So, you just bought a highly collectible KA-BAR at an auction and you’re eager to show it off. While you could probably carry the knife and pull it out when it casually comes up in conversation, it’s not the safest thing to do with a collectible knife. Fortunately, there are a variety of display options for knives.

Whether you’re interested in displaying a collection of knives you have stored under your bed or have one knife you want to put on your mantle, here are some tips for how to display your collection of knives.

Arrange your knife collection

The first thing you should do is gather all your knives together and organize them. Some will be the knives you use as your EDC and others will be knives strictly for display. Consider excluding your EDC so you don’t have to keep disturbing the collection. Once you have the knives you want to display, organize them. This is a matter of preference, but some of the ways to organize knives are by brand, year, size or style.

Choose your display case

There are a number of display cases out there specifically designed to showcase your knife collection. For example, there are presentation boxes, shadow boxes and other types of display cases. Again, the type you select is all a matter of preference. It also depends on how many knives you’re planning on putting in it. Some presentation boxes only have enough room for a single knife.

Lock ’em up

Even if you don’t have children constantly running around the house, you should consider putting a lock on your display case if it already doesn’t come with one. Guests, particularly young ones, tend to be overly curious and may want to touch the knives. Aside from someone potentially harming themselves, the real risk is to the knives. You don’t want someone dropping your valuable find on the ground.

Display it proudly

Finally, once the case is set up and locked, it’s time to display it. Put it somewhere that will not only accentuate the room, but draw in anyone who enters your house because isn’t that the main goal?