WWII Fighting Knife Resto-Advice Needed

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dimag333

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Dec 25, 2014
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Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but looking for some experts advice. Here is my fathers father's (died before I was born) WWII M3 Fighting knife, or at least that is what I have come up with, the knife has no markings anymore, I guess it could be a something else but I highly doubt it. Anyways, been in a tackle box for about 30+ years, I took a couple years ago from my dads tackle box wanting to do something with it but just have the time now. Looking for direction, the blade is dull, rust everywhere, sheath is missing snap but most of all I would like to put a proper handle on this. could on be retro fitted?


 
A stacked handle could be put on it or have a handle cast directly on to it. I have an old WW2 Quartermaster that I am casting an aluminum handle on to that my great grandfather in law used in WW2 and in his service as a Park Ranger.
 
the m3 had an oak wooden handle with grooves cut for grip. the rust needs to be cleaned and removed first, red rust is like cancer if you don't get it all it will keep coming back and eating the steel.
 
you guys think just take it to the grinder until I hit some good steel? would like to source something close to original, any recommendations on where to source?
 
would cleaning the rust and going the paracord route be crappy to do to this knife? I dont think I will be able to get the "rear bolster"? off
 
I wouldn't use a grinder straight off (might result in a lot of unnecessary good metal removal. Try soaking the afflicted parts of the knife in vinegar for an hour or so, then scrubbing the crap out of them. Also, you could get a wire brush attachment for your hand drill: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Avanti-3-in-Wire-Cup-Brush-PWW030CUPD01G/202831066

You really do need to get the rear bolster off to do this right. Otherwise, you will never be able to remove all of the rust the way you need to.

The handle is set up perfectly to do a stacked leather handle. You should be able to get some cheap raw leather from a local Jo-An's or hobby shop.

Once you have all of the rust removed with the brush and the vinegar, you should go over everything with a flap attachment on your hand drill. Something like this, but finer grain: http://www.sears.com/arc-abrasives-flap-wheel-ao-3x1x1-4-in-shank/p-SPM9226552313?hlSellerId=10011&sid=IDx20110310x00001i&kpid=SPM9226552313&kispla=SPM9226552313&kpid=SPM9226552313&mktRedirect=y

You can finish by getting some cloth buffing wheels for your drill with some buffing compound: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-7-Piece-Metal-Buffing-Kit-A10BK07/202886254

That will be able to get into all of the curves of your blade and bring it back to life.

If you can put together the stacked leather handle (just cut out a ton of ovals of leather, use a chisel to cut a slot to fit around the handle part of the blade, stackthe leather on the tang, epoxy on the old rear boulster, and sand the leather to get it to the right finished contour. You should oil under the leather to prevent it retaining water ( I like to do this with balistol, though you could use basically any machine grade lubricant you have on hand).
 
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any ideas on how to remove and re attach a bolster like this? I really dont want to ruin the knife
 
dimag333 said:
any ideas on how to remove and re attach a bolster like this? I really dont want to ruin the knife
Click to expand...

Hard to tell how it is attached. If there is no pin that needs to be punched out, and the metal on the very back is not welded into place, I would just put some WD40 on it and hit it with a rubber mallet or put some wood against it and pound with a regular hammer.

What material is the bolster made of?
 
You might ask a moderator to move your thread to the Bernard Levine sub forum.

The folks over there always have good info.

Please, don't just jump in with a grinder.

Talk to one of the knowledgeable folks over in the BL thread before you do anything to it.
 
thanks, I was wondering where to put this, the bolster looks like the end has been peened essentially, bolster appears to be the same steel
 
Personally, I think I would file down the area that has been peened (being careful to avoid defacing that mark on the bottom) and then try to remove the bottom plate (could also be done on a grinder but with much more risk of destroying that mark).

If you don't want to try that, you can probably get away with leaving it on, removing the other rust (see above), and then fitting an aluminum or wood handle to around the tang. This would be fairly do-able because the tang is perfectly rectangular, thus the cuts necessary to fit material around it are straightforward to make.

If neither of those options sounds appealing, hopefully someone else will come along with better advice =D.
 
I like the idea of fitting a wooden ka bar style handle on it, I am guessing it would have to be purchased essential split down the middle and then adhered in place someway
 
I mean, the simplest way would be to buy a piece of 1" by 2" Oak from Home Depot, cut two lengths exactly as long as the distance between the bolsters on your knife, and then cut two strips from what's left that are the same length, and are the same thickness as the tang.

You can then stack the big pieces on either side of the tang, put the strips in between them to fill in the gaps, epoxy them in place (with some big clamps to hold it together for 24 hours for the epoxy to set), and then use a rasp and sand paper to carve them down to the shape of handle you want. You could use a jig saw to do a lot of the initial wood removal.
 
The rear bolster is attached by peening the tang over. You will have to remove the peened head. To reattach, you will have to file the tang to allow enough of it to protrude and be re-peened. I believe leather washers for the handle are available from Cutco/KaBar.
 
you can also make the handle in two pieces of wood and glue them together. shape after you get them on. I would remove the pommel and clean the rust from there as well. in fack if I wanted to restore it I would use some wet dry sandpaper starting at 220 and go up till I reached the level of polish I wanted, the handle I would put on a belt grinder and let it remove the crud and rust. it wont be seen once the handle is attached. I make two piece wooden handles all the time for the knives I make, its not as hard as some make it seem.
 
quick update, just soaked the knife for a bit in vinegar and then used a wire wheel lightly to remove some of the rust, also used some 0000 steel wool that I have for restoring vintage drums. Coming out decent for a quick clean up with 2 little kids going ape and cooking

 
so I got down to the clean steel and also took of the remaining handle portions, they appeared to be plastic, does that make any sense?
 
Knife is looking a lot better! Plastic is not uncommon in mass produced products from WWII era. It was relatively cheap, easier to form than wood or leather for awkward shapes like bolsters, and wasn't damaged by water.

Make sure that you thoroughly wash away any vinegar left on the knife. especially under the bolsters.
 
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