Just like collecting sports memorabilia or old records, knife collections have been growing in popularity over the years with people educating themselves on the true value of collecting handcrafted knives. Whether the knives you collect are rare pocket knives, fixed blade, or antique, all carry their own value and overtime, that value will dramatically increase if you take proper care of your collection.

Knowing Your Collection

How you take care of your collection is dependent on what types of blades you’re collecting. For example, a pocket knife collector may use some pieces in his collection on occasion, but for other fixed blade collectors, they’ll often keep them stored without ever even using them.

When you’re collecting rare hunting knives, bowie knives, or folding knives, they should never be used as a screwdriver or a hammer because it’s “convenient.” Take good care of your collection and although they may stay locked away, you want to bring them out every now and then to ensure they’re clean and kept in good condition.

There are a few DO NOT’s when managing your knife collection – and those would be,

• Do not soak your knives in any type of liquid.
• Do not clean them with products that contain chlorine.
• Do not touch the blade as fingerprints can cause oxidation and other problems.
• Do not keep your collection in the sunlight.

So, basically all you need to do is keep your collection placed in a custom case where the knives can just sit there and not be bothered.

Cleaning Your Knife Collection

Luckily, cleaning a knife is not a difficult task. Regardless of how long you take your knives out of the case, both the handle and the blade need to be cleaned with a little bit of water out of an empty spray bottle. Anytime any type of foreign substances get on either the handle or the blade, it needs to be cleaned. The only difference in cleaning is for those who collect folding knives, because then you have to add oil into the springs and joints.