Case Knife Question

[robbiek1999]

I am completely new to the group and thanks for letting me join. Here are my questions and a little background:

BACKGROUND: I am 57 and retired from US Navy as civil servant for 35 years. I have some time now. I am a deer hunter. My uncle was stationed in Germany and gave me an OFCO or ORCO Soligen knife. Great knife and my good luck charm for shooting bug bucks. Knife had deep scratches (still does) but I cleaned it up and sharpened and It filed dresses one deer which is what I want and I always have my Buck knife as a backup. I remember as a kid that my grandpa on my dads side gave him a Case hunting knife and said he couldn't get an edge on it. It had extremely deep scratches and rust pitting probably from a bench grinder. Since then I have learned about restoring some older knives. I am not interested in selling either as they are special to me. I am a retired electrical engineer but can't figure out how to post pics here. Go figure...

Question 1: I have watched some Youtube vids on how to restore old rusted and scratched knives. I bought some Amazon buffing discs for Dremel 120, 180, 320, 400. It is removing the scratches but now the steel started dull. I finally said its close enough and started using the finer grit. I am starting to get mirror finish but still has scratches. The Case has much thinner blade than the Soligen knife. I hate to remove too much material but I know I won't get it truly mirror finish unless I get completely smooth first. It is slowwww work and I have 2 dremels and stop when they get too hot but every time I work it, the knife gets better and better. And I have polishing discs for the dremel that I haven't started yet. What do the experts think about this kind of restoration? Am I on the right path? Any recommendations? The Soligen knife is the next project as it has deep scratches. And my uncle was stationed in Germany in 50/60s so it is pretty old too.

Question 2: I was a kid in early 70s when my grandpa gave this knife to my dad and it was old then with an old leather sheath. Again, I am not interested in selling it. But it might be nice to leave it to someone when I pass with some knowledge. There is no model # on knife. If I can learn to post a pic, is there someone who can help identify? And then same with OFCO or ORCO knife.

Question 3. The Case leather sheath is pretty bad but functional. I was able to jury rig a snap that holds knife in sheath well. I have started using mineral oil to loosen the leather and cracking. I would prefer to save/keep the sheath that goes with it. And the Case knife has leather rings on handle. They arent too bad but they aren't great either. I know I can't retore to new and I would prefer to keep knife as is. Does anyone have any recommendations to preserving what I have?

Thanks in advance for any help. Both knives I mentioned would be working knives for now as I would take a part of my dad and uncle with my hunting. I wish I could learn to post pics on a post here...

- Rob K

 

[knarfeng]

Let's try Questions 1 and 3 in the Maintenance forum. I'll move this thread there.
Rule of thumb for old knives is to do as little as possible.

Start a second thread in the Traditional Forum for help with the ID.

Traditional Folders and Fixed Blades

Discussion of classic Hunters, Trappers, Lockbacks, Slipjoints, Skinners and other classic designs

www.bladeforums.com

As a registered user, you can post pictures using a picture hosting site. I use Imgur, but there are others. Once you have uploaded a picture to the hosting site, copy the web address of the picture. Note: picture web addresses must end in .jpg or .gif

Then go to your post and click the image tool on the toolbar next to the smiley tool. Click the link icon in the popup. (Looks like a chain.) Paste the picture address into the window. Then click the INSERT button.

 

[robbiek1999]

Let's try Questions 1 and 3 in the Maintenance forum. I'll move this thread there.
Rule of thumb for old knives is to do as little as possible.

Start a second thread in the Traditional Forum for help with the ID.

Traditional Folders and Fixed Blades

Discussion of classic Hunters, Trappers, Lockbacks, Slipjoints, Skinners and other classic designs

www.bladeforums.com

As a registered user, you can post pictures using a picture hosting site. I use Imgur, but there are others. Once you have uploaded a picture to the hosting site, copy the web address of the picture. Note: picture web addresses must end in .jpg or .gif

Then go to your post and click the image tool on the toolbar next to the smiley tool. Click the link icon in the popup. (Looks like a chain.) Paste the picture address into the window. Then click the INSERT button.

Wow, thanks for the help... I think. As far as blade goes, I am beyond doing as little as possible as there were very deep scratches from what I think was a bench grinder and rust pitting on Case knife. This isn't a Spanish gold coin. It is getting close to a mirror finish now but taking a lot of time. But hey, thanks again...

 

[TheOne45]

Not so long ago I tried to restore my coworkers Victorinox Hunter.
He tried to thin the blade on industrial bench power grinder. I'm stil trying to figure it out what was in his head at that time. Those grinders are very coarse so you can imagine in what state the blade was.... deep scratches all over from edge to the spine. Some parts of the blade were grinded off and some intact. Some scratches were oriented edge-spine and some were in direction heel-tip. A mess so to speak.
There was not much to think. First I restored the V-shape of primary bevel with belt grinder.
Then the fun began.... hand grinding the blade with diamond files up to #1500, then wet sanding paper (#1000 up to #3000) and then buffing wheel with green compound.
I couldn't remove all scratches because I would need to grind of too much steel but I think I did what could be done regarding the damage done to the blade.
I'm stil banging my head why I didn't made a photo of the blade but it is what it is. Below is so-so photo of "restored" blade.
To make an off topic note,
for fun I did an experiment when sharpening the blade on my system....
I started with 16DPS up to 19DPS (with 1 degree step) and at 19DPS the edge became stable when carving spruce wood. At 19 degrees the blade cut news print cross grain after wood carving. I can't say if this is because of Victorinox nature of the steel (56HRc as they say) or the steel was just damaged during power grinding on bench grinder.

IMG_20240113_164609.jpg

drive.google.com

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The mention of the Case knife having heavy & deep scratches - perhaps from a bench grinder - and in tandem with the mention he was unable to get an edge on it, would have me more concerned about possible heat damage to the temper of the blade from grinding. In the near term, I'd probably verify first if the Case can take a fine and durable cutting edge. If not, if may not be worth the trouble trying to restore a mirror finish, if the blade turns out to be severely heat damaged anyway.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

The first thing to do is put the Dremel away.
Hand sand the blade (with a hard, flat backing) starting with 320 grit wet/dry paper until all the marks are gone.
Then, use successively finer grits of paper until you have the finish you want.

 

[BJE]

I’ll second the advice above, it’s nigh on impossible to make a flat mirrored surface using a small rotary tool, sure you can make it shiny, but there will be high and low spots that will likely look wavy. If you have a belt sander, like a 1x30 or similar you could use that if handy with it. But by hand is the safer and better way, more elbow grease but a better result.

I have yet to find anything a dremel is good at. I have one or two and never use them, though I try sometimes I’m always disappointed with the performance of the bits and bobs.

Do make sure as you progress to finer and finer grits, that you fully remove the scratches left by the previous grit before moving onto finer. Otherwise you will have a shiny blade with some deep scratches and a lot of wasted effort that you will have to do over to be happy with.

 

[TheOne45]

I have yet to find anything a dremel is good at. I have one or two and never use them, though I try sometimes I’m always disappointed with the performance of the bits and bobs.

I would say this was slightly exaggerated statement. I guess you didn't use it properly or you used it for work it was not designed.
I agree; it's not a proper tool to make a surface flat. For that we have different tools.
But otherwise a dremel can be a very handy tool.

 

[BJE]

I would say this was slightly exaggerated statement. I guess you didn't use it properly or you used it for work it was not designed.
I agree; it's not a proper tool to make a surface flat. For that we have different tools.
But otherwise a dremel can be a very handy tool.

I’m a mechanic, I use rotary tools daily, but they are pneumatic and have the size and power to do what’s needed. The dremel fits a niche that I don’t have, it’s too small for real work, I’m sure it’s useful for many folks that do more small detail work, but I feel it gets pressed into service for things that other tools would work better for.

For example, a bench mounted buffing wheel would be better suited to the task of polishing a blade than a dremel, but it’s what many have to use and so gets used for things it doesn’t excel at.

 

[TheOne45]

For example, a bench mounted buffing wheel would be better suited to the task of polishing a blade than a dremel, but it’s what many have to use and so gets used for things it doesn’t excel at.

Well, for smalk tasks a dremel is fine tool.
But if I have a bigger work to do I just use CNC milling, turning and grinding machine and
industrial bench polisher.

 

[BJE]

Well, for smalk tasks a dremel is fine tool.
But if I have a bigger work to do I just use CNC milling, turning and grinding machine and
industrial bench polisher.

Dremel makes a mower blade sharpening attachment , unless it’s a Lego mower, a dremel is the wrong choice for that task, give me an angle grinder with a course flap wheel and a file for that.
They make so many dumb accessories that they end up being pressed into service for as many tasks as people can think of, dremel loves it, they sell lots of bits and bobs.

The tool itself is of good quality, but IMO they purposely market it as a universal tool capable of doing things you wouldn’t normally use a rotary tool for. Makes sense for them, but irks me when people try to use them to replace proper tools with.

Just imagine trying to use one to sharpen your lawn mower blades with, what a frustrating and fruitless endeavor that would be.

 

[TheOne45]

Just imagine trying to use one to sharpen your lawn mower blades with, what a frustrating and fruitless endeavor that would be.

Can't imagine that. Dremel is ment for small works.
Besides, I don't have lawn mower. I do my grass the old fashion way with one of those:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IcAknzuGXTYy1QKWS1S7SDJjY8Yl3lwj/view?usp=drivesdk
and I use old fashion stone to sharpen it:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IgZs5Z1aWb5qWOvOihfYragQcZoTeuAM/view?usp=drivesdk

Dremel makes a mower blade sharpening attachment

I don't know about that but check all those things they sell to sharpen, hone, polish, deburr, maintain, modify, improve, upgrade and pet your knives with.
Sky is a limit, I guess.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Can't imagine that. Dremel is ment for small works.
Besides, I don't have lawn mower. I do my grass the old fashion way with one of those:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IcAknzuGXTYy1QKWS1S7SDJjY8Yl3lwj/view?usp=drivesdk
and I use old fashion stone to sharpen it:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IgZs5Z1aWb5qWOvOihfYragQcZoTeuAM/view?usp=drivesdk



I don't know about that but check all those things they sell to sharpen, hone, polish, deburr, maintain, modify, improve, upgrade and pet your knives with.
Sky is a limit, I guess.

Crikey! I have one of those hanging up in the barn. My father bought it decades ago. Don't know if he ever made much use of it.

 

[TheOne45]

Crikey! I have one of those hanging up in the barn.

If you let the grass grow too high you have a hard time to trim it with a lawn mower.
Crikey? Google found a lot of things but nothing to cut grass with.
It's more lika a scythe and when you figure out how to use it you can cut the grass very fast and it's also a very good cardio exercise.