Newcomer with a few questions

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Laneo2494

Joined
Mar 16, 2020
Messages
3
Hi all,
I am a newcomer to the world of knives but after recently inheriting a knife that belonged to my late grandfather my interest in the subject has been piqued. The knife is a Remington UMC RH28 - see below photos. I had initially guessed that it may have been the knife he was issued during his service in WWII, but some initial research leads me to believe this is most likely from the pre-was years. Anyways, I was thinking about semi-restoring the knife - mainly cleaning and sharpening the blade. I’ve already removed all the light brown surface rust with WD-40, but was curious to know if anything can be used to removed the black specs on the blade. And as far as sharpening is concerned, is there a proper technique that should be used? I’m considering reaching out to a professional for sharpening, so if anyone has any recommendations of a pro in the Boston/New England area I would appreciate it (the last thing I want to do is ruin the blade with improper sharpening) And finally, the butt end of the knife is a little loose and I was wondering how to go about fixing that (see last picture for reference).

Any and all help, insight, or information on this knife will be appreciated!

-Mike









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Mike

welcome and congrats on the knife.

I don't know about the New England area, but there is a forum here of professional knife makers that offer services.
 
Many folks here would lovingly refer to those black spots as patina and would recommend leaving it. I'd agree with that, surely get rid of any rust but the pepper spots and pitting add character to that old blade. As for the pommel, is hard to tell from the pic but it looks to have an exposed tang. If so, a few taps (or more) with a ball pien hammer will tighten it right up.
 
Your tang is threaded with a nut that will tighten up your stack of leather washers. You can probably turn it with a needlenose plier. You can probably get a pin wrench to fit, or almost certainly make something out of wire or metal stock that will work on it. The nut on a threaded tang is a fairly common arrangement with stacked handles. My sole Marbles has a threaded stick tang like that. I usually use a small needlenose on it.
 
solphilos said:
... As for the pommel, is hard to tell from the pic but it looks to have an exposed tang. If so, a few taps (or more) with a ball pien hammer will tighten it right up.
Click to expand...

Wrong! Henry Beige is closer. There is a tool and you can make one from some flay bar. Hopefully a real expert will answer and tell you the correct way to do it. Needle nose might damage the pommel, which is probably aluminum.
 
It is pre ww2. I nice knife that looks like it’s never been sharpened. What you have done so far is good. But don’t clean any more of the rust. The red stuff was bad, the black spots are stable.

The handle is plastic, maybe Bakelite. It could be fragile.

I would be Leary of any sharpening services. Make sure they don’t use any electric grinders on it.

In short you have a nice collectible 100 year old knife with a potentially fragile handle. That has never been sharpened.

Even though I am very capable of sharpening it. I think I’d leave it alone at this point. Wipe the blade with oil once in a while.
 
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Thanks for all the replies. I’m going to research things a bit more before I decide on a path forward, but I still encourage any and all input from the forum!
 
Cool knife and extra cool that it came from your grandfather. I, for one, would oil the blade and display it. I don't think that something with historical value should be restored, even if that value is only known to you. Also, if you still have the sheath, don't store the knife in it, as it will promote rust.
 
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