How To Rust

[Bill DeShivs]

I restore knives professionally.
Do not use steel wool and any kind of oil. This creates an abrasive slurry of iron oxide that will ruin any original finish that's left.

You can scrape off heavy rust with pieces of brass or copper. You'll have to keep filing sharp edges on the brass as it wears down.

Once all the heavy rust has been removed, use 0000 steel wool-dry. Don't scrub like you are mad at the knife-just lightly scrub at the rust. Change positions on the steel wool frequently, as it will contain iron oxide from the rust. You can shake it out or blow it out with compressed air.

After you have done all you can do with the steel wool, make sure all the steel fibers are removed from the knife.

Then, spray it with WD 40 and let it soak. Wipe dry. If a lot of rust comes off when you wipe. Soak/wipe again.

 

[eveled]

I knock the big chunks and crusties off with either a flattened brass cartridge case or a lead pencil. I do this dry, I want the dust to fall away. Blow it off with compressed air.

Then wipe with an oily rag.

This will stop any active rust and preserve the patina. It even works on blued firearms.

 

[Sparks24]

Alright, they aren't "museum" pieces, and no one is going to be paying off their car or mortgage from the sales proceeds, but both Case and Bulldog brand knives have some value, however condition is going to seriously affect that value.

Since you want to sell them I would wipe any rusted areas with WD4 and a clean cloth, but that's it. A buyer/collector might not want you sanding the blades. After wiping the rusty spots with WD40 I would just sell them "as is" with full disclosure of their condition. Unfortunately anything less than mint condition will reduce their value, and sanding the blades, or rubbing them with steel wool isn't going to restore them to mint condition.

Also, any chemical rust removers might ruin the handles, or possibly other parts of the knives if they come into contact with the chemicals.

It's impossible to tell from that one pic what their true condition is (although some of the rust does look pretty bad). Closer pics of the knives with the blades open, and showing the rust would help determine value and/or desirability, but as I said in another thread, you would need to be a Gold member or higher for us to discuss dollar values.

What you need to do is determine the models, then you can Google them. You may find "sold" listings for the same models with the same handle materials, but again condition matters a lot.

From the writing on one box it looks like one is a Case model 5375 Stockman, and another looks like a Case 5220 1/2 Peanut,. I just did a Google search for each of those model numbers and found "sold" listings for one of each of those models. For example, search for "Case 5375 stag".

You can also search "sold" listings on ebay for the model numbers. When you do a search there click on "sold items" down on the left of the screen.

The ones with serious rust are going to take a major hit on value, possibly to the degree that they might not be worth the effort of trying to sell them.

Good luck .

I so very much appreciate your help and your time. Thank you.

 

[Sparks24]

You better find out what you've got. If it's Franklin mint stuff no one will care if you've shined them up. If they are genuine high value antique items then restoring them will diminish the value.

You can use this handy guide to see how to post pictures.

How do I post pictures from a.....

Whatever kind of device you have? There may be an app for that. Look for a picture/file sharing host. Prefreably one that is NOT porn related. You can use imgur.com, flickr, or any others. There are tutorials online on the "How To" part, search for it. In the mean time, searching here for...

www.bladeforums.com

You can also purchase a Gold Membership here and ask about values on here as there is a deep pool of experienced collectors in the knife field.

One more question. Is Ebay ok to sell these on or foolish?

 

[Danke42]

Ebay is usually fine. Lots of exposure there.