Grandad's homemade knife

[mvyrmnd]

The other weekend I was digging through a box of stuff I'd inherited from my wife's grandad when he passed away a few years ago.

He was a Fitter & Turner by trade, and there was a lot of homemade stuff (ladders, benches etc.) that was handed down.

Much to my surprise, I discovered a knife that he'd made aswell. It didn't look quite finished: The tang was still square and stuck out past the hand-carved handle, and the grind was really rough, with no proper edge.

It appears to be made out of some scrap steel - as was most of his projects - but after using my Lansky sharpening kit to give it a 30° edge it seems to hold up alright.

Here's how I found it...


You can see the tang sticking out...


After an hour with a polishing kit, , cutting back the tang, and a good hour sharpening and a few coats of oil on the handle, this is how it looks now:



I didn't polish it to a mirror finish, I still want it to look rustic and homemade. I've even left some of the original rough grind marks on the blade.

Now I want my wife to make a leather sheath for it... off to a saddler for some leather, I think

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Looks good to me mate

[Neil]

You know Grandad's looking down shaking his head going "I made it to tamp down the weft on baskets, its not meant to be sharp!" 

That's a good job chap 

[Gareth]

Hey, I like that mate.   Bit of a billhook/chopper vibe going on.

[Zed]

I like that mate looks like a cool chopper, and a nice thing to have of grandads 

[Sparky415]

Great looking knife with a nice history 

[Sean]

Ah, very nice what a great find! You did a great job of bringing it back, functional, yet retaining
it's original look. 
I just looked at that last picture you took and figured you would have grabbed
one of those apples laying on the ground and gave it a good whack then took the picture. 

[Smitty44]

Great refinish,and you will always think of your Granddad every time you get it out.