i need help cleaning up a leather handle

[R.c.s]

I need help cleaning up a leather handle . I picked up an Ontario air force survival knife .and the handle is really rough . so I was thinking of rubbing it down with some fine sand paper . then getting some water based varnish .and watering it down by 50% for it's first coat .then 2 more coats of the untouched varnish . will this work or not ? .is their a better way of doing it? Any help in this matter would be really appreciated. Thanks. [SUB][/SUB]

 

[uxo2]

Saddle soap and a piece of old blue jean.
Rub in..

 

[Rhinoknives1]

After the saddle soap etc, rub in a few coats of any floor wax.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Use a single cut mill bastard file. File the handle smooth by filing in one direction only.
If you sand, sand in one direction only. The file will work better than sanding. Wax with paste wax when finished.

 

[AreBeeBee]

Filing or sanding should do the trick, although frequent handling will also do it. Instead of wax on mine, though, I used mink oil.

Below is an Ontario pilot knife, dated 1987. It came to me from a relative, who told me it had been kicking around in the cab of her truck for years and years. (I don't known what kind of treatment she'd given it, perhaps little or none.) When I got it, the leather was fairly stiff and dry, so I gave it repeated applications of mink oil all over, which darkened it a bit and restored flexibility (where the sheath doesn't have the aluminum backplate). It was mink oil once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year.

The blade of yours is in apparently original shape. Mine had rust that developed on it, and to remove that also removed the parkerizing in those spots. The blade is carbon steel so you'll want to make sure any bare-metal parts stay lightly oiled.

 

[R.c.s]

Thanks for all the good advice guy's .I will pick the stuff up and give it a go ( . but why the blue jeans ?)

 

[Bill DeShivs]

My suggestion explains how the factory (should have) finished the handle. They normally were finished on belt sanders in the method I described. Apparently, these were left unfinished to save on production cost.

 

[AreBeeBee]

( . but why the blue jeans ?)

A piece of old jean material is sturdy (unless too worn!), holds paste wax well, and has something of a rough texture (unless too worn!) so the wax gets applied and worked in but not just schplopped on. Key ingredient: elbow grease.