Project - Obachan's Knife

Looks like a great project.
If you need to come to the shop, just holler!

 

Spent an hour on the 500 stone this morning. Someone owes me a new rock! Photos pending.

 

Hey thanks Bill, I appreciate it.

 

From studying the writing on the blade, I can make out the word "JAPAN". I believe this might be the makers name, a Google search of "Knives from Japan" shows that this guy made a bunch of them. I hope that this shed some light for you Jim.

 

That thing is looking sweet Jim. I really like how you blended that chip in the back. How did it go with the sleeve resto?

 

Thanks Christopher- still polishing the blade at the moment and taking all the rough edges off. I have not gotten that far yet.

Jason, I am amazed at your Google fu- :cool1

 

Amazing !!!

 

Quite the transformation already -- looking forward to seeing the end result!

 

Thanks Chad, the pile of swarf in my sink is what's really remarkable. Lots of metal taken away to get those chips out.
Great to see you here.

 

Thanks to you, Jim! You keep expanding my vocabulary with new-to-me words like swarf, and I'll keep on coming around!

 

It's a gift, I don't like to brag about it. When I do, people call me French sounding words like imbecile and dimbulb. I assume these are a doting admiration of my talent, which I find embarrassing because I'm so humble.

 

So your like to knives what Brian is to 51's ?, does that mean that member isnt really getting his knife back without months and months of extensive and thorough testing once completed ?

 

Cool. I remember seeing that in the original thread and thinking it was pretty cool. I wish I could find one of those in the wild. One of my ex's parents were both Chines Chefs, and they had some awesome old knives I wish I had to restore. They were never very sharp because they couldn't hone worth a damn, but I bet the steel was decent. Really neat looking ones as well.

 

What a great project.

 

That looks really great Jim. You mention stabilizing the handle, what was involved there? I am quite anxious to see the finished results.

 

Great question Mike. The handle had several splits at the end covered by the brass sleeve which when new was "supposed ? " to prevent that from happening when the Knife is pressed into the handle. I stabilized the cracks with good glue and later I plan on wrapping the area with silk thread and epoxy prior to installing the sleeve back on. This will strengthen it and also take up some of the room lost from shrinkage in the wood. More polishing today but I quite early as my hands hurt.

 

Hello Everyone!

I wanted thank Jim publicly for taking the time and effort to work on this knife for me. I never expected something like that when I originally posted about it on B&B.

My grandmother was just a special person. I could go on and on about her but she was a "picture bride." That means she was married off via a photo exchange from my grandfather in Hawaii to her family in Japan. They were from the same village so the families arranged it. When she arrived in Hawaii she lived a hard, hard life as many immigrants do. My dad said her mother-in-law was especially hard on her.

She was all of 4'8", maybe shorter, but worked like a bull. My dad said she would haul five gallon steel buckets of slop to feed the pigs they raised then would wrestle huge truck tires at the garage they ran. She was my dad's hero in life and considering he fought in WWII with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team and all of those men, that is saying quite a lot. I don't really own anything of hers other than this knife. The family home was sold off decades ago and she lived in a rotation of her six kids in Hawaii until she was nearly 100 when she moved into a nursing home. She passed away a few months after turning 100. Due to the rotation she had only a few possessions with her after selling the home. Her kids took a few things to keep (that's how the knife ended up with our family). My dad actually predeceased her. When I showed the knife to my aunts at Christmas they all remembered her using it. One aunt actually has another of her knives that was larger than the Deba.

As you can tell, this means a lot to me and for Jim to put so much of himself into this knife makes it even more special.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you Jim.

 

Ronnie I have to thank you for the privilege of working on such a rare family heirloom, a hundred year old knife with a fantastic history-It is a great honor for me to be part of its continuing story.

 

Sadly the markings are all too degraded to be meaningfully read. The handle markings might be deciphered via careful rubbing or similar methods, but the imprints apart from generic 特製 "specially produced" aren't going to show up in normal photos. The stamp remaining on the blade is also too far gone with the exception of 作 "made".

Looks like a cool restoration project, even if identification is unlikely.

 

Great story. Her knife deserves to see another century of service.