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One Year Before Schrade Filed Bankruptcy

July 13, 2003

Knife maker Schrade in a battle to survive

By Paul Brooks
Times Herald-Record
pbrooks@th-record.com

Ellenville – The future of knife manufacturer Imperial Schrade unfurled across the glass-topped conference table at the Ellenville headquarters.
Jim Economos, Schrade's executive vice president, smoothed the black cloth satchel flat and dipped his hands into the pouches. Gently, one by one, he withdrew their contents and arrayed them on the table to glimmer in the neon light. The knives shone with new concepts and designs and materials.
They are the latest (and still not public) weapons in Schrade's fight for survival. Battered by the tides of the marketplace – since the end of 2001 – Schrade has shed roughly 200 jobs, or one-third, of its work force through layoffs and retirements. When workers took jobs elsewhere, they were not replaced.
The cuts have rippled through the tightly knit communities wedged between the Catskills and the Shawangunk Ridge in the southwest corner of Ulster County.
There is a lot at stake for Schrade, a company that will mark its 100th year in business next year. It is a bittersweet anniversary for not only the workers – some of them third- and fourth-generation knife makers – but for Ellenville and indeed the region.
About 400 people still draw solid paychecks from the privately owned company. Unskilled labor can make $13 an hour, not counting overtime. Technicians, managers, engineers and the like can look for competitive wages. Those are good incomes in Ulster County, where the average wage in 2000 was about $27,000. Workers at Schrade get health and retirement benefits, too, at a time when such things are harder to find.
The company has been a mainstay in the Ellenville area since 1958. "They have given back time and time again to the community," said Ellenville Village Manager Elliott Auerbach.
Schrade was there when Phil Mattracion of the Ellenville Police Department needed help getting a DARE program started. The company has helped Toys for Tots and the annual Run Like the Wind 10-K race. It made a special knife to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Ellenville School District. The Fourth of July Committee could count on Schrade for a hand in fund-raising every year.
When Ellenville Hospital needed help raising money to stay alive, Schrade pitched in.
"The list is endless," said Auerbach, a former mayor and local businessman. "Every time the community went and asked for something, they gave it. There has never, ever, been a time that Schrade has denied this community anything it could possibly contribute. [Village officials] will do whatever it takes to help."
Other companies across the region find themselves buffeted by the same economic currents.
The Hudson Valley, which stretches from Westchester and Rockland to Columbia and Greene counties, lost 4,400 manufacturing jobs in the 12 months ending May 2003. That's according to Mike DiTullo, president and chief executive officer of Mid-Hudson Pattern for Progress, a regional economic think tank.
In 1980, manufacturing accounted for 23 percent of the region's jobs. In May of this year, manufacturing's share of the work force had dropped to 8 percent, DiTullo said.
The forces at work are global.
Manufacturers from Taiwan and China have poured into the knife market in recent years, much as the Chinese have undercut Hudson Valley apple growers.
At the same time, American workers are losing jobs to cheaper labor overseas. In January, Osram Sylvania announced it was closing its plant in Maybrook and moving it to China because of the cheaper labor. The move cost 61 local jobs.
"It's happening to everybody," Economos said. "Go into any mass merchandiser and try to find something not made in China."
A trend to consolidation comes into play, too. Dyno Nobel, for example, is laying off 200 workers at its explosives plant in Port Ewen in the wake of a recent merger.
Behind the scenes, the shift is driven by big, mass merchandisers, such as Wal-Mart and Target, says Arthur Zackiewicz, a senior business editor for HFN, a weekly newspaper that covers the home furnishings industry. A former reporter, Zackiewicz covered Ellenville for the Times Herald-Record.
"Basically, it's a price war," Zackiewicz said. "They are looking to source goods that are inexpensive and still have strong [profit] margins. ... The price pressure in incredible."
The pressure has forced many American knife manufacturers toward higher priced, higher quality products. Companies are scrambling for new designs and innovations that will attract customers, said Mark Zalesky, editor in chief of Knife World Magazine in Knoxville, Tenn.
In the case of Schrade, shoppers can pick up some knives on sale for as little as $5 through the Internet. Yet Schrade also markets newer, custom designed knives for $275 and $295. Some collectibles sell for $400. Many of Schrade's products fall in the $30 to $80 range.
Yet almost as quickly as Schrade and other companies create a hit, manufacturers in the Far East have it copied and out the door. "There is no way to stop it," Zalesky said. "It looks just like the real thing. It's pretty hard to compete with that."
Schrade is unwilling to cut and run from the competition.
A sense of pride emanates from Economos. He talks of how Schrade is the largest knife manufacturer in the country, how Ellenville is one of the original knife making centers in America. He talks of how it takes the experienced touch of a skilled worker to turn the right edge to a blade and the company is handling the pressure.
"What it forces us to do," he said, "is come out with more innovative stuff quicker."
Already the Ellenville-based company has rolled out other new knives and tools that capitalize on the latest industry trends: knives that open and close with just one hand, blades that lock and unlock quickly and easily, handles in electric colors of blue and red and even purple, and multifunction "tools" that put the venerable Swiss army knife to shame.
Yet, Schrade has not abandoned its history. It still sells more than a million a year of its Old Timer knives that many fathers and grandfathers carried in their own day.
Those grandfathers would be hard pressed to keep up with the pace of change in the market today.
Schrade used to take two years to roll out three or four or five new product lines, distribute them and get sales cooking. The goal now is to push four, five or even six new product lines out the door at a time.
New products used to account for about 15 percent of the company's business. Now, the goal is for those new products to represent a full one-third of annual sales. "That's basically how we are going to refuel growth," Economos said.
Given the cutbacks, Schrade seems to have ample room in its 548,000-square-foot factory. It lies just north of the Village of Ellenville off Route 209.
The windowless structure is cavernous inside. Innumerable machines dot the concrete floor. They fill the air with the hiss and crack of pneumatics. A stream of red sparks spills from a large sander. Knife blades soaked in oil spin from a massive $1 million press. Every eight-hour shift, it squeezes 20,000 knife blades out of 1,700-pound rolls of raw steel.
Yet, relatively few people are in sight. Often a single person hovers around a machine, loading it, unloading it, adjusting it. When something breaks, they fix it. When a new part means new programming for the machine, they may do that too. "Not a lot of people off the street can do that," Economos said. Schrade runs its own four-year apprenticeship program in machine trades as a result.
Workers at Schrade – and elsewhere – are being asked to change.
Schrade has set up teams to handle production in certain areas. The members can all do each other's jobs. They monitor the process for quality as they go along and make adjustments on the spot. "We have spent $1.25 million in training in the last year. We have to, to stay competitive," Economos said. It used to take two to four weeks to ship an order; now it takes two to three days, he added.
DiTullo said the long-range trend of fewer and fewer manufacturing jobs in the region will continue.
"That doesn't mean we will manufacture less," DiTullo said. "It means we will manufacture higher value products using fewer people. You need smarter people, not as many people."
Schrade sees inventories coming down, a sign that the economy is improving. Economos said: "Now we hope that translates to orders."
The company can make it, said Joe Tarbell, owner of J.T. Knife Shop in Port Jervis. "If they get a little more innovative, they can do all right," he said.
Schrade has seen its ups and downs over the years and continued to grow. Jeff Ahearn, vice president for administration, recalled that the company had only 236 employees back in 1985.
Economos said Schrade will survive.
"If you sit on your haunches, you will be gone," he said. "We are not sitting on our haunches."

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I found this little bit of information on the history of the Damascus Knife making, and found it interesting.

Ron Duncan wears his passion for fine steel on his sleeves. Actually, he wears it under his sleeves, where his skin bears the scars of innumerable burns from hand forging Damascus-steel knives.

A resident of Cairo, Mo., Duncan is one of many craftsmen around the country who specialize in making high-quality knives featuring Damascus steel blades. Notable knife-makers who have influenced and even trained Duncan include Corbin Newcomb of Moberly, Bill Moran of Maryland, Jerry Fisk of Arkansas and the late Jim Mayes, formerly of Auxvasse.

Due to the popularity of inexpensive, mass-produced, commercial-grade knives, Damascus steel craft became what many considered a lost art. However, fine quality never really falls out of fashion, and there's no question that Damascus steel is more durable and holds a razor-sharp edge longer than any other steel. Duncan and his colleagues recognized the demand, and they have been largely responsible for bringing Damascus back into vogue.

Unlike retail grade knives, which are stamped from a sheet of medium quality steel, Damascus steel is formed by folding many layers of high quality carbon steel into one block.This block is called a billet. From one billet, a knifemaker can cut several blanks. He then forges a blade out of each blank. The craftsman then grinds the forged blade into a finished knife. Afterwards, he heat-treats it, and then tempers it. Finally, he bathes the blade in acid, which etches the beautiful patterns that define Damascus steel.

It takes about 20 hours to complete a single knife, and each one has a distinct look and feel. These qualities make every Damascus knife an heirloom.

A Brief History of Damascus

During the Middle Ages, when European crusaders invaded the Holy Land, they often fared poorly against Saracen cavalrymen swinging thin, light swords so sharp they could slice a man cleanly in two. They were also so flexible that they could bend without breaking. Those swords were made of Damascus steel, and they represented the most advanced form of weapons-grade metallurgy in existence.

Japanese sword makers also used the Damascus process to make samurai swords. Vintage Damascus samurai swords contained as many as 2,000 layers of steel, and they are extremely valuable and sought after still today. Vikings also made Damascus knives and swords, and their metalwork is considered some of the finest ever created.

Damascus artisans were so protective of their craft that most of them did not train proteges or employ assistants. When a sword maker died, he took his secrets to the grave. In time, the number of Damascus artisans progressively dwindled. By the 1800s, the art was all but extinct. The last place it was used extensively was in the manufacture of shotgun barrels. However, Damascus twist barrels were built for the low pressures generated by the ignition of black powder. When smokeless powder became the standard as a firearms propellant, Damascus was "laid to rust," so to speak.

Hard Steel, Soft Steel

Modern knives are judged by the amount of carbon and other components in their steel. The higher the carbon content, the harder the steel. However, too much carbon makes the steel brittle. Too little carbon, and the steel is too soft to hold an edge. Discount store knives generally are made from low quality stainless steel, or some steel with too little carbon to make a good blade. Also, the carbon content is uniform throughout the blade. Thus, the steel is just as hard on the edge as in the middle and at the top.

Damascus steel, on the other hand, exhibits many different qualities. For example, a good Damascus blade contains different steels with high nickel and high carbon content.

An avid outdoorsman, Ron Duncan got frustrated with discount store knives while elk hunting in Colorado. He had a brand new hunting knife made by a well-known company, but it dulled well before he'd finished field dressing an elk.

"A good knife should be able to field dress three or four elk without resharpening," Duncan said. "You can do that with the knives I make."

To find the right combination of qualities, Duncan has used steel from an amazing variety of sources. Automotive leaf springs contain good knifemaking steel, but he also loves to use large circular saw blades or large bandsaw blades discarded from sawmills. Woven steel cable makes a good knife that will have a unique, highly desirable pattern.

Standing in the Furnace

There's a hard frost on the ground in Cairo, but it's mid-summer inside Ron Duncan's workshop. The fire in the gas forge is roaring, and soon I have to remove my jacket. Within minutes, sweat breaks out along my forehead and along my collar.

As the inside of the forge approaches 2,300 degrees, Duncan carefully stacks 10 steel wafers to form a rectangular billet. These wafers are alternating layers of high-carbon and high-nickel steel. He uses an arc welder to attach a steel handle to the rectangle. This also immobilizes the wafers, allowing Duncan to control them during the forging process. Then, like a baker stuffing a loaf of bread dough into an oven, Duncan places the billet into the forge. We pour ourselves a cup of coffee and wait.Within minutes, the billet reaches welding temperature, which is about 2,300 degrees. This is the temperature at which steel molecules separate into a semi-liquid state, allowing them to bond. At this point, the 10 layers will be hot enough to forge into one solid billet.

Duncan removes the billet from the heated forge and puts it under a hydraulic press, which squeezes the layers of steel into one homogeneous mass. He creases the middle of the billet after pressing the layers together and expanding them to the right length. This allows Duncan to fold the billet in half. Now, instead of 10 layers, the billet contains 20 layers. After reheating, he'll fold it again to form 40 layers, then 80, then 160, on up to however many Duncan desires.

"The more layers you have, the better it is from both a visual perspective and for strength," Duncan said. "But, you want to see the layers when you etch it, so I stop at around 300-400 layers. People like that because it's pleasing to the eye. Personally, I like my billets to have about 300 layers to get the effect I want."

During repeated weldings, it is important to seal out oxygen. For this, Duncan douses the billet with regular laundry borax (without soap) before putting it back in the forge. This process is called "fluxing." It prevents oxidation from occurring between the layers and ruining the billet.

With each fold, Duncan presses the billet flat, squeezing the layers ever tighter. With each stroke of the press, flux squirts out in all directions as far as 15 feet. The scars on Duncan's arms are souvenirs from years of being splattered by molten flux.

"You can avoid that by wearing burn-resistant clothing," Duncan said, "but you feel how hot it is in here now. Imagine how hot it gets in here in July and August. If it's 90 degrees outside, then it's 120 degrees inside the shop. You can hardly stand it. Sure, you get burned sometimes, but that comes with the territory. You learn to live with it."

When he finally obtains enough layers in his billet, Duncan stops welding and lets the billet cool. He cuts a piece from the billet roughly the size of the knife he wants to make, and then he reheats it in the forge. Once the metal is malleable, he uses a 25-pound trip hammer, along with an old-fashioned anvil and hammer, to pound the billet into the type of knife blade he wants to make.

In a separate workshop wait a fascinating array of belt sanders and grinders. For the next several hours, Duncan will sit in a veritable shower of white-hot sparks as these machines shape the blank into a serviceable blade.

"For most of my work, I use a grinding belt that's two inches wide and 72 inches long," Duncan explained. "I start with a 36-grit belt, which is really coarse, and gradually step down to a 400-grit finish, which is very fine."

When he finishes grinding, Duncan holds a nearly-completed knife blade with a bright, mirror finish. Now, it's time to heat-treat the blade, which he does with an acetylene torch. He reheats the blade to above 1,800 degrees, and then quenches the cutting edge in Canola oil. This heat-treating process hardens the edge, but leaves the rest of the blade softer so it will flex.

If you look at one of his knives that's heat treated, you'll notice a distinct line where the steel changes color. That's called the Harmon line, where the steel goes from hard to soft.

"Unfortunately, the edge is too hard at that point," Duncan said. "I have to draw it back by heating it up to a lower temperature--say 325-450 degrees, depending on the type of steel in the blade--for one to two hours. The amount of time also depends on the type of steel. I repeat this process two or three times."

This process is generically called tempering. More accurately, it is called stress-relieving. That brings the hardness down to 58 on the Rockwell Scale, where before it was 61 or 62 or higher. It shrinks the grain size of the steel and makes it very fine. That makes the knife a lot tougher. A knife that is only heat treated is very brittle.

After tempering, Duncan regrinds the blade with a 400-grit belt to remove hard scale that builds up from the heat-treating process.

After removing the hard scale, he attaches the guard and handle material to the knife. He fashions handles from a myriad of materials, including burly maple, walnut, antler and horn.

Now we're down to the trim work. Duncan grinds the handle and guard to the desired shape, and then finishes them by hand-sanding. Sometimes he uses a buffing machine to give the guard and pommel a mirror finish.

He then soaks the blade in ferric chloride, a highly corrosive acid, for 30 minutes or more. The acid eats away at the high-carbon steel but does little to the high-nickel steel. This exposes the different patterns in the blade, but at first, it turns the blade jet black. To neutralize the acid, he washes it off with water and dishwashing soap. Then, with 1,000-grit sandpaper, he sands the blade by hand. This highlights and brings out the blade's delicate, signature Damascine pattern.

The knife is now finished. All that's left is to sharpen it and make a sheath for it. The product is a knife for the ages

One Year Before Schrade Filed Bankruptcy

July 13, 2003

Knife maker Schrade in a battle to survive

By Paul Brooks
Times Herald-Record
pbrooks@th-record.com

Ellenville – The future of knife manufacturer Imperial Schrade unfurled across the glass-topped conference table at the Ellenville headquarters.
Jim Economos, Schrade's executive vice president, smoothed the black cloth satchel flat and dipped his hands into the pouches. Gently, one by one, he withdrew their contents and arrayed them on the table to glimmer in the neon light. The knives shone with new concepts and designs and materials.
They are the latest (and still not public) weapons in Schrade's fight for survival. Battered by the tides of the marketplace – since the end of 2001 – Schrade has shed roughly 200 jobs, or one-third, of its work force through layoffs and retirements. When workers took jobs elsewhere, they were not replaced.
The cuts have rippled through the tightly knit communities wedged between the Catskills and the Shawangunk Ridge in the southwest corner of Ulster County.
There is a lot at stake for Schrade, a company that will mark its 100th year in business next year. It is a bittersweet anniversary for not only the workers – some of them third- and fourth-generation knife makers – but for Ellenville and indeed the region.
About 400 people still draw solid paychecks from the privately owned company. Unskilled labor can make $13 an hour, not counting overtime. Technicians, managers, engineers and the like can look for competitive wages. Those are good incomes in Ulster County, where the average wage in 2000 was about $27,000. Workers at Schrade get health and retirement benefits, too, at a time when such things are harder to find.
The company has been a mainstay in the Ellenville area since 1958. "They have given back time and time again to the community," said Ellenville Village Manager Elliott Auerbach.
Schrade was there when Phil Mattracion of the Ellenville Police Department needed help getting a DARE program started. The company has helped Toys for Tots and the annual Run Like the Wind 10-K race. It made a special knife to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Ellenville School District. The Fourth of July Committee could count on Schrade for a hand in fund-raising every year.
When Ellenville Hospital needed help raising money to stay alive, Schrade pitched in.
"The list is endless," said Auerbach, a former mayor and local businessman. "Every time the community went and asked for something, they gave it. There has never, ever, been a time that Schrade has denied this community anything it could possibly contribute. [Village officials] will do whatever it takes to help."
Other companies across the region find themselves buffeted by the same economic currents.
The Hudson Valley, which stretches from Westchester and Rockland to Columbia and Greene counties, lost 4,400 manufacturing jobs in the 12 months ending May 2003. That's according to Mike DiTullo, president and chief executive officer of Mid-Hudson Pattern for Progress, a regional economic think tank.
In 1980, manufacturing accounted for 23 percent of the region's jobs. In May of this year, manufacturing's share of the work force had dropped to 8 percent, DiTullo said.
The forces at work are global.
Manufacturers from Taiwan and China have poured into the knife market in recent years, much as the Chinese have undercut Hudson Valley apple growers.
At the same time, American workers are losing jobs to cheaper labor overseas. In January, Osram Sylvania announced it was closing its plant in Maybrook and moving it to China because of the cheaper labor. The move cost 61 local jobs.
"It's happening to everybody," Economos said. "Go into any mass merchandiser and try to find something not made in China."
A trend to consolidation comes into play, too. Dyno Nobel, for example, is laying off 200 workers at its explosives plant in Port Ewen in the wake of a recent merger.
Behind the scenes, the shift is driven by big, mass merchandisers, such as Wal-Mart and Target, says Arthur Zackiewicz, a senior business editor for HFN, a weekly newspaper that covers the home furnishings industry. A former reporter, Zackiewicz covered Ellenville for the Times Herald-Record.
"Basically, it's a price war," Zackiewicz said. "They are looking to source goods that are inexpensive and still have strong [profit] margins. ... The price pressure in incredible."
The pressure has forced many American knife manufacturers toward higher priced, higher quality products. Companies are scrambling for new designs and innovations that will attract customers, said Mark Zalesky, editor in chief of Knife World Magazine in Knoxville, Tenn.
In the case of Schrade, shoppers can pick up some knives on sale for as little as $5 through the Internet. Yet Schrade also markets newer, custom designed knives for $275 and $295. Some collectibles sell for $400. Many of Schrade's products fall in the $30 to $80 range.
Yet almost as quickly as Schrade and other companies create a hit, manufacturers in the Far East have it copied and out the door. "There is no way to stop it," Zalesky said. "It looks just like the real thing. It's pretty hard to compete with that."
Schrade is unwilling to cut and run from the competition.
A sense of pride emanates from Economos. He talks of how Schrade is the largest knife manufacturer in the country, how Ellenville is one of the original knife making centers in America. He talks of how it takes the experienced touch of a skilled worker to turn the right edge to a blade and the company is handling the pressure.
"What it forces us to do," he said, "is come out with more innovative stuff quicker."
Already the Ellenville-based company has rolled out other new knives and tools that capitalize on the latest industry trends: knives that open and close with just one hand, blades that lock and unlock quickly and easily, handles in electric colors of blue and red and even purple, and multifunction "tools" that put the venerable Swiss army knife to shame.
Yet, Schrade has not abandoned its history. It still sells more than a million a year of its Old Timer knives that many fathers and grandfathers carried in their own day.
Those grandfathers would be hard pressed to keep up with the pace of change in the market today.
Schrade used to take two years to roll out three or four or five new product lines, distribute them and get sales cooking. The goal now is to push four, five or even six new product lines out the door at a time.
New products used to account for about 15 percent of the company's business. Now, the goal is for those new products to represent a full one-third of annual sales. "That's basically how we are going to refuel growth," Economos said.
Given the cutbacks, Schrade seems to have ample room in its 548,000-square-foot factory. It lies just north of the Village of Ellenville off Route 209.
The windowless structure is cavernous inside. Innumerable machines dot the concrete floor. They fill the air with the hiss and crack of pneumatics. A stream of red sparks spills from a large sander. Knife blades soaked in oil spin from a massive $1 million press. Every eight-hour shift, it squeezes 20,000 knife blades out of 1,700-pound rolls of raw steel.
Yet, relatively few people are in sight. Often a single person hovers around a machine, loading it, unloading it, adjusting it. When something breaks, they fix it. When a new part means new programming for the machine, they may do that too. "Not a lot of people off the street can do that," Economos said. Schrade runs its own four-year apprenticeship program in machine trades as a result.
Workers at Schrade – and elsewhere – are being asked to change.
Schrade has set up teams to handle production in certain areas. The members can all do each other's jobs. They monitor the process for quality as they go along and make adjustments on the spot. "We have spent $1.25 million in training in the last year. We have to, to stay competitive," Economos said. It used to take two to four weeks to ship an order; now it takes two to three days, he added.
DiTullo said the long-range trend of fewer and fewer manufacturing jobs in the region will continue.
"That doesn't mean we will manufacture less," DiTullo said. "It means we will manufacture higher value products using fewer people. You need smarter people, not as many people."
Schrade sees inventories coming down, a sign that the economy is improving. Economos said: "Now we hope that translates to orders."
The company can make it, said Joe Tarbell, owner of J.T. Knife Shop in Port Jervis. "If they get a little more innovative, they can do all right," he said.
Schrade has seen its ups and downs over the years and continued to grow. Jeff Ahearn, vice president for administration, recalled that the company had only 236 employees back in 1985.
Economos said Schrade will survive.
"If you sit on your haunches, you will be gone," he said. "We are not sitting on our haunches."

A Little Something About Knife Collecting

Knife Collecting: A Beginning Want to learn more about knife values or knife history? Knife collecting is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the United States. It provides enjoyment as well as being an excellent investment for the future. A carefully assembled collection of selected knives will continue to grow in value year after year. The demand for older knives is a definite reality. The four main groups that most collectors specialize in are: Patterns Handle Materials Brand Names Specialties Knife collecting is a very personal hobby where each individual can select his or her specialty. There are knife collectors that search for certain patterns (such as trappers, whittlers, canoes, muskrats, peanuts, folding hunters, etc). Some collect certain handle materials (such as stag, mother of pearl, yellow, rough black, green bone, celluloid, etc). Many collect certain brand names (such as Case, Remington, Winchester, Fight'n Rooster, IXL, Queen, etc). Others collect certain blade stampings (such as Case Tested, Case XX, Old Remington, New Remington, etc). Some collect certain specialties (such as advertising, figural, souvenir, etc). Regardless of your desires for a knife specialty, you will find buyers, sellers, traders at any knife show and most gun and knife shows.  The most sought after knife in any brand or pattern is a mint one. As a general rule, used knives bring 25-70% of what a mint knife brings. You can usually pick up an excellent condition knife for 50-70% of what you pay for a mint one. Eight to fifteen years ago, all the knives experts preached "Buy only mint knives". Well, in the older knives (1945 and earlier), if you stay with only mint, you will pass up a lot of fine knives. If possible, collect only excellent or better knives. Used knives can have considerable value. But, for the soundest investment, it is more desirable to collect only excellent and mint knives. Remember to take excellent care of your collection, as you are the curator during your lifetime for future generations to enjoy. Moisture and fingerprints are the prime villains to avoid. Check your collection periodically and keep your knives in a dry location. Make an asserted effort to wipe your knives at least once a month. Your collection can lose value very quickly if you allow your knives to deteriorate from lack of care and maintenance. The best teacher for learning about knives is to attend as many knife shows as possible. Most dealers and collectors are very patient about explaining the many variations and subtleties that make some knives rarer than others. The more knives you examine the more familiar you will become with them. This experience will also make it easier to spot counterfeits or altered knives. If you are just starting out, take the time to look and talk rather than buying. The next best thing to going to knife shows is knowledge you can obtain from book and magazines. The way to obtain this knowledge is to read books on knives, knife history, knife price guides and knife magazines. Don't start out hoping to collect every knife made by a manufacturer as that would be virtually impossible. For example, Remington made 1300 different patterns. Set your goals at a more realistic level, such as: one particular pattern, a certain type handle, or a particular blade stamping. A collection with a theme or direction will be easier to sell than one that is simply a conglomeration of everything.  Above all, when you reach the point where you are purchasing knives costing hundreds of dollars or more, make sure that you buy only from a reputable dealer who will stand behind the authenticity of the knife. Beware of 'too good of a bargain' as in all probability you are being taken. As in any hobby, there are always those unscrupulous few who will make a fast dollar in any way they can. Many counterfeiters are very good and only an expert can tell. Simply be as careful as you can and familiarize yourself with manufacturing methods and details. In any event, get your feet wet at a knife show. Look; ask questions; read books and articles; start small; become a knife collector, and join thousands of us who enjoy this great hobby. Look for a local or regional knife club near you and go there to find other collectors who will reinforce these ideas. A Knife Value Question: Why does a knife that I purchased, say 10 years ago, cost so much more now than when I purchased it? What does new, used, vintage, and antique knives mean? The system we use for knife grading and describing a knife’s condition is on our Knife Grading System Page. Recommended Reading On Knives: Books Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values by Bernard Levine Official Price Guide to Collector Knives by Houston Price Pocket Knife Traders Price Guide by Jim Parker. American Premium Guide to Knives & Razors: Identification and Value Guide by Jim Sargent (Maybe the best for Case knives.) Goins Encyclopedia of Cutlery Markings by John Goin This is the best book to give history and general knife info. International Blade Collectors Association Price Guide to Commemorative Knives (1960 - 1990) by Bruce Voyles This is the best book to to cover commemoratives, even though it is out of date. Knives Annual (Knives 99, 2000, etc.) This is the best book for custom knife makers info. Collins Machetes and Bowies 1845-1965 by Daniel Henry U.S. Military Knives, Bayonets and Machetes Price Guide, Fourth Edition by M.W. Silvey. The ONLY price guide to U.S. military knives, bayonets and machetes. The low cost of this book is maintained through the fact that it is indexed to nine of the most popular identification guides on the subject (Cole's "Book III" and "Book IV"; Silvey's "U.S. Military Knives 1941-1991", "WWII" and "Vietnam" books; Silvey & Boyd's "U.S. Military Knives"; Henry's "Collins Machetes and Bowies"; Janzen's "Bayonets from Janzen's Notebook"; and Hardin's "The American Bayonet".) This eliminates the need for illustrations and allows collectors to buy periodic updates at low cost. Useful to collectors and dealers alike. The Complete Book of Pocketknife Repair: A Cutler's Manual by Ben Kelly Jr. How to Make Knives by Richard Barney & Robert Loveless How to Make Folding Knives: A Step-By-Step How-To by Ron Lake The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening by John Juranitch Magazines Blade Magazine Knife World Magazine Tactical Knives Knives Illustrated Remember the golden rules of collecting: Know your subject. Invest in reference material and read them. Buy the best quality you can. Buy from reputable vendors. Over 200 Brands That I Have Access For You Brands Of Knives That I Can Get Brands From A-Z math6665@bellsouth.net AccuSharp • Acero • Al Mar • Alce • Alligator Skin • Anza • Aristocrat • ASP • Aurora Digital Night Vision • Avante Garde • Bark River • Bear Hunter • Bear M.G.C. • Becker Knife & Tool • Beretta • BlackJack Knives • Blackie Collins • Blademaster Sharpeners • BladeTech • Boker • Boss • Browning • Brunton • Buck Knives • Buck Creek • BuckRidge Optics • Bulldog Brand • Byers Sharpeners • Byrd - Distributed by Spyderco • Camillus • Camp USA • Carolina Knife & Tool • C.A.S. Iberia • CATฎ • Charlie's Wheels Sharpeners • Chef's Choice • Chicago Cutlery • Chipaway • Cold Steel • Coleman • Colonial • Colt • Columbia River Knife & Tool • Columbia Sportswear • Combat Ready • Compass • Dakota • David Yellowhorse Knives • Denix • DMT Sharpeners • DoskoSport • Eddie Bauer • EdgeMark Knives • Eickhorn • EKAฎ Sweden • Emerson Knives • Empire Pewter • Entrek • Estwing Axes • European Community Cutlery • Extrema Ratio • Eze-Lap Sharpeners • Fไllkniven • Field & Stream • Firestone Axes • Fisher Space Pens • Fiskars • Flip-It Knives • Ford Officially Licensed Products • Forgotten Realms • Forschner • Fox-n-Hound • Fred Carter • Frost Cutlery • Frosts of Sweden • Game Tracker • Gatco • Gerber • German Eye • Gigand • Ginsu • Grohmann • GT Knives • GunVault • Hanwei • Harley Davidson • Head-Lite • Heckler & Koch • Helle • Hen & Rooster • Henckels • Hewlett Diamond Sharpeners • Hibben Knives • High Gear • Hydrosorbent Products • Indian Head Cutlery • Infinity Watches • Inova Lights • Italian Stilettos • Ithica Brand • John Deere • John Primble • Junglee • Ka-bar • Kangaroo Knife Cases • Kelgin • Kershaw • Kissing Crane • Kit Rae • Klotzli • Knives of Alaska • KutMaster • Kyocera • Lansky Sharpeners • Lakota • Leatherman • Leupold • Linder • Lone Wolf • LuhrJensen • Mace Security Int'l • Mac Weld • Mag-Lite • Magnetic Butler • Magnum • Mag Sheath • Marbles • Marksman • Marttiini • Maserin • Masters of Defense • Matzuo • McCoy • Mercator • Messermeister • Metal Glo • Meyerco • MicroTech • Micracle Cloth • Mission Knives • Motorola Radios • Muela Knives • Mundial • Myerchin • Nikon • Night Owl Optics • Nite Ize Accessories • Normark • Norton Sharpeners • Old Hickory • Ole Smoky • Old Timer • One Arm Bandits • Ontario Knife Company • Opinel • Optronics • Outdoor Edge • Outdoor Life • Pardue Knives • Paul Chen (Hanwei) • Pelican • Pentax • Photon Micro-Light • Pierre Cardin • Police Magnum • Pro Force • Puma • Queen • RAM • Rapala • Remington • Revere • Richartz • Rico Wallets • Rigid Knives • Robert David • Rough Rider • Russell • Sack-Ups • Safe and Sound Gear • S.A. Wetterlings Axes • Sawmill Cutlery • Schrade • SeberTech • Sentry Solutions • Sheffield Military Knives • Slip-N-Snip • Smith & Wesson Knives • Smith's Sharpeners • SnugPak • SOG Specialty Knives • Spain by United Cutlery • Spyderco • Stanley • Star Wars Collection • Steiner Binoculars • Streamlight • SUN • SuperKnife • Swiss Military Watches • SwissTech • Taylor Cutlery • TigerSharp • Timberline • TiNives • Tomahawk • Tom Way Chamois • ToolLogic • Tops Knives • Trail Blazer • Tramontina • Tru Hone • Trumark • Ultimate Edge • Ultimate Survival • Uncle Henry • Unicorn • United Cutlery Brands • Uzi • V-Tech • Vanguard Binoculars • Victorinox • Walther • Warhammer • Warren Cutlery • Wenger • Western • Westmark • Wild Boar • William Henry • Wiltshire Kitchen Cutlery • Winchester • W.R. Case & Sons • Wyoming Knife • Xikar • ZAN Headgear • Zelco • Zippo

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