My latest project may have folks question why I spent so much effort on what some may consider a “throwaway” knife.
This is a vintage Imperial “Fisherman’s Friend” knife/scaler/bottle opener that looked like it had spent most of its time at the bottom of someone’s tackle box. While most of it was in relatively good shape, the celluloid veneer on one side of the metal-stamped scales was damaged beyond repair. Fortunately, these stampings are relatively easy to take off. They’re held in place by simple metal tabs. I just needed to bend the one at the top enough to clear it’s seat and tap off.
The celluloid veneer was more difficult to replace. I used celluloid guitar pick sheet stock as it’s readily available, comes in a pack with a variety of colors, and is cheap. However, I had to thin it down to about the thickness of cardstock with my desktop CNC first because the sheets were too thick. After that, I used my laser to cut out the new veneers; including the hole for the embossed fish (I created the pattern in Adobe Illustrator.) After that, I attached them with super glue and heat-formed with a hobby iron to wrap around the scales.
Finished it up by making it a new leather belt sheath.
As someone in the comments mentioned, I turned a $5 knife into a $25 knife! This video shows the whole process.
This is a vintage Imperial “Fisherman’s Friend” knife/scaler/bottle opener that looked like it had spent most of its time at the bottom of someone’s tackle box. While most of it was in relatively good shape, the celluloid veneer on one side of the metal-stamped scales was damaged beyond repair. Fortunately, these stampings are relatively easy to take off. They’re held in place by simple metal tabs. I just needed to bend the one at the top enough to clear it’s seat and tap off.
The celluloid veneer was more difficult to replace. I used celluloid guitar pick sheet stock as it’s readily available, comes in a pack with a variety of colors, and is cheap. However, I had to thin it down to about the thickness of cardstock with my desktop CNC first because the sheets were too thick. After that, I used my laser to cut out the new veneers; including the hole for the embossed fish (I created the pattern in Adobe Illustrator.) After that, I attached them with super glue and heat-formed with a hobby iron to wrap around the scales.
Finished it up by making it a new leather belt sheath.
As someone in the comments mentioned, I turned a $5 knife into a $25 knife! This video shows the whole process.
