restoring leather washer fixed knife handles

D

dogngun

Joined
Oct 3, 2004
Messages
19
Recently saw a WWII era USN "combat knife", about 6" fixed blade, at a flea market, and I'm wondering how to restore the old leather washer type handle. The individual washers seemed shrunken in the middle, looked oily yet dried out.
Any way to fix other than replacement ? I see handles like this from time to time.
(I didn't buy it - it was too much to do any work on and re-sell.)
Thanks.

mark
 
If the washers aren't broken a little Neatsfoot or Mink Oil can work wonders and give another 20 years of use. However if they are broken replacement is the only option. With the Kabar/Marble type it is easy. With the Cattaraugus it is an art and you will probably have to hand fabricate new nails for the top. In both instances the washers should be compressed to the tang in a jig before affixing the pommel. Some color and varnish the washers just before compression, then when it all dries they turn them on a lathe to the right dimensions and sand them smooth.
 
sometimes the leather washers are too dried out for anything to restore them so the only option is to replace them. i have repaired a few leather washer handles in the past that only needed a few washers replaced. some were so dryrotted there was nothing that could be done except replace them all. if there are washers missing you can tell if the rest are any good by seeing if they will tear or crumble easily. if they do, they need replaced. i used to think neatsfoot oil would restore the leather but i was told it wont. i use a product called lexol leather conditioner which works rather well. last fall i made a leather washer handle knife. they arent as hard to do as you would think. the only hard thing about it is cutting each piece out to slide on the tang. i dont worry about the outside since a belt sander will shape the leather down easily once its all together. you can see the knife i made at this link here. http://mysite.verizon.net/ress6fq6/id31.html
feel free to email me if you have any questions
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top