Professionaly Cleaned??????

Don't let collectors tell you what to do with what is yours. You own it, if you don't plan on selling it, do whatever you want with it. If you plan on selling it, then you may want to listen to the collectors. Collectors sort of annoy me sometimes. If it is truly an artifact of some significance, then put it in a collection where others can learn from/about it, like a museum.
 
Well said Bob.

Even as a collector, I have to agree with you, some can be annoying :) we all have our "little quirks".
 
Don't want to step on too many toes, but I have had some bad experiences with collectors. Not just knife collectors, but guitar collectors too. There is some sort of collector mentality that starts rubbing me the wrong way sometimes. I was at a guitar show and this guy had a 60 something Fender Stratocaster that still had the hang tags on it. It had literally never been played. I thought that was a crime, but to a collector playing it would have devalued it. I fully believe in preserving things, but not just tucking them away someplace to never be used or appreciated. Not too long ago professional musicians (classical) and instrument collectors realized that these things NEED to be played or they deteriorate. Statovarius and Guenari (sp?) instruments are loaned to players by museums and collectors to keep them in shape. Very few players could afford one and a lot of collectors don't play, so it is a kind of symbiotic relationship. I just got a Schatt & Morgan "1 0f 100" congress knife from Cumberland knifeworks. I am carrying it and using it. I saw an illustrated H. P. Lovercraft book once, limited printing. Sealed in plastic. What was the point? Comic books are the same thing. Guys collect toys that were never opened. What is the point? On that kind of level collecting just loses me.
 
I can understand that. The ones I put up for colelector purposes I will take once in a while and work them and check for rust and put them up. then there are the ones I use. Typically that's why I usually will buy two if I like something and put one up.
 
I was thinking about this and I reached a conclusion that what annoys me is this. When the collecting becomes about the value the object represents in place of the object itself, that rubs me wrong. There are collectors who collect as investment over interest in what is being collected. I know there are lots of guitar collectors who can't even play. Not just they can't play well, they don't know the notes or the string names or anything. They have no real understanding of what a quality instrument is, just what it is worth. There are comic collectors who never read comics or appreciate the art of it, just the value in a monetary way. Some one who collects for the love of what they are collecting, regardless of value, I respect and count myself as one. I collect old, out of print, science fiction novels. I read them though, and I try to let others read them too. I am pissed when they get wrecked more over the loss of another text than the money that was lost. The value is secondary, the object is what is important. Sorry for rambling, I am trying to work out some stuff for myself here I guess.
 
Bob, I think you've hit the nail on the head. I tend to be a collector more than an investor. In other words, I am a pack rat. While I have some items in my collections that are worth something, many of the items...well, lets just say they wouldn't bring much on ebay.

In short, I don't have much use for your guitar collector's type either. "Professional" collectors are so often an annoyance to those of us that enjoy the items that we collect. Some things were obviously ment to be used. Musical instraments, sports cars (if it hasn't won a race it doesn't belong in a permanate display, it belongs on the road&track), motorcycles, guns, audio equipment, records, books, etc. Even coins, stamps, and baseball cards are meant to be looked at.

For me the, I've found my niche in collectings items that have a person attached to them (a friend or family member), a history associated with them, or somehow tie in with other hobbies.

Like Rev, I sometimes will grab a spare of something, but usually that is done more as a potential replacement (ie backup), or possible gift, than as an investment.
 
The reason I personally collect, is because I have "a love" (so to speak) for knives and knife history making, etc.

I usually by two with the intention that I may wear one ourt some day and want another, or I may want to trade, or sell one some day (collector purposes). I collect soley for the "love" (s o tospeak) of the hobby and not money purposes. I have to admit it does annoy me also when people will buy purely because of the potential of making money. I think many who buy the good buys from smoky usually have this intention, it does annoy me. Especially when they "buy up" all the good sale and clearance knives and eave none for anyone else and many of these make to ebay.

Ones who do this would probably not be termed as "knife collectors", but brokers maybe?
 
rev_jch said:
Ones who do this would probably not be termed as "knife collectors", but brokers maybe?
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That would be a good word for it. And I've actually done it a time or too with books: I once bought off eBay a lot of 6 Louis l'Amour's that I already had 4 of. I need 1 to finish out a set, sold one to a fellow at work, and sold the others individually back on eBay for more than I bought the 6 for :D (wish I could do that once a week ;) )

But that's why I can't do stuff like that for a living. I occationally do something thats a good deal for everyone, but I am a lousy salesman (thank heaven!) and I can't inflate the market enough to make a living at it.

I've actually thought about making up some "Historic and Collectable Knives and Tools" business cards so that if anyone with a badge every asks, I can say, "Oh, I buy and sell collectable knives and hand tools. You looking for anything in particular?"
 
hmmm.....not a bad idea! I have to admit myself, im not a good salesman myself. I do not have the "will" in me to "squeeze" money out of others in business deals. The other thing for me, is that if I was to make it a business I would cease to enjoy my hobby.
 
I'm an ebay dealer. For better or worse, almost all of my knowledge in regards to collecting sharp, shiny objects has come from my buying and selling on ebay (why I'm hear now). That said, I do believe that cleaning your knives almost always ups its value ON EBAY. I've tried it both ways (sold knives "as found" and knives I've cleaned). The cleaned knives get more bids and close at notably higher finals. I will not sand or sharpen my knives as this could change the blade profile, thus having a negative effect on value. But cleaning? Cleaning with a mild polish is okay on planet eBay with a couple exceptions. Never use a metal polish on an etched blade (it'll take of the print) and read the lable. Aluminum or silver will pit up if exposed to certain corrosive polishes (look at your bolsters). And for the love of God, stay away from the belt sander.
 
I was at a guitar show and this guy had a 60 something Fender Stratocaster that still had the hang tags on it. It had literally never been played. I thought that was a crime, but to a collector playing it would have devalued it.
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Sometime in the future there may be a question about exactly how Fender assembled some aspect of the 1960 Stratocaster and that piece will be the definitive answer. It is, in its factory-exactness, frozen history.



Not too long ago professional musicians (classical) and instrument collectors realized that these things NEED to be played or they deteriorate. Statovarius and Guenari (sp?) instruments are loaned to players by museums and collectors to keep them in shape. Very few players could afford one and a lot of collectors don't play, so it is a kind of symbiotic relationship.
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Collectors have long known that there's something about those old wooden stringed instruments that needs to be played. They do really, audibly deteriorate if they aren't played no matter how they're preserved. Even if they aren't played, music should be played around them. There's something about the vibration that is vital to the instrument. It's very strange and very unexplained, but also very real and very well-known.

Fine pianos are the same way. Steinway dealers make sure that every piano on the sales floor gets a least a bit of playing every few days. And if you come into such a dealer and explain that you're really looking for a piece of furniture to grace your living room and it might get played once or twice a year when you happen to have a guest who plays or you hire a pianist for your Christmas party, those dealers will discourage you from a Steinway or other such brand simply because they know it's going to loose its sound from lack of use.

The White House includes a very famous Steinway and they take great care to be sure it's played every few days.

But I don't think I've ever heard of such an unexplained effect in knives that aren't used.
 
I'm reminded, though, of having lunch at the home of a very wealthy (old money) family in Nashville, Tennessee when I lived there. This was the classic old-style southern mansion straight out of Gone With The Wind. As we were gathering in the living room, the daughter of one of the other guests, a young lady of perhaps ten, went into the dining room and saw the butler setting the table with all the china and silver and crystal and everything and exclaimed, "You actually use that stuff?"

To which the butler replied, "Young lady, if you don't use these things, they just die."
 
Well said, Gollnick.....the quote/analogy was, in Mastercard tradition, PRICELESS.

I enjoy collecting....but not if I don't handle, admire, and at least THINK about using any knife I own.

Bill
 
I once had a knife professionally cleaned. Left it in my pocket when I dropped my coat off at the dry cleaners. :rolleyes: ;) :D
 
Yes Gollnick, that is what I am trying to express. If they are not used, they die. That sums up my thoughts very well. Collect them, preserve them, love them and learn from them. Whatever they happen to be; books, comics, art, instruments, and even knives. But don't lock them in a vault and let them die as they gain value.
 
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