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- Aug 17, 2013
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Well some time back I was visiting my mother in Chicago. My mother never throw anything away, I guess I take after her, so our garage is just full of old dusty boxes, most of which she's never actually looked in herself. In my family I'm sort of the de facto historian as I seem to be the only one who cares about family articles from the past. Well after a few day of boredom I started going through some old boxes deep in the recesses of the garage and came upon some of my Grandpa's keepsakes and photos. Amazing stuff, nothing precious or valuable, but a treasure trove of photos from WWII ( he was stationed in Egypt because he had been born in Germany), odd and ends, and a knife or two. He was born in 1920 in Karlsruhe-Baden, Germany and his family came over to Chicago 2 years later. He was a humble hard working welder and carpenter and from what I'm told always had a pocket knife on him, though never anything fancy or collectible. He passed away must be over 20 year ago now. I found this strange old hunting knife though. 
It once had cheap stag slabs that had cracked and fallen off and the blade was coming out of the handle. The blade was full (don't know that he ever really went hunting) but clouded with patina from who knows how many years sitting in a leather sheath outside with Chicago seasonal changes in temp and humidity. Under the patina one can make out a faint etch of a Stag surrounded by what looks like Bavarian ornamentation. Hard to see here:
and the butt end of the handle had this goofy Eagle head (actually think its pretty cool)
With the handle damaged as it was and the blade loose I thought about just sawing some new slabs and using the original frame but the guard and the Eagle head make the grip too small for my hands. Also the blade stock is actually quite thin, which I like, but it doesn't seem like its best use is in a knife handle of this type. So I decided instead to reserve the original handle for something else and rehandle the blade with a nice piece of Stag Antler I had laying around. I boiled the antler for about a half hour and then sunk it onto the vice clamped blade tang. Pretty simple but I think it came out nice and will likely see a fair amount of use in the kitchen. Here it is:
This antler fits the hand perfectly and the swayback makes it great for slicing, skinning and boning. And the thin carbon stock sharpened up very well.
and here you can see the Stag etch a bit better:
Its nice to have something to remember him by that I can use often. But its funny - I have my doubts a to whether he ever even used it himself
Thanks for looking. If you feel like sharing your dad or grand dad's knives go for it. Also if anyone has any suggestions for what to do with the old handle feel free to suggest.
It once had cheap stag slabs that had cracked and fallen off and the blade was coming out of the handle. The blade was full (don't know that he ever really went hunting) but clouded with patina from who knows how many years sitting in a leather sheath outside with Chicago seasonal changes in temp and humidity. Under the patina one can make out a faint etch of a Stag surrounded by what looks like Bavarian ornamentation. Hard to see here:
and the butt end of the handle had this goofy Eagle head (actually think its pretty cool)
With the handle damaged as it was and the blade loose I thought about just sawing some new slabs and using the original frame but the guard and the Eagle head make the grip too small for my hands. Also the blade stock is actually quite thin, which I like, but it doesn't seem like its best use is in a knife handle of this type. So I decided instead to reserve the original handle for something else and rehandle the blade with a nice piece of Stag Antler I had laying around. I boiled the antler for about a half hour and then sunk it onto the vice clamped blade tang. Pretty simple but I think it came out nice and will likely see a fair amount of use in the kitchen. Here it is:
This antler fits the hand perfectly and the swayback makes it great for slicing, skinning and boning. And the thin carbon stock sharpened up very well.
and here you can see the Stag etch a bit better:
Its nice to have something to remember him by that I can use often. But its funny - I have my doubts a to whether he ever even used it himself
Thanks for looking. If you feel like sharing your dad or grand dad's knives go for it. Also if anyone has any suggestions for what to do with the old handle feel free to suggest.
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