Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John w schmidt on October 27, 2014 at 6:52

Going out to garage to cut,grind,a buck my wife shot yesterday. Please leave your opinion!!

Permalink Reply by Jim Johnson on October 27, 2014 at 13:04

Looks kike a nice late '43...early '44 edition & personally I wouldn't do anything other than use a little MetalGlow on it to get the dirt & rust off.Don't overdue it because I don't think you would want to remove the original Bluing & patina from it! It's pretty rare and basically in good shape.These are hard to find & getting more difficult every day.You can take any old beat up piece of crap & re blue it & restore it to where looks brand new.I think this one is to rare & historical as it is.

There are two schools of thought on Cleaning (Or Restoring ) knives.I have knives that have been cleaned & I have some that I wouldn't touch.My thought is that I don't want to change anything unless it improves it.This is where people have a tendency to differ opinions.And to me it's all relevant, just as most things of this nature are.

If you'd like to see some examples of what I mean LMK & I'll drop you a couple PIX.

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by John McCain on October 27, 2014 at 13:32

John, I agree with Jim pretty much on this--I, too, would just clean the gunk and deal with the rust to prevent further damage- I definitely would not attempt a full restore or reblue of any kind-- Militaria collectors, in particular, want to see the honest use and wear associated with a knife used in war. Sure, they like the knife to be in "good" condition, not rusted beyond all hope. But, they also don't generally want a knife that looks like it never saw any combat or use, or carried by someone who used it sparingly. The honest wear and bluing loss helps tell the  story of the knife,so to speak.

Permalink Reply by John w schmidt on October 27, 2014 at 15:07

Thanks,that's what was in my heart too.ive been a coin collector for many years and thee only coins you really ever clean are mint,uncirculated coins then only silver. The guy on ebay had me thinking it was ok in the knife world. Common sense I guess.