How To Vintage Puma 8101 Texas Bill

K

kwackster

Joined
Dec 23, 2005
Messages
2,049
Today a member of Tactical Forum in Germany sent me this vintage Puma 8101 Texas Bill, advertized in a +/- 1950's Puma brochure as a "throwing Scout knife" (German: Wurf und Fahrtenmesser)
The request is to give it some TLC, post some pics how i do things, and then return the knife to it's owner.













I think that the German text "Adjustiert" and the eagle (?) in the center of the small button have something to do with the Third Reich, but maybe someone here knows more about this ?

 
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Adjustiert just means "Adjusted" in German. It is a cool old knife. I really have a soft spot for the mid-century German knives.
 
Handle disassembled.
Tools used: a modified Swiss Made PB flathead stubby no.5, a thin scalpel blade with a purposely overstropped apex (polished blunt), and the flathead screwdriver on my old Amefa army knife.

 
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The eagle is the German eagle, symbol of the Federal Republic of Germany after WWII. Nothing to do with the Nazi Party in this case. Why it appears on this particular sheath is a mystery.

Zieg
 
Wow...it's a beauty.
I can't quite make out from the photos why it needs anything more than basic TLC....
Is the handle dried out or structurally damaged?..it kinda looks like Kim Kardashian going overseas for a hairdo...
There's more to it than that I'm guessing.
Is it getting new leather and spacers?
 
This is how the blade looks after regrinding by hand both sides with only 400 grit wet & dry SiC paper using WD40 oil as a lubricant on a semi-hard rubber backing.
Somewhere in the past the edge had already been sharpened convex, so in order to remove as little steel as necessary i just evened things out to a new edge of around 30 degrees inclusive.
It's not completely finished yet (there is still a bit of edge damage left under the letter T), but that can also be done after the handle is re-installed.




 
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Separately polished the miniature guard a bit, then put the handle back together using glue between all the washers:




Egalized the surface with a few different grits of sanding linen, treated it with several coats of warm Granger's wax, then somewhat polished the pommel:





How the knife looks at the moment:




 
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The knife is now almost done.
The blade surface was refined with 800 grit wet & dry and some WD40.
The new convex edge apex measures ~30 degrees inclusive and needs to have it's tiny burr removed later, after which the sheath will receive a few coats of warm Granger's wax.


 
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