Unbranded Knife of Mystery

M

Mialum

Joined
Jun 18, 2022
Messages
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I picked this poor knife up for 20 bucks at an antiques store the other day: the brand is a mystery to me, and I'm trying to figure out if it has any historical value whatsoever, or if I should just make a project of rehandling it.
It's in very bad condition, and looks to be relatively old. The guard, buttcap and weird nut on the handle are brass, as far as I can tell, and the handle itself seems to be ancient dry-rotting rubber (maaaaaybe leather dyed black??) with four plastic spacers. It has no markings whatsoever besides a partial word ending in "NEL" on the front of the guard. Quite possible that it's already been rehandled by someone already before I got it.
I'm not holding my breath on it being anything valuable, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't "destroying history" (lol) before I refurbished it.
Pics:
https://imgur.com/a/EW8IV62
 
That thing has lived a life, that's for sure. Brought back from the dead once or twice as well.

I hope I look a bit better and have half as many stories when I'm that old. Lol!

Sorry I don't know anything about it. Looks like a fun project though. I wonder if someone made that at home or something along those lines, or just kept "repairing" a really old knife.
 
Yes indeed. Whoever (if anyone) repaired it last was a very decent workman from the looks of it.
 
I suspect this was originally a common German made import of some kind , but whatever it was originally is pretty much gone now and there's no risk here.
It has clearly touched a bench grinder a time or two, the original blade grind is mostly gone, and it is definitely not the same shape that it originally was.
I couldn't say exactly what it looked like originally, but it certainly didn't look like this.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I suspect this was originally a common German made import of some kind , but whatever it was originally is pretty much gone now and there's no risk here.
It has clearly touched a bench grinder a time or two, the original blade grind is mostly gone, and it is definitely not the same shape that it originally was.
I couldn't say exactly what it looked like originally, but it certainly didn't look like this.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I kinda figured it wasn't particularly historically valuable. But hey, a blade blank and brass fittings for $20? Not too bad.
 
Mialum said:
Yeah, I kinda figured it wasn't particularly historically valuable. But hey, a blade blank and brass fittings for $20? Not too bad.
Click to expand...
You could have certainly done worse, especially considering that you got it at an antique store where things are often overpriced.
 
Whoa, that was a heck of a save. Nice work. I woulda had sympathy on the old girl too.
 
JM2 said:
Whoa, that was a heck of a save. Nice work. I woulda had sympathy on the old girl too.
Click to expand...
Yep! She definitely seemed to have had several lives already, and it was my pleasure to give her one more!
 
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