- Joined
- Jun 3, 2022
- Messages
- 391
Hello everybody,
After a long time surfing these forums from the shadows, I decided to create an account and begin my active participation by sharing one of my latest acquisitions/projects.
The knife I'm referring to is a NON-XLL Joseph Allen & Sons Bowie from the late 19th century or (more likely) early 20th century, which was in pretty rough shape - quite a bit of active rust, a recurve from sharpening, several scratches and dings (seemingly from hammering), bent guard, and a broken scale. Below I'm including some pictures from the original Ebay listing:
Though I didn't get the knife super cheap, I extended an offer, to which the seller responded with a counteroffer, which I accepted. Since I've been doing some (amateur) restorations for a year or so now, my idea was to get this rather common and certainly very trashed antique and do some restoration on it. Nothing too crazy - some grinding and heavy-duty sanding only to re-establish the edge profile and the tip; general cleaning and polishing, but without removing all the character of the blade; straightening and soldering the guard; and building and attaching a new scale to replace the broken one and match to the extent possible the surviving one. (I'm definitely brushing over some things I did, but you get the idea.) Below are some picures of the process:
The result is captured by the pictures below, which also show the leather sheath I built inspired by some of the original sheaths I've seen in pictures of other similar exemplars (not being satisfied with a previous center-seam, butt-stitched sheath I had built, which in any case seems to have been rare with this type of knife as made by this company in particular):
Clearly not a professional job, but I'm mostly happy with the outcome, especially given the poor condition in which I got the knife. Of course, the blade could've looked nicer, but I really didn't want to remove too much steel, especially since part of the stamps was already rather faint. Also, I really struggled trying to match the surviving scale, both in color and in jigging pattern, so I ended up going back and forth several times between dyeing, jigging, and sanding each scale. I kinda liked the result, as well as the fact that I was able to save (for the most part) one of the scales, but at some point I might just drop on some genuine antler. Anyways, any constructive criticism will be welcome.
Moving finally to the question alluded to in the title of the thread: Does anyone know the meaning of the "T" mark on the tang of the knife (shown in the fourth restoration picture)? I've been doing some research on the subject, but I've only found information about hallmarks which seems to pertain specifically to precious metals, and which would be problematic if applied to this knife. For example, according to the website Argenti inglesi, a serifed, capital "T" was used in Sheffield items in 1816, 1861 and 1961. However, the "England" on the ricasso indicates that the knife was made after 1890, and, according to the website StRazors, Joseph Allen & Sons was liquidated in 1933, though it was listed in directories until 1959. If anybody has any information on this mark, that would be most appreciated!
Cheers,
C.
Edit: Image links fixed, yet again.
After a long time surfing these forums from the shadows, I decided to create an account and begin my active participation by sharing one of my latest acquisitions/projects.
The knife I'm referring to is a NON-XLL Joseph Allen & Sons Bowie from the late 19th century or (more likely) early 20th century, which was in pretty rough shape - quite a bit of active rust, a recurve from sharpening, several scratches and dings (seemingly from hammering), bent guard, and a broken scale. Below I'm including some pictures from the original Ebay listing:
Though I didn't get the knife super cheap, I extended an offer, to which the seller responded with a counteroffer, which I accepted. Since I've been doing some (amateur) restorations for a year or so now, my idea was to get this rather common and certainly very trashed antique and do some restoration on it. Nothing too crazy - some grinding and heavy-duty sanding only to re-establish the edge profile and the tip; general cleaning and polishing, but without removing all the character of the blade; straightening and soldering the guard; and building and attaching a new scale to replace the broken one and match to the extent possible the surviving one. (I'm definitely brushing over some things I did, but you get the idea.) Below are some picures of the process:
The result is captured by the pictures below, which also show the leather sheath I built inspired by some of the original sheaths I've seen in pictures of other similar exemplars (not being satisfied with a previous center-seam, butt-stitched sheath I had built, which in any case seems to have been rare with this type of knife as made by this company in particular):
Clearly not a professional job, but I'm mostly happy with the outcome, especially given the poor condition in which I got the knife. Of course, the blade could've looked nicer, but I really didn't want to remove too much steel, especially since part of the stamps was already rather faint. Also, I really struggled trying to match the surviving scale, both in color and in jigging pattern, so I ended up going back and forth several times between dyeing, jigging, and sanding each scale. I kinda liked the result, as well as the fact that I was able to save (for the most part) one of the scales, but at some point I might just drop on some genuine antler. Anyways, any constructive criticism will be welcome.
Moving finally to the question alluded to in the title of the thread: Does anyone know the meaning of the "T" mark on the tang of the knife (shown in the fourth restoration picture)? I've been doing some research on the subject, but I've only found information about hallmarks which seems to pertain specifically to precious metals, and which would be problematic if applied to this knife. For example, according to the website Argenti inglesi, a serifed, capital "T" was used in Sheffield items in 1816, 1861 and 1961. However, the "England" on the ricasso indicates that the knife was made after 1890, and, according to the website StRazors, Joseph Allen & Sons was liquidated in 1933, though it was listed in directories until 1959. If anybody has any information on this mark, that would be most appreciated!
Cheers,
C.
Edit: Image links fixed, yet again.
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