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My avatar has been my Instagram handle since 2013 followed me here. Hassanbensober was a stooge heavy played by Vernon Dent in one of my favorite films. My Dad never let us watch anything current when we were kids every Sunday morning we watched stooges our gang or laurel and hardy and westerns every other day. One of the very few things we can get together on everyone else in my family can’t stand it. I actually have not used alcohol myself since 2015 so it’s a little ironic nowadays.
 
To the subject of my post, I'm fascinated by what KKFers use as their avatars—sometimes an intentional projection of an ideal, fantasy, humor, statement, etc.

We all have to choose a name when we join the forum. I chose 'Luftmensch'. Literally: air + man. The wiki description biases the description towards the 'intellectual'. I think that is too narrow a description. To me it is more analogous to the English phrase "having your head in the clouds". That is; to be a dreamer; to be absent minded or disconnected and unfocused; not practical.

Ironically, I dont think I am a Luftmensch! Perhaps I envy the prospect of being disconnected from the practicalities of life and just drifting through it!?

I chose the picture to match. It is a modified version of Magritte's famous The Son of Man. At its most simple: I like surrealism, I like hats and I like clouds. Slightly more complex, I modified it to remove the apple and face. It is now more like his work The Pilgrim. This fits better with the "head in the clouds" theme and doubles as a representation of my tendency to remain as anonymous as I can on the internet.



at what point does a person become a serious kitchen knife collector?

Collector. If you are actively buying knives beyond your needs, you are a collector. Lets face it, kitchen knives are tools! Two will fulfil a majority of home tasks.

Serious. This is where you open up the definition to ambiguity and personal bias. A person who has 'collected' every cheapo knife might be considered serious due to the size and effort of their collection. They might also be dismissed because no knife exceeds $50. Is a serious collector one who deeply understands the field? Or one who simply buys the most expensive items they can find?

To me, the more interesting people are those who have accrued lots of knowledge. They might own relatively 'poor' collections but have lots more to discuss and share! Perhaps they are in the trade, are craftsmen, have lots of experience or are broadly read. Simply owning a serious collection, does imply knowledge. The least interesting to me are serious BNIB, draw-queen collectors. So what? If you cant share any interesting knowledge, it is just bragging! Fortunately, in this community, there is a large intersection between 'serious collectors' and knowledgeable people. Indeed, if you actually use your collection, you will gain knowledge!
 
What part? Seemed pretty tame by MPFC standards
The "bouquet like an Aborigine's armpit" bit, right at the end, partly chopped off 🙃

I love some parts of MP (mostly Holy Grail, Life of Brian and Meaning of Life more than MPFS), but they were a creature of their times, eh, Mrs Niggerbaiter?
 
The "bouquet like an Aborigine's armpit" bit, right at the end, partly chopped off 🙃

I love some parts of MP (mostly Holy Grail, Life of Brian and Meaning of Life more than MPFS), but they were a creature of their times, eh, Mrs Niggerbaiter?
I saw The Dambuster movie from the 50's a few days ago. Wing commander Guy Gibson's dog had a colorful name.
 
Mowgli has been my nickname since college. His eyes reflect the state of mine on occasion.
 
'Mike' was taken.
My avatar changes. Deal with it. Or don't.

I can't deal with it, every time I have to rediscover who you are. You will find me rocking softly back and forth in the corner clutching my knees one day.

On topic. I'm very likely one of the worst home cooks around, but I love food thus the omnomivore.

Though not overweight I'm pretty confident I can out-eat almost every person when it comes to good cooking or even better cakes!! My favorite day time meal was in one period 3 cakerolls of about 300g a piece. I miss the times I could eat that without gaining the same amount of weight xD
 
Ha! Indeed.

It's a bit sad the lasting reputational damage that bulk Aussie wine did in international markets. For my money it's actually probably the most exciting wine producing country after France and Italy.
That is true. I thought that Aussies only drank shiraz and ate lamb for the longest time thanks to Yellow Tail.
 
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That is true. I that that Aussies only drank shiraz and ate lamb for the longest time thanks to Yellow Tail.
I saw a doc on the BBC a few nights ago about the Aussie wine industry and how they conquered the world. The story of Chardonnay and how a couple of 'entrepreneurs' jumped the fence at Penfolds and stole some cuttings when the direct approach failed was fascinating. The rest is history as they say. Yellowtail is a beast of an operation.
 
Collector. If you are actively buying knives beyond your needs, you are a collector. Lets face it, kitchen knives are tools! Two will fulfil a majority of home tasks.

Serious. This is where you open up the definition to ambiguity and personal bias. A person who has 'collected' every cheapo knife might be considered serious due to the size and effort of their collection. They might also be dismissed because no knife exceeds $50. Is a serious collector one who deeply understands the field? Or one who simply buys the most expensive items they can find?

To me, the more interesting people are those who have accrued lots of knowledge. They might own relatively 'poor' collections but have lots more to discuss and share! Perhaps they are in the trade, are craftsmen, have lots of experience or are broadly read. Simply owning a serious collection, does imply knowledge. The least interesting to me are serious BNIB, draw-queen collectors. So what? If you cant share any interesting knowledge, it is just bragging! Fortunately, in this community, there is a large intersection between 'serious collectors' and knowledgeable people. Indeed, if you actually use your collection, you will gain knowledge!

Compelling points you make, nicely written BTW!

Quite simply, a 'collector' is someone who collects a specific type of things—numbers of pieces, prices, type, are what define the collection.

There're different price stratas of knife collecting, I know people that are quite serious about their collection of Globals and Shuns; and those that possess immense pride with acquisitions of Shigs and Katos.

Yes, the term 'serious' is very subjective and takes into account intent/objective and current state of collection. Numbers don't matter—my Global/Shun collector friend has amassed nearly 20 knives; a more affluent friend has around 6 Katos—both collections could justifiably be considered 'serious.'

Every knife collector enters into it from a point. Some can shape a formidable collection rather quickly with enough money and desire; while others might take years to reach the same type of collection. Obviously, knowledge on collecting kitchen knives can be gained with experience. However, if one is studious, observant, asks the right questions, can become a shrewd and savvy kitchen knife collector in a month—it's not rocket science to understand knife valuation, and market trends. Threads on KKF give a lot of info on a particular knife's hype, performance, value, etc.

Kitchen knives are inherently a tool, it's not 'art' and should never be considered art, fine handmade knives are a 'craft.' That said, usage of what's collected isn't essential for a collector—tru that insights can be gained from using knives, but not a requisite for a collection to have value and respect. A collector friend has an enviable collection of Katos, that he's worked very hard over years to acquire—he certainly knows a lot about the knives and the Kato market, but doesn't use the Katos at all to cook with.

Interestingly, there are knives, that because of their price point, are likely to be out of reach of most pro cooks, and too precious to be regularly utilized in a pro environment. Case in point is Maumasi, gorgeous knives indeed, but the chef that exposes the $3–5k beauts to the rigors of a bustling kitchen is a rare bird—a knife aimed at the higher strata of the market, targeting the affluent collector.

There are many respected violin collectors that aren't musicians; and a pro chef shouldn't ever be a food critic because of both viewpoint biases and conflict of interests.

Personally, I'm quite serious about my knife collection; use all of my knives in the kitchen; $300–$700 is my current comfort zone. To me, they're just tools, usually can't justify paying any more than that.
 
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Mine is just one of my favourite manga characters ever, and it's from my favourite series (One Piece). I also thought it was weirdly appropriate since the character starts out trying to use as many swords as possible thinking it will work best before settling with "only" three. I haven't gotten over the initial phase.

Zoro-one-piece-15398573-640-480.jpg
 
I have my mask on in my avatar, to remind everyone of how much I like to smell my own farts daily. (It has air intake just above my exhaust)
I've heard this will cure Covid

Mines just a pic of a run of the mill bolster
 
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