gets my goat...

It is nice and shiny, but the character is all gone. I've noticed that more than a few Old Timers and others sold on ebay have had the patina polished off. I'd rather buy an older knife with honest patina and a good edge.
 
Amos Iron Wolf said:
It is nice and shiny, but the character is all gone. I've noticed that more than a few Old Timers and others sold on ebay have had the patina polished off. I'd rather buy an older knife with honest patina and a good edge.
Click to expand...

That sums it up for me.

All cleaned up they look like a working dog with bows and painted fingernails to me. More like disgusting to the point they do not look real.
 
Watch this seller regularly for a REAL education in "reworks" that is knives made up with bits and pieces of other old knives.
 
As knifeaholic mentioned, this seller was the recent winning bidder of a bunch of blades and "parts" knives...watch for more really "clean"...:rolleyes: ...old knives from him. :jerkit:

Bill
 
El Lobo said:
As knifeaholic mentioned, this seller was the recent winning bidder of a bunch of blades and "parts" knives...watch for more really "clean"...:rolleyes: ...old knives from him. :jerkit:

Bill
Click to expand...


Yes this seller specializes in "cleaning" old knives.....that is cleaning out the old broken blades and/or handles and installing different ones.
 
Hmmm, in looking at his stuff I am just amazed at how all his knives seem to have, "flawless bone handles." Not to mention how many seem to have never been sharpened. Is that another term for the edge was removed by buffing?

Btw, thanks to Knifeaholic and El Lobo for the heads up!
 
I dont have any really valuable pocket knives....but I'm quite the opposite of you guys here.

I like my knives to look clean and attractive. I personally hate the cruddy old patina on a pocket knife. I dont need dirt, lint, and a patina to tell me what my knife has been through and what it means to me.

I clean and polish most of my slipjoint knives to a high shine. The spines, brass liners, the blades and bolsters. Everything looks clean and mirror-like. It's also something that is relaxing to me, and I like spending my time being meticulous.

They're my knives, and it's a personal preference. I personally like the knife that guy is selling.:thumbup:
 
First off, yes, they are your knives and your right to have them as you please. As long as it is understood that taking an old knife and buffing it to a high shine is going to wreck any collectors value. It is also kind of like taking a historical artifact and "polishing" it up. It also takes it out of time and reduces it's historical effect. Also, it should be understood that doing such a "professional" cleaning as that one had done is a good way to cover up a parts knife and therefore a counterfit that an individual may then try to sell as original.

That said, yes, it does look nice. Given the above posts I am inclined to believe it is a parts knife, buffed out to blend the different parts. Now if someone buys it with that understanding and at well below the collector price for a true, unbuffed original, and if it's been rebuilt well, then it would be a way to get some nice, old, user knives that can still be enjoyed. It's like picking up an old Springfield rifle that was sporterized years ago. You can bang around with it and not be worried about reducing the supply of good historical ones like you would if you were to take an original and then hack away on it.

As I said, I could see picking up some of those "cleaned" knives at good prices as an inexspensive way to enjoy old knives without getting into the vintage collectables game. That way you don't have to worry if you are laying out big bucks for counterfits or cobbled together knives, you just figure what you are buying is a rebuild that comes close to orginal config. Just don't try and sell it later as a hughly collectable original.

I tend to stay with recent production knives for the simple reason, I don't know all the ins and outs of serious knife collecting. I'll leave that to the vintage collectors and just enjoy seeing and reading about their knives and their research.

I don't need lint and dirt in a knife. Knives can be cleaned properly. But on any older knife I would be suspect of one that didn't have a patina or some greying of the blades. It's kind of like my grey hair and wrinkles. I earned em! I'm not going to get rid of them just to look all new. Heck no! That's honest weathering and honor marks. A lot of us who grew up and lived with a knife in our pockets that has greyed over the years just respect and expect that in our knives. To get rid of it just smacks of dishonesty and disrespect. It's like you snuck in one night and dyed our hair to the color it was when we were kids and took away every wrinkle and made our skin look the same. It would seem like an act of disrespect.

That's kind of why you will find so many on here who feel so strongly about patina and honest marks on an old knife.

By all means, enjoy your knives and keep em shiny. But if you do run across any true vintage knives please don't destroy their value and collectablilty by buffing them to a high shine. Pass on the knife and let it go to someone who will treat it like the antique and historical artifact it is. There are still many knives out there to enjoy and clean away on. To include the parts mades like this guy is running. A way to play with old knives and have em shiny too.
 
If you find the RIGHT old knife, and DON'T clean it, I'll give you 3 or 4 nice shiney new ones for it!!:D
 
Amos Iron Wolf said:
While we're at it. Check this one from the same seller out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-New-Yor...ryZ43332QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Doesn't that stamping look restamped to you? Especially given the look of the blade and the pits that have been buffed at on the bolster.
Click to expand...

Actually that's one of the few of the sellers knives that looks all right...a lot of the older thang stamps looked a bit off center like that - but it is again a worn knife heavily cleaned.

The Catt scout appears to be a "reblade" - at least I have never seen a Catt scout knife like that one...or bone handles like that on a Catt knife.
 
Lol, see, that's why I stay out of that game! I'll leave to you fellers unless I have one of you at my elbow to look out for me.
 
If I came off as an ass, I apologize... I know quite a bit about pocket knives and I wouldnt dare to do what I do to a civil war era slipjoint knife like the ebay gentleman did. (looked at his other auctions). Looking at that knife, I kind of imagined him washing away the patina that an old civil war soldier helped put on there. Kinda sad.

I do agree that an OLD or valuable knife should be left alone. My slipjoints are far from valuable. Theyre quite common, invaluable, and pretty young. Alot of them have carbon steel, and I just do not like the patina that builds up. I like for my knives to look kinda classy and attractive...and I like for them to even resemble a piece of jewelry. Nickel silver, brass, steel, and a nice handle material looks so stunning to me when cleaned and polished properly. The right way.

Doing my knives this way is very therapeutic and relaxing. It also gives me some practice on finishing techniques for my own handmade knives. makes me be meticulous and pay attention to detail.
 
Hey, nothing wrong with enjoying your knives that way, Psycho. Heck, we'd like to see some pics of your polished up ones and your handmades if you can.

I'm still trying to figure out how to rehandle a non-valuable trapper or two. Getting the pins out is one thing, getting things pinned back later is another.
 
This discussion seems to go on in all manners of internet forums. I see people moaning over the sacrilege of sporterizing 1903 Springfields, '98 Mausers, Enfields, etc. How about the polished old Marble's knives that we see on eBay. The argument seems to be that the owner is destroying history.

What it really comes down to is that the knife or guns belongs to the individual. It is his property and he has the right to do with it as he pleases. We may not like it, but until there is a law forbiding polishing old knives, there is not much we can do about it except complain.
 
Actually, we can do more than complain!! We can scoff :barf: !! We can roll our eyes :rolleyes: !! We can faint in paroxysms of anguish and despair :p !! We can weep for the sacrilege :confused: . . . .you get the idea :D !!
 
I also like my knives clean and shiny. Even the older ones that I have. I think some of you are bit over the top with your comments about "disrespect." Most old knives have little or no collector's value so there is no disrespect. Maybe this poor seller just likes to clean 'em up. There was a whole article on this in KnifeWorld just a few month's ago so it's not that unusual.

I buy my knives to use and enjoy, and I clean 'em up no matter how old they are. That's how I keep 'em snappin and shining, and know what...keeps the pitting and rust away too. Ever had an edge rust? It's a PITA. I don't buff away the shape, just a little flitz and minimal use of high grade fine sandpaper, followed with mineral oil and sometimes ren wax.

You know, if your great grandpa bought a carbon steel slipjoint fancy knife in 1890, and he liked things shiny, your 100 yo knife would be shiny and clean, just very well sharpened. Why isn't that "respecting the tool" just like letting it get dull and gray? Just like guns, if a gun is cared for and used, it'll be in good shape. Brass rails at 200 yo buildings are shined every day. Patina isn't beauty in everyone's eye. That's why they invented stainless blades and titanium liners. :)
 
First off, I apologize for my smart-ass remarks. If someone likes a clean knife, then by all means get next to godliness!
The arguments here are based on basic shortcomings in communication and understanding. A user knife performs better when it is clean and free of corrosion. An inexpensive knife should please the owner, whatever shape it's in.
A rare knife, with great history, a piece of the cutlery's history, has much more value in a form as original as possible. The subtleties of the swedge grind, for instance, are lost the instant the buffer touches it. If you are collecting knives to study history, it's clear that you don't mess up the history. If you want to sip cool, clear water, you don't stir up the pool first! So let's quit arguing about two different things.
Ignoring history is, well, Ignorance! But using a good knife is a pleasure! Both can be done, but not always with the same knife.
I approach my knives reverently, and yes I have cleaned knives, OLD ones!!
fullclinestewartcopy.jpg

This old CLINE STEWART did not look like a knife when I got it the blades were completely hidden in a ball of rust! It took days of careful work to get them open and free, and get rid of all the scales of rust, without harming the lines of the knife. I love the remaining patina, and the fact that the knife looks virtually unused. Everything is straight and crisp! If it were polished down to shiny metal, its character and form would be lost. And I'd like to hear how many people have even heard of a CLINE STEWART before, or even seen one! If this knife were "cleaned" nice and shiny, history would be erased. Erasing/ignoring history is the number one road to tradgedy in the human world! Enjoy your knives how you like, but think twice before you clean an old knife!!
 
Yep, Waynorth hit it pretty much on the nose. We're talking two different kinds of knives. I used the term "disrespect," but was generally referring to how a lot of hardcore collectors feel that sometimes translates to all knives. The one thing that is important is that people enjoy their knives. Buffing up user vintage knives and carrying them is one way to do so. It doesn't hurt to make sure it isn't a high collectable before you do. It would kind of suck to find out that the knife you just have buffed shiny was worth 10 times what it is now if you hadn't buffed it.

Actually, if great grandpa had frequently buffed his knife and sharpened it with regularity, there wouldn't be much blade left by now. Most of the metal would be gone. In guns, taking care of a gun and keeping it clean is not the same as buffing it up and rebluing it. Take an old original Colt SAA with the bluing worn off and a patina and have it reblued. No matter how good the blue job, a big chunk of the value and the history of the gun is gone, not to be recovered. Now, take a parts gun made up of a frame from the same era and other parts. Nothing wrong with bluing that one up at all. Make it as pretty as you can and shoot the dickens out of it. A lot of old guns have the bluing worn away and the metal greyed bacause those guns were taken care of and cleaned. Many a wipe down and oiling has worn away the bluing. The smooth patina on many a knife is there instead of pitting because it was cleaned and oiled regularly and not allowed to become dirty and gunked up.

Apologies here too if it sounded like I was ragging anyone for enjoying a shiny knife. My intent was to convey the why and how of some knife people's feelings and why they may come across so passionate about it. I'm not really the spokesman for knife collector's everywhere nor am I remotely qualified to do so.

I like a clean, patina'd knife, but recogize that isn't everyone's tastes, which as Brownshoe stated, that's why there is stainless steel, for people who don't want knives that discolor over time.

It's up to the knife owner what they do to their knife. It's their right to do it and others have a right to howl and moan over it or agree with them, or even not care one way or the other.

I won't sneak in and dip someone else's carbon steel blades in hot vinegar and in return they must not sneak in and buff my blades to a high shine. :D
 
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