Learning is a constant process, and a recent project taught me a lot. My father-in-law is having some health problems and decided to downsize his copious collection of outdoor gear. The responsibility of organizing, cleaning up, and finding new homes for his lifetime collection of knives fell to me. (Pro tip: never leave the room when work assignments are being handed out.)

Tip 1: An Ounce of Prevention.
His knives ranged from new-in-box to completely worn out from decades of use. He found bargains at garage sales and auctions, and if the price was right, he’d pick up duplicates. Many of his finds went into cases or drawers and stayed in their sheath or box for years—even decades. The problem is that leather can mildew or dry out and brass can corrode. Do not store your knives in leather sheaths (the oil in leather is bad for metal), and make sure they are clean and dry after the hunting season is over.

Tip 2: Admit When You Need Help.
I hate to ever admit I need help—but for this project, it was immediately clear I needed some. There were familiar names like Buck, Case, Ka-Bar, and Schrade, but also Kinfolk, Solingin, Cittaraugus, and Brusletto. Some knives had zero markings, and a couple dated back to WWII. While I knew some of them had significant collector value, others were solid but had no real value. Fortunately, my friend Mike is a knife nut, and his advice saved me tremendous time and effort.

Tip 3: Listen to Expert Advise.
Mike’s advice was to clean up any dirt, rust, or other corrosion, but not to go crazy. If a knife is collectable, the buyer will decide to leave the patina or polish to a bright shine; but overcleaning can, in some cases, remove collector value. He said there was no need to sharpen any of the knives before selling them, which was good news for me. Other than on a military bayonet, I found no rust, and even that was minor. The bigger problem was green surface corrosion in many of the brass components—a result of copper in the brass reacting with leather or humidity.

Tip 4: Take Your Time.
There were almost 300 knives, hatchets, machetes, multitools, and accessories, and I knew it was going to take some time. I set up a table in the garage, assembled all the tools and supplies I’d need, and got a comfortable chair. About 40 hours later, I had everything cleaned up, cataloged, and organized. Most of them needed little more than a quick polish, wipe down, and quick clean of the leather treatment on the sheath or leather handle.

Tip 5: Tools and Supplies.
I had almost everything I needed already in my gun cleaning box. My bore light let me see into the nooks and crannies, and read the faint markings identifying the make or model. Hoppe’s CLP, on 30-caliber gun cleaning patches pushed by a small brass flat screwdriver, was perfect for cleaning the dust and grime in the slot in lockbacks. My Real Avid brass and plastic picks got into the corners and edges, Flitz Polish provided a gentle clean to the metal surfaces, and a leather cleaner and treatment sprayed onto an old sock polished up leather sheaths and handles. I did purchase a small, stiff brush, and I was glad I did, because it cleaned up a few sheathes that had mildew, and even worked to knock off some of the green corrosion.

Tip 6: Improvise and Adapt.
I did go to buy some Q-Tips, and next to them on the store shelf were cotton tip applicators designed to apply makeup. They had a pointed tip on one end, and a flattened circular tip on the other, which was the perfect size to fit inside a lockback slot. A quick spray of CLP on the flat end cleaned folders up quickly, and a little Flitz on the pointed tip cleaned out gunk in the tightest corner. A couple bucks made my life much easier, and I’ve still got 50 of them in my cleaning box, waiting to scrub up guns next fall.