F.Dick

[Vincent]

I have an interesting old 8" chef's knife marked
>>>>>------->F.Dick
Made in Germany

It appears to be too old to be post reunification of Germany (other wise it would have said W.Germany??) so I assume it is pre WWII. The old lady that owned it before me was in her late 70's when she passed and I was given the knife (among other things) for helping to clean out her house. The knife is stained but only a tiny bit of rust. The wood handles are dried almost to the point of cracking, and have three rivets each.

I also was given a smaller knife, 6", of almost indentical design but I find no markings on it.

The gentleman that gave it to me was a 40 year friend of the deceased lady and knew I am very interested in knives of all kinds. A few questions:

1. Should these knives be restored or are they more "valuable" as it. I am more familar with old guns and usually restoring ruins value$$

2. Assuming restoration is the correct path what should I treat the wood with? Liseed oil? Tung oil? Shelac?

3. Should I try to shine up the blades or do the old stains produce a patina that should remain on these old knives?

4. Value other than just using them? I have a full set of Henkel kitchen knive and do not NEED to use them but they ARE fine old knives

I did carefully sharpen them making sure not to not to scratch the blade above the sharp edge. We get so used to the modern stainless steels it is easy to forget what carbon steel was like. With not much work these blade ar SHARP!!!

I am new here. I am amazed at the fine knives I see. I have always wanted to make knives (not for sale) and have just ordered my first kit. I thank you in advance for any info you may have. Vince

[hammerdownnow]

F. Dick is a well respected cutlery co. The chef patterns are worth he most and go for around a hundred sometimes on ebay.