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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on June 26, 2012 at 9:45

Don, we are glad to have you here with us, knife collecting is alot of fun. There is so much to learn and so many old and new things that it will keep you entertained for hours. I am sure one of our members with alot more knowledge on vintage knives, than me will answer your question. Good luck and enjoy yourself here in our club.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on June 26, 2012 at 10:08

So happy you are enjoying iKC. as a new member! We do have advanced search capability for Groups, Blogs and Discussions, so sometimes putting in a phrase or question will bring up something you are looking for.

I would recommend joining or Books Group as we have listings of all kind s of books on knives. Vintage knives are harder to pin down because they vary sometimes year to year. What was collected before might not be able to be resold for that same amount let alone more. An interesting article on just this subject appears in the current Knives Illustrated magazine (August 2012), written with great knowledge by J. Bruce Voyles, he talks about auctioning off what some had collected, if you get a chance pick up that magazine.

The guidelines you mention for restoration are valid and again it depends how you want to look at that knife.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on June 26, 2012 at 19:16

Don,

I agree that the guidelines you listed are best.

We have lots of folks that love to do research.  We have tons of info here and even a good amount on the older knives and smaller companies.  Check out the info section here

http://www.iknifecollector.com/group/knifechicks2/forum/topics/gene...

If you have any questions, just ask.  We will help with anything we can.  I am not a good one for price guides, dont think I have a current one either.  Hog has a great idea though

An interesting article on just this subject appears in the current Knives Illustrated magazine (August 2012), written with great knowledge by J. Bruce Voyles, he talks about auctioning off what some had collected, if you get a chance pick up that magazine.

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Permalink Reply by Don "Cossack Gearhead" Godard on June 26, 2012 at 20:31

Here that I have put this question out on a couple sights I will let you Know what I find out

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on June 27, 2012 at 7:36

There are people that make a living retoring old knives. I have an old Remington Bullet knife being restored right now. I think the knife is from the 1930's/. I can't wait to see it after the restoration. I'm sure it's value won't be as much as one in good shape without having to be restored but it still should be a good collector.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on June 29, 2012 at 19:48

Ron,

I always believe a knife that old and that well loved hates not being used,  Robert is using an excellent person to repair his.  Maybe he will share the name with you.  This one looks like he is just asking to get back into a pocket

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on June 30, 2012 at 9:01

The man that is restoring my knife is called the Muskrat man. You can find his web site with this; Muskratman.com.

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Permalink Reply by Brad T. on June 30, 2012 at 10:44

To each his own. I have picked a few Traditional folders along the way and cleaning them up a little bit is all I ever do.  I for one, appreciate an old knife that has been used and shows some wear. It belies the history of the knife and explains the patina.

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on June 30, 2012 at 11:56

I agree Brad, I do the same thing. The knife I am having restored has a scale missing and is broken a little bit. It was either restore it or throw it away. It's a 1930 origanal Remington Bullet knife, so I elected to have it restored.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on July 1, 2012 at 5:15

I guess it depends on the knife also, I have bought older knives that remain in disrepair because I wanted the tang stamp :)

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Permalink Reply by stephen tungate on October 21, 2012 at 19:56

In my opinion i would say if it is a older knife that is a collector.then just mildley clean it not much that way if you decide to sell it you can leave it up to the new owner what he wants to do with it.now if it is a knife that you are going to use and not worth a whole lot of money then i would say yes give it a good cleaning and oil.now if you want to store a knife there is some stuff out there called koonp it is really good stuff for keeping your knives up.hope this helps a little. we are glad to have you with us.don......

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Permalink Reply by Lee Saunders on October 27, 2012 at 14:06

I think you check advice from others and then decide what looks best to you.  I have been collecting vintage and antique "stuff" for 30 odd years and the only things I restored were guns, motorcycles and cars and that was so they would work.  Thought about restoring a wife but that's another story.

My advice for knives (and most stuff) would be to leave it in the naturally aged state.  Even if there is something cracked or broken it usually is best to leave it be if you want to sell it or pass it down as part of your estate.  Before I took my own advice I had a few experts really knock down values on things I restored and especially on items I had "professionally restored" explaining that buyers want to see the actual ageing of the item and make their own decision on restoration.

If you are going to keep it and want to see it look like it came off the showroom floor 80 years ago.......go for it and repair it or restore it.  It is your item and should reflect what your eye values.

And welcome to the hobby.  You have some nice things in your collection, thanks for sharing.

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