In the knife collecting world, there are many different types of knives and many different types of designs. However, most people tend to gravitate towards a specific knife type such as large hunting knives or in the case of this article, folding knives. Folding knives seem to generate a mass appeal that beats out other knife types when it comes to people starting their collections.

How Do You Start a Knife Collection?

You start a knife collection the way you start most other collections…by accident! Many avid collectors will tell you they had no intention or goal of becoming a collector, it just seemed to happen that way. With knife collecting, this seems to be especially true. Most people who want a knife don’t mind owning one or two. However, they quickly come to find that one or two knives have turned into four or five, and so on.

Your ordinary person will only have so much space for these items, and so that brings us to our first point.

Folding Knives are Compact

Most folding knives or pocket knives are intended to be small, in many cases, the blades are less than 5 inches. They are designed to be folded away and kept in your pocket, hence the nickname pocket knives. You can also easily fit many of them in a confined space such as a drawer, and there’s no need for a nice sheath to

There is a distinction to be made here for the sake of technicality, in the world of folding knives, there is the assisted open knife, and then there is the switchblade. While these are technically different knives due to the mechanism which handles the blade, in terms of aesthetics they are often conflated. When it comes to the aspect of portability, both similar yet different knife types offer up the same benefits.

Because folders are compact, they’re a lot easier to carry around and show off to your friends and family. There seems to be a really satisfying tick to playing with folding knives as well. You can mindlessly open and close them, in other words, they seem to have that “fiddle” factor that makes you want to pick them up and play with them.

Folding Knives Have A More Dramatic Presentation

Many art knives tend to be folders. While there are many reasons for this, it is perhaps the fact that they are smaller means there is a more concentrated space to work with which can constrain the cost of making the knife due to labor and other factors. Another reason is that folders are smaller and tend to be narrow or thin. This gives them an elegant profile which is perfect for making knives that have luxurious designs.

However, the most important reason—we think, is that they offer a real “wow” factor in their presentation. A folding knife is first witnessed by its handle first. Then, there is an unfolding action to reveal the blade. It’s a knife type that inherently has a two-step presentation factor. Sure, non-folding knives can have lovely sheaths that are part of the set, but that’s not nearly the same as unfolding a knife to reveal a brilliantly crafted blade.

They’re Typically Legal to Carry

While switchblades are illegal depending on the circumstances, many folding knives are legal so long as the blade does not exceed a certain length. Concealed carry laws are often regulated by blade length, which is why things such as box cutters are legal to carry because by stipulation and practicality they do not exceed a certain length.

Because the majority of folding knives are legal to carry, that automatically makes them more practical to play around with and show off because they can be carried in good conscience.

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