Knife refurbishing help

[Paul]

2.jpg (243.27 KiB) Viewed 4406 times

2.jpg (243.27 KiB) Viewed 4406 times

Hi all,

I have an old knife that I acquired many many years ago and its in need of some resurrection. Hoping for some suggestions and help from those that dabble in making their own knives or have done repairs successfully

The bone (or antler??) handle needs reattaching. The tang within the bone handle has gotten a little rusted, though there is solid good steel under the rust/ pitting, the font bolster? hilt looks a little bent and the rear aluminum bolster is pitted (I originally got the knife off a boat on the coast, so perhaps it spent some time in the salt water). The 'washers' also would need replacing. The threaded end of the tang that the rear bolster screws onto to, I guess to hold the whole thing tight still looks fine. The rear Al bolster has within it a brass 'nut' that screws onto the tang thread. I'm guessing this was cast with the AL or somehow inserted later.

My questions:

1. How do I go about cleaning up the rust on the tang and also bring the blade back to shinny?
2. Is the front bolster/hilt (small strip of brass) need replacing with a larger one for better prevention of hand sipping forward?
3. What material do I use for the 'washers/ spacers'? Ive seem some leather and also thin brass strips used on some videos.

4. THE BIG ONE - do I retain the threaded tang system (not seen this on any knife videos Ive watched) or simply ditch it and attach the bone handle more traditionally simply by gluing - resin - the handle onto the tang?

5. Do I need to grind the small nick near the base of the blade off?
6. What do I do about the rear bolster that is pitted? Id like to have a nice shinny (brass/ silver nickel ??) one but it would need to be able to screw onto the tang - so thread it, or somehow get a brass nut inside it.


Hoping for some good ideas and suggestions technique info. Will include some photos when I work out how to do that .

Cheers,

Paul

[marksman]

l cant help you out with this but l am interested in hearing more about it

[Paul]

l cant help you out with this but l am interested in hearing more about it

What are you wanting to know?

[marksman]

nothing in particular just very interested in how its done

[pomemax]

Start by going to Bunnings and buying a wire wheel take all the rust of the tang AND the blade get some shim stock and cut out a new bolster they sell 1/8 brass there washers cut out of an old leather belt find a nut that fits the thread on the tang ask at Bunnings if they have an aluminum handle with same thread just a thought the nick will come out when you sharpen the blade.

[bigpete]

Don't use a wire wheel. Soak the tang in vinegar. Then use fine steel wool or something similar to clean the rust off. The blade if you want shiny you should rub back with various grades of wet and dry sandpaper as fine as you can go. I'd put the pommel back on AND epoxy the tang

[Paul]

nothing in particular just very interested in how its done

My misreading marksman, thought you had said "I CAN help you ot....". Your query makes sense now I'll keep you posted onthe project.

P

[rc42]

I'd suggest heading over to YouTube and searching for knife refurbishing videos, there are a surprisingly large number of them with people showing different methods.
Well worth some recreational video surfing.

[Paul]

I'd suggest heading over to YouTube and searching for knife refurbishing videos, there are a surprisingly large number of them with people showing different methods.
Well worth some recreational video surfing.

Hi rc42, yes been doing a bit of that. However most of the videos are from the USA, and those guys have lots of gear in their workshops, nice belt sanders, all good made in the USA and pretty affordable. So they are a bit far from my reality so I decided to see how the local folks here go about their stuff

Some posts from knife enthusiests/ makers on another site, but those are pretty good also as the advice was not based on 'bells and whistles' workshop.

Paul

[Ricochet]

Don't use a wire wheel. Soak the tang in vinegar. Then use fine steel wool or something similar to clean the rust off. The blade if you want shiny you should rub back with various grades of wet and dry sandpaper as fine as you can go. I'd put the pommel back on AND epoxy the tang

+1+1+1+1+1
Rank Amateur knife maker here, bigpete is spot on. Use vinegar to soften up the rust and you should be able to scrub it off with some Scotch Brite pads and elbow grease.

If you want to shine up the blade get some wet and dry sandpaper, start off at 320 grit, if the new scratches look too fine compared to the finish on the knife drop back to 220 or further if you have to, or go up to 400 or higher if needed. Get a flat wooden board clamp the blade to that and once you start to get towards the finish you are looking for start to keep the strokes going all in one direction so most common is to start near the Ricaso or near the guard and pull towards you and lift off the blade, don't go back towards the handle.
Be warned, with carbon steels you need to keep them oiled or they will start to rust pretty quickly.

You can order materials for the handle spacers in brass, copper or synthetic spacers online Google Gameco Artisan supplies, just one place of many. Or shout out here on the forum, someone will have or be able to source some Antler or horn of some kind. You could also try boiling the snot out of some cow bone with bicarb soda to bleach it. You could also try some nice hardwood.

You might have to get a tap and die set to re-do the but cap or pomel piece. Again aluminium, stainless or brass could be found at Gameco or your nearest engineering supplies place.

Keep the threaded section on the tang, otherwise you would need to rely on an epoxy, but use this too, it will help stop moisture getting into the handle, you can use a 5 minute epoxy but the longer setting the better, 24 hour would be fine.

If you use any power tools to assist in rust removal or polishing be sure not to over heat it. If you see a golden sheen, straw or brownish color stop, if you see purple or blue come up on the cutting edge you have just over heated it, ruined the temper and stuffed up the blade.

You might have to live with the nick closer to the handle, you could file the heel of the blade so it's not so pronounced but without knowing how far the hardened area goes up towards the spine of the blade you could be sacrificing too much of the hardened steel leaving the heel of the blade too soft.

[Paul]

Don't use a wire wheel. Soak the tang in vinegar. Then use fine steel wool or something similar to clean the rust off. The blade if you want shiny you should rub back with various grades of wet and dry sandpaper as fine as you can go. I'd put the pommel back on AND epoxy the tang

+1+1+1+1+1
Rank Amateur knife maker here, bigpete is spot on. Use vinegar to soften up the rust and you should be able to scrub it off with some Scotch Brite pads and elbow grease.

If you want to shine up the blade get some wet and dry sandpaper, start off at 320 grit, if the new scratches look too fine compared to the finish on the knife drop back to 220 or further if you have to, or go up to 400 or higher if needed. Get a flat wooden board clamp the blade to that and once you start to get towards the finish you are looking for start to keep the strokes going all in one direction so most common is to start near the Ricaso or near the guard and pull towards you and lift off the blade, don't go back towards the handle.
Be warned, with carbon steels you need to keep them oiled or they will start to rust pretty quickly.

You can order materials for the handle spacers in brass, copper or synthetic spacers online Google Gameco Artisan supplies, just one place of many. Or shout out here on the forum, someone will have or be able to source some Antler or horn of some kind. You could also try boiling the snot out of some cow bone with bicarb soda to bleach it. You could also try some nice hardwood.

You might have to get a tap and die set to re-do the but cap or pomel piece. Again aluminium, stainless or brass could be found at Gameco or your nearest engineering supplies place.

Keep the threaded section on the tang, otherwise you would need to rely on an epoxy, but use this too, it will help stop moisture getting into the handle, you can use a 5 minute epoxy but the longer setting the better, 24 hour would be fine.

If you use any power tools to assist in rust removal or polishing be sure not to over heat it. If you see a golden sheen, straw or brownish color stop, if you see purple or blue come up on the cutting edge you have just over heated it, ruined the temper and stuffed up the blade.

You might have to live with the nick closer to the handle, you could file the heel of the blade so it's not so pronounced but without knowing how far the hardened area goes up towards the spine of the blade you could be sacrificing too much of the hardened steel leaving the heel of the blade too soft.

Thanks Ricochet, some great times and help there for me to use.

Im thinking that I'll try and get a small piece of round Al rod, prob about 1" from a engineering mob, or similar near home. Then file/ grind and sand it down. Maybe try turning it, if its soft enough. Saw a great adaptation of a drill in a DIY bracket the other day to turn some wood Not sure what I'd use as the 'chissel' though.

I'm thinking I can drill this Al out to form a channel for the threaded part of the tang, and 'cup' to take the brass bit from the old pommel that is the correct thread. Unless of course I find a brass nut the correct thread. I'd plan to resin this in the the 'cup' - (there is probably a technical term for this, LOL).

Paul

[Ricochet]

Good luck with it, there's also heaps of tutorials for knife stuff on YouTube.
Post pics when your done.