- Joined
- Jul 20, 1999
- Messages
- 683
Last Sunday, I found myself patiently wondering up and down the isles of a large antique mall near where I live. You see, it was Valentines weekend, and I was doing my husbandly duties, by doing whatever my wife wanted to do that day.
So as I wondered by the two hundredths booth, I spyed an old rusty blade, with no handle laying on a shelf. Have you ever driven down the road, and seen an old grey dog setting by the ditch. Let out by an owner no longer willing to put up with the increasing demands that an aging old servant requires? Maybe the vet bills were beyond the budget, but still, hardly a respectable way to retire a faithful companion.
She was laying there like that dog. Her blade about four inches long with what I would call scallops, instead of blood grooves, wich are much narrower than these scallops. Her tip is rounded to the degree that there is no longer a point. Rust was covering any tang stamp, so positive identification was impossible at that time. As I mentioned, her handle was gone, and the threads of her stick tang had been broken off, leaving about three and a half inches of tang left.
I ran my fingers over her curves, and found that despite the rest of her afflictions, her edge, although not sharp by any means, was in good shape. No chips or pits, and not that far from sharp. For the three dollars on her tag, I thought if nothing else, I could take her home and give her a respectable funeral.
Running the wire wheel across her tang, the word "MARBLES" appeared. A grand old name from the past.
Enough rambling---now the questions.
1. Can a tip be reground? Would she have to be annealed first, or could it be done in her hardned state?
2.Is a whitetail antler a possibility for a handle? I know I have seen some used before, but that doesn't mean it is a good idea on a using knife. I happen to have one that gets the blame for destroying a one thousand dollar tractor tire. I guess if it could be used, that would put her value up to about one thousand dollars!
But there is only three and a half inches of tang, and I am open for ideas.
3. Her brass guard isn't large enough to be anything but a pain if she were to be brought back to life again, so it would need to be replaced with one of more function.
4. I would love to bring her back to good health, and put her back in the role she was born to preform, but am not sure that I am qualified. Although I intend to soon, I have not yet even made a knife.
So, if anyone would care to email me about taking this suffering lady on as their patient, please do so.
Maybe someone will convince me how easy it would be to do myself, and I will decide to do that.
thanks
So as I wondered by the two hundredths booth, I spyed an old rusty blade, with no handle laying on a shelf. Have you ever driven down the road, and seen an old grey dog setting by the ditch. Let out by an owner no longer willing to put up with the increasing demands that an aging old servant requires? Maybe the vet bills were beyond the budget, but still, hardly a respectable way to retire a faithful companion.
She was laying there like that dog. Her blade about four inches long with what I would call scallops, instead of blood grooves, wich are much narrower than these scallops. Her tip is rounded to the degree that there is no longer a point. Rust was covering any tang stamp, so positive identification was impossible at that time. As I mentioned, her handle was gone, and the threads of her stick tang had been broken off, leaving about three and a half inches of tang left.
I ran my fingers over her curves, and found that despite the rest of her afflictions, her edge, although not sharp by any means, was in good shape. No chips or pits, and not that far from sharp. For the three dollars on her tag, I thought if nothing else, I could take her home and give her a respectable funeral.
Running the wire wheel across her tang, the word "MARBLES" appeared. A grand old name from the past.
Enough rambling---now the questions.
1. Can a tip be reground? Would she have to be annealed first, or could it be done in her hardned state?
2.Is a whitetail antler a possibility for a handle? I know I have seen some used before, but that doesn't mean it is a good idea on a using knife. I happen to have one that gets the blame for destroying a one thousand dollar tractor tire. I guess if it could be used, that would put her value up to about one thousand dollars!
But there is only three and a half inches of tang, and I am open for ideas.
3. Her brass guard isn't large enough to be anything but a pain if she were to be brought back to life again, so it would need to be replaced with one of more function.
4. I would love to bring her back to good health, and put her back in the role she was born to preform, but am not sure that I am qualified. Although I intend to soon, I have not yet even made a knife.
So, if anyone would care to email me about taking this suffering lady on as their patient, please do so.
Maybe someone will convince me how easy it would be to do myself, and I will decide to do that.
thanks
