All About Pocket Knives

Posted: **Wed Dec 23, 2015 11:34 pm**

Don't you wish you'd gotten to this knife before the man with the rag-wheel buffer got hold of it?

I know I do.

This knife was made by The Robeson Cutlery Company sometime in the 1930's.

What a great old cattle knife.

What a terrible hack job has been done to it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/oLD-Vtg-1910s-G ... SwJcZWd2Ls

Please, don't ever do that to an old knife.

Charlie Noyes

Posted: **Wed Dec 23, 2015 11:54 pm**

WOW, did he ever shine that one up??

Dan

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:21 am**

It'll never be original again. Nothing but a user now, maybe after a few years of heavy use it could look almost normal again.

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:06 am**

Lots of history erased

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:02 am**

In his listing he's bragging on what a wonderful job of cleaning the knife to mint looking condition.

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:51 am**

I am ambivalent about this knife. Looking at the stampings, it does not appear that much if any metal was removed from the blades. The knife does not appear to have ever been used, so how much history has really been erased? Eighty years of sitting in a drawer?

Too bad we cannot have two identical knives at auction, one cleaned and one not cleaned, to see which would bring the highest bid.

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 4:26 am**

As the saying goes "shiny sells". It will be interesting to see how this auction ends up. I imagine it was a nice knife to start with but I do know there are eBuyers out there that will bid heavily on a "cleaned" knife.

When it comes to cleaning a knife there are certainly many ways to skin a cat and results can vary greatly. I know there are people that "clean" knives by removing original hollow grinds to a flat ground surface. There are also people that think a heavy and harsh abrasive buffing is the best way to shiny up a knife. We have shared our personal preferences on cleaning elsewhere in AAPK forums but regardless on eBay shiny sells. I would guess that is what the seller is trying to accomplish, sell shiny.

Wayne

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 5:38 am**

I can assure you of this, even if it sells for a small fortune, the seller didn't enhance that knife when it was buffed into oblivion. I'd rather have it with patina than polish.

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:59 am**

Wow.......
I'm not sure what he did, but I know I won't do it

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 9:08 am**

He's one of our own. rattlesnake? something. Don't know if he cleaned it or not?

It's like putting a mini skirt and heavy makeup on your 90 year old mamaw.

Practically every old Case knife I see has been cleaned heavily.

I need some yoga pants,think I'd sell....

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 9:15 am**

This seems to be the new normal unfortunately. Me, I'd rather have it original. But as has been said shiny sells, and not just with knives. I see this done with old guns too sad.

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:01 pm**

We can't save them all Charlie but it hurts when it's one of our favorite brands or patterns. I sat next to a dealer who had a table full of these. He had ruined hundreds of knives. His table glowed like it was radioactive. He had a box under his table of "junk knives". I had ignored his stuff until he told me to dig through that box to see if there was anything I could use. On the top of the box was a Holley Rip van Winkle with a broken lock back spring, unbuffed in all it's hundred year old glory and crying to be rescued. I bought it for $30 and had a professional rebuild the spring with no other "cleaning" done to it. It's one of my most prized knives because it is as close as I'll ever come to having what would have cost me $2000 to have without getting a repaired one. We do what we can to preserve these old tools our Grandpas cherished.___Dave

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:46 pm**

Looking at what's left, it's pretty easy to surmise the knife was in decent shape before it was buffed.

No matter what it sells for in this auction, I would have given it and more for the untouched knife.

Cleaning or polishing or buffing a knife on a round rag wheel is almost the worst that can be done; using a Dremel and various bits or wheels is probably the worst.

A rag wheel destroys the forging lines, the cuts, the swedges and contours of a knife.

If one is going to "clean" a knife, a very, very fine grit belt sander/grinder with a flat metal plantan (is that correct?) beneath the belt at least allows one to preserve the original design of the blade.

A cleaned, buffed, polished knife can never be "mint", nor will it ever "look mint". It will look cleaned, buffed or polished.

Charlie

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 3:50 pm**

Great points Charlie!!! I just don't understand why folks buff these old beauties and secondly why they bring a better price on eBay

... what gets me is some sellers even describe the knife as "minty" and new - never used (

) - after buffing

... as I mentioned on the post about the H&B whittler I saw the knife up for auction and didn't even bother bidding due to how "clean" it was... than I saw the original knife when it was in the lot of knives... that was the knife I would have bid on... not the "cleaned" version... anyway I guess to each their own and we will never save the old beauties from the buffing wheel unless folks stop buying the "buffed" to death knives... fortunately there are many sellers on eBay who don't touch the oldies and always note they will leave it up to the bidding winners to clean as they see fit...

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 3:58 pm**

Nothing new about this. There are sellers that everything they have looks like the OP knife. One we all know about thats at most big shows. His knives sell for huge monies. When I started collecting, cleaned knives
were the norm.

Harold

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 8:58 pm**

Sellers Auction Description.

Knife has been cleaned to Mint looking condition by me(I spent a lot of time to get it too look as perfect as I could). Guys, I am trying my best to learn the correct way to expertly clean knives. It takes a lot of time, materials, Patience & dedication to achieve a Nice looking knife. If you have an opinion on what I need to work on, Please dont hesitate to share it with me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is one of my best knives I have done so far in my opinion. I put a perfect clear mirror finish on All blades. I actually worked on this knife for 2weeks. Unfortunately, I have found out that after you sand the knife down from 220grit to 2500grit by hand & then you buff it out, You still have imperfections here & there that you didnt see the 1st time,,,,so You got to do it again.
You are probably asking yourself WHY did I choose to "clean" this knife up. Guys, This knife is CHUNKY / ROUND & FAT & it feels like a 3 5/8" large frame knife but its only 3 1/4" closed. Its a SUPERIOR made knife(early 1900s to 1920s) & was MADE BY ROBESON. We know its made by Robeson because of the dated April 25, 1905 Patented Cooper Punch Blade. I just thought it was a very sweet Rare & Unusual Cattle that deserved to look outstanding.
All Blades still full. All blades have SUPER hard snaps both ways w/ No wobble. A SUPER Strong & Tight knife. Bone handles have No cracks or chips. Knife has No flaws for me to mention. For a 100yr old knife, They just dont get any prettier. Awesome Cattle knife

Mark knows better than that

To each his own

Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2015 10:09 pm**

Agreed.

Posted: **Fri Dec 25, 2015 3:51 am**

I almost posted to his auction that he'd spent two weeks absolutely ruining a perfectly good collectible knife, but refrained.

Then I almost posted a link to this thread, but again I refrained.

What is he thinking?

Charlie

Posted: **Fri Dec 25, 2015 4:08 am**

I didn't read that Dimitri,I agree he should know better,he also knows what Wayne said, shine sells.

As Charlie said though,most serious collectors get that pit in their stomach when they see this,and would out pay the shine buyers.

He wouldn't help me or contact the buyer of a knife he sold (I didn't catch the auction,Mom was in the hospital), it was his prerogative,but sadly I can't forget it .

Posted: **Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:35 am**

Maybe the seller didn't do the buffing? He may have got the knife in lot or collection buy and just be reselling it? I have looked through his AAPK store quite a few times and don't recollect seeing anything buffed like this one.
Dan

Posted: **Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:40 am**

Read the auction description. He did the work. Took him two weeks.

Charlie Noyes

Posted: **Sat Dec 26, 2015 3:01 pm**

My mistake, usually read everything.
Dan

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