eisman
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2009
- Messages
- 7,002
Flew back from San Diego yesterday afternoon, and didn't want to fight the traffic so I hit a couple shops I'd tucked away in the back of my head for a visit. The first one deals in old toys, but I figured it was worth a try. They had a couple dozen old knives and I walked away with 2 Kamp King Scouts, a Cutco Scout, a Colonial Stockman (not pictured), a small spear blade "pen", and this SAK knock off. All for less than $30.
I recently picked up a ultrasonic cleaner and have been working to figure out what solution works best. I can't use anything flamable, but have had some interesting results so far, and needed a few more cheap knifes for the "experiment". Now I have a bunch.
The Kamp Kings opened up pretty good with a little soap and water, but a very thin solution of Simple Green cleaned a lot more out. I'm still looking for a rust specific solution. The stuff made for brass really cleans well, but makes a mess out of carbon blades and any plated surfaces; it either turns them black (I think it's a silver reaction) or copper in color. Strange, and chemistry was not my best subject.
The Colonial is soaking in mineral oil; it was really bound up. The "Matterhorn" is pretty interesting, as I don't see hawkbill blades on SAK very often. It's going to clean up easy.
The next store I hit didn't have anything visable, so I got to talking with the owner. She was apologetic about the mess (my favorite kind of junk shop) but they had just knocked out a wall to double the size o the store and everything was piled up. Asked about knives and her reply was, "there's a couple boxes of them around here somewhere." She later clarified that to mean a "couple hundred old knives". I left her my name and number and told her to call when they find the boxes. Who knows, it might happen.
Walked back to where I parked and stuck my head into another place. It didn't look like much, and it wasn't, but they had a couple slipjoints in a box in one case, so I asked for a look. A decent UH with a broke blade, a modern "bullet" knife, and this old Jack that was almost rusted shut.
I don't normally go for Jacks, but I figured what the heck. It could use some time in the tank, and maybe I'd learn something. The tips broke (a little) and the blades been abused (and rusted) but a soak in oil to loosen it up and 3 trips through the tank and the blades now clean enough to read. UMC. Nice suprise there. This one's going to get a little special care.
Topped it all off when driving home I stopped a a place where the sign out front said "tools for sale". The guy must have had 40-50 wood planes, and hundreds of other old wood-working tools. Even had a foot-pedal scroll saw. I asked about knives and his girl friend says my dad's sending his collection; he's got 40-50 he want's to get rid of. We'll see...
Heck of a way to wind up what was a pretty cruddy day.
I recently picked up a ultrasonic cleaner and have been working to figure out what solution works best. I can't use anything flamable, but have had some interesting results so far, and needed a few more cheap knifes for the "experiment". Now I have a bunch.
The Kamp Kings opened up pretty good with a little soap and water, but a very thin solution of Simple Green cleaned a lot more out. I'm still looking for a rust specific solution. The stuff made for brass really cleans well, but makes a mess out of carbon blades and any plated surfaces; it either turns them black (I think it's a silver reaction) or copper in color. Strange, and chemistry was not my best subject.
The Colonial is soaking in mineral oil; it was really bound up. The "Matterhorn" is pretty interesting, as I don't see hawkbill blades on SAK very often. It's going to clean up easy.
The next store I hit didn't have anything visable, so I got to talking with the owner. She was apologetic about the mess (my favorite kind of junk shop) but they had just knocked out a wall to double the size o the store and everything was piled up. Asked about knives and her reply was, "there's a couple boxes of them around here somewhere." She later clarified that to mean a "couple hundred old knives". I left her my name and number and told her to call when they find the boxes. Who knows, it might happen.
Walked back to where I parked and stuck my head into another place. It didn't look like much, and it wasn't, but they had a couple slipjoints in a box in one case, so I asked for a look. A decent UH with a broke blade, a modern "bullet" knife, and this old Jack that was almost rusted shut.
I don't normally go for Jacks, but I figured what the heck. It could use some time in the tank, and maybe I'd learn something. The tips broke (a little) and the blades been abused (and rusted) but a soak in oil to loosen it up and 3 trips through the tank and the blades now clean enough to read. UMC. Nice suprise there. This one's going to get a little special care.
Topped it all off when driving home I stopped a a place where the sign out front said "tools for sale". The guy must have had 40-50 wood planes, and hundreds of other old wood-working tools. Even had a foot-pedal scroll saw. I asked about knives and his girl friend says my dad's sending his collection; he's got 40-50 he want's to get rid of. We'll see...
Heck of a way to wind up what was a pretty cruddy day.
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Nice idea though 
