Hi everyone. Im new

O

OBGYN Kenobi

Joined
Jul 25, 2021
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I love vintage pocket knives. I love buying old knives but I'm kinda cheap. My strategy is to browse estate sale sites. Browse the pics and goto sales that I know will have old knives. I buy all US and some foreign knives I find. Then I go home and research them (make, year, model, company history.) It's fun for me and I want to know more. I'm newish to knife collecting and I have a couple questions.

#1: Is patina a good bad thing?
#2: how should I clean a pocket knife without ruining it?
#3 I use a lot of the knives I buy, is there a good way or a bad way to sharpen old knives.

Sorry to be a noob, but any help would be great.
 
Hello, and welcome to the forum! My first recommendation if you are going to spend time on this sub forum is to consider buying a membership. Membership allows you privileges. I suggest a gold one. If you hang out long enough here you will find that it is much more than a place to purchase and sell knives. I’ll answer your first question, patina on knives helps keep them from rusting. There are collectors that want only ones without but if you’re going to use them regularly just let them alone and do what I do and wipe them down with a cloth that is oiled.
 
Welcome!

IMHO patna is good. Shows honest use, and helps prevent rust.

For sharpening, Arkansas stones or Japanese water stones, if it really needs sharpened. You don't need SiC or diamond stones.
Most times stropping on a dry leather strop, or a couple swipes on a butcher's steel will restore the edge without removing any metal.
Never use a draw through "sharpener" (note quotes). They destroy the edge and blade, and also they put on a super obtuse around 90 to100 degree inclusive "edge", so do't cut or slice worth a bear's quack.
Personally, I like 10 to 15 degrees per side (20 to 30 degrees inclusive) for my knife edges.
Nothing wrong with using a guided rod system, if that is what you like.

For cleaning, a toothbrush and hot soapy water is always good. Blow the water out with WD-40 or compressed air, then oil the joints and blades after cleaned.

To get rid of any active red rust, I've used an oily scotchbrite, and/or oily 0000 Steel wool. Never Dull also works, but may remove any underlaying patina.
 
OBGYN Kenobi said:
I love vintage pocket knives. I love buying old knives but I'm kinda cheap. My strategy is to browse estate sale sites. Browse the pics and goto sales that I know will have old knives. I buy all US and some foreign knives I find. Then I go home and research them (make, year, model, company history.) It's fun for me and I want to know more. I'm newish to knife collecting and I have a couple questions.

#1: Is patina a good bad thing?
#2: how should I clean a pocket knife without ruining it?
#3 I use a lot of the knives I buy, is there a good way or a bad way to sharpen old knives.

Sorry to be a noob, but any help would be great.
Click to expand...

Hello and welcome.
#1 Great answers given. Patina is much MUCH better than rust, which is a bad thing
#2 Great answers given. Immediately remove any water. Yes, you can clean under running water. Light coat of mineral oil on the handle from time to time. Oil the joints and lightly oil the blade(s) if necessary against rust. Doesn't take much, little bit of oil goes a long way.
#3 Great answers given. Belt driven sharpeners such as Work Sharp ~ Ken Onion and carbide sharpeners tend to remove the most material and may not be ideal unless the knife is just blunted or hagered. In addition to stones, many favor a Spyderco Sharp Maker. Stones and the Sharp Maker give the most control but there is a knack to them and those new to those sharpening methods should practice on "lesser knives" first. Others might use a Lansky System or other system that firmly holds the knife immobile while a guided stone is passed along the blade. There are several of these systems available. All the sharpening methods are useful in their own right but the thing to remember is use the method that removes only the minimum material necessary to return the blade to service. Where possible, gently touch up the blades or strop them (if that's all that's needed) about as often as you use them ... or often anyway. Much better to maintain an edge than recreate one, once you have the bevels as you like them.
 
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Also, if you are unfamiliar with traditionals, keep an eye out for the types of handle materials you are buying. If you get Celluloid handles, keep it away from all other knives, as they are known to outgas and will start to ruin themselves, and any knife close to them. Examples of Celluloid would be Candy Stripe, GoldFlake, or Christmas Tree.
 
Lots of good answers so far. I will add to the sharpening question. I like systems like the Lansky and Gatco for establishing or re-establishing precise blade edge bevels. On many of the older knives, the edge bevels are horrendous from years of use and sharpening on "whatever" they had...grinding wheels, files, etc. Those types of systems are good for putting things back in place.

That being said, it's fun and practical to learn to sharpen free-hand on stones. That way you can make quick touch-ups.
 
Welcome and good advice so far

one other section of the forum that may help you with the history and identification would be here

Bernard Levine's Knife Collecting & Identification

Moderated by Bernard Levine, "The Knife Expert"; author of Levine's Guide to Knives and their Values, Blade Magazine Correspondent (since 1974) and Knife World Editor (since 1978).
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

G2

edited to say I see that you have already found that section
:)
 
Welcome. It's fun to buy vintage slip joints. If I had it to do over, I would not have bought so many with plastic handles. There are lots out there at relatively good prices, and they are fun to own. I would concentrate on more natural handle materials, but it sounds like you might already be doing that.
 
O OBGYN Kenobi I like to find used knives with plenty of blade left and good W&T (snappy blades and no wobble). I clean the junk out of the blade wells, oil the joints, sharpen the edges and then pocket them. I leave patina in place but clean off rust spots using a lead tip pencil followed by gun oil and 0000 steel wool used lightly (some like bronze wool) but either easy to find at a good hardware store. I will use an old toothbrush and a bit of gun oil to clean the bone or Delrin handles. A lot of the white haze seen on some old Delrin will clean itself off if you pocket the knife for a week or so. Enjoy and welcome to the party! OH
 
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Welcome.

Patina is the best thing.

For cleaning just remembe the active red rust with w49 and fine steel wool, and properly flush the insides.

To sharpen just take a stone of your choosing and put an edge on it that satisfies you.

In the end it's your knife , as long as it's not rare or valuable and you're not planning to just collect it then do what you want.
 
I'll just add that after joining this site my wallet got much lighter and I started getting overly picky with "fit and finish". Also, I got a lot smarter and more knives than I'll ever need.
 
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