All About Pocket Knives

hello! i went bonkers at an estate sale today. this is my first time attempting to start a vintage collection.

a few remington, several schrade, 1 boker, 1 craftsman, 1 LF&C, 1 camillus, 1 westaco, and a few that i can't seem to identify.

the total i paid for this lot was $187 plus tax (each was 50% off tag pictured).

a few questions for you fellas:

1) did i do okay, or is this my amateur hour?
2) all of these are clearly in used condition. if i wanted to resell anything, is it a good idea to clean and restore them first?
3) do you want to see anything in more detail? (i'm not sure what the aapk forum picture quality is limited to, i didn't want to sling 17 individual pictures right off, and i need to get better lighting, but i'm happy to do that work if anyone is interested.)

thanks for your help!

Welcome oldcrick, usually value is very closely related to condition. Also feel free to post lots of pic's. We love pic's.

Welcome Oldcrick, More pictures will help. There is a limit of how many pictures will load with each post, can’t remember if it’s 8 or 10, so don’t be afraid to have several posts with pictures. I can answer one question and that is yes clean them properly, shiny sells plus it’s just a good idea to have all the gunk off the knives for storage. If you have Ren Wax, use that after you clean them to protect the blades, bolsters, backsprings and handles.
Not sure on the value, I don’t sell many used old knives in my store. Seems a little high to me, but I don’t know. Selling old used knives is not a very high profit venture.

This may help anyone with an opinion. As do most folks here know, left click on the image to enlarge it.

Whether or not to clean them is controversial. Most collectors of older knives prefer them not cleaned. They’d prefer to do it themselves. Many knives have been ruined by amateur cleaning. However some buyers like “shiny”.

Your best source for current value is an advanced search of eBay sold listings only, for the same or similar knife. Remember condition is everything, so compare your knife with the ones sold on eBay and adjust accordingly.

Ken

jerryd6818 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 3:36 pmThis may help anyone with an opinion

thanks Jerry it helped alot seeing the price tags.

IMHO I’d say overall the prices of the 17 knives are currently high-retail priced - so you basically bought them for high-wholesale pricing which isn’t all bad in this economy.

I agree with others, cleaning (not buffing) to an improved state along with individual knife photos and descriptions in the right venue would double your money (less selling fees). Not your amateur hour.

Look at some of the descriptions of knives in the AAPK Stores to get an idea on the amount of detail you should be thinking. The better and honest descriptions typically connect with a high-retail consumer.

Hope this helps - Tom

There are a lot of reasons to buy anything. If you're buying something because you like it, then things like cost and condition don't matter very much. You're into those for something like $10 apiece, I'd say that's not bad. I can't spot details in photos like many people can, but at a glance I don't see anything of extraordinary value.

If you're buying to resell, then things are different, you really need to know the biz inside and out if you want to make money. Condition and cost are very important. Broken blades or blade tips, cracked or missing scales, missing shields, and rust are deal breakers. You've got to know your customers. At certain levels buyers will obsess about things like blade centering, whether you have the correct box, and so on. Not to mention that knife buyers are notoriously fickle. Things go in and out of style, just ask anyone trying to sell Case knives bought during the 70s and 80s.

Cleaning is always okay. Removing dirt, loose rust, removing label gunk, lubricating joints and springs are always good things. Trying to improve a knife is dicey. Refinishing blades and scales is more of an art than most people think. You can easily take a nice old knife with some honest history and turn it into a sad mess.

One thing I'd suggest is to steer clear of knives like the center one in the bottom row. Once blades are worn that much, with handle pieces missing as well, you've basically just got a relic no matter who the maker is. It might be worth a few bucks for someone who happens to need spare liners but that's about it. I try to buy knives with full or almost full blades. That not only goes towards having a quality valuable collection but also helps to prevent you from buying every knife you see.

Eric

In my past experience, most collectors who are looking for bigger dollar knives want mint condition. If a knife is anything less than mint, it is immediately worth 50% of less or that value. Also, mint knives sell themselves, and sell quickly. At knife shows there are tables and tables of worn out user knives that may not even get looked up for a year or more.

Best bet for selling would be to try your luck online and see what you get. If nothing else, it's a good lesson in what sells, what doesn't, and for how much.

If you are planning on cleaning them all I would suggest an up to date tetanus shot and a good supply of iodine and bandages. You will most likely stick and cut yourself a few times depending on how intense the cleaning is. Good luck!!

Check ebay....sold listings