Russell (Grohmann) #4 Survival Knives - new pics of sheath mods and forced patina

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Here's some scans of my new well-used stag "user" knife. It's a Grohmann, Russell #4 design with stag handles, what I think are hammered copper rivets and some simple but extensive file-work.

I haven't yet confirmed how much (if any) of the work done on it is factory but my guess is handles and file-work on handle is factory and the extensions on the thumb grooves are post-factory.

I have pictured it beside a new rosewood #4 for comparison. My stag knife weighs a hefty 9.5oz and the rosewood weighs only 7.0oz which is something I noticed the second I first hefted it.

I think back when the stag one was made the lack of markings saying different means it's carbon steel but again I'm not sure.

Enjoy! Any comments welcome...

 

[untamed]

Now that certainly is different, but in a good dressed-up-from-plain-Jane way!

 

[cramsey3006]

Looks like the blade on the stag handled one is thicker than the rosewood. That would account for the weight difference. The Grohmann knives just look classy and feel good in hand.

 

[Stubai]

Nice blades! These knives really shine in the food prep department. One fellow I know had never seen one but after he used mine he was, shall we say, a convert. Yes, they really do feel wonderful in the hand. Love the blade stamp on the stag variety, plus the custom file work...what can I say? Pure class.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Thanks for you comments guys. I usually stick to the Schrade sub-forum but I thought I'd post a couple Canadian knives on Canada Day. The stag one is the only Russell belt knife I've seen with a choil which is what leads me to believe some of the customization was post-factory.

I'm going to contact Grohmann regarding the knife (carbon versus stainless, factory versus post-factory, age etc) and will update this thread when I have some new info. Cheers! D.

 

[Bob W]

Didn't Grohmann sometimes sell blank blades?
Most of the work on the stag knife looks like someone did it at home - the handle and pins, the tooth-like serrations, and the spine filework.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Didn't Grohmann sometimes sell blank blades?
Most of the work on the stag knife looks like someone did it at home - the handle and pins, the tooth-like serrations, and the spine filework.

They did indeed sell "kits" with rivets and rosewood slabs for home assembly and this could be the result. I've seen other Grohmann factory stag examples and to me the handle slabs and rivets look very Grohmann-like but the choil and tooth-like serrations do not.

I just like researching these details but regardless of who did the work it still is very much to my taste. Took a wicked edge too!

So far my guess on age is 1964-1975 based on the tang stamps but I will confirm this after I hear from Grohmann.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I never did post again after contacting Grohmann and the knife's had some TLC or abuse heaped on it (depending on your point of view) so I thought I would post an update on this, my most-used all-round camping knife.

Grohmann customer service told me that they had never done this type of (filework) customization so it must have been done post-factory. They told me that the early knives like this one were made from thicker Swedish steel compared to thinner German steel being used today. The blade markings are consistant with the earliest examples circa 1964.

In the next few posts I'll show you some new pics of my "finishing touches". It's been a journey!

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

This knife/sheath combo had some issues I needed to address.

First thing that had to be fixed was the stitching on the sheath. The sheath is a newer version combo style which I really like (the original had a keeper strap that was easily sliced when removing the knife from the sheath and had no steel combo) but the machine stitching wasn't tight enough to prevent the blade from sneaking past the welt and a couple threads got sliced.


In my second saddle-stitching effort I re-sewed the sheath using some thick waxed nylon thread sold as furniture upholstery button thread. I like the contrast with the thread now echoing the knife handle.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I wanted the sheath to be better fitted to the knife and had originally planned on using beeswax to hot-form it but I kept procrastinating on getting the beeswax. I had good results wet-forming another sheath so I decided to just use hot-water wet-forming on this one too.

I didn’t want to stiffen the actual belt-hanger piece of leather so I removed it first. The steel was really tight going in and out of the sheath so I left it in throughout this process to stretch the leather. I submerged the sheath in my sink filled with hot water and left it until it was nice and formless and pliable.

I quickly removed the sheath from the sink, emptied out the water and sheathed the knife. Once it was sitting where I wanted it to be I used my fingers and a wooden clothes-pin to pinch and prod the leather into the fitted shape. When I was happy with the shape I removed the knife and immediately dried it to prevent rust. I set the sheath aside to dry for a few days with the (stainless) steel in place the whole time (dried and re-inserted) to stretch the leather. No rust occurred on the steel during this drying process.

Now the leather sheath was fitted and a little bit hardened. To water-proof and moisturize the leather I decided to just use some Dubbin I had handy. I gave it the extra-absorption treatment using lots all over it, setting it aside for a couple hours and then wiping off all the excess with paper towels.

The Dubbin made the leather more supple again but didn’t compromise (relax) the shaping. I re-tied the (also Dubbin’ed) leather belt strap and am very happy with the result. Retention is very good. I can turn knife and sheath completely upside down and shake quite hard and the heavy knife stays put. I left some ugly tool lines on the leather but live and learn. It will get more marks on it as time goes on.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

One unexpected complication occurred when forming the sheath. The 2 minutes or so it took to form the wet sheath also produced two large black patina-dots on the carbon blade. I didn’t think the acids in the leather etc would affect the wet blade in so short a time but they did. No even patina here. Just two ugly black nickel to quarter-sized dots on an otherwise shiny blade. I didn’t like the look at all so I decided to force a patina to even things up.

I’d seen good Damascus-y looking forced patinas people had produced using mustard and decided to have a go at it. I used a paper towel to dab a very uneven but nicely patterned coat of mustard on both sides of the blade. The contrast in the file-work would have been lost if I darkened the full tang so I left the handle area free of the mustard. I left the coat on for two hours to work it’s magic then washed and dried the knife.

The first coat produced some nice blotches but the steel darkens only where the mustard is spread the thinnest and one coat wasn’t enough. I then applied a second coat of blotchy mustard and left it for another two hours. I then washed and dried the knife again.
The second coat was definitely moving things in the right direction but it wasn’t quite where I wanted it so I did a third coat and set it aside for two hours again.

Three coats of mustard and six hours later I ended up with what you see below. I really like it and over time the patina should age and progress attractively imo.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

The knife and sheath were now functional and attractive and the steel slid in and out perfectly but it still didn’t seem right to me.

The made-in-Solingen steel is of good quality and I have used it to fine-tune the edges of all of my knives lately to put it to the test. It shows no wear and produces hair-popping results on an already sharp knife. What I didn’t like about it after using it for a while was the metal split-ring on the end of it. It was noisy and cumbersome and added no value that I could see. I decided to remove it and replace it with a leather fob.

I used a chunk of leather bootlace I had sitting around and dyed the brown felt sides black with a Sharpie marker to match the sheath. Leather dye or shoe-polish would have been much faster but I had neither and decided to rough it with what I had on hand. After dyeing the leather lace I gave it a quick coat of Dubbin as well to keep it strong and supple. I just wanted a small and attractive fob pull so that’s what I made. Before I began, I pulled really hard on the lace to stretch it where it wanted to stretch to ensure it was a very strong and sound chunk.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Now I’m very happy with the results!

My Russell #4 never misses out on the steel when it needs it so it stays sharp longer and needs less re-sharpening. The knife, sheath and steel all look old-school (which is how I like it), are very durable and protected, they all function perfectly and should last me the rest of my life. ... or should I scrimshaw it?