Restoring an Old Knife

I was looking through a relative’s house this weekend, and I found a plaque with a reproduction Bowie Knife on it. It has a fair bit of spot rust, the copper has oxidized, and the steel is lightly tarnished, but I think it is salvageable.

I would like to get it professionally restored. Does anyone know of a good knife repairman? I live in the Houston area. If there is someone good in that area, all the better. If not, they need to accept shipping. I found a few shops online, but this is not the kind of business that attracts a lot of reviews.

For the record, I am sure a restoration will cost in the neighborhood of $200, and probably north of that (especially if I have to ship it).

Unfortunately, no, there is no one to ask. My Great-Aunt just died a few months ago, and I found it cleaning out her house. It was probably my Great-Uncles. My Aunt and Uncle were quite wealthy. Among the firearms I inherited was a Browning Olympian (estimated value, north of $10,000). Even back in the day that was an expensive rifle, and my Uncle gave it to my Aunt for her birthday, and had it specially engraved. I have no problem believing that my uncle bought a high quality replica.

TBH I do not know for sure that the metal piece is copper, and not brass. I probably should not have referred to it as copper without knowing for sure. The piece has turned green. It could be either. Does anyone know of a good way to tell at that point?

Short of handing it over to an expert, I can’t tell if the knife is particularly valuable (at the very least, there are no visible manufacturing marks). My hope was to find the name of an expert on this site, and have them tell me. I figure, if a person knows enough to repair antique knives, they probably can tell me something about them. I know how to clean it up myself, but if it is valuable I do not want to Bubba it up, and reduce its value.

Ok, here are some pictures. If anyone needs me to show something specific, just ask. For the record, there are no manufacturing stamps anywhere on the knife, or the plaque. Also, they could have purchased this knife at any time since 1950s (probably). It was in the corner of an office, and no one ever saw it.

Why didn’t I think of imputing the quote? Thanks redneck. Your Google-fu saved me a bit of trouble, and money.

I will probably clean it up myself. A new project.