Picked up this old blade as part of a job lot of 3 for £21.... felt I had nothing to lose as the other two were in much better condition & really only needed some light polishing and then honing.
Decided to have a go at renovating it because I didn't had a full wedge & I kind of liked the idea of getting a really old edge back into a useable shape.
I figure that it is about 175 years old..... I did find some info in an old newspaper about the maker
So at least 165 years old & perhaps 190 years old. Amazing what you can find out with Google & some time to waste.....
Anyway - here's the "Before" pictures
2014-073-JS3_6409.jpg2014-073-JS3_6408.jpg
The scales are broken... but the owner obviously used it for a while with the broken scales - there is a notch hacked out of the scales & it has had a bodge repair with string. When I cut the string it just fell apart.
I considered creating a brass backing & using the original scales, but decided to make new horn scales from scratch. Decided to cut notches into the new scales (but not the bone wedge) as a remeberance of the originals. Here's the "after" pics
2014-117-JS3_6547.jpg2014-117-JS3_6542.jpg2014-117-JS3_6539.jpg
Sadly I lost most of the etching in the cleanup, and still left some of the rust pitting as I didn't think it right to remove too much of the blade to get a mirror finish.
Took me a dogs age to hone this - lots of deep pitting on the edge & I am not convinced that the blade wasn't warped as well.
I will use it tomorrow morning. I now have another large wedge, but really didn't enjoy it.... hoping this one will be better.
Decided to have a go at renovating it because I didn't had a full wedge & I kind of liked the idea of getting a really old edge back into a useable shape.
I figure that it is about 175 years old..... I did find some info in an old newspaper about the maker
Maker was William Revitt, of Stannington, Sheffield. His business was conducted from Meadow Street, and he first appears in the 1825 Sheffield Directory. There was a flood in Sheffield in 1865, and Wm Revitt claimed £4 10s 0d loss of property! ”
He went bankrupt in 1860 - THE LONDON GAZETTE, OCTOBER 2, 1860
So at least 165 years old & perhaps 190 years old. Amazing what you can find out with Google & some time to waste.....
Anyway - here's the "Before" pictures
2014-073-JS3_6409.jpg2014-073-JS3_6408.jpg
The scales are broken... but the owner obviously used it for a while with the broken scales - there is a notch hacked out of the scales & it has had a bodge repair with string. When I cut the string it just fell apart.
I considered creating a brass backing & using the original scales, but decided to make new horn scales from scratch. Decided to cut notches into the new scales (but not the bone wedge) as a remeberance of the originals. Here's the "after" pics
2014-117-JS3_6547.jpg2014-117-JS3_6542.jpg2014-117-JS3_6539.jpg
Sadly I lost most of the etching in the cleanup, and still left some of the rust pitting as I didn't think it right to remove too much of the blade to get a mirror finish.
Took me a dogs age to hone this - lots of deep pitting on the edge & I am not convinced that the blade wasn't warped as well.
I will use it tomorrow morning. I now have another large wedge, but really didn't enjoy it.... hoping this one will be better.
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