A knife I found

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Policetac

Joined
May 22, 2014
Messages
11
I live in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States in a small town named Seaview, WA.
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The history of the Long Beach peninsula goes back all the way to when the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company, a narrow gauge railroad ran up the Long Beach Peninsula from 1889 to 1930.
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I recently found a knife mowing my lawn.
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I don't have any indication exactly how old it is.
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As there are no markings visible under all the rust.
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I would like to think it might have been carried back when cars looked like this.
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I noticed a couple of things I thought were interesting.

One thing was this strange "bump" left after the edge, just prior to the hilt.
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Another thing was this strange finish to the end of the tang.
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And the depth of the rust leads me to assume it has a high Iron content.
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And I'm not sure if it isn't just because of the rust, but it's still sharp as heck!
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I'm not looking for a value. I just figured someone might like to see it.
If anyone "does" recognize anything about it that might help give it some "history" that would be nice. I think I'm going to donate it to the local museum.
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policetac
 
Last edited:
I will say that it kind of stinks that this forum doesn't allow posting of the photo's on the post itself.
 
You can use a free photo hosting site like photobucket and paste the IMG code in your post.
 
I don't know about Facebook but you can post pictures it directly here using the IMG Link
 
Policetac said:
I will say that it kind of stinks that this forum doesn't allow posting of the photo's on the post itself.
Click to expand...

Tech Support is the place to voice your complaints about the site. Please stay on topic.
 
Hey, thanks for the help. I appreciate you 3 letting me know about how to post pictures to the site.
It really makes the whole post make a little more sense. Looks better too. :)

"Super Moderator" huh?
If you ask me, the comment was on topic. It related to the inability of the site to directly publish my photo's of a "knife" on a "knife forum," or provide clear instructions on how to do so. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, your reply probably casts a greater negative air to the post than my comment might have. That said.

Hope you all like the pictures. :)
 
Glad you got the pics sorted out. If your going to get help with an ID on the blade some MUCH better pics are going to be needed. Get that thing outside on a sunny day and get some clear shots up close.
 
Yea, I know. The camera stinks!
To be honest, I really doubt better pics would even really do much to clear things up any. It's really rusted that badly.
I was actually kind of hoping that the little "bump" might be some kind of "makers mark" so to speak that might be recognizable somewhat.
I'm actually thinking that it may have been locally smithed, but we don't have a listing of our historical blacksmiths in the museum that I'm aware of.
 
If it is really corroded that bad maybe a bath in some vinegar will help uncover some markings. Seen that over at the axe area before.
 
You came to a great community with an interesting story, neat mystery of a knife, and unfortunately a bit of an attitude problem.

Sassing the mods and making disparaging remarks is not the best first impression.

Welcome to Blade Forums. Please review the rules, linked in my signature.

I can't remember seeing a knife with that odd looking "hump" on the choil area.

Interesting knife, thanks for joining and sharing the pictures.

best

mqqn
 
I don't know about the bump after the guard or the seemingly pointed tang but; the blade shape, 3/4 tang and lack of handle attachment holes point to a Navy MK1 or similar. Stacked leather handle with a pinned buttcap. I'm no expert though.
 
Thank you. Yea, I figured bladeforums.com would be the place to show off my find.

I do appreciate the criticism in you post. In fact, I actually agree with your comment. But in my defense, that was the reason for the "sass" to begin with. I didn't feel that the moderators comment was necessary, expressed professionally, or even relevant.

Anyway... Let's get back to knives! :)
 
Hey. Thanks for the idea!
Performing a Google search using "Navy MK1 tang" only came back with this relevant image.
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I'll keep looking around a bit though.
Good idea. Thanks again.
 
Hahaha! Another bad camera jab! lol
I know, I know! :)

Here's a question.

What about attempting to "sharpen" the blade?
Or attempting to do any kind of rust removal on a grand scale?

I suppose one real concern would be whether or not there would be enough steel left in the knife to even attempt it.
Like I said earlier, I'm not really that interested in it's cash "value," but I am interested in keeping it as close to one condition or another as possible in case I do end up donating it to our local historians.

I've been doing general searches of knife blanks, but so far I haven't turned up anything with any real potential yet.
 
If you're not planning to clean it or get better pictures of the tang stamps (if any), can we get some measurements at least? End to end and blade point to guard. The bulbous part of metal in the mk1 example you've shown are of different steel than the knife as is the pin that holds it on, these parts could easily have deteriorated at a faster rate than the blade steel.
 
Okay.

Overall length: 9 3/4 inches
Tip to Guard: 5 3/4 inches
Tang end to guard: 4 inches

Guard appears to be two (2) pieces. The first is the actual guard. It is Brass. (I went ahead and sanded just a little.)
it is slightly bent (by design) rearward at about a 35 degree angle on the blade side, and measures 1/2 inch x 1 1/4 inches (1/4 inch is the bend)

The "other" guard piece is also brass but is slightly different. This one does not extend past the width of the blade and measures 1/2 inch x 1 inch. It more closely resembles an "oval. (Although by feel it seems "fatter" than the other piece "around."

The "bump" is flat like the blade. It's not like an egg or something. it starts at 1/2 an inch from the guard and is 1/2 of an inch wide. It extends 3/16th's of an inch beyond the blade edge by it's diameter, and the blade's edge starts immediately where the circle rejoins the edge

The drop point starts at 3 1/4 inches.
.
 
It's not that I'm unwilling to attempt recovering the tang stamp, I truly don't know if it would do any good.
The rust really seems that deep. Overall, the blade isn't all that thick. It appears as if it's made from a really good Carbon steel that allowed for a pretty thin blade. You know, like the steel in "Grandpa's" old pocket knife? The one with that really small blade that was sharp as heck? Kind of like that. :)
 
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