About

Welcome To The ‘About’ NostalgiaKnives.com Page. This is the true what, when, where, why, blah blah blah of how this site came to be over the last few years. Thanks for stopping by…

As a kid in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and from a family that camped as much as possible during the early years. I’ve held the nostalgia of my early knives, and the whittling/carving work I did at the time, for well over 50 years.

During COVID, when the world was in lock down, I began researching the old knife makers. With my main focus on Boy Scout Multi-tool, and Scout Knives in general.
In addition to this interest, I also began watching the streaming show “Forged In Fire”. Which induced other interests and project plans. I even built a coal forge out of a couple truck brake drums, and a shop vent fan… And wow did it heat up metal!! LOL

After some forging practice using a wimpy 50lb anvil, I started to look for a real blacksmiths anvil to purchase. Quickly realizing I would have to save up $800 before being able to make the purchase. So I continued to practice hammering on my little anvil, and it was still fun and inspiring… But then the worst possible scenario came into our lives in early 2021.

My wife, Kimberley, began getting sick shortly after eating dinner. Thinking it was a stomach issue she didn’t want to go to a doctor right away.
But after a few days of this happening, I felt she needed to go to the hospital. I had to hide my fear and my extreme sense of urgency to get her to a doctor as I didn’t want to worry her.

That day Kim was immediately admitted to ER, and put through all kinds of different scans, tests, etc.
I knew there was something very bad happening to my Wife. She didn’t know what to think or say to me, but I knew she was scared.

After 9 days in the hospital, we were informed that my angel, and wife, had late stage cancer.
And even the worst of words followed; “your cancer is aggressive, and you will most likely succumb to the illness within a couple years”. Cancer, and no reason for hope, all in one sentence..
I’ll never forget hearing my Angle, while looking into my eyes; “I’m going to die?” – typing this out is causing more tears, so I have to stop thinking about that moment now..

Since COVID was still consuming medical services to the point I had no in-house help to take care of my dying wife. I had to leave my career and become her sole care provider and nurse during her cancer fight. I basically was forced to learn how to be a hospice nurse, without any training or support. Something I would never have imagined would happen after working in my career for the last 40 years..
It is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my entire life. I can only pray no other spouse has to go through any of it first hand..

Needing a hobby or major distraction, I spent the following 9 months acquiring more old knives online, and at local garage/estate sales.
As I found better knives I sold other knives off for a small profit to pay bills, and if possible, buy more knives to sell. Addiction? Or, Distraction? I’m still trying to decide..

After acquiring 300+ knives, I suddenly had no where to put them. As Kim’s condition worsened, I began using my home-office for storing Kim’s medical equipment and supplies. As well as her liquid feeding supplies that needed to be kept in a cool and dark space.
So I bagged up all my knives up for storage, with labeling for easy identification. And stacked them under my work station.

After being Kim’s sole care provider for 9 months, she passed away one early morning, within the same year, and a week before Thanksgiving.

Needless to say, I didn’t feel there was much to be thankful for in life, anymore. Being alone during that year really made me realize what our family was, or was not….
Honestly, I didn’t do very well for several months. I didn’t know hiding my emotions, and the extreme sadness for what Kim was going through, would become a mental health the moment she passed… It was truly a personal hell…

In early 2022 I started looking for a new job. I wasn’t over losing Kim, or even the resulting emotions. But I was only a couple months away from having to sell my home, so I just started job hunting out of necessity.

After a couple months, I was offered a job with the largest career/job search sites today. I was in disbelief of this new opportunity. I was really happy about getting back to my career (although it hurt that I could not celebrate the new job with my wife, as I had for over 25 years).

Unfortunately, the job market started to constrict after 6 months. Suddenly at 9 months, the company introduced a WFR (work force reduction) that included most of the newly hired staff from the previous year.
Approx. 3500 employees and contractors lost their jobs that day, by email – yes Indeed!! =]

With this new disappointment, I decided to wait a couple weeks to restart the job hunt. And instead, I pulled out all the boxes of knives I had previously stored away. And began to inventory the complete collection so I could send it to an auction service for a quick sale.

While continuing with researching the history of my knives, I realized there was a real market for old knives. I was actually surprised to see the number of sites that sold vintage knives. Many had less than 100 knives in their inventory, at least that’s what they showed online.

And then it hit me..!
Since I needed something to do while job hunting, and needed to keep using my tech. skills actively so I didn’t get ‘lazy brain’ before returning to my career. Why not sell the knives on my own website? I’ve built many sites over the last 30 years. So why not one for my own use?

So I started to work on a creative domain name that described the market, and my sentimental value in the boy scout knives I had as a kid.
Next I started comparing eCommerce services to find one that I could afford, in case I actually decided to turn my hobby into a small business.
After deciding on ‘nostalgia’ and ‘knives’, and identifying an inexpensive hosting service, I made the investment for both the domain, and web-host I had chosen.

6 Months later, I launched NostalgiaKnives.com with approx. 150 knives in the inventory. And another 277 still in the process of research, cleaning, pictures, and then posting to the site. Which will always be an ongoing process as existing knives are sold off and replaced.

In the future, I’d like to take NostalgiaKnives on the road and attend trade shows related to the market.
The idea of driving Rt66/40 and seeing all the towns along the way, while selling at the shows, would be a great road-trip! But this plan is a little ways down the road still… Um, no pun intended… =D

Thanks again for visiting NostalgiaKnives.com.