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My latest (and greatest ever!) Case knife acquisition- Thing of beauty!

I lucked into this absolutely beautiful Tested Elephant toe a couple weeks ago. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I had a good friend of mine clean and polish it up for me to make it nice and shiny. I know some people would not have had this knife cleaned and polished which I fully understand but it was in such good condition with the exception of a few scratches and light spots on the blades I wanted to make it look great. I am definitely a toenail fan now, I have sold a couple recently that I now wish I would have held onto because they would have made a great start to a collection.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Sack on October 4, 2012 at 3:54

Chris: Congratulations!!! Part of the great joy in collecting is finding a great knife to add to the collection. I also have from time to time found a gem. The question is do you clean, spruce up and sharpen this gem. I lean towards having a collectors knife that is clean, polished and sharpened. I am interested in other thoughts on what you do to the slightly used gem that you acquire.

Jay Sack

Permalink Reply by Ron Cooper on October 4, 2012 at 4:22

Wow, Chris! I can certainly see why you would be quite proud of this little gem! Absolutely stunning! The scales are fantastic looking.

I am a great admirer of the "Toenail" pattern. However, sadly, I must admire them in other people's collections because knives, such as yours, command such high prices. I hope that you will enjoy your new knife in good health for many years to come.

Thanks for sharing the photos with us!

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on October 4, 2012 at 5:55

Chris,

It certainly is a beauty. Congrats

Cleaning and polishing is just such a personal choice. Lots of different opinions on the approach. My opinion? It is your collection, do what you prefer. If the time comes you are looking to sell the collection, there are plenty of like minded folks to purchase :)

Permalink Reply by Chris Taylor (CTAYLORMAN) on October 4, 2012 at 15:49

Jay, thanks for the comments on my latest find. I have to get it out each night and admire it until I find a good place to keep it. It is too big to fit into my knife cases, the bands are too tight around it and I am worried it will cause a stress crack or something (never know). I am probably gonna put it in a little display box or something like that. As far as cleaning, polishing and sharpening a nice gem, if I plan on keeping a knife for my own personal collection I will clean and polish it but I never sharpen my knives unless it is a knife I intend on using. Sometimes I will purchase knives just to use as "traders" for when I go to a show or my local flea market where we swap and trade knives and sometimes I will polish those knives if they desperately need it or if they are not too bad I will leave them alone because each person has his own opinion and I usually let them decide whether they want to polish it up or not after I trade it off. This latest find though is what keeps me out there trading and looking for knives just to see what I can find. Seems like every time I start to think it isn't worth it I come across something like this. I am definitely a knife addict!! Thanks again Jay!

Jay Sack said:

Chris: !!! Part of the great joy in collecting is finding a great knife to add to the collection. I also have from time to time found a gem. The question is do you clean, spruce up and sharpen this gem. I lean towards having a collectors knife that is clean, polished and sharpened. I am interested in other thoughts on what you do to the slightly used gem that you acquire.

Jay Sack

Permalink Reply by AlecsKnives on October 5, 2012 at 22:50