How to remove the Pommel from an antique dagger?

cbrstar

cbrstar

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(Sorry for not having my own pic, I've seemed to have misplaced the card for my camera. But this Knife is identical) http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/uploads/monthly_02_2010/post-7950-1265660584.jpg


My Knife has a bit of a colorful history in my family. It was given to my Father by my Grandfather sometime in the 1950's in England. Probably because he wanted his son to have a "British Made Knife" after throwing out the German WW2 officers dagger my Father had somehow found. (My Grandfather had escaped from German prison 2x, and had also been shoot 2x..he wasn't exactly a fan of them)
My father years later meets my Mother and gives her the knife, so she can use it while she snorkels for clams and such off the coast of England. But then they decide to move to Canada, and there isn't a ocean so she gives the knife back, but it's one of the few possessions they bring with them.

When I was about 14 or so my Dad decides to give me the Knife. My stupid teenage brain somehow decides that this must be a "WW2 British Commando Throwing Knife" and I decided to teach myself how to throw knives with it. All I managed to was chip the point off, and knock the hilt slightly loose. My Dad see's this and takes it back off me.(Never to be seen again) Fast forward 15 years and my Dad decides again to give it to me, but unfortunately he thought that it would be a good idea to first get rid of the "Patina". Some so called knife expert at his shop, grinds it off with a high speed wire brush making an absolute mess.

So you can see the knife is really important to me. And I've decided to take upon myself to restore the knife to it's original former glory.

I want to take the handle apart so I can add a spacer to tighten up the hilt, but I'm really struggling with removing the pommel. It doesn't want to unscrew, and I'm scared of using to much force and breaking it. Does any one have experience with a knife like this? Does the pommel even come off?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Perhaps you should find someone who professionally restores cutlery, and pay them to do it?
If the knife is important to you, it should be worth paying to have it done correctly.
 
That's a good idea. The Polishing and refinishing the blade part I can handle, as I've done quite a few knives already. Do you know of any good knife restoration professionals who could fix the handle in Canada?
 
If you do a search for "knife repair" there is a guy in Canada. I know nothing of his work, though.
 
One possibility is that the tang goes all the way through the pommel and the end of the tang is peened flush.

If that is the case, then the only chance of removing the pommel would be to grind off the end of the tang until the peened end was gone and the pommel could be pulled free. But if that were done, it would make the tang shorter, and as a result that would make the handle a little shorter when the pommel was reattached and the end of the tang re-peened.

But there could be hidden problems with all this- If the end of the tang is peened, and if the hole in the end of the pommel is V shaped or countersunk in some way, the tang would be peened in such a way that it would expand into the hole. And if that's the case, a lot of the pommel would have to be ground off in order to free it from the tang

Also, if the end of the tang is "stepped", meaning if the portion of the tang that goes through the pommel is narrower than the rest of the tang, then it would be necessary to grind some steel off the sides of the thicker section of the tang to produce enough narrow tang to extend through the pommel for re-peening.

Or, there's another possible means of attachment- there might be a pin going through the side of the pommel and the tang. If this is the case, it's possible that the pin could be knocked out using a pin punch of appropriate diameter.

Naturally it's your knife and you're free to do whatever you want with it. But I think that sometimes it's best to leave a family heirloom just as you received it. Sometimes it's best not to try and undue an objects history, and it sounds like that knife has a lot of history. Just my opinion.

Remember, things can get lost in shipping, and even the most talented professional can have a bad day at work and ruin someones knife. Sometimes in an effort to restore a precious family heirloom, that heirloom can be lost.
 
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There are a lot of speculations here.
You must first find out how the pommel is attached. It could be threaded, pinned or peened.
If peened the tang will be visible on the end of the pommel. If threaded, there may be a nut on the end of the pommel-or the pommel could just be blind threaded.

If it's pinned, the pin should be visible with some diligent looking.
Until you figure out which attachment method is used, do absolutely nothing.

You can cut a leather washer, dye it, ans slice one end open. Then you can slip it into the space on the handle, and finish it flush.
 
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