A customer has asked me if I could repair an older 119 Special.
It was his fathers and has cracked/broken at the tang/blade juncture at some time in the past.
It is a very sentimental item to him and his brother and he has asked if I could just weld the two pieces together and put a black-tailed deer antler crown (his choice) as a handle on it. He does not plan to use it and wants to just display it with his other knives and guns, only to look at.
The crack ran just ahead of where the guard sat and right through the logo stamp in a semi-circular fashion. Part of the crack has rust, suggesting to me that it was cracked for a while before it broke completely.
The logo stamp is a simple upper case BUCK; my books suggest it is from between around 1961 and 1968.
I would like to know if anyone can tell me the type of steel used so I can properly match the wire in my MIG welder to it as close as possible.
Unfortunately the weld will obliterate the logo, but the customer wants the knife whole (for display) over the logo, and he is paying...
For better or worse, the name means less to him then the fact that his late father carried the knife on many elk trips...
Probably should take this to ShopTalk, but any suggestions on the weld would also be helpful, as I have never welded a finished/hardened blade. I plan to wrap the blade in soaking wet rags to keep it from getting to hot, but that is as far as my plan goes for now.
Thanks,
Brome
It was his fathers and has cracked/broken at the tang/blade juncture at some time in the past.
It is a very sentimental item to him and his brother and he has asked if I could just weld the two pieces together and put a black-tailed deer antler crown (his choice) as a handle on it. He does not plan to use it and wants to just display it with his other knives and guns, only to look at.
The crack ran just ahead of where the guard sat and right through the logo stamp in a semi-circular fashion. Part of the crack has rust, suggesting to me that it was cracked for a while before it broke completely.
The logo stamp is a simple upper case BUCK; my books suggest it is from between around 1961 and 1968.
I would like to know if anyone can tell me the type of steel used so I can properly match the wire in my MIG welder to it as close as possible.
Unfortunately the weld will obliterate the logo, but the customer wants the knife whole (for display) over the logo, and he is paying...
For better or worse, the name means less to him then the fact that his late father carried the knife on many elk trips...
Probably should take this to ShopTalk, but any suggestions on the weld would also be helpful, as I have never welded a finished/hardened blade. I plan to wrap the blade in soaking wet rags to keep it from getting to hot, but that is as far as my plan goes for now.
Thanks,
Brome
