Railsplitter
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2010
- Messages
- 7,419
This antique seaman's knife from Tallinn, Estonia. I wonder what I should I do with it? Clean the bolsters and blade and how?
Sharpen it and use it. I'd not clean it up if I were you; it'd lose the charm of an old knife.
Just picked up some old knifes from a bloke here in Oz who resurrects / reconditions / repairs / revives old knives. (A passtime I can approve of but likely haven't the ability to practice.) This one has rather taken my fancy:
He says it's a Hibbard Spencer Bartlett & Co. knife from who-knows-when, which he's completely rebuilt (including adding a NOS Schrade USA sheepsfoot blade to replace the broken master blade.
I do like a sheepsfoot blade, I like three-bladed knives and I rather like the bone on this one. It's a little smaller than the 34OT I've had in my pocket of late:
(I'm pretty sure the replacement sheepsfoot was originally intended for a 34OT.)
..so I think this one might displace it, at least for a while.
I did a quick Google search on Hibbard &cetera and it seems they were a big hardware store in Chicago (so they're not likely the manufacturer, just the seller, perhaps with their own branding). It seems they shut down in 1962, so the knife likely has some age on it. Who knows how the knife got from there to being revived in Perth, Western Australia all these years later?!? At least I know how it got from Perth to Sydney...
...Mike
It is carbon steel, not stainless, and pretty much the same size as the sheepsfoot from my 34OT. I’ll confess I didn’t even think to look at the nick - just assumed based on size. However, it would have been ‘for’ rather than ‘from’ such a knife: it was a NOS part, so there’s no donor knife involved.If that sheepsfoot is a usa schrade blade it would be from something such as an 897UH, 825 or 895. The nick is on the wrong side for it to have been a 34ot blade. Do you know if it's stainless or carbon steel?
Arrived in the mail today my Michael May Sheffield Barlow. I remember saying to you that I would send you a picture. Same issues that you have with yours. Disappointed like you ... But it's pretty well constructed and a very pretty knife. Rams horn scales.Does the Dan Burke barlow have Winterbottom scales?
I also got my Michael May lambsfoot in bocote wood today. Appearance wise, it is a very nice looking knife. Detail wise, I'm pretty disappointed. I was looking for a well made, almost flawless example of a Sheffield lambsfoot. What I got was a pretty nicely assembled knife with one of the poorest grinds I've seen on one of these. The grind is off center, with a "normal" appearance at the grind termination, by the choil area, on one side of the blade, with almost no termination at all on the other side. There is a slight swedge out toward the end of the blade.... on one side only. Looking down on the spine of the blade, it looks crooked, because of the weird, sloppy grind. Both of my A.Wright lambsfoot knives have very nice grinds... I don't know why this one turned out the way it did. I'd send it back, but it took almost 6 weeks to get this one here... I can't imagine how long it would take to get a replacement.
That is a shame, beautiful looking knife, you have a good weekend.Arrived in the mail today my Michael May Sheffield Barlow. I remember saying to you that I would send you a picture. Same issues that you have with yours. Disappointed like you ... But it's pretty well constructed and a very pretty knife. Rams horn scales.
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. Nice looking knife.