how to restore RH PAL 36 or should I just leave it be

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May 21, 2015
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A few weeks ago my Grandmother had me go through some of my Grandfathers things that have been sitting around for the past 16 or so years. One thing I took was his RH PAL 36. I don't know much about this knife other than it is from around WWII. I would like to use this knife unless it is more rare than I believe it to be. Which brings me to wondering if I can restore it. It has some stains, is pretty scratched up, and the guard is a bit wobbly. Are these things I can/should fix or should I take it to a professional?

Thank you in advance for all of your help.

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leave it alone. It has earned its scars and deserves to keep them. Just clean it oil it and keep it out of the sheath unless you are carrying it. I made the mistake of trying to "refurbish" and old knife from a family member that had sentimental value. I like the knife much more now, but i still regret doing it as it doesnt represent what the previous owner (an uncle I never met as he died before I was born) lived through with the knife.
 
leave it alone. It has earned its scars and deserves to keep them. Just clean it oil it and keep it out of the sheath unless you are carrying it. I made the mistake of trying to "refurbish" and old knife from a family member that had sentimental value. I like the knife much more now, but i still regret doing it as it doesnt represent what the previous owner (an uncle I never met as he died before I was born) lived through with the knife.

Do you oil the blade? I feel like that's a dumb question but I know little to nothing about knives. I would want to use leather oil on the sheath and handle though right?
 
Do you oil the blade? I feel like that's a dumb question but I know little to nothing about knives. I would want to use leather oil on the sheath and handle though right?

just wipe it down with a little mineral oil (aka baby oil).

n2s
 
Do you oil the blade? I feel like that's a dumb question but I know little to nothing about knives. I would want to use leather oil on the sheath and handle though right?

I am not exactly sure what that blade is made of but even stainless steels have the potential to rust or corrode overtime. Especially if kept in a leather sheath for long periods of downtime. I would clean the handle and occasionally apply a very small amount of leather conditioner to prevent shrinkage and cracking. But you dont want to drench the handle because the leather is intentionally hard. As for the blade I prefer not to use mineral oil. It works but I dislike it for various reasons I dont need to go into. It probably wouldnt hurt anything but I just dont favor it. I usually like wiping my rust prone knives with a tuff cloth with tuff glide on it. Thats just my preference. Any good gun oil that lacks detergents or corrosive additives would work fine.
 
If it was mine, I'd clean it up and use it. Did that with one I found in my dad's garage and it is used regularly by a family member as a camping knife.

You can take the stains off with any metal polish, I like flitz. A nylon srub pad will remove it too, but scratch the blade. If the handle is fine, leave it alone. You can clean it with saddle soap and wax it with any good leather polish, such as SnoSeal, but it's not really needed. Any decent oil will keep the blade from rusting, I use honing oil which is a mineral oil. If the guard is loose, you can tighten the nut on the top to compress the handle more and tighten it up. This can be sometimes hard to do depending upon the type of nut. Scratches are a PIA to remove, I'd just leave them be.
 
Agree with brownshoe on this one. I have several Pal #36's and have used flitz and towel material to clean them. I soaked the handles (only if dry) in mineral oil and let it sit before drying off with a old towel. Put some oil or Rig on the blade for rust prevention and done.

I also used some of my 36's as they are a great knife.
 
If I inherited a knife and knew that it had an interesting history, like if a family member had carried/used it during a war, or if it were used during camping/hunting/fishing trips between my dad and his dad, then I would be inclined to leave it alone.

But if the knife was just used in the garden to pry up weeds, or similar mundane tasks with no sentimental attachment, then I might be inclined to restore the knife.

If I had that knife, and if I had made up my mind to restore it, I would clean and lightly sand the blade until the scratches were gone and I had a satin finish (starting at around 320 grit, then using finer and finer grits until I was happy with the finish). Then if I wanted, I could always polish the blade.

If the tip of the blade is rounded, I would re-profile it.

As for the loose guard, I would remove the pommel pin and add another washer.

Another option for tightening the guard, without removing the pommel, is to shim the handle with a piece of aluminum or stainless steel cut in the shape of one of the handle washers, with one end open, and then pushed/hammered between two of the handle washers. What metal I used would depend on how thick/thin the shim needed to be. If for example there was only a hairs-width of space causing the looseness, then I would use a very thin piece of stainless steel. Small gap, thin shim=stainless, big gap, thick shim=aluminum.

But that's what I would do. And the bottom line here is- it's YOUR knife, so you can do whatever you want with it. You don't need anyone's permission or approval to do whatever you want with YOUR knife.
 
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As for the blade I prefer not to use mineral oil. It works but I dislike it for various reasons I dont need to go into.

That's a rather mysterious statement. Why so much cloak-and-dagger? It might help the OP if you at least hinted why you don't like mineral oil.
 
No it’s not rare, though the spacer combination is probably not the most common. The condition is quite good compared to some especially the sheath. The value is really to you as a family piece. Some 0000 steel wool might help with the staining and won’t hurt considering what looks like a blade re-profile attempt, just keep it to the stained area.
I have 3 of these and have not found these particularly prone to rusting compared my WW2 Kabar’s for instance, but keeping it with some sort of surface protection is recommended. Nice knife 👍
 
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