My Great Grandpa's Case Large Stockman

M

MrSuicide

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Oct 31, 2005
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My great grampa passed away when I was around 10, and when I was perhaps 20 (3 years ago) my family got a box of some of his stuff (which, since my family knew I enjoyed knives), included his EDC case stockman.

it is a large stockman, 1964-69, stamped 6375 on the blade, non-stainless

The knife came to me with a dark patina, rust, heavy pitting, and could not be opened. At the time I soaked it and cleaned it to the point it could be opened, just barely (nail breaker) and let it sit in my collection cabinet.

All blades of the knife were dull as a butter knife, the tips of all the blades were broken off, and there was a large chip in the main blade from either prying out a nail or cutting some live wire (looked like the heat treat was effected in the area)

About 6 months ago i decided to recondition it, because it was clearly a user and I thought it would be best to continue to use it as my great grampa did, not let it sit idle. So i cleaned it thoroughly till it opened smooth, grinded the blades back into shape with tips, sanded down all the blades to get rid of the rust and pitting, and put a 400 grit finish on the blades. I let it stay there for the last 6 months, using it around the house for daily tasks.

After reading about creating patina's on old carbon steel blades I decided to try to recreate the patina (without all the pitting) and decided to go with mustard to create the patina.

Here's the result:







I tried to go for a bit of a striped pattern and think it came out pretty well. If i had to do it over again i would probably give the blades a finer finish before putting on the patina.

Thanks for looking
-Alan
 
You did a great job! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

How did you do the mustard to get the striped pattern?
 
i used a small piece of paper towel folder over a few times to make a thick fold/ edge, I smeared the mustard on the whole blade, then wiped away stripes with the folded paper towel (the most patina forms where the mustard is wiped away (as long as there is mustard surrounding it))

I let it sit maybe 5-10 minutes or so (I wasnt really paying attention, browsing forums and whatnot) then rinsed it off, scrubbed it with a scotchbright pad, and repeated the process till it got where I wanted it.

Some of the layers i randomly applied to mustard so it wouldnt be too uniformly striped.
 
MrSuicide said:
About 6 months ago i decided to recondition it, because it was clearly a user and I thought it would be best to continue to use it as my great grampa did,
Thanks for looking
-Alan
Click to expand...

I'm doing the same thing with a old "True Temper Kelley Works" axe of my Gran-dad's. Good for you. The old work horse looks great:thumbup:
 
That is a beautiful old large stockman. What you have done to the blades so far looks like hell. Have you ever seen an old carbon steel blade that had such a pattern naturally ??? I think not. It looks hokey and fakey and I am betting you can do a lot--LOT!!!--better than that.
 
WIL TERRY said:
That is a beautiful old large stockman. What you have done to the blades so far looks like hell. Have you ever seen an old carbon steel blade that had such a pattern naturally ??? I think not. It looks hokey and fakey and I am betting you can do a lot--LOT!!!--better than that.
Click to expand...

yes i know the natural patina's look very good, but they take a long time to form, especially on a knife that isnt my usual every day carry. I steered away from trying to imitate a natural patina since I was having fun creating patterns, and im pretty happy with how it came out, as cheesy it may look to some.

thanks for your opinion though, ill have to try out imitating a natural patina on another blade :thumbup: :D
 
I admit, I'm not much of a fan of the stripey patina you've created, but whatever makes you happy. :D Methinks you'll love the 75- I carry one pretty much every day, with a nice patina of its own. :D
 
Nice job that you have done there!
That patina is not really my thing, but with mustard it's really dificult to do a clean patina.
If you want to give it an even, smooth patina, try it with HOT vinegar!
Clean the blades to make shure there is absolutly NO grease, don't even tuch the blades with bare fingers.
Give it a new finish with fine sand paper, clean again..
Put it into HOT vinegar and let it a few minutes (you'll see small bubbles).

You can repeat that several times, each time, you sand the blade, and put it again in the vinegar, you'll get a deeper, smoother patina that will last long!
 
>>>>"If you want to give it an even, smooth patina, try it with HOT vinegar!
Clean the blades to make shure there is absolutly NO grease, don't even tuch the blades with bare fingers. Give it a new finish with fine sand paper, clean again.. Put it into HOT vinegar and let it a few minutes (you'll see small bubbles)."

================================

Question about the sandpaper part:

Pretty soon I'm going to take the plunge and patina my latest aquisition, a new Boker trapper. It has a mirror polish on the blades. Are you saying I need to sand them? Or is just cleaning them thoroughly and then giving 'em the vinegar plunge enough?

BTW, MrSuicide, nice job reconditioning that stockman. It really is very hard to tell that the tips of all the blades were broken off, and there was a large chip in the main blade.
 
Good question.. I never tried it with a polished blade, but I think a satin finish will get better, deeper results.
But like you can repeat it as often as you want (until there's nothing left from sanding the blade ;)) try it first on the mirror polish blade.
 
I did the clean and hot vinegar dip with a new Case CV sodbuster, without sanding it, and got a nice even finish. I think you would only have to sand it if it was used, and the finish was not even. If the finish varies, I think you would wind up with a splotchy appearance.
 
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