Valley Forge Harness Jack Restoration
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:19 am
Here is a Valley Forge harness jack that has been kicking around my shop for a few years & I finally got tired of looking at it so I put new ebony wood handles on it.
The pile side had a chunk broken out of it. Looking at the broken wood it really looks more like a hard wood that was dyed black with something like India ink. It looked black on the outside, but was much lighter in the center.
I replaced it with real ebony wood, black as night all the way through!
The shield was missing a piece off the right side. It looked to have had part of it worn off. Since I didn’t have another shield the same shape, (all were longer or thinner) I elected to leave it off rather than putting on the shield with a missing piece.
Not a really extensive restoration, just cleaning the inside and replacing the scales and shaping them, which is a bit of a challenge freehand with sandpaper. The blades are in excellent shape, some good patina and full. Who doesn’t like a nice swedge ground spear blade?
I was reasonably pleased with the result.
The pile side had a chunk broken out of it. Looking at the broken wood it really looks more like a hard wood that was dyed black with something like India ink. It looked black on the outside, but was much lighter in the center.
The shield was missing a piece off the right side. It looked to have had part of it worn off. Since I didn’t have another shield the same shape, (all were longer or thinner) I elected to leave it off rather than putting on the shield with a missing piece.
I was reasonably pleased with the result.
