Cattaraugus Fixed Blade

[Jerlin]

I posted earlier about the Schmidt & Ziegler my brother-in-law sent me along with another knife. At that time, I had not identified the make of the second knife. I finally figured out it is a Cattaraugus. The blade was dirty and rusty. It cleaned up fairly nicely with WD-40 and 400 grit sandpaper. However, there are some light diagonal scratches on the mark side of the blade near the guard. Also, maybe 1/8 in. of the tip is broken off. I have not been able to identify the model of this knife. I also have the leather sheath, but it is in pretty bad shape. The leather is dirty and all the stitching is gone. Any suggestions on what further to do with this knife?

Before cleaning blade

Before cleaning knife

After cleaning blade

Cattaraugus stamp

Jerry Johnson

[orvet]

I would regrind the tip in clean any dirt or anything out of the bone itself. One way I found this easy to do this is with baking soda mix with a little water and then dip a cheap electric toothbrush into the water and baking soda and use that to remove the gunk from the jigging in the handle. You can also use it on the blade and it works very well if you need to clean an area on the blade.

[Gunsil]

Pretty little knife! You will also find these marked Case, Kinfolks, and one or two other brands, they were all made by Kinfolks.

[Jerlin]

Thank you for the replies Dale and gunsil. Any tips on regrinding the tip? I haven't done that before.

Jerry

[Reverand]

This is a very poor drawing that I made on my phone, while a passenger in my car:

This is what I do on a broken blade. A rounded point is similar to fix, but harder to draw.
I mark a point about halfway down the break.
I slowly file the top (back) of the blade down to that line.
Then I file the bottom (edge) of the blade up to that mark.
I don't know that you have to do it that way, but it typically looks closest to the normal shape of the blade.

I have used a grinder, but I only take off a tiny amount at a time, and constantly dip the blade into a cup of water while I work.
I recommend using files instead.

[Jerlin]

Thank you for sharing the information, Reverand. Since the top (back) of my blade is flat, I assume I should just file or grind the edge up to the point on the back where it broke off. I'll go slow, as other have suggested, and not allow the blade to get hot if I go decide to use my Dremel grinder.

Jerry Johnson

[Meridian_Mike]

Yep, I think you are on the right track.
You probably want to back up a couple of inches away from the tip and shape the cutting edge up toward the top edge.
It will be all about what looks pleasing to you.