Trench Knife needs work

D

dustinthwnd

Joined
Feb 13, 2009
Messages
5
I've got an old military trench knife that was given to me that needed a lot of work. It was kind of rusted or corroded on the surface (i.e. use to be shiny silver, but now blackish). I took a good metal file to it and removed a lot of the surface rust off of it, but due to the shape of the blade, it's hard to remove all of it. Slowly it is returning back to its former shinier self.

Basically, I know I can't return it back to it's original condition, (naturally because some idiot decided to cut off the end of the handle, pull of the handle and put some piece of garbage plexiglass rings handle :barf:) but what can I do to make it look nice again (rust, polishing, handle, possible wrapping)? Btw, I won't buy a new one because I don't mind spending time on this project, I just don't want to have to pay TOO much.

I will get a picture up of it, but this is basically what is should have looked like:
http://www.gundersonmilitaria.com/picturedisplay.html?knifem3uticaguardfineGmG
 
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Depending on how old that knife is and where it came from, that "crappy plexiglass handle ring" stuff my be original WWII modification. Many weapons from that period were modified by GI's who would take plexiglass from crashed aircraft and fashion transparent handles and pistol grips for their weapons. At the Camp Shelby Armed Forces Museum, there is a captured German Star Model B pistol which has a plexiglass grip with a woman's picture underneath. I can imagine that the handle on your knife was given similar treatment by its original owner to "bling it up" a bit.

Other than getting the rust off of it, I'd leave it alone.

By the way, if you use Breakfree CLP and a Scotchbrite green pad, you can get that rust off there without having to take metal off with it.
 
STOP Cleaning until you figure out just what it is you have, get pictures...Unless you are just hell bent on refurbishing the knife then by all means have it:) Some times you never know what ya have and you may inadvertantly turn something worth some coin into a user:D Not saying thats what youve done but there are lot of knowledeable and heloful people on here and we love pictures!;)
ivan
 
The blade was not originally. You don't "brighten things up" with a file. There are so many things done wrong here-you say some idiot replaced the handle?
 
Alright I'll stop for now, until I get a picture up. It's probably not worth much, even the scabbard is in bad shape, the original owner scratched his name into the fiberglass and the tip is broken off. The hilt was broken off of the handle I assume to put the new handle on. The filing was however done carefully only to remove some surface "rust" or whatever the heck it's actually called. After that I was going to polish it. Look, apparently to some (if not all of you), it's obvious that I am inexperienced with this, so here I am asking what to do. If you want, I'll hold off till you see the pictures.
 
That leather handle job is pretty much exactly what I would want to do, it looks great.

Here finally are some pictures, sorry they're really big, but you can see the details...

DSC00735.jpg


close up of handle (btw each plexiglass ring rotates and is not stationary)
DSC00737.jpg


rusty side of what the rest of the knife used to look like before some work done on it:
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww255/dustinthwnd/DSC00739.jpg
 
That blade was probably parkerized when new, not bare metal! If it was me, I would quit while I was ahead.

My $0.02

John
 
If it was parkerized, wouldn't that have kept it from rusting? But clearly it was/is rusted.

This isn't something that I'm planning on selling even if it did have worth, it's more of a personal project and tool I want to work on and keep so I will continue with the restoration even if it seems pointless. Thanks Richard, I will have to study how you did that handle more. Btw, any idea where I can get a new hilt if it's possible to replace it?
 
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send me your email addy and i'll send you some more pictures. i have access to a mill and i can make just about anything.
 
dustinthwnd said:
If it was parkerized, wouldn't that have kept it from rusting? But clearly it was/is rusted.
Click to expand...

Phosphating (park) won't keep it from rusting, roughens the surface of the metal, and does a better job of keeping oil where it belongs. I have a couple
M1 Garand bayos that are both parked, and had spots of rust all over them, look into getting some brass wool, it'll remove the rust, and leave the finish alone (Brownells.com has it)

Good luck with your trench knife!

John
 
What you have is an M3 knife in an M8 or M8A1 sheath. I don't see any remnants of blade stamping on the right side so it would be guard marked. Look carefully at the blade side (front) of the guard. You should be able to see a manufacturer stamp on it. Very early ones were blade stamped by the manufacturer with his name and "1943". A bit later, the year was dropped, then even later, they went to guard marking. There were 17 different manufacturers of the M3. Imperial being the most common and Aerial being the least. As others have posted, that plexi handle was almost certainly done in theatre. The leather handles deteriorated badly in the Pacific due to high humidity. AAMOF, the VERY first M3s came in a leather sheath (M6). This sheath did not hold up in heavy combat use so was replaced by the M8. M8 has a plain tip, M8A1 has a metal tip. Most M3s came with parkerized blades. A few early ones were blued. Blade dated m3s in M6 sheaths are extremely rare. I've seen an Aerial in an M6 sell on Ebay for over $2000! OTOH, a guard marked Imperial in an M8A1 in good shape might bring $200. Poor condition is down from there.

Enjoy!
CW
 
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