Recommendation? Cleaning Old BSA fixed blade and sheathe

[Neil S.]

Hello all!

So a few years ago I inherited an old Boy Scout knife from my grandpa while I was in Boy Scouts. When I got it, I wasn't able to really use it since my troop didn't allow scouts to carry fixed blade knives on them, and outside of scouts I rarely had the chance to go camping. I left it in a box with some of my precious keepsakes most of the time and never got around to really doing much with it. Now I'm older and have more free time to be able to go camping and backpacking more, which got me to want to use it. It's in a decent condition with a few minor issues I want to get squared away and fixed before using it so that I only have to do regular maintenance on it down the line.

Some of the issues/imperfections:
1) A small amount of rust on the blade
2) More rust on the exposed portion of the tang
3) The brass guard and some of the plastic(?) spacers are a little loose
4) The handle is showing some wear from handling
5) the sheath is relatively firm, but still somewhat pliable

I'm not as worried about making it look pristine and like brand new (i.e. the butt has nicks and dents and I'm fine with leaving them), but I want to restore it all to a decent working condition.

I'm most curious about how to remove the rust from the tang with doing as little harm to the handle as possible and how to make the brass guard and spacers not as loose, but all the help and tips I can get would be greatly appreciated.

Also; if you know any of the history of these knives like when were made or really any fun fact about them, I'd love to hear it!

Pictures

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Direct Links just in case
https://imgur.com/SNirN6k
https://imgur.com/TxftGJH

 

[oldmanwilly]

Howdy there N Neil S. and welcome to Bladeforums!

It sounds like you have a special knife but unfortunately your pictures aren't showing up for me. Here is a link to several other links explaining how to post pics properly (https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/how-do-i-post-pictures-from-a.1394713/). When in doubt just upload your photos to imgur.com and post a link in this thread.

Once you have some photos up it will be easier for folks to advise you on how to restore your knife.

 

[Neil S.]

Howdy there N Neil S. and welcome to Bladeforums!

It sounds like you have a special knife but unfortunately your pictures aren't showing up for me. Here is a link to several other links explaining how to post pics properly (https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/how-do-i-post-pictures-from-a.1394713/). When in doubt just upload your photos to imgur.com and post a link in this thread.

Once you have some photos up it will be easier for folks to advise you on how to restore your knife.

Oop, ok, I'll go ahead and fix it. Thank you for notifying me, should be fixed soon

 

[Tjstampa]

You could use Flitz with steel wool on the blade. Mink oil, needs foot oil or other leather conditioner for the sheath. If the Handle is leather the conditioner would help that too.

 

[oldmanwilly]

That is a beautiful old blade. The handle does not look too bad. I wonder if wiping down the handle with neatsfoot or mineral oil would help re-hydrate the leather washers and tighten up the washers.

As for the blade, I would agree that a little oil/polish and 00 steel wool should fix your rust problem.

I'm certain someone else will come along with more advice shortly.

 

[Conrad smith]

A very nice looking old blade If you just want a useable sheath personly I'd just rub the leather down with some neats foot oil to help soften it up again. As for the metal a good rub down with some metal polish such as autosol, flitz or simichrome would get the rust off and give it a nice shine while keeping the patina, any heavy rust shoot with some wd40 and let it sit for 10 mins and give it a scrub with 0000 wire wool and polish. The handle I would rub down with neats foot oil aswell to soften it up and make it feel a bit better. Sharpen it up and you should be good to go.