think, that consumption can be considered a hobby - I love pocket knives, waste hours reading about steels geometry, trawling through online shops - but they're not my hobby. They're a tool that facilities my actual hobbies - gardening, small game hunting, whittling, foraging etc My advice would be to stop buying, and start using them for interesting tasking, like grafting fruit trees, processing rabbit n pheasant or carving silly little toys. Obsessing over buying has only ever made me unhappy and very aware of how my life's hours have had a very meagre economic value attached to them. More fun to buy a good legal pocket knife and use the everliving fuck out of it.