Antique Knives.

[Kurt_]

Well I just came back from my friend's house. He showed me a bunch of stuff that was his dad's. One such item is a World War Two US Military Machete. Another is a scimitar. The following questions involve the two.

1) The machete.
It is old, for sure. It comes with it's original sheath, and is blackened/slightly rusted. The blade is engraved: "US MILITARY 1942". Several questions I have.
(a) Is the blackened handle a product of aging or is it a colour of some sort? It does not appear to be paint, at the very least it's anodized aluminum.
(b) Would sharpening the severely-chipped blade decrease its value?

2) The Scimitar.
It has an authentic leather case that appears to be at least 20-30 years old. The handle is also authentic. The blade, however, is steel - that is rusting - coated in some rust-protective very shiny layer, possible a coat of nickel and chromium. My question is: Is this authentic? It also has what appears to be some laser engraving (dots forming a pattern). The handle and sheath are very authentic. Is it possible the blade is redone? The handle appears to be two-piece, we were too drunk to figure out how it came apart, it was possibly glued on.

It wasn't two piece in the sense that in split sideways like a banana. The bottom and top half were stuck together.

Any help, helpful links, or anything would be appreciated.

[themadhacker]

I would leave the WWII knife as it is. sharpening it would probably decrease its value just as polishing old money makes them less valuable.

As for the scimitar, I don't know what to tell you.

[Kurt_]

Yeah, I've been hearing a lot of that. It's chipped as hell though, and the cool factor of a sharpened WW2 machete would be awesome.

It's odd, I can't find the same blade anywhere online.