Frequently Asked Questions

How It Works

We sell knives on consignment. There is only ONE of each knife. Knife owners send in knives to us, we clean them up, photograph them, research them & set a value (checking value & weeding out clones), and sell them. We handle all shipping, inquiries, returns, etc. If you would like to sell a knife with us, go to the Let Us Sell Your Knives page.
A.G. Russell called our pricing a Dutch Auction. The price is set by our researcher, and then every month if the knife is still available it goes down in price by 10% until it sells, or until the owner recalls the knife.
Prices are reduced on the Wednesday closest to the 15th of the month. New knives are added once or twice a month.
Knives on this website usually start at around the $100 – $400 range and tend to be great using knives. Knives that are worth above $400 are usually placed in the Cutting Edge Catalog. Website knives and catalog knives are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SETS OF KNIVES. Sign up to receive our Cutting Edge Catalog by Mail here, or sign up to receive its PDF by email here.

Where do the knives come from?

We sell knives on consignment. There is only ONE of each knife. Knife owners send in knives to us, we clean them up, photograph them, research them & set a value (checking value & weeding out clones), and sell them. We handle all shipping, inquiries, returns, etc. If you would like to sell a knife with us, go to the Let Us Sell Your Knives page.

How does the pricing work?
A.G. Russell called our pricing a Dutch Auction. The price is set by our researcher, and then every month if the knife is still available it goes down in price by 10% until it sells, or until the owner recalls the knife.

Prices are reduced on the Wednesday closest to the 15th of the month. New knives are added once or twice a month.

Where are the collectible knives?

Knives on this website usually start at around the $100 – $400 range and tend to be great using knives. Knives that are worth above $400 are usually placed in the Cutting Edge Catalog. Website knives and catalog knives are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SETS OF KNIVES. Sign up to receive our Cutting Edge Catalog by Mail here, or sign up to receive its PDF by email here.

Can I Return a Knife?

We offer a 14-day Preview period in which you can review the knife and either keep it or return it for a full refund. See our Return Policy page for full details.

How do I safely ship a knife?

• Wrap each knife separately. Use a homemade cardboard sheath made with tape. Cover the tip with something it won’t easily penetrate and wrap them tightly in wrapping paper or bubble wrap. A wine cork works fantastic for protecting the tip and preventing it from penetrating the packaging.
• Do not wrap knives directly in paper towels, they attract moisture. Wrapping paper or bubble wrap works best.
• Make sure the blades are not exposed. Cover them with cardboard sheaths, wrapped them in paper, or better yet use zippered pouches. Never let the blades be bare.
• Put the knives in the center of the box and have cushion material (peanuts/paper/bubble wrap) around them. Don’t leave any wiggle room. Knives that can move around in boxes are knives that penetrate boxes and cut our friendly mailman. 
• Very Important – Include a Shipping Slip – Put a card with all your information, Name, Address, Phone, and Email inside the box. Also, include a list of contents inside the package so we can know if a knife has gone missing.
• Don’t disclose on the outside of the box how valuable or what the contents are.
• Be sure to get insurance on the package and keep that information handy until delivery is confirmed.

How do I take care of valuable knives?

We have written a whole article on this subject. Click here to learn how to take care of your valuable knives.

Assuming Goldie wants to add this, we’ll give it its own page.

What if I’m looking for a specific knife, can I be put on a notification list?

Is this something we want to address? I know Tony has a loose list of people looking for types of knives, but I don’t think there is any good way to manage this. Might be best to keep it informal and not address this question at all.

I’m a seller – how do I check the status of my knife or my check?

Contact us through the Contact Us page or email us at ce_info@cuttingedge.com.

How does the Wishlist work? Why isn’t it the same between my devices?

The Wishlist is based on cookies rather than website accounts and will only be visible to the device you create it on.

Will you identify my knife for me?

At this time, we will only identify knives marked A.G. Russell – email us at ce_info@cuttingedge.com with good photographs of the entire knife, any writing or engraving on either side of the blade, and showing the knife from several different angles.

We currently do not have the capacity to offer additional services researching or identifying knives from other makers.

Will you appraise my knife?

We do not currently offer this service.

What kinds of knives am I unlikely to see on this website?

We typically do not sell very many swords. We never sell ninja stars or automatic/switchblade knives.