Continental Coke Bottle RE-Restoration
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 4:09 am
I think I have posted this knife before in the Restoration forum, but I couldn't find it, maybe I didn't post it because the first restoration sucked so badly! 
Here is the knife as it looked when I bought it at the OKCA show a couple years ago-
The pivot pin was shot, so I slipped a new pin in it and it really was snappy, so I knew I needed to restore it.
I restored it in 2014, but the job I did inlaying the shield was an abomination!
I have heard knife makers say that every knife maker has a box of knives that he keeps to remind himself of how not to something.
This was my reminder of how not to inlay a shield into wood handles!
Recently I decided to give this one a second shot at inlaying the shield, so I replaced the handle with a new piece of ebony and did most of the inlaying by hand instead of with my Foredom. I did use the Foredom to get the depth I needed, but the cutting around the edge was mostly done with a Warren knife, an Exact-o knife and a couple Flex-cut gouges. The problem I have with the Foredom or Dremel is that the burr will catch a hard piece of the grain and pull the burr into the flat of the handle where I don't want it!
Inlaying the shield with hand tools was much more time consuming, but the results were much better though not absolutely perfect.
Even though this knife haunted me for 2 years, I have kind of grown fond of it. I am going to hate to see it go. 
But I have finished what I started to do, that is to make it pretty and functional. Now I have to list it in my store.
Here is the knife as it looked when I bought it at the OKCA show a couple years ago-
I restored it in 2014, but the job I did inlaying the shield was an abomination!
I have heard knife makers say that every knife maker has a box of knives that he keeps to remind himself of how not to something.
This was my reminder of how not to inlay a shield into wood handles!
Recently I decided to give this one a second shot at inlaying the shield, so I replaced the handle with a new piece of ebony and did most of the inlaying by hand instead of with my Foredom. I did use the Foredom to get the depth I needed, but the cutting around the edge was mostly done with a Warren knife, an Exact-o knife and a couple Flex-cut gouges. The problem I have with the Foredom or Dremel is that the burr will catch a hard piece of the grain and pull the burr into the flat of the handle where I don't want it!
Inlaying the shield with hand tools was much more time consuming, but the results were much better though not absolutely perfect.
But I have finished what I started to do, that is to make it pretty and functional. Now I have to list it in my store.
All my projects turn out amazing... 
