Knife Etiquette is very important in our industry. If you plan to become a knife collector/connoisseur and attend shows you should conduct yourself accordingly :) It is always important when visiting knife show booths or meeting interesting knife people that you not offend them or disrespect their knives.
Damascus knife blades are wonderful. These are the blades that have swirling patterns in them. Damascus blades are made up of at least two different very high carbon steels that are folded together to make a design. Because it is usually carbon steel it will be very susceptible to rust and tarnish. You should never touch a damascus blade with your fingers(unless you own the knife of course and don’t care). Many times you will see this happen at show booths. If the knife isn’t wiped off and oiled in about one week you will see rust and discoloration appearing in that spot. This is an easy way to ruin a $2,000 custom knife. I will never hand a customer a damascus knife unless I know they are aware of the proper handling method. It is also always good to carry TufCloth if you are going to handle damascus carbon steel.
Knife sheaths are often very durable but can almost always be damaged by the knife. When you remove a knife from it’s sheath you should make sure to keep the back of the blade sliding on the sheath. Most sheaths will be easily cut by the sharp knives they hold. You always want to make sure when putting a knife back in it’s sheath that you don’t cut the sheath. I have seen extremely valuable custom knife sheaths that someone had picked up, sliced the sheath while putting the knife back in, and then walked off and never knew they caused any harm. This will greatly affect the value of the knife. Always show caution to the person of whom you are handling their knife. I usually use very slow controlled movements while handling other collectors knives. This is to show proper respect.
These points should help you get along in the knife enthusiast world.
0 Responses to “Knife Etiquette”