70+ year old Solingen clip point

[LyonHaert]

Ok, I finally took a couple crappy shots of this old knife. My grandfather got this back in the early '30s when he was in the BoyScouts. He gave it to me a few years ago because he hadn't touched it in decades and I liked knives. Not exactly a bowie, so I'm just calling it a clip point.

Click for larger version

Blade is about 6" and about 3/16" thick, overall just under 11". Just above the guard it says:

SOLINGEN CUTLERY
B. SVOBODA
MADE IN GERMANY

It looks in bad shape because it is. My grandfather didn't exactly take care of it properly, and still doesn't take care of knives properly. You wouldn't believe how dull his imitation Buck 110 is. As evidenced by the stray marks circled in red in this picture of the other side of the blade, the last thing he had used to 'sharpen' it was a hand-held grinder a few decades ago.

I could keep it until I have the equipment and experience to do a bit of regrinding on the blade and give it a new handle. However, the tang (I once made my own spanner to unscrew the nut at the end of the pommel) is only about 3/16" x 1/4" if I remember correctly (no more spanner wrench to disassemble and check). I also have no idea what the blade material is, or its hardness. I just don't think it would be wise to renovate a house built that possibly has a weak foundation.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with this. I don't want it to collect dust for decades, and the only other general options are to sell it (HA!) or use it outdoors until it breaks. I'd like to know what the experienced knife knuts think (and anybody else for that matter).

If I can find/make another spanner I'll disassemble and take more pictures.

 

[Don Luis]

I´ve had several knives like that one, in fact it looks very much like an old Sheffield knife I still have.

First you have to decide if the knife has sentimental value, maybe you should just clean it and keep as it is. If you want to make it a user it seems to me that a little bit of work will make it real good.

I´ve seen that kind of handle get loose over time, they are often just held by pressure and the hollow space inside the handle is too large for the tang, you may try taking it apart, filling with epoxy and reassemble, which will make it hold, if the handle is cracked or damaged (looks good to me in the pictures) you can make a new one, years ago I took a similar knife apart and made a handle out a piece of 3 mm hardwood, I just cut a bunch of pieces about 1 inch by 1 1/2 inch, drilled a hole in each and stacked them up on the tang, glueing each one as I put them in, after it was dry, shaped with rasps and files, the guard, spacers, pomel an nut can be reused.

The blade doesn´t seem in too bad a shape either, you may just want to clean it and sharpen, sometimes small defects in the grind or edge can be fixed with a file.

You may want to get a better sheath, specially if the original is very old, probably dried out and prone to break.

 

[not2sharp]

Joel,

The knife has far more sentimental then monitary value. You may just want to put it aside, or display it as your grandfather's knife. A nice display featuring the knife and his photo (especially if you can find one of him wearing the knife) would be really cool.

n2s

 

[LyonHaert]

Don Luis,

Nice idea about the handle. There is indeed too much room around the tang. I actually had to tighten the nut more than it was supposed to be, otherwise the pommel was a bit loose. The layers of leather washers aren't smoothly lined up with each other anymore.

Rebuilding a new handle (perhaps keeping the elk horn) sound like a good idea. I can tell from small dots of rust on the sharpened edge (done a 2-3 years ago when I received it) that the blade is decently high carbon.

Thanks.