What would you do with this?

yablanowitz

yablanowitz

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Apr 14, 2006
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We had a gun show here the weekend before Christmas. There wasn't a lot that impressed me, but I did pick up a couple of old Barlows, including this 1972 Case.

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The knife has great snap on both blades, the blades seem pretty full, although I admit I don't have anything to compare to. The problem is that nick (well, notch/chip) in the main blade.

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I know I can take it out on my wet grinder without damaging the blade since I've done such repairs before. I am only reluctant because of the age of the knife and the fullness of the blade. It looks like I'd be sacrificing about 5% of the blade to clean this up, but I know it would drive me nuts to use it the way it is. What would you do with it if it was yours?
 
I would do as you said and grind it out, then use it.
It is always a good idea, imho, to resurrect an oldie like this.
 
Jack - a nice old Case Barlow :)

Well that chip is not the best for the knife, for sure.

I´d tend to clean it up and just sharpen it. I wouldn´t grind out the whole chip. There would be too much material loss. Somehow this chip belongs to knife; it should stay there. I had the same thing on a very old Ludwig Groten Shadow Pattern and just ground the blade to a new edge. By time, the chip will disappear... ;)
 
Considering it's condition, i wouldn't worry too much about losing a little steel in order to bring it back to a clean , sharp edge.
I too, would cringe every time i cut something with that chunk missing.
Great find though! I love old Case barlows. I have a 1965-69 barlow in red bone and a 1979 barlow in appaloosa bone, which is in very similar condition to your 1972, but still a beautiful slipjoint.
I'd love to see a pic after you clean it up!
 
That's a pretty good chip there...I have gone the route of just sharpening and using them before, and every time a cut gets halted by hanging up in the chip, it drove me nuts. Very personal call on that one, let us know how this one turns out.
Looks like a nice old Barlow...
 
If it were mine, I'd use a medium or coarse diamond hone to grind that ding out of the edge. It would obviously take a lot of the edge with it. But, in this case, it makes the knife usable. A chip that deep, for me anyway, renders the blade essentially unusable, so fixing it would be worthwhile to me.

Diamond hones work very, very fast on that older carbon steel from Case. I have a ~1965 vintage 6265 SAB Folding Hunter, and reground new edges on it's 2 blades very quickly, using an Aligner with C/F, EF/EEF Dia-Fold hones. The steel grinds very quickly on diamond, but still takes and holds a very fine edge.


David
 
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I would sharpen the inside of the ding since taking it all out would take out a lot of steel, but I am weird, I guess. Since I sharpen with sandpaper, I usually can sharpen all of the weird angles with a little creativeness.
 
Reprofile, focusing on the main edge until it's about gone and then go along the full blade so it still has sweep and the tip won't stick out when closed. Maybe it's a good idea to give it a slight recurve, so you wouldn't narrow it out too much.
 
Not much you can do with that one, but since you have it about all you can do is grind it down if you think its worth the trouble.
 
Nathan Dewey said:
Reprofile, focusing on the main edge until it's about gone and then go along the full blade so it still has sweep and the tip won't stick out when closed. Maybe it's a good idea to give it a slight recurve, so you wouldn't narrow it out too much.
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I like his idea.
 
Definitely grind it out and use it. That old Case Carbon can get Scary sharp.
 
Nathan Dewey said:
Reprofile, focusing on the main edge until it's about gone and then go along the full blade so it still has sweep and the tip won't stick out when closed. Maybe it's a good idea to give it a slight recurve, so you wouldn't narrow it out too much.
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I don't much care for recurves, and straight edges that have been turned into recurves are a particular peeve.

Bob W said:
I would have left it at the gun show. ;)
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Definitely an option, but it was pretty cheap, and I've never had a Case Barlow. In fact, I don't remember ever having seen a Case Barlow in real life before this.

Gevonovich said:
No more left to add other than, I'm glad to see you posting again!
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I guess I have been kind of absent of late. 2012 will not be recorded as a good year in my personal history book.

Since no one has screamed that it's rare and valuable and must be preserved as-is (like there was any danger of that), I guess I'll fire up the wet wheel.
 
Hardly rare, hardly valuable. But certainly a whole lot of knife left there. To me, a perfect candidate for rehabilitation. I couldn't stand to use it with that large of a chip just sharpened up, so I am all for the regrind.

I look at it this way; when I have had to work out a chip or other damage, no one but me has ever noticed a difference in the blade. I took a large chip/bend/warped edge out of a knife for a friend that was pretty severe and actually made the tip of the blade I worked on stick above the liners when folded.

And for that, a quick couple of touches on the sander at the kick solved that. To me, doing something like a regrind/rehab breathes life into an old knife that might sit in a drawer for the rest of its life unused.

I hope you post pics of the regrind when you are finished, I am sure it will be great.

Robert
 
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