OT: An old Hunting knife

[wildmanh]

REcently I've come to find out that I mostly am interested in Traditional knives. Mainly Older Western brand Hunting knives. Recently I bid on a number of then on Ebay and have won all the bids. I have recived one of the knvies and have 3 more coming to me (One of which is an old Marbles hunting knife).

The first to arive is an old Western Model L48ABG.

On the left side of the blade it has:

WESTERN
BOULDER, COLO
MADE IN U.S.A.

And on the right side:

L48ABG

The specs are:

OAL: 8"
Blade length: 4 1/4" (tip to front of guard)
handle: 3 3/4"
Blade thickness: 1/8"
Handle thickness 3/4"

The blade is made from a High Carbon steel. It has some rust and a nice Patina. The Guard is brass, handle is stacked leather with exposed tang and I think it has an Aluminum Pommel. Now, the sheath is made out of about 4 oz. leather, it's a fold over, low ride sheath. The stitching is coming out and the leather had some mildew, but I've already cleaned that up.

This is going to be one of my many projects this winter. Should be a lot of fun. I used to have an old Western brand F48A Hunter. The F48A's handle is made out of stacked steel and plastic rings and it had an aluminum guard. It's an interesting looking knife (About the same dimentions as the L48ABG) and very cool IMO. Am on the look out for one of those.

The F48A is called the Black Beauty. There were a number of knives in that series. The L48ABG is from another series like the black beauty, only all those knives have leather handles. So far, I've found about 6 different styles of the 48A style knives. It's pretty cool.

So, does anyone else like to collect old traditional knives? If so, what brands and or from what time frames?

 

[Yvsa]

I don't collect such knives, but I do snap up any old ones that have damaged handles.
The blades can be reworked and new handles mounted to make excellent kardas.
There's a pair of such knives on the Foxy FOlly of mine that Terry is refurbishing the scabbard for.
When I get it back from Terry I will try to get some pix and get Dean to post them.

 

[Ferrous Wheel]

collecting for me tends towards antique swords and spears, mostly. I started with some 1800-1900 bayos in bad shape, refinished or restored them, etc. As my spending capacity grew, I added many more pieces to the collection.

I'm no John Powell, tho. I have only about 1/2 dozen antique weapons from 120 years old to 500 years old, all munitions grade and nothing too fancy, just old users.

Mostly I try to stay ahead of collection trends, Like buying Filipino and javanese Keris and tombak, which haven't yet hit their collection stride to be equal to say the booming Japanese sword market. Also, some antique African weapons are obtainable from the right sources, and munitions grate makonde tribe spears from 120 years ago are readily obtainable for 50-100 USD.

Case in point: In 1985, if you asked a Japanese sword specialist about shin-gunto (factory made for WWII) katana, he'd say they are valueless, lack spirit, have machine polishing deformations, etc. As such, you could pick up a Gunto in fair to good shape for 100-200 bucks. Now in 2003, the market is hitting up even these Guntos as the really good swords become overpriced or supplies dry up. As a result, a fair Shin gunto goes for 400-700 bucks! Basically, they don't make em anymore, so their value will increase (even as a by-product of the nihonto market).

Collectors, onward!

Keith

 

[ferguson]

Originally posted by wildmanh
REcently I've come to find out that I mostly am interested in Traditional knives. Mainly Older Western brand Hunting knives.

I can't beleive you collect that old junk.

Just kidding! You're a man after my own heart! It's really fun to get an old Western, or Kabar and shine it back up and sharpen it. I swear they get sharper than any knife I have. And you can get them dirt cheap usually. I hardly ever sell any, but have a Western hatchet/knife combo on Ebay right now at Ebay .

Here is a picture of one drawer of my knife box.

Take care bud,

Steve

 

[Yvsa]

Originally posted by ferguson
I swear they get sharper than any knife I have.

Steve

What most people don't know, I didn't, is that the really quality old knives have had all the austentite that's gonna change to martensite finally changed due to time.
I read about this in one of the Knives 198*/199*/200* books that came/come out yearly.
The fellow writing the article was writing about the old Cattaragus 225Q and how he thought it was some kind of super alloy instead of straight 1095 high corbon steel until he had one tested.
Time works much like the Cyro treatment that's so commonly used today.
The Cyro does in a short time what it's taken 50 years to happen to these old blades.
It's probably true that you can get them sharper than the average knife.
I found the article really interesting.

Maybe this could explain the stories of some of the legendary blades of the past that were supposed to be of supersteel and were super performers?

 

[wildmanh]

Lots of good info so far. Thanks for the Replies, keep em coming.

Yvsa, Making Karda's out of old knives sounds like a great idea. I was thinking of doing that same thing with one of the old hunters I have coming. Do you modify the Khukuris sheath to fit the knife or fit the knife to the sheath?

Keith, The market sure is funny that way. IIRC you have a sweet collection. Would love to see pics of it some time. (Dont remember if you have already shared pics or not:footinmou)

Steve, that is a sweet collection you have there. If you ever deside to get rid of any, let me know. Looks like you have 2 L48ABG's in there. Way cool. I really like the one in the middle. Do you know all of there model numbers? BTW they cleaned up really well. That Combo you have on Ebay is also really sweet. If I hadn't already gotten 4 off of Ebay, I'd snag that right up.

Tonight I helped make dinner and cut up tomatoes with my new knife. It came with a nice sharp edge. Yep, these old knives sure seem like they are made out of a super steel. Long live Carbon.

 

[radiance62]

I an new to this site and know nothing about knives. I just know I have collected many over the years. I just decided to read up on all the knives I have. This L48ABG Western is one I have. It does appear to have a leather handle. Mine is in very nice condition and in the original case that is perfect.
What type of a knife is this and about how old is it? What would it be used for?

REcently I've come to find out that I mostly am interested in Traditional knives. Mainly Older Western brand Hunting knives. Recently I bid on a number of then on Ebay and have won all the bids. I have recived one of the knvies and have 3 more coming to me (One of which is an old Marbles hunting knife).

The first to arive is an old Western Model L48ABG.

On the left side of the blade it has:

WESTERN
BOULDER, COLO
MADE IN U.S.A.

And on the right side:

L48ABG

The specs are:

OAL: 8"
Blade length: 4 1/4" (tip to front of guard)
handle: 3 3/4"
Blade thickness: 1/8"
Handle thickness 3/4"

The blade is made from a High Carbon steel. It has some rust and a nice Patina. The Guard is brass, handle is stacked leather with exposed tang and I think it has an Aluminum Pommel. Now, the sheath is made out of about 4 oz. leather, it's a fold over, low ride sheath. The stitching is coming out and the leather had some mildew, but I've already cleaned that up.

This is going to be one of my many projects this winter. Should be a lot of fun. I used to have an old Western brand F48A Hunter. The F48A's handle is made out of stacked steel and plastic rings and it had an aluminum guard. It's an interesting looking knife (About the same dimentions as the L48ABG) and very cool IMO. Am on the look out for one of those.

The F48A is called the Black Beauty. There were a number of knives in that series. The L48ABG is from another series like the black beauty, only all those knives have leather handles. So far, I've found about 6 different styles of the 48A style knives. It's pretty cool.

So, does anyone else like to collect old traditional knives? If so, what brands and or from what time frames?

 

[Steely_Gunz]

I an new to this site and know nothing about knives. I just know I have collected many over the years. I just decided to read up on all the knives I have. This L48ABG Western is one I have. It does appear to have a leather handle. Mine is in very nice condition and in the original case that is perfect.
What type of a knife is this and about how old is it? What would it be used for?

Welcome radiance

Forum and site rules have modified a bit since this thread was started some 12 years back. You'll probably find more info on your knife if you post pics and questions in the Traditional or General knife discussion subforum.

If you have any khukuris related questions, please feel free to post them in a new thread Once again, Welcome

I'm gonna go ahead and lock this thread down since it's plenty old.