- Joined
- Aug 4, 2004
- Messages
- 373
I just got finished restoring a couple of knives that I salvaged from my grandpa's basement, and I thought I would post some pictures. I'm going to link to the pictures because they are big and will probably mess up the text formatting.
Here's the first one, it's a big 27" long machete.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/machete.jpg
Despite the length, it feels really light because of some distal taper. I used it to hack up some weeds that were in my way and it worked really nice.
When I picked it up, the handle was cracked all over and falling off, and the blade was nicked and covered in rust. I cleaned it up, sharpened it, and put on a new handle made of Bloodwood. I also contoured the handle to make it more comfortable. The handle "pins" are pieces of copper wire that I bought at the Home Depot, and the thong hole is 1/4" OD copper tubing for refrigerators (also from the Home Depot).
There are some markings on the ricasso area:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/machete_markings.JPG
It says:
Legitmus
Collins & Co.
Hartford
Acero Fino
Calidad
Gapantizado
and the number "278".
If anybody knows anything about this, please tell me. I'm sure I ruined any antique value by putting on a new handle, but I'm not planning on using and not selling this knife.
The second knife is more interesting, I posted a picture of this before and someone said it was from the Phillipines.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/phillipine_knife.jpg
This one is 24" long. When I found it, it did not have a handle. I had no idea what the handle was supposed to look like so I went to the Valiant Co. website and got some inspiration. The handle on this one is made of Bubinga, again with copper fittings and pin.
I finished the handles on this knife and the machete using a product called "Nelsonite". It's a wood stabilizer, and it's really easy to use. You just dip the piece of wood in the Nelsonite, hold it for 30 seconds, and then pull it out. It stabilizes, hardens, and waterproofs the wood. You can also apply surface finishes like tung oil over the Nelsonite. It costs $18 per gallon plus ~$10 S/H, and you can order it from the Nelsonite Chemical Products company in Grand Rapids, MI, (616) 456-7098.
Okay, with that aside, back to the actual knife. I etched this one and was suprised to find out that it was damascus. I suspected that it might be because of the little forging flaws where the steel did not weld together properly. It's hard to photograph these patterns, but here is a picture showing the damascus better:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/phillipine_knife_pattern.JPG
Again, if anybody can give me more information on this knife, like what the name of this style blade is, I would appreciate it.
I don't know how a damascus Phillipine knife came to end up in my grandpa's basement. My grandpa says that he doesn't remember owning this knife. But this isn't as strange as my next find:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/tanto.jpg
I found this one corroding away in the bottom of a toolbox filled with rusty, old, files. At the time I thought it was just some cheapo kitchen knife, so I threw it in the pile of files (scrap tool steel) that I was taking home. Later on, I was looking through my scrap steel bucket, and noticed a knife with Japanese markings on it. I pulled it out, cleaned it up, and etched it.
To my suprise, this one had an interesting but subdued pattern to the steel, you can tell that it was folded multiple times. This is difficult to see in the picture because I didn't polish the blade at all before etching. It also has a nice hamon. The length is 14 inches.
Unfortunately, this one has a crack in it. The crack extends from the edge all the way up to the temper line. At least the differential hardening prevented the knife from cracking all the way through. Because of the crack, I haven't done any further restoration.
My grandpa also doesn't know anything about this knife and didn't remember having it. My grandpa served in WW2 but not in the Pacific theatre. Maybe he traded somebody for it or picked it up junking. I theorize that it was brought back from WW2 and badly mistreated. It looks like there are hammer marks on the spine, I think someone used a hammer and this tanto to try to split something, and this is when the crack occured.
There are markings on both sides of the tang. I have no idea what these mean. You can see the markings in the above picture, here is another picture of the markings on the back side:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/tanto_markings.jpg
I would again appreciate any help in understanding these marks.
Anyway, I hope you all found these knives as interesting as I did.
Here's the first one, it's a big 27" long machete.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/machete.jpg
Despite the length, it feels really light because of some distal taper. I used it to hack up some weeds that were in my way and it worked really nice.
When I picked it up, the handle was cracked all over and falling off, and the blade was nicked and covered in rust. I cleaned it up, sharpened it, and put on a new handle made of Bloodwood. I also contoured the handle to make it more comfortable. The handle "pins" are pieces of copper wire that I bought at the Home Depot, and the thong hole is 1/4" OD copper tubing for refrigerators (also from the Home Depot).
There are some markings on the ricasso area:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/machete_markings.JPG
It says:
Legitmus
Collins & Co.
Hartford
Acero Fino
Calidad
Gapantizado
and the number "278".
If anybody knows anything about this, please tell me. I'm sure I ruined any antique value by putting on a new handle, but I'm not planning on using and not selling this knife.
The second knife is more interesting, I posted a picture of this before and someone said it was from the Phillipines.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/phillipine_knife.jpg
This one is 24" long. When I found it, it did not have a handle. I had no idea what the handle was supposed to look like so I went to the Valiant Co. website and got some inspiration. The handle on this one is made of Bubinga, again with copper fittings and pin.
I finished the handles on this knife and the machete using a product called "Nelsonite". It's a wood stabilizer, and it's really easy to use. You just dip the piece of wood in the Nelsonite, hold it for 30 seconds, and then pull it out. It stabilizes, hardens, and waterproofs the wood. You can also apply surface finishes like tung oil over the Nelsonite. It costs $18 per gallon plus ~$10 S/H, and you can order it from the Nelsonite Chemical Products company in Grand Rapids, MI, (616) 456-7098.
Okay, with that aside, back to the actual knife. I etched this one and was suprised to find out that it was damascus. I suspected that it might be because of the little forging flaws where the steel did not weld together properly. It's hard to photograph these patterns, but here is a picture showing the damascus better:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/phillipine_knife_pattern.JPG
Again, if anybody can give me more information on this knife, like what the name of this style blade is, I would appreciate it.
I don't know how a damascus Phillipine knife came to end up in my grandpa's basement. My grandpa says that he doesn't remember owning this knife. But this isn't as strange as my next find:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/tanto.jpg
I found this one corroding away in the bottom of a toolbox filled with rusty, old, files. At the time I thought it was just some cheapo kitchen knife, so I threw it in the pile of files (scrap tool steel) that I was taking home. Later on, I was looking through my scrap steel bucket, and noticed a knife with Japanese markings on it. I pulled it out, cleaned it up, and etched it.
To my suprise, this one had an interesting but subdued pattern to the steel, you can tell that it was folded multiple times. This is difficult to see in the picture because I didn't polish the blade at all before etching. It also has a nice hamon. The length is 14 inches.
Unfortunately, this one has a crack in it. The crack extends from the edge all the way up to the temper line. At least the differential hardening prevented the knife from cracking all the way through. Because of the crack, I haven't done any further restoration.
My grandpa also doesn't know anything about this knife and didn't remember having it. My grandpa served in WW2 but not in the Pacific theatre. Maybe he traded somebody for it or picked it up junking. I theorize that it was brought back from WW2 and badly mistreated. It looks like there are hammer marks on the spine, I think someone used a hammer and this tanto to try to split something, and this is when the crack occured.
There are markings on both sides of the tang. I have no idea what these mean. You can see the markings in the above picture, here is another picture of the markings on the back side:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robgaunt/pics/knives/tanto_markings.jpg
I would again appreciate any help in understanding these marks.
Anyway, I hope you all found these knives as interesting as I did.
:grumpy: People that do such things to blades they have no knowledge of should be subjected to a special form of punishment somehow.
:grumpy: 
