All About Pocket Knives

I recently drug this old Wilbert 4 blade cattle knife back from the grave. I always buy Wilbert's when I seen them, however I dont see many of them. From the before photos you can see the master blade and the awl were tipped, the sheepsfoot broken, and the spey sharpened to death. The bone handle material was broken and the rocker pin had been replaced with a nail that was bent over on the back side. Someone had also tried to serrate the master blade, unsuccessfully. A new sheepsfoot blade was made from 1095 bar, blades reshaped and rehandled with stag. Should be good for a few more years.

Amazing restoration, OC. I think you should rename that Wilbert and call it Lazarus.

Nice job OC!

Wow, that wasn't a save, that was a resurrection!

What a nice save on that knife.

FRJ wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 6:08 pm What a nice save on that knife.

Agree, agree, agree......

Thanks guys. You know how I hate to see an old knife suffer. lol

That's a keeper! Curious, how much time do you estimate you spent on that knife?

just bob wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2024 12:42 pm That's a keeper! Curious, how much time do you estimate you spent on that knife?

I probably spend more time at it than most other people. The new sheepsfoot blade is made from 1095 bar stock and is all hand made with a file jig. So making just the blade is 2 1/2 -3 hours including heat treating ang polishing. Actually the sheepsfoot blade is the easiest and fastest to make, so I have recorded angle settings for the file jig that cuts the time down. Cleaning everything up and installing stag I would say I probably have 5 1/2 to 6 hours in it. I know you professional guys who make a living at it would call that outrageous, but when finished it is just going into my pocket. Like I said, I cant stand to see and old knife suffer like that. Of course the time spent is not a continuous thing either. It was kind of an over the weekend project.

glennbad wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 5:10 pm Wow, that wasn't a save, that was a resurrection!

"resurrection" indeed...great job resto-moding that old knife