WWII Camillus folding machete

[SterlingHammer]

Hiya, folks. I have one of these, pictured here:

However, mine is made by Camillus.
It's in poor condition, with blade chips, rust, etc. I do still have the steel guard, and the handles are intact.
I wondered about the value of this. I want to keep it, but I would like to clean it up a bit to make it more presentable. But at the same time, I don't want to go "devaluing" something of any historical importance.
If, by chance, there were like 200 of these ever made by Camillus, (heh-heh), I would sure feel like an idiot if I had taken the old brass brush & oil to her!
BTW, the handles are plastic; I imagine "celluloid" (?). Oil's gonna soften them, huh?

Thanks, all.

 

[coondog108]

I've seen these on ebay called B-29 aircrew survival knives. I saw a similar Case in an antique shop for $100

 

[SterlingHammer]

Yeah, apparently they were made for the US Airforce as survival knives. In my very brief research on the web, I've found that there were a few manufacturers that made them, but they are all identical.

 

[CAMCO]

If my memory is correct Camillus made 116,000 folding machetes during WWII. The metal guards are usually missing. These machetes were packed in bail-out kits for aircraft used in the Pacific Theater.

Tom Williams