Knife Question

[Hilborne]

I have a 4 1'2" George Westenholm Sheffield hunitng knife that is in need of a new sheath. My question is the bolster appears to be bend backwards and I think it should be straight, or at a right angle to the blade, can I bend it back and if so how to do it with out breaking if off? Or should I just clean it up, put a new edge on it, make a sheath, and keep using it?

Andy

[medic442]

i would do a search on the knife to see if it was made like that. i have a couple of older knives and some are straight and some are bent back like that! i like the looks of it being straight!

[Luke Hatley]

Hilborne, if you try to bend it back straight there is a possibility that it will break or crack.

if you were to take it complety apart then you could apply some Heat and straighten it .

really it dosen't look that bad like it is.

[Art]

The knife is a George Wostenholm & Son I*XL, not sure of the vintage but was manufactured that way. Wostenholm was the largest cutlery manufacturer in England in the 19th century, but the roots of the company go back to the 18th century. They still exist today. but make only pocket knives and sold the I*XL trademark to Parker, who promptly went under. I don't know who owns the I*XL mark now but I don't think it is Wosthenolm. Wostenholm was the premier knife imported to the United States in the 1800s as there were no quality knifemakers in America at that time, and Sheffield steel was premium, the best in the world.

I think your knife was produced with the bent guard, and looks to be a trade knife, not an exhibition knife that lost it's way. I would, however, leave it that way until you can get someone who is a Wostenholm expert to value it (you just never know).

By the end of the 19th century, the United States had developed the capability to produce fine steel, and the Sheffield knife trade with the US all but dried-up.

Art

[Hilborne]

Thanks for the comments. My mother purchased the knife in Bermuda late 1950's as a gift for me so I've had the knife for 50 years. Over the years it has had a lot of use and probably when I was younger a lot of abuse. It has made a good camping knife and has sentimental value. It was probably made that way, but when I got it out thinking of a sheath for it I questioned my own memory. In any event I think my next project will be a new sheath for it. Thanks.

Andy

[Rayban]

I have a 4 1'2" George Westenholm Sheffield hunitng knife that is in need of a new sheath. My question is the bolster appears to be bend backwards and I think it should be straight, or at a right angle to the blade, can I bend it back and if so how to do it with out breaking if off? Or should I just clean it up, put a new edge on it, make a sheath, and keep using it?

Andy

My opinion is that the guard looks dorky that way...I would grind it off to the contour of the rest of the handle.