Restoring/Value old WWII knife

russ0943

russ0943

yehaw x10
Joined
Mar 28, 2007
Location
Valdese, NC
I was cleaning out my grandpa's shed and came across an old knife that looked like a military knife.

Well, I looked it up and found out what it was.

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_kw=m3&_kw=knife&_kw=fighting&_kw=trench

Its a WWII M3 Combat/Trench knife and appears to be authentic. It is stamped on the guard "M3 Camillus"
It was apparently made in 1943 by Camillus Cutlery Co.

Interesting. Looks like its probably worth anywhere from $50-$100 based on its condition.

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Question:
Should I clean this knife up? I've heard that it might devalue the knife. I'm not planning on selling it but just kinda want to know what to do with it and what its really worth.
 

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Dont know anything about them...but i bet a ton of money that if you mess with it any trying to clean it up it will drop value off it greatly.

Nice little bit of history!
 
I vote clean it up (don't paint it though) and hang it on your wall. For something that is only worth $50-$100 what does it really matter? Plus, if it was your grandpa's I'd hope to think you wouldn't sell it. If it were worth thousands of dollars I might not say this (still would not want to sell it unless it was enough to actually do something with, as in pay off a house, etc).
 
It's actually a pretty badass knife in restored condition. There is one on ebay in similar rusty condition with a price of 250 on it...not sure if its worth that but who knows. I'll probably hang on to it. Since I'm gonna hang on to it...
I wonder if anyone out there actually restores these knives?
ai.ebayimg.com_04__B_jducwBmk___KGrHqZ__jIEv1_0MsqtBMN_eHPVbQ___3.JPG
 
Tacoma747 said:
I vote clean it up (don't paint it though) and hang it on your wall. For something that is only worth $50-$100 what does it really matter? Plus, if it was your grandpa's I'd hope to think you wouldn't sell it. If it were worth thousands of dollars I might not say this (still would not want to sell it unless it was enough to actually do something with, as in pay off a house, etc).
Click to expand...

This makes sense... but... 40 years ago it wasn't worth much of anything at all...
Things don't get to be old relics without sitting around untouched for awhile first.
e.g. if you leave it as is, youve got a chance it will be a reliclater. If you clean it now, now chance.

I say just set that sucker on display as-is now.
 
That's a nice knife! If it were me, I'd probably leave it as is or find an expert to give me better info. I definitely wouldn't try to clean it or restore it myself.
 
Tacoma747 said:
it's only worth something IF you want to sell something that is a family heirloom...
Click to expand...

I guess what I meant was, if you leave it be then maybe some other generation will appreciate it more if you left it in original condition. you can always choose to redo it later. You can't choose to undo redoing later.
 
according to pawnstars, dont clean it or anything. if you do decide to sell it an improper cleaning or hack resto job would kill its value.
 
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