I found an old lambsfoot folder and restored it

Sawl Goodman · **on:** April 10, 2020, 02:33:21 AM

It was on a shelf at work. I don't know where it had been before. One scale was bleached from facing the sun (not on the shelf). I was surprised there was no rot. I could open the blade.

The steel was thick with rust. I used three grades of sandpaper to remove it. The finest grade was 800. All I had, yet it seemed to be sufficient. Sanding the blade made it very sharp! I polished the exposed brass lightly with 800 grade.

There was no snap. I freed the backspring from the liners by tapping it with a length of wood, then oiled along its length along with the pivot. The snap is good now, except the spring is bent and the blade doesn't snap all the way, leaving about 10 degrees of free movement, both open and closed.

I sanded the scales and polished them with linseed oil. The knife is more likely to be an artifact than a user so right now I think I'll leave the blade as is rather than reshape it.

My father, who was a farmer, carried a similar knife (several in succession, really, as he wore them out). The style was very popular among farmers of his generation. Mostly they were used to cut bailing twine for which the lambsfoot is very well suited.

The tang stamp says "Toledo". Dad favoured bone handled IXLs, if I remember rightly.

The knife is wonderful to hold - better than any SAK I have. An Evowood comes closest. At 87mm in length the Toledo sits between the 84mm and 91mm Vics. The scales are shaped beautifully, and I wonder about making similarly tapered scales for a Spartan or Tinker.

This the first traditional I've owned, and it's a beautiful, elegant, thing. I wanted a knife like Dad's when I was a kid; I was given a cheap two layer camping knife instead. I've called it a scout style in the past, but it had a corkscrew and Phillips on the back. It set my preference for multifunction knives, but I certainly understand the appeal of the well crafted, rugged, traditional slipjoint. I've become quite taken with the Toledo's lambsfoot blade.

Sawl Goodman · **Reply #1 on:** April 10, 2020, 02:34:14 AM

Before:

Sawl Goodman · **Reply #2 on:** April 10, 2020, 02:35:17 AM

After:

cody6268 · **Reply #3 on:** April 10, 2020, 02:52:00 AM

Great cleanup job! I have a (presumably stainless) Taylor's Eye Witness from the 1960s or so. It's a pattern pretty well suited for farm work. Long enough to do most anything, while easy to open with gloves. I've never trimmed a sheep's hoof with it, but have done it with my rigging knife (the guy that was supposed to have done it had a POS dull pocketknife, and then there was me, with a freshly cleaned and sharpened Canadian Navy knife in my back pocket; that I'd just gotten in the mail a day prior).

GEC's now copying the old Sheffield pattern, and the prices are just nutty. Double that of a Taylor's Eye Witness or Wright.

SteveC · **Reply #4 on:** April 10, 2020, 03:10:28 AM

Great job and cool knife!

David · **Reply #5 on:** April 10, 2020, 03:46:40 AM

Quote from: SteveC on April 10, 2020, 03:10:28 AM

Great job and cool knife!

Sawl Goodman · **Reply #6 on:** April 10, 2020, 03:54:05 AM

Thanks guys!

I'm going to ask my mother if she still has any of Dad's pocket knives.

Quote from: cody6268 on April 10, 2020, 02:52:00 AM

Great cleanup job! I have a (presumably stainless) Taylor's Eye Witness from the 1960s or so. It's a pattern pretty well suited for farm work. Long enough to do most anything, while easy to open with gloves. I've never trimmed a sheep's hoof with it, but have done it with my rigging knife (the guy that was supposed to have done it had a POS dull pocketknife, and then there was me, with a freshly cleaned and sharpened Canadian Navy knife in my back pocket; that I'd just gotten in the mail a day prior).

GEC's now copying the old Sheffield pattern, and the prices are just nutty. Double that of a Taylor's Eye Witness or Wright.

I know very little about trad knives, although I'm now eager to learn!

Well done on the hoof cutting. Dad usually used shears.

I looked up Taylor's Eye Witness. They still make traditional knives. The prices are very reasonable if you don't mind plastic scales, for the most part.
https://bakewellcookshop.com/cutting-and-chopping/pocket-knives/sheffield-made-pocket-knives.html?limit=all

Gotta say though that plastic scales seem quite wrong on a trad.

pfrsantos · **Reply #7 on:** April 10, 2020, 08:30:21 PM

Quote from: David on April 10, 2020, 03:46:40 AM

+1

Well done!

MadPlumbarian · **Reply #8 on:** April 10, 2020, 08:33:24 PM

Nice job, nice knife!

JR

Aloha · **Reply #9 on:** April 10, 2020, 08:46:02 PM

Well done. Just enough to preserve it without a full restoration. I really like how it came out.

Wspeed · **Reply #10 on:** April 10, 2020, 09:00:29 PM

Nice work

cody6268 · **Reply #11 on:** April 10, 2020, 11:07:03 PM

Quote from: Sawl Goodman on April 10, 2020, 03:54:05 AM

Thanks guys!

I'm going to ask my mother if she still has any of Dad's pocket knives.
I know very little about trad knives, although I'm now eager to learn!

Well done on the hoof cutting. Dad usually used shears.

I looked up Taylor's Eye Witness. They still make traditional knives. The prices are very reasonable if you don't mind plastic scales, for the most part.
https://bakewellcookshop.com/cutting-and-chopping/pocket-knives/sheffield-made-pocket-knives.html?limit=all

Gotta say though that plastic scales seem quite wrong on a trad.

And, besides, the plastic they use is CHEAP. Whether it be on the old lambsfoot (in which, they have shrunken quite a bit, thus it will be getting a stag handle eventually) or a newer Barlow-type knife they call the "Clip Point".

The Endurance folders seem like good candidates for fitting new handles on, as they are assembled with Torx screws and not pins. Thus, my biggest hassle, removing and replacing the pins, is no longer an issue.

David · **Reply #12 on:** April 11, 2020, 02:37:03 AM

A Wright still makes Lambfoot knives with natural covers. Here is one with Rosewood.

Sawl Goodman · **Reply #13 on:** April 12, 2020, 12:49:55 AM

Thanks pfr, MadP, Aloha, Wspeed; and David for your information.

Sawl Goodman · **Reply #14 on:** April 12, 2020, 12:50:48 AM

Quote from: Aloha on April 10, 2020, 08:46:02 PM

Well done. Just enough to preserve it without a full restoration. I really like how it came out.

Thanks. That was exactly my aim: to restore it to its condition when it was last used.

A small pity about the backspring. It looks like the blade was left half open for an age. I was worried about it breaking when I loosened it.

Sawl Goodman · **Reply #15 on:** April 12, 2020, 01:00:05 AM

Quote from: cody6268 on April 10, 2020, 11:07:03 PM

And, besides, the plastic they use is CHEAP. Whether it be on the old lambsfoot (in which, they have shrunken quite a bit, thus it will be getting a stag handle eventually) or a newer Barlow-type knife they call the "Clip Point".

The Endurance folders seem like good candidates for fitting new handles on, as they are assembled with Torx screws and not pins. Thus, my biggest hassle, removing and replacing the pins, is no longer an issue.

That's especially disappointing about the quality of plastic in the Taylor's knives. I've become more and more taken with the warmth (both look and feel) of wooden scales.

I remember Dad's IXLs being in the Barlow style with bone or stag handles. Probably bone as he would have bought them for utility rather than cachet. But they might have been plastic that looked like the natural materials, if that was an option in the 70s-80s.

Sawl Goodman · **Reply #16 on:** April 12, 2020, 01:51:01 AM

Quote from: David on April 11, 2020, 02:37:03 AM

A Wright still makes Lambfoot knives with natural covers. Here is one with Rosewood.

Beautiful and well priced. I was always under the impression that nice wooden scales made pocket knives automatically expensive.

I also like that carbon blades are still an option as they add to the traditional feel. I wouldn't buy a knife with stainless blade for this reason.

I had a look at NZ farming suppliers online and couldn't find any trad Sheffield knives at all. Perhaps farmers use different knives now - I've been long out of touch with farming.

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #17 on:** April 12, 2020, 02:45:09 AM

Quote from: Sawl Goodman on April 12, 2020, 01:00:05 AM

That's especially disappointing about the quality of plastic in the Taylor's knives. I've become more and more taken with the warmth (both look and feel) of wooden scales.

I remember Dad's IXLs being in the Barlow style with bone or stag handles. Probably bone as he would have bought them for utility rather than cachet. But they might have been plastic that looked like the natural materials, if that was an option in the 70s-80s.

I have a couple of those. One with buffalo scales, and one with rosewood. They're both stainless clip blades though, and less than 20 years old. I do have a Wright Senator with carbon lambfoot blade, buffalo scales, and fileworked backspring, but that's another fairly modern one.

I also have another carbon lambsfoot folder which was made by one of the "Littlemesters" in the early 90's. That has the cheap plastic stag textured scales, but it's been an excellent pocket knife and has seen a lot of use over the last 30 years. It might not be a looker, but those cheap textured scales have withstood the years, and offered decent grip with wet hands. I'll try and get a pic...