HELP Please on my rusted & pitted Gerber BMF (Picture Heavy)

Z

ZTowner

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Mar 5, 2013
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I bought this Gerber new in the mid 80's for about $70. For the last 15 or so years, it was left in it's sheath (yes, stupid) and stored in a box of stuff in my attic (another dumb move). I should have made "Before" pictures. The Gerber had a pretty thick coat of rust everywhere except for it pommel. The pictures below is how it looks now after about a half an hour of work using sandpaper and a little Dremel work around the stampings.

Now for the help on my questions.
The pitting should not take away from the knifes function, but how much metal should I remove? There is not much metal to work with near it's tip. What grit should I be using?
Now for the tough decision. I'm going to attempt to do a "Stonewash" on it. I feel that I can seal the handle up good enough with both plastic and tape. Put it inside a large plastic container with smooth rocks and WD40 and then wrap it up in a large bath towel. Then stick it in our dryer (wife will just love this) with a "No Heat" setting for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours (???). I'm hoping this finish will at least diminish some of the appearance of the pitting (???). Suggestions.....PLEASE! I'm NOT looking for a show knife, I just want it to function and look better than it does now.

Next, the sheath. It's unusable as it is now. I'm thinking of drilling out the rivets to be later replaced by Chicago Screws. Then, pull out the stitching. It looks like the two halves my also be bonded together with adhesive. Once apart, I should be able to give it a real good cleaning.

Nest issue...putting the sheath back together. I'm hoping a gun belt maker will be able to stitch it back up for me. If not, The bond the two halves back together and I'll use rivets.

OK Knife experts...is this a half baked idea? :confused: I really don't want to buy a generic sheath, nor a leather one. Any and ALL suggestion would be most appreciated!! Thank you in advance.

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As for your knife I cant speak much for what to do. But I would contact Gerber and see if they still have that style sheath in there system, I have a pack axe and my sheath was damaged and non usable. I contacted gerber customer service and explained to them that i needed a replacement . there statement was that they didnt have those for sale or any to offer but the customer service person took my name and address in about three weeks I had unexpected package in the mail and it was a replacement sheath for my pack axe, free of charge.
 
I'd put an edge on it and use it as is. You would have to take off a lot of metal to get it perfect again. You could also get it duracoated any color you wanted. Several guys on the board do that kind of work.
 
I'll comment on the steel, as I do a lot of blade work. At least you have a nice even pitting haha--

From my perspective you have 3 choices-- leave as-is (doesn't look half bad all things considered), 2) sand it down COMPLETELY to get below the level of the deepest pit, or else 3) use sandpaper to camouflage the pitting, at least somewhat.

Sanding out e'thing would take awhile but it's doable, I'd start w/ 220 on something that coarse, you'll remove a lot of metal in a hurry. Don't stop till the pits are gone, move to 320. If that uncovers some missed pits go back to 220, run it up as high as you want-- for a near polish I sand to 3000.

To camo it somewhat you wouldn't want to start coarse, as you'd put in scratches that would then have to be taken out if you later decided finer is better-- I'm thinking maybe 600 might be about the right balance, if that doesn't disguise much than back it off to 400. You'll be flattening out your planes in the process as well as sanding below the less-significant pits, that should improve the appeaqrance methinks. I always sand "the long way", lengthwise.

Here's an example of s30v taken to 1000-- I think a dazzling pattern of maybe 600 might look good on yours:

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This to 3000 (154CM) for comparison:

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Good luck, love to see what you decide-- R.
 
ryxlyx said:
I'll comment on the steel, as I do a lot of blade work. At least you have a nice even pitting haha--

From my perspective you have 3 choices-- leave as-is (doesn't look half bad all things considered), 2) sand it down COMPLETELY to get below the level of the deepest pit, or else 3) use sandpaper to camouflage the pitting, at least somewhat.

Sanding out e'thing would take awhile but it's doable, I'd start w/ 220 on something that coarse, you'll remove a lot of metal in a hurry. Don't stop till the pits are gone, move to 320. If that uncovers some missed pits go back to 220, run it up as high as you want-- for a near polish I sand to 3000.

To camo it somewhat you wouldn't want to start coarse, as you'd put in scratches that would then have to be taken out if you later decided finer is better-- I'm thinking maybe 600 might be about the right balance, if that doesn't disguise much than back it off to 400. You'll be flattening out your planes in the process as well as sanding below the less-significant pits, that should improve the appeaqrance methinks. I always sand "the long way", lengthwise.

Here's an example of s30v taken to 1000-- I think a dazzling pattern of maybe 600 might look good on yours:

100_8757-1.jpg


This to 3000 (154CM) for comparison:

100_6898-1.jpg


Good luck, love to see what you decide-- R.
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That's been some great help! My wife is not to keen on me using the dryer for my Stonewash idea. I'll post some pictures after following your suggestion. I still think I can at least make this old Gerber of mine useful again.

Note to self" NO long storage inside it's sheath :)
 
I'm going to suggest that you do your initial work on the the lower half-- the ground blade faces-- and leave the flats and the swedges alone, for now. There is (to me) a certain attraction of all the pitting (sans rust cuz of your efforts)-- I could see the best of both worlds to be the blade faces ONLY taken to ultrafine-- leaving the balance roughly as-is (maybe smooth it out a little). Half the reason I sand coatings off blade faces is cuz I love the contrast of the dazzle to the black-- in your case, you'd be contrasting w/ the history of the knife.

Plus that way if you decide you've bitten off more than you can chew you only have the faces to worry about....
 
I'd go for a 'clear' coat, if not that then I'd get a cheap bench stone and start working the flats, dress the stone often and then use the bench stone as a backing for sandpaper for higher grits. On the other hand sending it out for media blasting would probably even out the texture, I'd personally use it as is and prefer to keep it around for spurts of working on it myself.
 
ryxlyx said:
I'll comment on the steel, ...[redacted by poster]...

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...[redacted by poster]...

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Good luck, love to see what you decide-- R.
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ryxlyx: Are those hand finishes or did you have mechanical assistance?

I ask because I've got a project that I'm working on in my spare time similar to this, I started with an 80 grit paper and am currently rubbing with a 120. (using a piece of granite counter top to keep things straight). I'm not getting that pretty shiny that you got on yours I think my blade has a coating. (stopping to prevent thread jacking I really want to know about the method...)

If those are hand finishes how long did it take you to do the Pardue?

I don't want to thread jack this, but I did want to bring up the use of machine, or doing it by hand. If you're planning on doing this by hand, to prevent gouging or some sort of unevenness. Use a hard/flat surface I'm using a piece of granite from my old counter top, while refinishing a 1911 slide my dad used a piece of glass on his workbench to keep things spiffy.
 
ZTowner said:
[...] Next, the sheath. It's unusable as it is now. I'm thinking of drilling out the rivets to be later replaced by Chicago Screws. Then, pull out the stitching. It looks like the two halves my also be bonded together with adhesive. Once apart, I should be able to give it a real good cleaning.
Click to expand...

I would suggest hand-washing the sheath. Soak it in hot, soapy water (use something like Dawn) for about 5 minutes, then use a soft brush (toothbrush works) and scrub the outter sheath. You can clean the inside by using a gun cleaning rod (or piece of coathanger) and a piece of cloth. Stuff the cloth into the sheath using the rod, then pull the cloth out. Do this a few times. Thoroughly rinse with hot water. Blot it with paper towels and hang it out to dry. I think you will be surprised at the results. These are fairly rugged sheaths. Yours looks to be in better condition than a couple I have cleaned.
 
For theHobbyist-- I don't think you're jacking the thread here, this is after all a discussion of blade finishing.

What you're seeing is simply steel sanded FLAT to a certain grit level, there is no coating on the blades. 80 grit is like an atom bomb on steel-- even on the Gerber, w/ all the pitting, I wouldn't go that coarse. The idea is simply to get to the bottom of the deepest pit/concavity/depression, whatever the project. You go deeper than that, you've just added extra work-- 80-grit scratches are Grand Canyons. If there is/was a coating on the steel you're working on fear not, it's irrelevant, when you get to bare steel it's gone. Just continue working up the grit ladder, your steel will look like mine. I gen'ly use 320 for all my rough work-- I work fast, and it's coarse enuf. 220 is faster yes, but does more damage w/ a careless stroke-- not worth the risk, to me.

All of the work I do on blade faces/flats/swedges is handwork, no mechanical assistance. Granite countertop good, I sand on glass, esp. when I get to the higher grit levels.

Both those knives are Pardues-- the lower is a 523 tanto that I flatsanded to the droppoint shown. You're asking about the upper of the 2, that one was a bugger as there were a few minor concavities for some reason wrought by the main grinds, so I had to remove more steel than I would have guessed (you'll always find a concavity in the rear 1/4" to 3/8" of the main grinds BTW). Starting at 320 and working to 1000 I probly have 4/5 hours in that one, took longer cuz of the extra depths mentioned. I cleaned off the M4 blades faces on a 525M4 a couple weeks ago and kept track of the time over 2 days-- 5 hours from factory coated blade to one finished to a 3000-grit near polish, like the lower Pardue. Work yes, but I enjoy both the sanding, and the results.

I'll check back for further questions-- R.
 
MerryMadMonk said:
I would suggest hand-washing the sheath. Soak it in hot, soapy water (use something like Dawn) for about 5 minutes, then use a soft brush (toothbrush works) and scrub the outter sheath. You can clean the inside by using a gun cleaning rod (or piece of coathanger) and a piece of cloth. Stuff the cloth into the sheath using the rod, then pull the cloth out. Do this a few times. Thoroughly rinse with hot water. Blot it with paper towels and hang it out to dry. I think you will be surprised at the results. These are fairly rugged sheaths. Yours looks to be in better condition than a couple I have cleaned.
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That's a great idea! I'm going to try this today. I'll post the results. At this point, I have nothing to lose.

And thank you to all of the posters who have replied to my thread. It's very much appreciated!
 
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ryxlyx: Thanks for the great info, I started with the 80 because I had this seemingly impenetrable coating that was, and for the most part still is on the blade (Emerson Commander 2001).

I'm glad to meet someone else that sands on glass... most people give me a look like I'm crazy... or just dismiss me lol...

Dang... at the rate I'm going it's going to take me a year to finish this refurb lol (I get about an hour a week if I'm lucky)
 
MerryMadMonk said:
I would suggest hand-washing the sheath. Soak it in hot, soapy water (use something like Dawn) for about 5 minutes, then use a soft brush (toothbrush works) and scrub the outter sheath. You can clean the inside by using a gun cleaning rod (or piece of coathanger) and a piece of cloth. Stuff the cloth into the sheath using the rod, then pull the cloth out. Do this a few times. Thoroughly rinse with hot water. Blot it with paper towels and hang it out to dry. I think you will be surprised at the results. These are fairly rugged sheaths. Yours looks to be in better condition than a couple I have cleaned.
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I took your suggestion. THANK YOU! :thumbup: Here are a couple of pictures of the sheath after I was done. My sheath LIVES!

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MerryMadMonk said:
Looks good as new! Great job!
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It only looks this good because of your help MerryMadMonk!

I tried to over engineer the job thinking I had to take the sheath apart, clean, then re-sew/bond/re-rivet. Thanks to you, this saved me much work and turned out much better by doing as you had suggested than if I had done it my way. The results exceeded my own expectations. Can't thank you enough!

Now working on the blade folowing the suggestions of ryxlyx & skimo...............I'll post pictures of the blade when done.
 
TrackerDan said:
Why do you suppose a non leather sheath would allow the knife to rust that bad?
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I'd think storage in the attic, with the regular temperature swings (sun baking the attic during the day to cooler nights), would have caused regular bouts of condensation forming on the steel. This especially so when there was a quick cold to warm change.

Attics suck for lots of things, and many musical instruments (guitars, violins, etc) have been ruined from that mistake.
 
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