How to remove rust from knives and help identify this knife

S

Spyderman99

Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
137
Well today I was looking for some scrap wood in my dads shed and I'm almost about to give up and out of the corner of my eye guess what I see. A knife!!! Not just any knife this knife is old(for me) it looked like 1960s. I open the blades and see that they are 100% covered in rust.

Well I go into my dads office and ask him if he knew what this was and he said " I think that was your great grandpa's old pocket knife".

Well after a lot of begging he lets me keep it. So naturally I examine the blade and see I can barely see letters. I sanded both blades down and got the rust off.

I read the words and it says Imperial Ireland. I have absolutely no idea what brand that is.

I was able to get most of the rust off the blades except of a few spots. But I still can't get the rust out the inside of the knife. Everything exept the blade and handle is rusted.

So I have 2 questions.

The first is how to get all the rust off my knife?

The second is can you help me identify this knife?
I might be able to post pictures later but here is a description:
It has 2 blades one big one small
On the big blade choil thing it says imperial Ireland
Not sure what material it's made of but hand has molding and is black. It also has metal on the top and bottom of handle
On one side of the handle there is a circle of metal with a crown shape carved in it.

I will try to post pics soon so just check back
Later
 
Define rust... Were they covered in brown powdery rust, or just really darkly stained?

Patina (a darkly colored stain rust) = good. If you just removed that, you're gonna make a bunch of collectors sad...
 
That would be a Serpentine Jack pattern, the metal you're referring to are called bolsters (in this particular case, they are integrated into the bubbled scales, a cost saving measure many companies used back in the day). Imperial is one of the many brands from back in the day, not the fanciest, but it got the job done, like Camco, Keen Kutter, Colonial, etc.

Any additional rust in the liners, well, take a piece of sandpaper and wrap it around a shim or something thin and durable, and go to town. If it's black it's just a patina, leave it be (There shouldn't be any textural difference between patina and steel.)

Make sure to oil and clean the joints. also keep the blades and liners coated if you're going to store it. Congrats on the new, old knife. Plenty of life still left in those blades if you felt like carrying it.
 
Grease said:
Define rust... Were they covered in brown powdery rust, or just really darkly stained?

Patina (a darkly colored stain rust) = good. If you just removed that, you're gonna make a bunch of collectors sad...
Click to expand...

It was definetly rust. It was brown, bumby and powdery.
 
brets-ftw said:
That would be a Serpentine Jack pattern, the metal you're referring to are called bolsters (in this particular case, they are integrated into the bubbled scales, a cost saving measure many companies used back in the day). Imperial is one of the many brands from back in the day, not the fanciest, but it got the job done, like Camco, Keen Kutter, Colonial, etc.

Any additional rust in the liners, well, take a piece of sandpaper and wrap it around a shim or something thin and durable, and go to town. If it's black it's just a patina, leave it be (There shouldn't be any textural difference between patina and steel.)

Make sure to oil and clean the joints. also keep the blades and liners coated if you're going to store it. Congrats on the new, old knife. Plenty of life still left in those blades if you felt like carrying it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing that out for me. I forgot to mention but there is a part of the serpentine jack handle cracked. It's only the top layer( a thin plastic looking material) it's not the textured metal underneath. How should I fix that? Super glue?
 
Spyderman99 said:
Thanks for pointing that out for me. I forgot to mention but there is a part of the serpentine jack handle cracked. It's only the top layer( a thin plastic looking material) it's not the textured metal underneath. How should I fix that? Super glue?
Click to expand...

Honestly I have no idea what kind of plastic it is (could be delrin or Celluloid) and I think they might melt with super glue. Were it my grandfather's knife I'd 1. Want to carry it, 2. Would pop those off and through on some proper scales and bolsters. Many makers here can do that job, or you may do it yourself. There have been a couple DIY/WIP threads that show the process in the Traditional forum.
 
Have a mod move this into the traditional forum, you'll get a more specific answer there, the bubbled scales puts it after 70's I believe (don't take that as a sure fact)
 
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