Neglected knives

[William]

Anyone have any beat up old "tool" knives?
Bought these in the early 70s to use at work. Wasn't into knives as I am now. Both still around and do whatever I ask even though I didn't take very good care of them.

[Poncho65]

Many of the knives my dad gave me were tool knives he was bad to use knife blades as screwdrivers when he was young but most of them are still very usable 

[SteveC]

This old Utica has been used hard but still working   

[cody6268]

Anyone have any beat up old "tool" knives?
Bought these in the early 70s to use at work. Wasn't into knives as I am now. Both still around and do whatever I ask even though I didn't take very good care of them.
(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

Coincidentally, I have that first one as a beater knife as well. Came in a lot with a good chunk of the screwdriver busted off. It's in my (Craftsman!) toolbox as a beater knife.  And really despite hard use, both of those still look pretty darn good!

[Dean51]

Bought this Case 316-5 a very long time ago, I learned leather wasn't suitable as a hunting fishing knife. Threw it in a drawer of a tool box and forgot about it.
I noticed it this spring and found this slimey stuff growing on the handle. I cleaned it up put it away again and the mystery stuff had grown back.
Any offers  It's better than it was. 

[Poncho65]

I can offer to take it off your hands

It looks pretty good to me actually minus the stuff on the handle

[SteveC]

Dean, try some mild bleach solution on that handle 

[Dean51]

I can offer to take it off your hands

It looks pretty good to me actually minus the stuff on the handle

$.50 plus shipping...I ain't giving that moldy treasure away. Wasn't born yesterday u know

[Barry Rowland]

This is the way I recall most of the knives I encountered in my youth.  I know the Barlow's my farmer relatives had were rode hard and not maintained.

[David]

Bought this Case 316-5 a very long time ago, I learned leather wasn't suitable as a hunting fishing knife. Threw it in a drawer of a tool box and forgot about it.
I noticed it this spring and found this slimey stuff growing on the handle. I cleaned it up put it away again and the mystery stuff had grown back.
Any offers  It's better than it was. 
(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

Dean, I've seen that on many old leather handled knives that hadnt been used for awhile.

[Dean51]

Dean, try some

Show content

mild bleach solution

on that handle 

I'll take Steves advise and try this tomorrow. 

[David]

I've got a few hard used knives. Most I bought off the bay. They are known as HOK aka "honest old knife". I seldom have any hard use for a knife very often. I cant carry a knife on the job anymore. My life outside of work is boring now days. I dont abuse knives as screwdrivers or pry bars anyway. The last time I used a knife blade for a screwdriver a small bit of the tip broke off. I was in a big hurry that day at work and did'nt take the time to get a screwdriver and paid the price for it. Fortunately it was a small piece that broke off and easily sharpened out. But I've never done it since and dont plan on it ever again except in a serious emergency. Here is a pic of the knife and the blade that was tipped. This Case 6392 this was my edc for years before edc was cool. It was rode hard and put away wet many a day.   

[Ray S]

Here is a knife I acquired in a bunch of older knives I bought.An old Imperial scout/utility one of the stamped metal handles was missing and the other all bent up which I removed.The blades are all in decent shape and these are known for taking a really good edge.
I tossed it in my tool box figuring it would be a good knife to scrape gaskets from engines or any of a hundred uses around the shop. And that it what it did for several years.
One day I was putting an edge on it and decided it would be a lot more comfortable to use if it had a pair of handles on it. I had some scrap Lexan left over from a job I had finished and decided to use it.
The first step was making the sides as flat as possible without grinding through the rivets that held the blades on.Then I cut a couple pieces of the Lexan roughly to size and epoxied them to the liners of the knife.Shaped them to the size that felt comfortable and then decided to fancy them up a bit.
I had just purchased a Foredom die grinder and decided to try my hand at jigging the handles using a small ball cutter. One side I ground all over the handle and the other side I added a faux bolster to each end. Drilled one end for a bail and made one out of a piece of steel round rod. Using the die grinder again I inlaid a shield made from a Lone Star Beer lapel pin and glued it in place.And now I have an everyday knife that I'm not afraid to use for anything and it doesn't look all that bad either!

[William]

Thanks for the contributions. If some of those knives could talk we would have some great stories!!

[Barry Rowland]