Hi, i'm a newbie here and newbie to owning a proper knife, sort of.
I was given a knife a couple years ago, but I had no use for it so I kept it in its sheath untouched. I have recently got into bushcraft and went on my first intro course yesterday (I discovered many things, including just how much I actually knew already!) and the host showed us through his different knives when I was reminded of mine. I went over to my parents today where I had kept it and it is in fairly good knick.
There are a sand grain sized rust spots on bolster. It is a full tang hunting knife. In the handle is a cork screw which does have a little more rust but only surface rust so it's just a little stiff getting out. In the handle is also a curved peeler with what I guess is an "eye" scoop for potatoes, and also a mean looking saw, like it could go through bone, with a hook at the base (a bottle opener) with an antler handle. At some point in the past some git sharpened it badly and ground the surface - only the surface - of the blade. This hasn't damaged it but it conveniently went over (and was the same size as) some writing on the blade.
It's a nice, solid, sturdy knife and I want to restore it to be a pride of joy as I believe it deserves. In mint condition this knife has gone on ebay for $680 so I know it is not exactly a Bear Grylls knife! Where can a newbie start out? How can I best polish and sharpen the blade (removing the 2" ground off line from the face of it) and clean off the rust from the corkscrew and bolster, without using anything that may damage the antler? It's not in the best of knick but any damage is superficial (ie some of the rivets are a little dented). I want this to be something worth showing off and being proud of and I want to take care of it (but also use it). What can you suggests for this knife newbie? I'm not a knife fanatic, but I do care about getting just a few quality knives and taking care of them.
I was given a knife a couple years ago, but I had no use for it so I kept it in its sheath untouched. I have recently got into bushcraft and went on my first intro course yesterday (I discovered many things, including just how much I actually knew already!) and the host showed us through his different knives when I was reminded of mine. I went over to my parents today where I had kept it and it is in fairly good knick.
There are a sand grain sized rust spots on bolster. It is a full tang hunting knife. In the handle is a cork screw which does have a little more rust but only surface rust so it's just a little stiff getting out. In the handle is also a curved peeler with what I guess is an "eye" scoop for potatoes, and also a mean looking saw, like it could go through bone, with a hook at the base (a bottle opener) with an antler handle. At some point in the past some git sharpened it badly and ground the surface - only the surface - of the blade. This hasn't damaged it but it conveniently went over (and was the same size as) some writing on the blade.
It's a nice, solid, sturdy knife and I want to restore it to be a pride of joy as I believe it deserves. In mint condition this knife has gone on ebay for $680 so I know it is not exactly a Bear Grylls knife! Where can a newbie start out? How can I best polish and sharpen the blade (removing the 2" ground off line from the face of it) and clean off the rust from the corkscrew and bolster, without using anything that may damage the antler? It's not in the best of knick but any damage is superficial (ie some of the rivets are a little dented). I want this to be something worth showing off and being proud of and I want to take care of it (but also use it). What can you suggests for this knife newbie? I'm not a knife fanatic, but I do care about getting just a few quality knives and taking care of them.
I've been thinking I might get a different knife and sharpen/clean this up when the time comes and store it. I'm not really sure what sort of knife I can get to 'replace' this though. Is there a low(er) cost knife which serves a similar set of functions with similar benefits that will give me the chance to practice similar required skills with corkscrew, skinning blade, bone saw and antler handle?