I guess I'll keep it... big doggone bowie

[Old Dog]

So my mother, a wonderful, generous person (although regrettably starting down the memory loss and dementia road) loves to give gifts, saw an ad in one of her senior magazines for this Stauer "Down Under Bowie." It's a honkin' big knife (got like a 10" blade). Mom knows I am a collector and enthusiast of all things historical and weapon-related; I suspect she thought it was "pretty." Mom ordered one for me and one for my brother, for Christmas, but forgot she had them in her closet, we found 'em when we had to move her to assisted living/memory care.

It's supposedly 420 steel with a wood and bone handle (full tang), etched blade. It's actually sharp out of the box and came with a sheath (little floppy, smelling a little like vegetable oil).

I'll keep it, since it is probably the last gift I'll ever get from Mom, but I've got zero use for the thing. I typically only display stuff in my man cave that don't fall into the realm of bling-y trinkets or that have a story. Okay, well, so I do have a few swords that are pretty useless, but the cool factor is there...

Anyone else have any knives that have no practical use, but you keep around anyway?

 

[Armored farmer]

Anyone else have any knives that have no practical use, but you keep around anyway?

Oh yeah...I sure do.
Many of them (like yours) were gifts. Some of them were trophies from black powder events.
I have many. Too many.....but I like them all!

 

[JohnKSa]

Neat gift. She obviously tried to get something that matches your interest.

I have a few things that were gifts that I keep because of what they mean and not for what they are.

 

[LoonWulf]

I have a wooden battle axe a friend made and gave me when he left the island......i may give it back if he moves home.
I dont have any actual sharp things I don't use.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I've got a number of movie prop items mounted on my walls as well as a large rack of old bayonets and unusual large blades that won't fit in the roll-around cabinet that I use for smaller items. I've also got a wrought iron umbrella stand full of swords, axes, daggers and such, left over from my SCA days.
Beats hanging pictures.

 

[hso]

Buddy brought a silly little knife in a blister pack back to me from Alaska. Tourist trash, but I appreciate the humor and thought behind it.

 

[rust collector]

Many of my big knives, like my Western Bowie, 1909 Argentine artillery sword, and Kukri (likely from Atlanta Cutlery) have gone on to make someone else happy. I do still have a few machetes, a couple carcass splitters, and some odds and ends. One of those is marked Bobcat, but I call it my Wazirabad butterknife. Another is a surprisingly nicely featured knife commemorating Zorro. The third is an OEM product of Buck. Can you tell which is which?

 

[hso]

Gifts from folks that don't know anything about knives, but know you like them have their own value as mementos of those people. I've only thrown one of those away. The rest are in their own box with a note recording who gave them to me.