All About Pocket Knives

What affect does professional cleaning have on a pocket knife? Is a pocket knife more valuable in it's original state or is the value enhanced by a professional cleaning?

Thanks in advance.

This topic can spark a lot of debate, but in general a cleaned blade is preferred to a rusty one and a restored knife is preferred to a broken one. Patina is okay and most will agree it should be left alone. My personal observations have been that the general knife collecting public likes "shiney" while experienced collectors treat knives like other antiques and leave them in original condition. With those observations in mind, the value depends on the buyer more than anything.

In my journeys I have found that a lot of this depends on the knife and the age. In general I have seen that knives that have been cleaned to a mirror finish will bring more $ than one that have not unless the knife is really old. Say you had a USA RB 6488 congress. This knife knife would bring more money cleaned than one that had blackened patina blades. But on the contrary I think and older English knife will never bring more $ when its cleaned. Certain knives sometimes will bring more money with patina than mint. For example I went to an estate auction one time and had bought a mint bone Canoe made in the 70's for like $30 but when they auctioned off a yellow handled trapper with rusted CV blades that was made in the 90's it brought $75.

I think Bob put it well; the experienced collector likes the knife in original condition and sees each mark on the knife as a part of the history if that piece.
However, when you put a knife on ebay, 9 times out of 10 it will bring more money if it is shinny.

As Sexton said, a lot does depend on the knife. No one really expects a 100-year-old knife to look like it had just left the factory. If it does look that good, something is usually not right and if it is an expensive knife, the word “counterfeit” often comes to mind.

I think the difference between being cleaned by a true professional and cleaned by an amateur, is the true professional knows which knife to clean and how much to clean it. I have seen far too many knives “cleaned” by so-called “Professionals” and all they have done is buff away all traces of history and many of the original features of the knife (grind lines, swedge lines, etc.), have been buffed so severely that it is difficult to tell what the knife originally looked like.
Too many so-called “Professionals” are rank amateurs with a big buffer who equate the word “MINT” with shinny!

You will sometimes see knives listed on ebay as “cleaned to mint.”
Don’t believe it! If the knife was not mint when you started to clean it, buffing the snot out of it, will not make it mint!

I realize there are different views on this subject.
What I have posted is my opinion.

I'm still newly slain in the steel sickness so my thought is.....the shinier, the better!.

The patina that forms on carbon steel helps to prevent rust.
That is one good reason not to buff carbon steel blades.

As a knife cleaner myself doing repairs, cleanings and restorations daily you just need to know when to leave something alone and that experience all comes in time. Normally I'll just do what the customer requests (within reason) because I have found in the past that trying to give a little friendly advice to the wrong person can quickly piss someone off. If the person seems level headed and I feel the knife will not gain from the work I discuss it with them and the majority of the time I am thanked for sharing my knowledge and saving them money. Both from the work and the final sale price. But as far as to clean or not to clean? I don't get into those debates anymore because no one is right and each knife/person is different. For instance; I was selling knives at a local swap meet for a while. After examining a USA era 5347 a potential customer exclaimed "it's been cleaned!" as if I had just murdered someone. As luck would have it I had another exactly like it in the showcase that had not been cleaned after looking it over he proceeded to complain about how "rough" it was. Keep in mind the blades were equally full and other than polishing and slight difference in the stag it was practically the same knife. I smiled and politely responded " well, you don't want a shiny one, and you don't want a dirty one, just what is it you DO want, sir?" Some folks are just indecisive, others try to knock one no matter the condition so they can get it at less than the price asked.

Do what you FEEL is right after enough experience you'll KNOW what is right.

muskrat man wrote: But as far as to clean or not to clean? I don't get into those debates anymore because no one is right and each knife/person is different.
Do what you FEEL is right after enough experience you'll KNOW what is right.

Well said Kaleb!!

I too have pretty much given up on the discussion of that whole issue.

I will say there is a small minority of collectors who will pay a fair price for an uncleaned knife, people like Charlie (upnorth) who will pay more for the uncleaned knife than one that has been cleaned.
Too many are like your customer, they will beat you up on the price if the knife is cleaned or complain if the knife is “rough” if it has not been cleaned.

You have to develop the feel of what is right for that individual knife.

Like you I do what the customer wants within reason. I have refused to work on knives I considered priceless historical pieces. So far my customers have understood my logic.

orvet wrote:

muskrat man wrote: But as far as to clean or not to clean? I don't get into those debates anymore because no one is right and each knife/person is different.
Do what you FEEL is right after enough experience you'll KNOW what is right.

Well said Kaleb!!

I too have pretty much given up on the discussion of that whole issue.

I will say there is a small minority of collectors who will pay a fair price for an uncleaned knife, people like Charlie (upnorth) who will pay more for the uncleaned knife than one that has been cleaned.
Too many are like your customer, they will beat you up on the price if the knife is cleaned or complain if the knife is “rough” if it has not been cleaned.

You have to develop the feel of what is right for that individual knife.

Like you I do what the customer wants within reason. I have refused to work on knives I considered priceless historical pieces. So far my customers have understood my logic.

And refusing to put something together that could be considered a counterfeit is another place that we draw the line. You're right guys. It's up to the guys with the tools in their hands to determine the integrity of every knife that leaves their shop, while still giving the owner the knife they want. I quoted Dale and Kaleb simply because I feel much the same way and have seen and respect the integrity of their work.

You bring up a good point Bob about not making a knife that could be sold as a counterfeit. Most all knives that I customize have my name on the blade. Every knife I have apart gets my initials & the year in the inside liner, usually the pile side. The only exception would be a simple repair where the knife does not have to come apart, such as a reprofiled blade (a pretty obvious change from the standard blade) or an occasional handle repair (also obvious).

Personally I believe it is important for the integrity of knife collecting to note on the knife when there have been substantial changes. If the customer orders custom work but does not want the blade marked (not too often, but it happens occasionally), I will still mark the liner with my initials & the year. If the customer does not want the knife marked in any way, I won’t do the work. To me it is a matter of integrity: my integrity and the integrity of the knife.

When I'm out and about I'm mainly looking at the Russell Barlow's. A dead tip off for the most part that the knife has been altered or repaired is the shiny buffed out appearance. It is very common to see one blade that has very little wear and the other blade has much more wear. This may be natural, but all to often it is a good indication that one blade has been changed and the knife was buffed out to hide the repair. It is also becoming very common to see one blade with a tang stamp and the other blade (usually smaller) not to have one at all. With knives like this you suspect tampering. There is also the marriage of the newer reproduction Russell blades on the older knives and then buffed to blend them in. I'm pretty sure I saw one like that this weekend. These knives that have been repaired and then buffed are still valuable. The problem comes in when the seller tries to push it off as 100% original. One guy told me to look the knife over and use my own judgement. I wonder what the guy told him when he bought it?

I rambled on a lot and never said much that was helpful. I prefer an original knife over one that has been cleaned. Even in knives that are 100 yrs. old it is a joy to see an original knife in near mint state condition. Trying to clean and buff a knife to make it appear mint state just doesn't work as well, at least for me.

just bob wrote:I rambled on a lot and never said much that was helpful. I prefer an original knife over one that has been cleaned. Even in knives that are 100 yrs. old it is a joy to see an original knife in near mint state condition. Trying to clean and buff a knife to make it appear mint state just doesn't work as well, at least for me.

I agree bob on all counts and I loved the line above"I wonder what the guy told him when he bought it". Priceless