Old Knife to New

M

munk

Joined
Mar 22, 2002
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I've an old black and pitted kitchen knife. 10.5" long, wooden handle 4.5", width originally and in the tang 3/4", and the 6" blade markedly less than that. Been sharpened a lot before I got it.

I'm going to drill the rivets out and make a new handle. I'd like to know if the tang metal is hardened like the blade. If it is I could chop the steel in two for a couple of little blades. If not I'll restore it to a single. I suppose the best way to know is to test the steel once the handle is off, but I was curious as to how they made this type of knife.


munk
 
Munk many of the old blades were hardened all the way up. Run a file across it and see what happens when you get the handle off. If the file skates then you know it's hard.;)
 
Right. It's funny the way it's been sharpened. You can see how much steel is missing, and the blade is almost a different tool than it was when it started. This reminds me of the knives I saw in my boyhood. You used to buy a knife for how many shapening it would last, and it was common to see blades worn to narrow sticks. Today everyone has more than enough knives, and I almost never see a blade like that.



munk
 
should make for an interesting project.

Just try to drill the tang...if it works, it works....if it don't, it don't.

Use a cobalt drill bit (avail. at Home Depot).
 
I've got another one I will have to make better; the edge is bowed inwards from improper sharpening. (this knife has some illegable writing and two guys with hammers poised to strike an anvil between them)

When I make the edge straight will it hurt the tempering if I just grind it?


munk
 
just keep it cool....dunk it in a bucket of water as soon as it gets too hot to hold bare-handed....(a simple test, actually....:D)
 
Pen, no one answered this in another forum thread, but is the steel used for kitchen knives any different than that used for field blades?


munk
 
depends on how old is "old"....but for the most part, old kitchen knives were good carbon steel.

That said, modern steel can definitely exceed the limits of "good-ole-steel"....but, of course, can't replace history.

My father-in-law loves to put new handles on old blades - so do I, actually.

You can learn a lot from something like this.
 
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