Gaucho-Style Knife

[Leah-WW]

Originally Posted by jswillems

Thank you both for the information. I just have a quick question about ethnographic weapons in general. What is the typical thought about cleaning knives? I know with some collectables it is OK to clean them and with others you want to leave them as you find them. Thanks.

-Josh

Hi Josh. I know I'm new here, but your question jumped out at me, as I am currently studying to become a Conservator, and this is the type of question we face for every object we treat.

As Lee has said, it is your knife and so you should do what you think best, but from a Conservation point of view the attitude of "minimal intervention" is usually prescribed. That is, "dirt" (which includes corrosion, tarnish etc.) which is damaging to the object (by e.g. a chemical reaction or oxidisation), or which is hindering understanding of the object (e.g. if it is obscuring decoration) is removed by cleaning by an appropriate means. Cleaning of "dirt" which does not fall into these categories is not usually done, because it may damage either the appearance of the object (for example by over-polishing), or the ability for the object to be understood (for example deposits which look like dirt to us may be the residue of a treatment applied to the surface by the maker or owner - it is therefore part of the object's history, and if it is not damaging the object it is usually left in place, as part of the object's life story).

Leah.