Knife Notes – Chris Hyde

This past weekend I attended the Oregon Knife Collectors Assoc. knife collectors show in Eugene, Or. It was a frenetic class room for those interested in how to value their knives.

There is a lot of wisdom at that show. There are people with expertise in just about every imaginable esoteric type type of knife and it’s history. So, it was a great opportunity for me to tap the experience of those who know more than I do about certain types of knives.  In fact, a big part of this show is sharing what you know with others and learning from those who know more than you do.You can watch people running around with “mystery knives” from table to table trying to figure out what it is and what it’s worth.

So, I have a knife I got from a collection I bought. The collector kept copious notes and would add to them over the years as he got more information. This particular knife had a page of information telling who he bought it from and when it was made and who owned it. The thing is he was dead wrong on all counts except who he had bought it from (which was also a clue).

This knife has a cast handle with US Navy mark, American eagle and medical caduceus symbol in high relief. The notes told a story of a medical officer on a particular civil war ship and went into great detail about how it got to the person who sold it to the collector I bought it from. Of course you want to believe this type of story as it adds”soul” to knife and also hopefully some monetary value. But, it is important to make the point that pencil scratchings on a piece of paper are not provenance.

After walking the knife around to three experienced military knife guys all of whom are published I found that the knife could never have been from the civil war era. Rather than pewter the handle was cast aluminum and had other indications of being a WWII knife. One of the guys also recognized the name of the seller and shared the fact that he had a reputation for misrepresenting items as civil war relics for his own benefit.

I didn’t pay a crazy amount of money for this knife as I could not verify at the time of purchase that it was what the notes indicated it was. In fact, the value of WWII knives of this type has really gone up and chances are I can make money on it when all is said and done. The point is that as an obscure item it was not something I could “Google” or look up on ebay.

Leaning on trusted experts with experience buying, selling and researching  specific types of knives is the primary component of determining fair market value. Along with price guides, internet research and auction results sage advice from those “in the know” will give the best idea of your knifes value.

Thanks for reading!

Chris Hyde

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There is no one source to determine what your knife is worth. As a knife dealer and collector It is part of my job to determine the value of knives and from my experience value can only be determined within a range and based on many variables.

I’ve been buying, selling and collecting knives for quite a while and there are some knives that I can look at and say “I have bought and sold this model of knife, same age, same condition 5 times and got between $200-$300″. That gives me a pretty good “real world” idea that under most circumstances I will get something within that range.

There are many more knives that I have had little or no personal experience selling that I need to research. In doing this I have found that there is no fail safe method to determining a knifes exact value.

Price guides are the most common way to get a basic idea of value and many of them are good. I use them on a regular basis. But there are some problems with price guides that can make them less than accurate.

First, a PG should be based on auction results and their own personal history of sales, and authored a person or persons who are objective.

The PG should also be up to date. A price guide that is 20 years old does not tell you about current trends in collecting that are based on auction results and cannot tell you how much a given knife has improved (or declined) in value.

Second, a knife is worth what someone is willing to pay for it – period. PGs are just that -  “guides” and can never ultimately determine what someone will pay for a knife. I can’t tell you how many times I have been to knife shows and seen a yellowed tag that has been on a knife for 10 years with a price in line with a price guide.

The approach that I have come up with is to use a combination of resources to get a good idea of what a given knife is worth. Here are the resources that I use:

Price Guides, Ebay closed auction results, other on-line auction results from auction houses, personal experience with previous sales and most importantly associates with experience in specific types of knives.

There is always someone out there who knows more about a specific knife than I do and making friends with other collectors and dealers with expertise is the single most important resources in determining a knifes value.

There are some really good forums out there as well that are full of individuals who love knives and have accumulated a life time of experience with them.

Next time I will go more into depth on my personal approach.

Thanks for the read!

Chris Hyde

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I get a lot of questions about knife sharpeners. The basic question is “What is the best knife sharpener?”. Although there is no one product that I would say is the best, of the ones I have used there are a few I would recommend.

It is important to keep in mind that it is not necessarily just the sharpener that makes the difference; it is as much the habit of keeping your knife sharp on an ongoing basis. That’s why I recommend using a simple sharpener every time you use your knife. Depending the model you’ll only need to give your knife a couple of swipes.

This works to insure that you always have a sharp knife and a knife that will rarely need to have a more “profound” sharpening.

What I use for my every use sharpener is called a Warthog V-sharp. It’s easy to use, takes up little space and the spring trension design is easy on your blades. I don’t have any affiliation with this company, but I got one 10 years ago or so and really like it.

I wanted to mention that there was an article in The Washington Post that I was a part of that goes further into depth on this. You can see it here:

Washington Post Knife Sharpening Article

For those of you who don’t keep up with the “eternal edge” idea, your knives are going to get to a point where you will have to pull out the bigger guns.

There are a lot of good electric sharpeners out there and I have not used them all. Of the ones that I have used I like Chef’s Choice 130. It is worth reading the instructions for the best results. For the purposes of full disclosure I mention that I do sell this on my website. But I sell it because I bought one and really liked it.

Thanks for reading,

Chris Hyde

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You can see all my videos in one place now on You Tube. Check them out when you get a chance!

Knife History Documentary Shorts Videos

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The Making of The Puma White Hunter – German Knife Documentary Short

This short eight minute documentary short was shot in 2007 on location in Solingen, Germany at the Puma work shop.

It shows how this famous knife was designed anhd made. You can check it outby clicking the link above.

Let me know what you think!

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I started a group on Twiiter for those of us who collect and study the history of knives. There are a lot of us out there and I hope this will be a good way to communicate information about upcoming shows, knife tidbits, info about new designs or trends, people who want to trade etc. So, welcome and feel free to direct message me and tweet freely.

There were a load of comments many of which made reference to knives as weapons. Perhaps replacing that word with the word “tool” will describe the nature of the knife and this Twitter group best.

Of the hundreds of millions of times that knives are used every day for food, horticulture, wood carving, art, cutting boxes and rope, industrial uses and so on an incredibly small percentage are used as weapons. It’s just that, like with every other thing, the media finds that stories about knves used in a malicious way makes a better story. Also, like many other things, the reality is something very different.

Knives are our oldest and most prolific tool. Their design modifications, materials and cultural significance tells an interesting historical story.

These are the things that I am interested in when it comes to studying and collecting knives.

Chris Hyde

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Dear Friends-

The summer has proven a busy one.  I have been deeply involved in some projects that have absorbed my time and unfortunately Knife Notes has taken the brunt of the neglect.

The good news is that the fruit of the projects hopes to be sweet. First, my sister and I came up with a nice proposal for a knife exhibition at a major US museum. Second, I have been spending a lot of time editing video towards The Solingen Project documentary (although the completion date has been delayed until April 2009). Finally, I have personally been working on a knife prototype unlike anything I am aware of on the market. I hope to have a working production model done by October.

I will be back doing daily posts in September.

Summer is whizzing by so make sure to take some time if you can to smell the flowers while they are still in bloom. If you know anything about Western Washington then you know how much we covet the short summer. It can rain here for 30 days without stopping in the Winter. All jokes about webbed feet aside we get used to it for the most part.

See you all soon!

Chris Hyde

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For those with a penchant for knives and an appreciation for art the Deutsches Klingenmuseum is a must see when in Germany.

The museum chronicles the history of knives and swords from the Bronze age until the current times; and the variety and quality of the collection are stunning.

One of the highlights of the museum are the “little masterpieces” in ivory. The image above is a good example. There are hundreds these figural examples to be seen.

You can see a 3 minute virtual tour of the museum by clicking HERE.

Chris Hyde

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One of the most popular knives among collectors today are the folding hunters. You can find these knives made in various countries, but predominantly you see them made in Germany, England and Italy.

I ran across this photo from a catalog of the Gottlieb Hammesfahr company. There is some question as to how long they have been in business, but references have been made to them being established in the late 17th century. They are mostly known for the weapons they made during WWII although they have produced a wide variety of cutlery types (like the folding hunters shown).

Click here for larger image

They had several different logos over the years. The Pyramide logo that these blades sport was established in 1889.

The company was absorbed by Wilkens Bremer Silberwaren in 1971 which is still in business today.

Photos courtesy of The Rheinisches Industriemuseum. History references are Goins Encyclopedia of Cutlery markings and Anthony Carters The Sword and Knife Makers of Germany 1850-200.

As an aside there is a reason that there is more known about German knife and sword from A-L. Anthony had planned two volumes but died before he could publish M-Z. I believe that volume A-L is out of print. I was fortunate enough to get one from the eteemed Henning Ritter from Hubertus.

Thanks for looking!

Chris Hyde

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In the early years craftsmen used trip hammers like the one above to forge knives, scissors and other metal goods. The picture is from the Hartkopf shop probablyt around 1920.

The early trip hammers can be mill powered, using the swift waters of the Wupper river, or later steam powered.

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DID YOU KNOW?

The first Barlow pattern knife was made in England in 1667. Made by Obidiah Barlow in Sheffield.

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