Early 50's Lignum Vitae 102

DeSotoSky

DeSotoSky

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I know it is not a great picture. I'm sitting here on the sofa playing with my phone to learn how to take a picture and transfer it to my laptop. Having succeeded, I might as well post it. The knife. 4" X 9/16" blade, 8-1/2" OAL with a LV handle which is unfortunately badly cracked (worse on the other side). I would classify it as a 102 and tentatively place it about 1951. The unique interesting feature is a very slender longer than normal handle and a minimal guard profile. I have big hands which makes It a really sweet knife proportionally to hold. I wish it wasn't such a mess.
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Is this a user or a collector, for you?
LV is almost guaranteed to crack, lots of Makers won't even touch the stuff....

One of my edc blades I scaled up with it. Yes, I get weird crosshatch cracks.
I found filling with thin super glue, then gently sanding clean (after it dries) works very well.
But only recommend working on non historical pieces

I Love the wood.
Feels Great.
Weighs something else, and smells Amazing!
 
Crag the Brewer said:
Is this a user or a collector, for you?
LV is almost guaranteed to crack, lots of Makers won't even touch the stuff....
Click to expand...
Hi Craig, thanks for the comments. This is an early pre-factory era hand made Buck knife. Historically collectable so not a user.
LV was used about '51-'55 and I understand was discontinued due to cracking. Late 50's saw the switch to Ebony.
The picture does not show but there is some warped displacement, not a simple crack.
It's more a question of stabilzation for preservation in my mind.
 
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DeSotoSky said:
Hi Craig. This is an early pre-factory era hand made Buck knife. Historically collectable so not a user.
LV was used about '51-'55 and I understand was discontinued due to cracking. Late 50's saw the switch to Ebony.
The pictures don't show but there is some displacement, not a simple crack.
It's more a question of stabilzation for preservation in my mind.
Click to expand...

Does Buck have a restoration program for Older blades?
I bet they would get a kick out a seeing the oldies.

If nothing else was available, I would use a thin viscosity crazy glue. Maybe only wick it into the cracks, not fill completely, keeping the cracks from spreading, but still holding the history of said cracks.

I hope more people chime in.

This post caused me to dig out My knife.....Yes, I see more cracks now....but the ones I previously fixed look good. Just new ones.
 
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