Does a safe queen knife for collection purposes only need to be sharpened?

N

naddysaad

Joined
Jan 18, 2016
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11
Just wondering if a knife that is only for collection purposes and never used needs to ever be sharpened?
 
Not only no need but there's a little risk that you might mar it. When I was younger and not careful enough I sharpened a knife or two that turned out to not have been used in 30 years. I slipped and scratched the blades with the corner of the stone. So factory-fresh can't be claimed on those knives should I try to sell them.
 
No. But a couple light pulls over raw leather every year or so won't harm it either.
 
From a collectors standpoint, they want the knife as original as possible. In some cases, sharpening a knife de values the knife. Sales have been missed because the knife has been sharpened.
So, for collecting, buy it, inspect it and put it up.
 
Serious collectors generally want to preserve the original factory edge. That's the difference between a Collection Knife and a User Knife.
 
I've got a lot of collection knives. All of them are shaving sharp. Why not, a knife's a knife. What's a collection knife to me may be a user to someone else. Most of mine have been out of production for many years, so who knows. I sharpen em all the same.
 
A safe queen is a knife that you buy and put away for safe keeping. It'a wise to wipe the blade with a protective cloth once in a while. Any other action and it's no longer a safe queen.
It should remain pristine.
 
I'd vote for no.
In conclusion it is up to the collector how he likes his collection.
A sharpened knife is no longer mint.
If one considers selling it at a later date, sharpening is not a good idea.
There are many definitions, but as stated above pristine is not altered in any way.
 
Mossyhorn said:
A safe queen is a knife that you buy and put away for safe keeping. It'a wise to wipe the blade with a protective cloth once in a while. Any other action and it's no longer a safe queen.
It should remain pristine.
Click to expand...

To me, the knives in my collection are artifacts, the remnants and reminders of past knifemakers and knife companies, being curated for the enjoyment and education of myself and future collectors. Like all artifacts, they lose their historic/educational/scientific value if they've been modified.

When I inspect a knife closely from the collection, I want to see it just as the knife makers created it, as the store sold it, as a buyer of that era would have received it... For good or bad.

Like a badly remodeling a historic home or stripping the finish from antique furniture, you can't un-sharpen or un-use a knife.
 
red mag said:
I'd vote for no.
In conclusion it is up to the collector how he likes his collection.
A sharpened knife is no longer mint.
If one considers selling it at a later date, sharpening is not a good idea.
There are many definitions, but as stated above pristine is not altered in any way.
Click to expand...

If collecting a knife for an investment or maintaining resale value, that's a different issue altogether, but with the same answer. Mint, Pristine, NIB, Unused... those words all describe a knife that has the original factory edge.
 
In re-reading the initial post - are you using it to collect $tuff from people? If so, sharpen that blade to the point where you bleed just from looking at it.

You never know when you're going to need to use it.

;)
 
If it truly is a safe queen, don't sharpen it. You could give it a careful sharpening if you choose, but it technically is a "used knife" at that point.
 
agree with what mosr folks said. Too bad, when I received BNIB knives, I often could not resist the temptation of making them sharper even if I knew I would never use them. I've been trying hard lately not to do it, and several knives indeed "survived" :D
 
I'm sorry but dull knives are contemptible, and I would be embarrassed to sell one in such a condition.

Most knives are horribly dull as is, so the issue should be how cleanly the sharpening was done, not if it was done...

I can't understand how there can be any satisfaction in owning something dull that would be a dangerous liability if you used it, even if you a firmly committed to not use it.

Gaston
 
Why would you? It provides no current benefit and, most likely, decreases the value in the event of a sale.
 
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