- Joined
- Feb 3, 2001
- Messages
- 32,359
I may have posted this one before, it's a Graef Schmidt Jack from the 30s-40s, I found this in my basement all covered with paint. It looked like the original owner used it to open paint cans and stir paint with it.
The scales and blades were covered in white paint the backsprings were stuck and the blade had big scallops snapped of the cutting edge of the main blade.
I was gonna get rid of it because it looked like junk. I don't know what possessed me but itit cleaned up yet the tang to see if I could see a stamp and it was there, it was faint and it took awhile to make it out but when I typed Graef and Schmidt into Google it came back with a German manufacturer and a time frame for this style somewhere between the mid 30s to mid 40s.
With that info under my belt I decided to clean off the paint and reprofile the chipped main blade. It took me about 6 hours of cleaning, I got 99% of the paint off, you can still see some under the scale where the chip is but I like the way it came out.
The bone is so slick from being used, fondled and rubbed its like glass, the back springs are about a 4 on the main and a 5 on the pen, they both have snap so I'm happy.
My only regret is that I didn't take a pic of it when I found it. Other than that for an 80+ year old knife I think it came out great and rather than stick it on a shelf I put it into my rotation and carry it frequently and like the original owner, (I'm guessing that the neglect and abuse came from a second owner, possibly a kid who took it from his dad
) I can't help but to rub and caress the beautiful bone they used.
The scales and blades were covered in white paint the backsprings were stuck and the blade had big scallops snapped of the cutting edge of the main blade.
I was gonna get rid of it because it looked like junk. I don't know what possessed me but itit cleaned up yet the tang to see if I could see a stamp and it was there, it was faint and it took awhile to make it out but when I typed Graef and Schmidt into Google it came back with a German manufacturer and a time frame for this style somewhere between the mid 30s to mid 40s.
With that info under my belt I decided to clean off the paint and reprofile the chipped main blade. It took me about 6 hours of cleaning, I got 99% of the paint off, you can still see some under the scale where the chip is but I like the way it came out.
The bone is so slick from being used, fondled and rubbed its like glass, the back springs are about a 4 on the main and a 5 on the pen, they both have snap so I'm happy.
My only regret is that I didn't take a pic of it when I found it. Other than that for an 80+ year old knife I think it came out great and rather than stick it on a shelf I put it into my rotation and carry it frequently and like the original owner, (I'm guessing that the neglect and abuse came from a second owner, possibly a kid who took it from his dad
) I can't help but to rub and caress the beautiful bone they used.
