Question about a Knife

R

Rangerrich99

New member
Here's the deal: over thirty years ago my father gave me his Ka-Bar (former Marine) for my birthday, knowing my love of all things hunting/fishing etc. A few years after that, I gave it to my brother before he shipped out. Long story short, it ended up in a box in a storage facility in OK for years. There was a flood. The knife was recently discovered by my mother, and it is in bad need of restoration. I want to give it to my brother's son for Christmas.

The blade itself just needs to be re-sharpened and re-blued, while the handle needs to be redone (stacked leather). There is very little rust from what I can tell, just some on the cross guard.

To be clear: The blade needs to be cleaned up and re-blued (I can sharpen it), but the handle needs to be completely re-done. Just to original condition, nothing fancy.

Is there anyone out there that does this kind of thing or knows someone that does knife restorations?

I'm willing to pay a reasonable fee, it's just that one guy I got on the phone today wants $500?!?!

Anyway, if someone can help that'd be great.

Thanks.
 
$500 is absurd. You can clean and sharpen it yourself, of course, and cut new leather pieces using the originals as a template. Any smith can re-blue it in his next batch job for a fee.

Don't use a grinder wheel except to buff and polish, the temper may go out on you.

You might visit a leather worker and see about getting new grip pieces professionally made, as well as a sheath. Or buy a quality replica and use the grip pieces on your original.

Might not be this Christmas, but it's the thought that counts, right?
 
^^^

Glad someone else thinks $500 is ridiculous.

And yes, if I decide to wait until next year to present him the knife, I feel confident I could do it myself. I was just willing to pay a professional to get it done before Christmas, since I know that I'd probably have to re-do it a couple-three times before I got it right.

But thanks for the reply.

Another thing I should've asked is, can anyone direct me to a good knife forum where this question might be more appropriate? I tried BladeForum and one other last week and haven't even gotten a reply for some reason.
 
A gunsmith could blue it for you. You might consider other finishes or plating, especially if there was pitting. I have a stainless steel Ti plated blade, which is nice in some cases. Not nice when sharpening. The brass handle is quite nice all the time though.

The stacked leather would be simple if not for the compression. May be able to thread the end then compress by tightening a retaining nut instead of pinning it.
 
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I'd say do the work yourself I'd say..

If it's made like an Ontario fighting knife, you'd just need someone to weld the end back on after replacing the leather pieces.
 
Leather

Rangerrich99

What your wanting done won't be that hard to do yourself. Basically you'll need to go to Tandy leather and buy some leather slightly larger in thickness. Cut out the new leather slightly larger in diamiter. When you have enough pieces to fill the length of the handle, glue/epoxie them together tightly using a clamp. When dry, drill a hole in the center to fit the handle. Place some glue on the handle, slide leather on, reattach end cap by either penning, wield, or jb weld. Sand the leather to desired diamiter then Finnish with a light coating of leather wax. Hope this helps.
 
If it were an actual WW-2 production knife I can see spending some money getting it restored, but $500 is way more than those cost.

The blade isn't blued, it is a coating and many guys remove it anyway. I wouldn't worry about that. I'd clean it up and make new grips for it.

You can buy replacement sheaths on Amazon for around $20.
 
Worth the effort !!!

Ranger,
I know this sounds too obvious and perhaps you have already tried this. Why not go to Ka-Bar, tell them your story and see if they might help you. Your knife has a darn good story that needs to be preserved. The worse they can say is no. ... :D

I have re-stacked a few and although it's not hard, it is time consuming. I use only Oak-Tan leather washers that I cut, stack, glue and reshape. Sometimes I moisten and then, compress the washers before stacking. ...... :)

http://www.kabar.com/customer-service#&panel1-2

Good luck to you and;
Be Safe !!
 
Before you go to the trouble of 'rebuilding' the leather. Try soaking it in neatsfoot oil for a couple three days. This may restore the leather to a serviceable condition, then buff it out on a polishing wheel, and add a coat of paste wax if it comes out decent. You may be pleasantly surprised. If rusted, use some Kroil & some 4-O or 5-O steel wool to remove the rust. Works wonders. Picture is of a Case hunter that a friend found - IN A CREEK - a while back. This did wonders for that knife. I made the sheath in the picture for him.
 

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KaBar would refer you to me.
Post pictures of the handle. You may be able to save it. If not, don't try it yourself. Have a pro do it.

Here's a very rare KABar switchblade I just repaired....
 

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After looking at the pictures that you sent me, here is my assessment:
There is nothing really wrong with the handle. It needs a little clean-up, certainly not replacement.
The rust on the guard should clean up with a little scrubbing with 0000 steel wool.
The blade should not be refinished.
The knife is a relic and an heirloom. It shouldn't look like a new knife-you can buy them all day long.
Remove the active rust with steel wool (0000 only!)
Take the steel wool pad and wrap it around the knife handle. Using the blade, twist the knife in the steel wool IN ONE DIRECTION ONLY until the surface mold and crud is gone.
Oil the steel up, and call it done.
 
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