All About Pocket Knives

My grampa retired from Caterpillar several years ago. While working maintenance there he used some free time and materials laying around to make this knife in their machine shop. He was a plumber by trade with his own business before starting at Cat. He's used knives his whole life, but this is his only attempt at making one. Its heavy in the handle, I have no idea what the grey stuff is. Its ugly all day, and I'm not sure it's been heat treated properly. But I love it. My brother is the current owner, he asked me to spiff it up a bit. I know the prevailing sentiment here, and in my own heart, is to leave your ancestors knives in original condition. But my grampa is still alive, he'd think it's cool to see this thing with an updated look and being used.

My plan is to first see if it's been heat treated. If not I'll see if i can't do an edge treatment without ruining the handle. The handle I'd like to wrap with black leather cord, or maybe something synthetic. I'm also planning a sheath. We'll see what happens.

The wrap reminds me of "padded" bicycle handlebar tape. Looks like it.. J.O'.

ThatWeirdKnifeGuy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 10, 2025 4:39 pmI have no idea what the grey stuff is.

given the connection with Cat, it’s probably something like thermal block tape or sound deadening tape used in the machinery that they produced. If your grandfather was raised during The Great Depression is was likely destined for the landfill and he repurposed it. Good on you for keeping his legacy alive be cautious, it could contain something like asbestos

Very Cool TWKG,
It would be hard to update it and then let it go back to my brother I may have to miss place it for a while.
Steve

LKSKNIVES wrote: ↑Thu Jul 10, 2025 10:05 pm Very Cool TWKG,
It would be hard to update it and then let it go back to my brother I may have to miss place it for a while.
Steve

"Here's those knives back brother"

Looks correct to me but what do I know I am not a Knife guy.
My older brother wanted no knives out of dad’s collection.
Younger brother wanted multi tool knives.
Skoll still in the box and it’s twin outdoor magazine knife in yellow
Steve

Finished. Tried to apply a patterned forced patina with citric acid but I couldn't get it to take and look uniform. You can still see some of the remnants, it somewhat hides the deep scratches on the blade. Black leather was also a no go. Couldn't get it to look right with the existing....stuff. So I went with narrow cord so as to not add too much bulk to the already bulky handle. The spiral ridge adds a much improved grip.

The sheath I'm not over the moon about, but it's not bad. It's seat belt salvaged from a child's car seat. There's supports under the paracord wrap in the back to add rigidity made from 2 pieces of hack saw blades. They make excellent fire strikers. Combined with the high visibility reflective paracord mixed with black survival cord, it's now got way more functionality that it'll ever need for any situation that it'll never encounter. It'll make a nice emergency knife in a bug out bag, and it's just over the top and cool enough I think to make my grampa smile

It belongs to my brother now, but I'm going to bring it along when I visit my grampa later this month. It'll be the last time we visit them in their home before they move to a memory care facility

Well done Zach. Your Grandpa should like how that turned out .

Awesome job!

ThatWeirdKnifeGuy wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 2:30 am Finished. Tried to apply a patterned forced patina with citric acid but I couldn't get it to take and look uniform...

ZTWKG,

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed Jul 23, 2025 7:19 pm

ThatWeirdKnifeGuy wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 2:30 am Finished. Tried to apply a patterned forced patina with citric acid but I couldn't get it to take and look uniform...

ZTWKG,

"Zach That Was Knifing Good?"

Way too go Zach,
Let us know what Grandpa thinks most importantly.
Second what does your brother think.
Nice work.
Steve

Ripster wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 11:51 am Well done Zach. Your Grandpa should like how that turned out .

Thank you for the kind words my friend.

1967redrider wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 1:22 pm Awesome job!

Thanks buddy

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed Jul 23, 2025 7:19 pm

ThatWeirdKnifeGuy wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 2:30 am Finished. Tried to apply a patterned forced patina with citric acid but I couldn't get it to take and look uniform...

ZTWKG,

back at you my dude.

I'm hoping that when he sees it he'll start telling old work and Vietnam stories. I don't believe he can take any sort of knives into the care facility so I'll be bringing home the knives I've gifted him over the years and a few of his. I'm hoping they'll all stir up memories for him to share. I know they'll all hold memories for me to share with my sons.