All About Pocket Knives

I had this knife out the other day to take a photo for another thread and got to wondering, how many of you have EDC knives that have blades that are as severely pitted as this KABAR? I bought this one a few years back at an estate sale and when I got it it had no handle material, and was rusted tight. I soaked in in Kroil for a couple of days and got it open, then disassembled it, cleaned everything up, rehandled in rosewood, and reassembled. As far as folding hunters, it is probably the one I carry and use the most. And probably looks the worst. The pits have no effect on the performance, this one will still take a razor edge. Because of the condition, I only paid $1 for it. Post your EDC knives that may have pits in the blade like this one.

Beautiful save O.C.! Looks great, and I'm sure completely functional!

Wow, that cleaned up great! Guessing the handles were cell that imploded? I have a handle-less '30s Colonial Coke Bottle Hunter I've been meaning to rework. It's got a fish scaler, but that backspring is broken. But, if I remove that layer, it will result in a really slim and light, though still pretty big knife.

I was probably 16 when I found this Imperial Diamond Edge in a box of junk at an antiques store for $5 (but I got out the door with it for $3). There were Cases and others in the box, but they had blades broken (8 years later, I would probably have bought those too, as I think at least one had a good master blade, meaning still EDC material). Rusted really bad, and all but rusted shut. I stripped the peeling brown paint or whatever Imperial had (leaving the white base), and got the rust off. I sanded down the blades pretty bad, as at that time, I didn't realize pits really couldn't come out without wrecking your blades. THis was my first successful cleanup, and I carried it until about 2-3 years ago. The blades are pitted AND the shield built into the steel handle shells is pitted as well to where the "Hyphen E" part is barely legible.

Although I don't carry it often I really like this old Camco.

Nice old knifes, fellows. OC, the pits in that Kabar may be a little worse than any of my carry knives, but the blades are full. A couple of my carry knives have maybe smaller pits, but pretty worn down blades. I would take the pits!

I have one a Case Moose ten dot and it performs like new. I did force a pantina on her so the rust wouldn't spread.She is pitted deep.

I also bought a Kabar folding hunter with degraded cel handles that had severe pitting on both blades. Re-handled it in black Plexiglas and jigged them with a ball mill in a Dremel tool. Worked great. Here are some before and after shots.

Great photos of pitted but otherwise useful old knives. I omitted to post this picture of the springs on that KABAR in the OP. A couple of the pits are quite deep in the spring and I thought when I put it back together that the spring may be weakened or snap. But so far so good.

Nothing wrong with some blades and backsprings with pits. It shows the knife has
a history and has been used. Nothing wrong with collecting and maintaining
a perfect knife but in the end the main purpose of a knife is to use it as a tool
(man's friend --next to his best friend which is a dog).

Bob