Vintage Knives

I guess I should have labeled them when I posted the pic.

Left to Right

Sabatier 689
Nichols Bros
Latham & Owen
WE Nichols' Sons
KC Seelbach
LF&C Universal
Shapleigh
Northampton
Meriden
Meriden
Case XX

 

Vintage anything is cool in my book

 

Love the knives! Feels like I would be hitting up antique shops and estate sales if the world turn on its head. But then again, I'd be torn between fixing them up, or focusing on making my own. Not enough time in the day...

 

Touched up another small batch. Someday I'll get around to proper refurbishment. That's the goal at least.


Ignore my feet.

From left to right.
Harrington Cutlery Dexter
Lady Hibbard Vanadium
Forgecraft
Robeson Hammered
FJ Richtig
Queen Cutlery
Adam Marr
LF&C Universal
Clyde

The Adam Marr is of course not vintage but needed sharpening. The LF&C Universal is the same one from the previous batch I posted but needed redone.

 

Love seeing vintage knives like these get another chance at life.

 

Not sure if this is the right place to post this. I just joined. I was lucky enough to get a huge cardboard box full of antique and vintage butchery tools at an auction for $5. I'm a single mom without much of a knife budget, so I was pretty stoked. All the knives are really dull, minor to moderate rust, some pitting and some questionable handles. I probably have 50 or so of all different kinds. The blades themselves don't look too bad for the most part. My plan is to go from crappiest to nicest and restore them all, with the hope that by the time I get to the good ones, I kinda know what I'm doing. For my regular knives, I just have a couple of steels and a cheap wusthof manual sharpener. So, I want to upgrade to the Lansky Deluxe 5 Stone with a strop. I have no hands on sharpening experience so I like this one for the price point and the relative ease of use. Thoughts? Also wondering about how to quickly get past the surface rust and imperfections to a point where I'm using a fine grade sandpaper. 400? I have given thought to a dremel but am concerned it will make the blade uneven, thickness wise. The last question I have for now is about handles. If a handle is going to be replaced, is it best to remove it before restoring the blade? Should the old handle be saved as a pattern for the new one? I'm guessing that there are folks around who custom make new handles. Do they also put it all together? Like a mail order deal? Do you have any favorites? Are there any tips or things I "have" to know before I really get into this? Thanks so very much in advance! I'm so excited to be here!

 

If you post some photos of a few of the knives we might be able to point you to a course of action.
In any event welcome to the fora.

 

pictures for sure will help might start just by givving them a good scrubbin with an sos pad. there are some that will rehandle knives. when i do it i like them to be dull . when i make a knife last thing i do before shippin is sharpen them