Where Can I Take an Old Knife to Be Refurbished Near Me
Have y'all ever come into possession of an one-time pocket knife that was worse for article of clothing, but still handsome and sturdy?
Mayhap yous were looking through your gramps's treasure box, took a shine to the knife, and Grandfather said you could take it.
Or maybe you lot've started collecting antique pocket knives in earnest. That describes myself. I'd been looking for a good, manly collection to start for a while at present. I wanted to do something vintage-y, pocket-sized (I don't need a wall full of antique swords), affordable, and applied. With that criteria, it was easy to settle on pocket knives (every man needs them!). There are many thousands of varieties that have been fabricated for decades and decades, they tin can oftentimes be cheaply acquired at antique stores and garage sales, they store nifty in a shoebox (or in a pocket), and are eminently useful.
Whether you buy an antique pocketknife or ane gets passed on to you lot, it's probable that information technology'll be rusted, grimey, ho-hum…less than platonic for both collecting and using. And then how do you go virtually restoring the knife to its quondam glory? With some digging on net forums, also as talking with a couple antique dealers, I was able to blast downwards a solid method for cleaning antique pocket knives and ensuring their fine fettle and usability for years to come.
First, Get to Know Your Knife
Before cleaning/restoring the knives. You lot tin see the peak has a lot of wear/rust/grime on the blade and the handle (it's a metal handle); it needed a bit more TLC. The bottom one had rusted blades, but the handle was in fantastic condition. It did also need some piece of work on the bract hinges, as both blades were grinding quite a scrap when opening and closing them.
One of the fun parts of restoring a pocket knife to its former glory is doing some homework and getting to know the knife itself. Some knives have shields on them, which state a manufacturer or line of products. If at that place's no plate, you can oftentimes find some identification at the very base of the bract, where information technology meets the handle. It can exist hard to read, especially before cleaning, just you lot'll probable see a product number or manufacturer listed.
It'due south hard to read in this image, but the gold shield hither on the knife reads "Frontier." I came to discover it's a line of knives made past Imperial. Afterward cleaning, I was also able to read the production number at the base of operations of the blade (barely).
If you have a product number/make, it'south adequately easy to google your fashion into finding out the history of the pocketknife — its production run, its original retail value, how many were made, etc. If you can't find any identifying information on your vintage blade, snap a picture, upload information technology to any number of knife forums (allaboutpocketknives.com is a good one), and get someone else on the example.
After y'all've plant out a little scrap about the knife, information technology's time to go restoring!
Supplies For Restoring a Pocket Knife
- Moisture/dry out sandpaper.While there are multiple methods you can use to restore a pocket pocketknife, the i that worked best for me used wet/dry sandpaper dipped in Hoppes No. 9 gun cleaner/solvent. Using regular sandpaper could cause some abrasion from the friction, but past using a moisture/dry out diverseness with a cleaner, you're protecting confronting that. In add-on, combining with the solvent ensures that the rust and grime has no adventure of surviving.
- Hoppes No. 9 gun solvent. This was a tip from a knife forum. There are whatsoever number of cleaners you lot tin can use, but this is what I went with, and information technology worked like a charm. It was my first experience with Hoppes No. 9 — boy is that a manly smell!
- Penetrating oil. For this projection you'll want a true penetrating oil rather than just a multi-use lubricating spray like WD-twoscore. This oil is made specifically to loosen rusted parts and get them moving again — perfect for a stubborn blade hinge.
- Brass brush. A brush with brass bristles volition get into the smaller nooks and crannies that the sandpaper just won't be able to.
- Cleaning/polishing cloth. You'll want a soft cloth that you can use to both wipe away cleaner, and polish the blade with.
- Metal polish. At the cease, you lot'll utilise a polish to the blade to requite it a nice shine.
- Knife sharpener. Most vintage knives demand a good sharpening. Make to sure to read our commodity on how to sharpen a pocket knife.
Keep in mind these are supplies mostly for cleaning, sharpening, and loosening hinges. If the handle itself is damaged and needs work, you'll need a bit more skill and gumption, and that's beyond the purview of this piece.
I should as well note that you'll desire to practice this project either in the garage, or on a surface you don't heed getting muddied/oily. Your kitchen countertop is not the identify. I used an erstwhile TV tray with some towels underneath.
Restoring and Cleaning Your Pocketknife
one. Requite the knife a good wipedown.
The kickoff thing yous'll want to practice is wipe the knife down with a wet paper towel, including the infinite between the scales (the scales are just the outer pieces of the knife handle — between them is where the blade lies). This will assistance you know what might just be loose dust/dirt, versus rust and grime that needs some elbow grease to remove.
two. Spray with penetrating oil.
Next you lot'll spray the pocketknife with penetrating oil, especially at the blade joints. Almost vintage knives will have build upward in that location, and will therefore be a little creaky on opening and closing the knife. This is a pretty easy fix with penetrating oil. Just spray a bit, permit information technology soak, wipe it off with a polishing cloth or even paper towel, and so rinse and repeat as needed. On my knives, I sprayed at the kickoff, and then again at the end every bit a endmost step. The difference is rather noticeable, especially on the Frontier. It was a grind to get the blades open beforehand and now it's a breeze.
three. Dip sandpaper in Hoppes No. nine, and go to work on the blade.
I started with 320-grit wet/dry sandpaper, dipped a small piece in the Hoppes No. 9 (which I had poured into a small dish), and went to work rubbing the blade. This cleared the bulk of the crud afterward a few minutes. Practice know it takes some elbow grease and real scrubbing to get it all. And so, I switched to 400-grit, and scrubbed once more. Employ a cloth to regularly wipe abroad the oil and grit, and echo the process until you're happy with the product.
Make sure you get all the nooks and crannies that you lot can with the sandpaper, including betwixt the scales.
4. Using a contumely castor, clean the hinge and the effectively grooves.
Next, you'll utilise the brass brush to get into some of those harder-to-reach places. I dipped the castor in the Hoppes No. 9, and scrubbed the hinges again, as well as between the scales. This gets some of the finer rust and grimey particles.
If yous go a knife that needs cleaning on the scales — particularly on a textured surface similar this i — the brass castor comes in handy as well.
5. Wipe away all the oil with a textile.
Later on all this cleaning and scrubbing, the knife will be oily from both the penetrating oil and the gun solvent. Using a fabric, wipe away the oil.
6. Acuminate bract as needed.
Ane of the knives I bought was conspicuously recently sharpened, but the other was pretty wearisome. Use your judgment, and give a expert sharpening if needed.
7. Apply polish.
Finally, apply a nice metal polish to the steel bract when you're all done. It'll shine like new! (Okay, maybe not quite like new, but darn close!)
After cleaning. They aren't perfect, just are in far better condition than what I started with. For a total of just nearly $25, these 2 knives were well worth information technology, and brand a keen add-on to my collection.
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Source: https://www.artofmanliness.com/skills/how-to/how-to-restore-a-vintage-antique-pocket-knife/
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