Primble
Gold Member
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2014
- Messages
- 8,640
I recently received a very nice and nearly unused New York Knife Company Model 1073 Redwood Pruner from Markesharp. He had already told me that when he got it, someone had buffed all the metal, using metal polish. The bling from the metal nearly knocked my eyeballs out when it arrived. The original wood finish and crisp tang stamps indicated this knife was hardly used. I spent about an hour reverse engineering the high gloss cleaning job. During that time, I thought what a great knife it was and how it must have led an easy life, since the company that made it went out of business in 1931.
This is the after de-glossing picture of that fine specimen:
But wait, there was another knife in the box - another 1073. I stared at that ole knife for a while.
The opposite of the near mint knife, a knife that was used hard and well - very very personalized.
On each side of the dark coffee colored varnished wood scales were deep carvings, spelling M.i.r., not Mir, but M big period, i big period, and r big period !!
It was indeed - UGLY !!! Not anyhwere in the league of an EARL knife !
Now I am not normally a man that looks a gift horse in the mouth, but, I was in a trance, trying to figure out why Marko would even send me that well worn carved on beast.
The blade was pretty worn and the hawk beak was mostly gone. I surely could not use the wood for handle material. What the heck !!
I just couldn't figure it out. A joke ??!! Did he think my other old knives were just as junky !!??
:grumpy:
I left it laying for a couple weeks. But, the last few days it was very windy and cold outside and I picked the old knife up and examined it again, thinking of just throwing it in a junk drawer and ending the drama. As I looked at it more closely, I noticed how thick the wood handles were and it occurred to me that I might just be able to sand out those initials on each side.
I mean - who is or who was M.i.r. anyway !!??
I know that Mr. Bradley owned New York Knife Company and that could not be his initials and I could not begin to think of any famous or infamous person with the initials M.i.r.
Starting with 100 grit sandpaper, I went to work on the wood handles and carefully hand sanded until I could no longer see the initials, all the while trying to keep the contours correct to the knife. 220 grit, 400 grit, 800 grit, 1000 grit, and finally 2000 grit. The handles were beautiful and after all that deep sanding, remarkably still had an antique appearance.
Excited at the beauty of the wood, I continued on for a total of about eleven hours, working on the metal parts, leaving character marks and pitting, and finally putting a patina back on the metal parts. I must be crazy for spending all that time on a knife that had clearly seen better days, because I could have just spent my good time watching TV or surfing the net.
This was the final result - goodbye M.i.r. - whoever you are or were !! :
I wonder which of these guys worked on my Pruners ??
Thank you Marko !!
This is the after de-glossing picture of that fine specimen:
But wait, there was another knife in the box - another 1073. I stared at that ole knife for a while.
The opposite of the near mint knife, a knife that was used hard and well - very very personalized.
On each side of the dark coffee colored varnished wood scales were deep carvings, spelling M.i.r., not Mir, but M big period, i big period, and r big period !!
It was indeed - UGLY !!! Not anyhwere in the league of an EARL knife !
Now I am not normally a man that looks a gift horse in the mouth, but, I was in a trance, trying to figure out why Marko would even send me that well worn carved on beast.
The blade was pretty worn and the hawk beak was mostly gone. I surely could not use the wood for handle material. What the heck !!
I just couldn't figure it out. A joke ??!! Did he think my other old knives were just as junky !!??
:grumpy:I left it laying for a couple weeks. But, the last few days it was very windy and cold outside and I picked the old knife up and examined it again, thinking of just throwing it in a junk drawer and ending the drama. As I looked at it more closely, I noticed how thick the wood handles were and it occurred to me that I might just be able to sand out those initials on each side.
I mean - who is or who was M.i.r. anyway !!??
I know that Mr. Bradley owned New York Knife Company and that could not be his initials and I could not begin to think of any famous or infamous person with the initials M.i.r.
Starting with 100 grit sandpaper, I went to work on the wood handles and carefully hand sanded until I could no longer see the initials, all the while trying to keep the contours correct to the knife. 220 grit, 400 grit, 800 grit, 1000 grit, and finally 2000 grit. The handles were beautiful and after all that deep sanding, remarkably still had an antique appearance.
Excited at the beauty of the wood, I continued on for a total of about eleven hours, working on the metal parts, leaving character marks and pitting, and finally putting a patina back on the metal parts. I must be crazy for spending all that time on a knife that had clearly seen better days, because I could have just spent my good time watching TV or surfing the net.
This was the final result - goodbye M.i.r. - whoever you are or were !! :
I wonder which of these guys worked on my Pruners ??
Thank you Marko !!
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Never have had use for a pruner but I do enjoy the way they look wholeheartedly, especially these older one's.
