How To Old Marble's Ideal fixed blade

K

kwackster

Joined
Dec 23, 2005
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Recently i bought an old Marble's Ideal which had lost quite a bit of it's original blade shape due to it probably being used as a digging tool in the past.
It had no point to speak of nor any edge left, and next to some corrosion and grinding marks' it had quite a bit of those telltale deep scratches running lengthwise in the front half of the blade.
Since the steel is noticeably harder than my F.Dick basterd file nr.1 i tried something different this time to get the blade back into shape again; a Chinese made 120 grit diamond file from E-Bay costing a whopping 6 dollars including shipping.
This actually worked quite well and within a reasonable timeframe to restore the basic full convex blade shape the knife originally had, and of course without any chance of overheating the old carbon steel with it's quality heat treat.
Also recut the swedge with it.











Previously i disassembled the stack, numbered each washer, and reassembled it using glue between each washer, then hand sanded to shape:





Refined the blade surface with 240 grit, 400 grit, and finished with 800 grit wet & dry on a rubber backing using WD40 as a lubricant.
The apex measures just a hair below 30 degrees inclusive and is sticky sharp (can whittle a chest hair from tip to root)
Next step will be some test whittling into an old piece of cutting board (hard beechwood) to see how the new edge holds up.





 
Good job on it. Someone really knew how to treat a knife before you got it. My Ideal has a 5" blade. That one looks longer. DM
 
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I recently came into an old ideal with bakelite pommel. (WW2? or 49-52? Not sure) I'd like to try and bring it back a bit. The leather is dry so I was going to try neatsoil and beeswax. Hopefully it will take care of the slight play in the blade so I dont have to try and tighten the pommel. In regards to the blade, is there anything I should really NOT do? Really light steel wool? I would appreciate any recommendations you guys might have. This was my grandfathers knife and been in storage for roughly 30 years. Thanks.
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As always there are many ways leading to Rome.
Based on this one photo i think your knife has the potential to be restored/rejuventated back to almost as good as new visually, and also be fully useable again in honor of your grand dad if you would wish to do so.
If this were my own grandfather's knife that is what i would do, but i may be a bit biased as tinkering with these kind of knives is a bit of a hobby of mine.
BTW: don't use neats oil on the handle, beeswax however is a good choice.

Member @Bill DeShivs may also have useful opinions on this matter.
 
Neatsoil makes leather (overly) supple, something you may want on certain other leather products but not on a series of separate leather washers forming a knife handle.
There you want the leather to be firm & stiff, yet well nourished so it won't crack or rot over time.
Here is where a good quality leather wax comes in, and the last decade or so i've been using Granger's wax with excellent results.
 
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