Old Timer 1250T needs work.

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k12s

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Feb 14, 2008
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I bought an Old Timer Schrade 1250t for 5 bucks today (ebay has a new in box for 100) so I thought why not. It's in bad shape. Stiff as hell. It has delrin handles. What should I do first to get it back presentable.

The blade has great patina, but the knife needs some care.

And if anybody knows what grade steel it has that would be great.

Thanks for any help offered.
 
Welcome k12s.

The actual model number is 125OT. OT as in Old Timer. That should help when it comes to ebay and finding a value.

Oil the joint to free it up a bit. Work it in and it should smooth out quite a bit.

You can clean up the bolsters with a metal polish. If you have an automotive polish, that'll work too. If theres any rust on the blades you can knock it down with a fine steel wool with some oil on it. Sharpen and stick it in your pocket. There's probably years of use left in it.


Chris
 
Rupestris said:
Welcome k12s.

The actual model number is 125OT. OT as in Old Timer. That should help when it comes to ebay and finding a value.

Oil the joint to free it up a bit. Work it in and it should smooth out quite a bit.

You can clean up the bolsters with a metal polish. If you have an automotive polish, that'll work too. If theres any rust on the blades you can knock it down with a fine steel wool with some oil on it. Sharpen and stick it in your pocket. There's probably years of use left in it.


Chris
Click to expand...

Should it be soaked in anything? To clean the out the pivot (?). I can't take apart a knife like this.

I'm new to knives.:o
 
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What I do is drip some dish soap in the pivot with the knife open partway, and work the blade back and forth under warm water. It does really well at flushing out crud.
 
You can put the whole knife in a bowl of mineral oil. You can buy it at a grocery store or pharmacy. Let it soak for a couple hours then work the blade open and closed to work the gunk out of the pivot and the backspring. Soak, open-close, repeat.

I've done this with a bunch of "junk" scout knives I bought at an antique store that I was unable to open at all, and they are quite useable now. :)
 
I soak the pivots in WD-40 and worked them back and forth. Cleans out the gunk very well in my experience. I also run cotton swab or wadded up paper towel down inside between the scales and wipe out as much junk from there as I can (you'd be surprised what comes out :barf:) Then clean the whole thing in hot water (hot as my hands can stand, it'll evaporate faster) and soap. Dry well and a light oiling, done.
 
Here is what I do (and I charge people a lot of money to do it!)
Remove all obvious crud with a toothpick.
Soak the knife in WD 40 and dry. Get inside with a toothpick and pull out any crud you can find.
Do several WD 40 soak/ dry cycles.
0000 steel wool will help remove active rust on the blade. After using 0000 steel wool, do another WD 40 flush to remove the steel wool fuzz.
Oil the knife when finished.
Bill
 
My standard procedure for flea-market & garage-sale knives, if they need it:

drop 3-in-1 oil into the joint (I like 3-in-1 for this part because it's thicker than WD40), work it in, keep adding it in, then let it sit overnight. Next morning, get your garden hose, crank it up to full pressure, and aim it directly into the pivot. Keep a solid stream of water going into it for a couple minutes (you'll probably get soaked). Then dry off as much as you can, and get a hair dryer and blow warm-hot air into & around any area where there's a gap. Last step - if you have a bench vice, line it with leather (or a towel). GENTLY squeeze the knife in the vice, not too much pressure, and see if any water works out from under the scales; soak it up with a paper towel. Leave the knife in the vice overnight, then oil the pivot in the morning.

I've ended up with a few nice old users this way, for not much cash.

The vice thing works on loose knives, to tighten them up a little.

thx - cpr
 
Another oil that does a good job is Blue Juice, a valve oil for brass instruments you can find at nearly any music store. In addition to lubricating, it cleans and protects and is a highly penetrating oil designed for use in close tolerance situations. I restored an old Imperial scout knife with it by dripping it through the pivots and back springs and wiping the springs off with a paper towel. It's amazing what that stuff forces out through a gap you can't stick paper or see light through! Just keep working the pivots and dripping a few drops of oil at a time and wiping. The knife is like new now, and I carry it from time to time when I'm feeling folksy. :D
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I've done the soak a number of times. I used Gunk. The stuff used to spray on car engines and alot of crud came out of the knife. I figured it wouldn't discolor the delrin handles and it hasn't.

What was surprising to me is the knife seems to have never been sharpened. The edge, after I removed all the crud with some steel wool, still had the original "factory lines" on the edge. The edge had alot of pits from rust.

After that I sharpened it at 15 degrees on the sharpemaker with the greys ( about an hour ) it took a great edge and it quite sharpe now. I plan on today polishing the edge to make it look like a mirror. I think it will look good with the contrast of the grey discolored blade.

I then got out the Flitz and polished the bolsters and brass (couldn't even tell there was brass when I first got it ). The bolsters have a couple of dents. I'm thinking I may wet sand them to see if I can get them new looking again. The brass looks great.

All and all it turned out pretty good for a first attempt. I may have cleaned it too well. It seems to lost some of its character.:jerkit:

Thanks again for all the advice. I'm going to pay more attantion to some of these old knives I run across down here.:)
 
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I am not surprised that your find was never sharpened. Most people who aquire a pocket knife do not know how to sharpen one or have anything to sharpen it with. And those carbon steel ones would keep their edge well enough for many years of occasional light use.

I recently found my own old Boyscout knife and when I examined it, I determined that it also was never sharpened and it still has a working edge. I am pretty sure I aquired a crock stick learned to use it while I was still a Boyscout, but apparently never bothered to touch that one up even though I carried it during Boyscout activities for about 5+ years.

Congratulations on your new old knife. They are the best is some ways.
 
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