Vintage Marble's Woodcraft Buster Brown Shoes

kwakster · **on:** September 24, 2018, 03:34:41 PM

Some time ago i bought this vintage Marble's Woodcraft in need of some TLC.
It still has an almost full blade geometry and also the original leather sheath.
My knife was part of a 1930's run for the Brown Shoe Company operating from St.Louis USA, as an incentive for parent buyers of a children's line of shoes marketed with the licensed use of the cartoon boy Buster Brown and his dog Tige.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Brown

kwakster · **Reply #1 on:** September 24, 2018, 03:35:53 PM

Handle disassembled, washers numbered & lined up for glueing and reassembling:

kwakster · **Reply #2 on:** September 24, 2018, 03:36:42 PM

Back together again.

kwakster · **Reply #3 on:** September 24, 2018, 03:42:37 PM

This is how the knife currently looks.
Reground the blade by hand to it's original full convex zero edge shape, but used only 800 grit wet & dry (using WD40 as a lubricant on a rubber backing)
This was coarse enough to get a good sharp apex again but also fine enough to leave most of the old patina intact, which was the idea.
The sheath has been cleaned, waxed, and restitched.

Specs:

Overall length: 21,0 cm
Blade length: 11,1 cm
Maximum blade thickness: 4,47 mm
Steel type: drop-forged 1095 or 52100 steel
Hardness: harder than an F.Dick standard basterd file no.1
Handle material: Brass guard, brass/fiber/leather washers, aluminium pommel with small brass nut
Sheath: Leather

RF52 · **Reply #4 on:** September 24, 2018, 07:50:17 PM

Nice job

Looks great

Sent fra min FRD-L09 via Tapatalk

Sparky415 · **Reply #5 on:** September 24, 2018, 10:07:25 PM

How cool is that?

Lovely job K

clown · **Reply #6 on:** September 25, 2018, 03:31:47 AM

Beautiful! I love to see those old Marbles get some life breathed back into them.

Barry Rowland · **Reply #7 on:** September 25, 2018, 05:10:56 AM

Nice find!!!

Aloha · **Reply #8 on:** September 25, 2018, 07:40:52 AM

Excellent work on that knife. You really did a terrific job

sak60 · **Reply #9 on:** September 25, 2018, 02:28:34 PM

Nice end result.

The tang looks like it cleaned up nicely. What did you use to finish to leather washers and spacers to get them smooth and lined up?

kwakster · **Reply #10 on:** September 25, 2018, 04:37:09 PM

For that i took a new sheet of 400 grit wet & dry, taped up the back side with plastic packing tape, then used a pair of scissors to cut the whole sheet up into long & narrow strips about 1,0 centimeter wide.
The tape strengthens the wet & dry paper so you can use it as fine sanding linen without tearing it too easily.
Clamped the wrapped-up blade on my work bench with the handle sticking out and then used those strips to slowly sand washers & spacers into one smooth handle shape again.
The slow part is important as you don't want to remove too much material, just even things out.
Next step were 2 coats of Granger's wax using a warm blow dryer to let it penetrate the old leather better, let everything cool down, and finally buff with a long & narrow piece of soft cloth in the same way i used the wet & dry strips.

Aloha · **Reply #11 on:** September 25, 2018, 05:26:34 PM

Your patience and attention to detail were well paid with the results

SteveC · **Reply #12 on:** September 25, 2018, 08:05:01 PM

Nice work !

sak60 · **Reply #13 on:** September 26, 2018, 02:30:30 AM

Thanks

kwakster · **Reply #14 on:** September 26, 2018, 10:04:52 AM

I find projects like these to be very rewarding, as not only do you get to bring pieces of knife history back to life, it's quite useful to practice your skills, plus it pays for itself as generally i use the proceeds of the sale of a restored knife to buy other oldies that could use some work.
Currently busy with another old Woodcraft.