Restoring an old Imperial fixed blade
Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 4:50 pm
The last couple months have been pretty busy for me, getting ready for the OKCA show last weekend and for knee surgery next Monday. I thought I would take a little time to catch you up on some of the things I had been doing in my shop.
Some of these may fall in the category of restoration and others in the category of customizing. I will post to both forums and endeavored to separate the knives and the proper categories.
This is one of those inexpensive fixed blade patterns that were popular several decades ago. This knife came to me with broken handles. I removed the old handles and the blade and guard kicked around my shop for several years. I decided I would put the whole thing together because these really are made with good carbon steel.
Several years ago I began to experiment with dying my own bone handles. The bone on this handle was dyed with tobacco. I picked up two or three cheap or dried out cans of chewing tobacco, the finer cut kind like Skoal or Copenhagen, and let the bone soak in a slurry of water and chewing tobacco. I also added a little rubbing alcohol, though I didn't notice that having any effect. The bone set in the slurry for about two or three months. I remove the bone from the slurry and put it on the shelf where it dried out for several years.
When I put the handle on this knife I made a new guard of brass to replace the old one made of steel, because I think it looks nicer on this knife. As you can see I use mosaic pens. I didn't sand the bone down to where it removed all of the scratches because that would have removed too much of the color and I thought a few fine scratches would be more in keeping with the condition of this blade.
All in all I was rather pleased with the results. It looks like a well-used old knife with a lot of character.
Note- After viewing these pictures I think the gloves were a poor choice for background. The handles show with more of an orange cast than they really have.
Some of these may fall in the category of restoration and others in the category of customizing. I will post to both forums and endeavored to separate the knives and the proper categories.
This is one of those inexpensive fixed blade patterns that were popular several decades ago. This knife came to me with broken handles. I removed the old handles and the blade and guard kicked around my shop for several years. I decided I would put the whole thing together because these really are made with good carbon steel.
Several years ago I began to experiment with dying my own bone handles. The bone on this handle was dyed with tobacco. I picked up two or three cheap or dried out cans of chewing tobacco, the finer cut kind like Skoal or Copenhagen, and let the bone soak in a slurry of water and chewing tobacco. I also added a little rubbing alcohol, though I didn't notice that having any effect. The bone set in the slurry for about two or three months. I remove the bone from the slurry and put it on the shelf where it dried out for several years.
When I put the handle on this knife I made a new guard of brass to replace the old one made of steel, because I think it looks nicer on this knife. As you can see I use mosaic pens. I didn't sand the bone down to where it removed all of the scratches because that would have removed too much of the color and I thought a few fine scratches would be more in keeping with the condition of this blade.
All in all I was rather pleased with the results. It looks like a well-used old knife with a lot of character.
Note- After viewing these pictures I think the gloves were a poor choice for background. The handles show with more of an orange cast than they really have.
Definitely a labor of love! I doubt it would sell for $40. 
