Knife storage

[rod]

How do you folks store your knifes? Like what do you keep them in?

And, for those of you with larger collections, how to you keep track of which knife is where? What type of record keeping do you use?

Thanks
Rod

[Hukk]

I store my collection in a big 600 LB fire safe. (in the event of a fire, there will be a lot of damage within the safe. In an 1800 degree fire it will get to 250 - 275 or even 300 inside the safe, good bye celluloid) I keep track of what I have with pictures and descriptions on my computer and categorize them by brand, style (trapper, stockman muskrat, etc). I'm falling behind I also put a book value and what I paid. In an event where I may perish in an accident, this will help my family greatly. My son is the actual owner of my Bulldog collection, I have them until he has a place to store them properly and this information is invaluable to him. For Bulldogs, I keep track by generation and if I have a lot of one model, then I keep a folder of those. So, I just keep everything in folders on my PC, backed up on a USB 2.0 hard drive as well as a CD, well a couple. You may want a spreadsheet, but folder in My pictures folder works great for several hundred knives of many different brands.
My safe also has moisture wicking dessicant from Cabela's, have for years. This may NOT be suitable for all areas of the USA. Many safes have a wand that blows room temperature DRY air throughout the safe as an option.

I also use hard cover collapsable (accordian) folders within the safe with the contents on a lable on the outside of the folder. I also keep a thick towel inside the accordian folder so that the knives do not damage each other while folded up. Arrange by brand, style, handle material, etc. On all knives I keep my celluloids in a seperate folder, away from the rest due to potential outgassing of the celluloid handles.

NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE DO THE FOLLOWING:

PROTECT YOURSELF. NO ONE ELSE WILL!
ALSO, keep extra fire insurance for your knives, make sure they are covered - FULLY. You don't want the claims adjuster to say "well you do have a lot of knives, here's $5,000 to cover your losses". MAKE SURE you are fully covered and keep it updated. Yeah, it's easier to have your agent over for dinner.

I hope this answers your question, please feel free to ask away and somone will get back to you. That's one of the things that makes this site so great!

[justold52]

Hello rod you new commer you.

First welcome to this site.
How did you find us?

First thing I do is clean the knife that the snail man just brought me.
I oil the joint first with BREAK FREE clp. Wip it clean.
Then I use FLITZ polish to make it shine and removes small sratches.
Then WD-40 to clean out any left over polish and gunk. Blow this out with air compresser. wip clean and dry.
Then a drop of TUF-GLIDE oil on the joint.
Then I use REN-WAX to seal the knife and handle from ageing.
Wip off after its dryed. Wip off all finger prints too.
Then place her in the factory box. If a sheath came with her do NOT place the knife in the sheath. I use KIWI Camp Dry on the sheath. Let dry and place that in a baggy. Then place knife in box with baged sheath and any photo or Ebay papers with it and place them all in bigger baggy.
On my computer I have a list of my knives with a code of what cardboard box I place her in.( Sog in SOG box, Case in CASE Box,ect,ect)
If you need to make more than one Case box try to keep them with handles or patterns. That's up to you. The more info you have with the knife or in your computer the better. Like Brand, model,patern,handle type,cost,dates, who you got it from, any thing about the knife.
Then I place them in a safe with a copy of my list. Just in case some one wants to take them with out asking.
I have some show cases that I place some celluloid handles in to keep them away from my other knives, and to show them OFF. Every mo. change the knife in the show case. That way you see more of them too.
If you dont show off your knives what good is it to have them??
Show you knives OFF HERE. We all like to see them.
I hope this helps you. Others will add some thing and the way they do things too. There is no one way to do so much. lol

[sunburst]

Hey Ken, that is a first class display Very nice with lots of light to show it off, thanks for sharing.

Sunburst

[singin46]

Nice case Ken, I did'nt know you were so into Bulldogs my friend thats cool

Singin46

[rod]

Thanks for the ideas guys.

Hukk, I like your idea of keeping track of them with pictures in folders in the computer. I started using a spreadsheet with info. on each knife but I have no pictures.

justold52, with all the cleaning you go through, I assume your buying mostly old (used) knives.
Really like your display case and thanks for the welcome.
I see in your avatar, you call IL the sick state. Why's that?

Rod

[Gunsmoke47]

Love the display Ken! Kelley

[justold52]

rod; Its like this when people ask me where do I live,(back home) I say in the SICK State. In the old days we used 3 letters to abbreviate. ILL stands for IL. Or SICK means ILL I was born in WI with hills and trees, lakes etc. Now I live in the center of IL. And have cornfields all around me.
No hills, no lakes, no fun out side. Just to FLAT here for me. Next to the highway you see a pond that they Doug out to make and overpass. Here they call them LAKES.

sunburst, singin46, and Gunsmoke47 thanks for the nice words. You all make my day ezer.

Those Bulldogs are prototype 1995 most celluloid’s. Hukk pointed them out for me about a year ago. My avatar is a photo of Hukk's knife that I want. But he won't sell it. ..OOPS that's no way to get a knife from Hukk. SORRY Hukk.

That was a gun case. I added the lights and sleeves.

Rod the more you check in here you will find I like to joke around some here.
Rod I think I have only 15 used knives.