I'm a sucker for an old traditional, now I'm not one to pick up old beat up traditional knives no matter the condition, I'm more likely to pick up a knife that;s rusty or has a broken blade on a multi blade or a chip missing from the scales. In retrospect though, as the pre 70s knives are becoming more scarce, parts are going to become scarce too, a knife parts pile might be a good idea.
If the knife has 2 outta 3, good blades,( good scales/poor/no walk and talk:: tight knife, good covers/broken blade) you get the idea, I'll buy it if the price is right. I've come across many knives that I had no idea what I had till I cleaned them up many years later. Here's one example of a knife I came across that was covered in eggshell white latex semi-gloss paint. It looked like the original owner dipped it into the paint can again and again like he was making a candle, it was barely discernible as a knife and for some reason I kept it.
One day I was cleaning out my pile of broken and abused blades and for some reason I needed to see if there was a tang stamp under all the rust and paint on this one. It was a little bare head jack with bone scales of some kind. I wish I had taken pics before the cleaning took place and I've promised myself that I'd take before/WIP pics when I do a restoration/cleaning from now on.
So after a day of picking and cleaning of the paint with dental picks I was able to find the nail nick and work the blades open eventually loosening the back springs. After all the paint was gone and I got the blades open I saw how bad the main blade was, it looked like the original owner had used the edge of the primary blade to lever open the lid on the can of paint. There were 3 big chips taken outta the edge, it looked like giant serrations but other than the chips, the paint and the piece of scale missing it was a really nice knife. I put some extra effort into cleaning this one, I cleaned and reprofiled the blades smoothing out the chips. In cleaning covers I found out the scales were beautifully worn and aged smooth bone with a warm patina that definitely reflected it's age. I was able to discern a tang stamp too, it said
Graef & Schmidt Solingen Germany turned out to be a 60-80 y/o Barehead Jack in otherwise really knice and most certainly usable condition. After all, that's what I want in the end, a knife I can carry and use, this one just reeks of history and comes with a cool story
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So you've heard the backstory now here's the knife.
Here's another one that was rescued with the Barehead Jack, a 1911-13 Union Knifeworks Moose I turned into a box cutter after regrinding a broken blade. This knife is so well made that at over 100 years old it's like brand new and cuts like a razor. I'd put it up against any equivalent custom today and carry it regularly especially to break down cardboard.
My Old Man told me when I was a kid, "You can spend your entire life convincing someone how smart you are but it only takes a second to prove you're an idiot."....................You can call me Ted.