Voos Restored

JM2 · Dec 7, 2023

I posted about this some time back in another thread. After a lot of back and forth with the owner, we settled on a handle style. The handle I did really isn't what he had in mind, but it turn out to be he loves it. My goal for this was not a 100% new looking knife, but rather a knife that looks like it's been well kept for 70 years. I made a new sheath, and used stacked wood and leather for the handle. I left plenty of character on the the blade and a bit on some of the new parts. He was thrilled with it.

Here's the knife as I received it.

Heres the blade where I'm almost done removing the horrible grinder marks. Dremel tools are not your friend unless you have a deft hand and an iron will.

JM2 · Dec 7, 2023

Here is the finished product. I cleaned up the blade down to about 400 grit paper on a backer. After I got it done, I played with it a bit so the handle would have a few handling marks and the blade would have a bit of patina on resurfaced parts. I copied the construction of the sheath except I added a spacer between the two halves. I used an old retaining strap with snap I had that I thought matched the style well, and fit with the well loved theme I was attempting.

bladesmith3 · Dec 7, 2023

beautiful handle

RickHuf · Dec 7, 2023

That is sweeeeeet! What a good looking knife.

Man the more old knives I collect, the more I dislike anyone using a Dremel tool. It's just always a massacre.

The Kidd · Dec 7, 2023

Very nice job.

I see beautiful old knives that someone put on a bench grinder all the time. And it still makes me shake my head every time I see one a used that way.

JM2 · Dec 7, 2023

Thanks for the kind remarks and likes all. The owner was quite happy with it. He'd owned it since he was 14 and is about 75 currently. I don't know how long it had been in the condition that it was when I received it, but I'd guess it had been like that for the majority of its life. He kept it all those years. He loves it and talks about it every time I talk to him.

ZHoovie · Dec 8, 2023

Amazing job bringing that old piece back to life! It was a good call on not doing a full on restoration that removed all the character that knife has

Old Hunter · Dec 8, 2023

That turned out fantastic! OH

Slice-and-dice · Dec 8, 2023

Goes to show you, many of the things folks throw away could be repaired and reused. That knife looks like it has a ton of life left in it now, nice job and thanks for posting the pics.