The Rescue Of An Old Rusty Blanchard Roundknife

[oldtimer]

Years ago I found an old Blanchard roundknife in a flea market, and got it cheap. It was heavily pitted by rust, had a severe crack in the blade and the brass ferrule was beaten by a hammer and the handle had cracks, a piece of junk. The other day I got an idea of trying to make something out of it so I tapped off the handle. Then I made a poster board template of a head knife that would clear the crack and then I cut out the "new" blade. The rust was cured in a bath of mild citric acid and after a great deal of polishing the blade started to look like a Blanchard leather knife again. I had plans to make a new handle from moose antler but I had to cancel that idea. Instead I used the old handle, glued the cracks and cut off the part inside the ferrule as it was badly damaged by the hammer blows on the ferrule. After some drilling and fitting the handle was epoxied back on the blade. What´s left to do now is grinding a new edge , but that is another story. The length of the handle is custom fitted to my hand and it is nice to hold.

/Knut

Edited February 4, 2010 by oldtimer

[Old Soldier Sahib]

Years ago I found an old Blanchard roundknife in a flea market, and got it cheap. It was heavily pitted by rust, had a severe crack in the blade and the brass ferrule was beaten by a hammer and the handle had cracks, a piece of junk. The other day I got an idea of trying to make something out of it so I tapped off the handle. Then I made a poster board template of a head knife that would clear the crack and then I cut out the "new" blade. The rust was cured in a bath of mild citric acid and after a great deal of polishing the blade started to look like a Blanchard leather knife again. I had plans to make a new handle from moose antler but I had to cancel that idea. Instead I used the old handle, glued the cracks and cut off the part inside the ferrule as it was badly damaged by the hammer blows on the ferrule. After some drilling and fitting the handle was epoxied back on the blade. What´s left to do now is grinding a new edge , but that is another story. The length of the handle is custom fitted to my hand and it is nice to hold.

/Knut

Good for you! I've been eyeing the "Al Stohlman round knife" in the catalogues, but my interest stopped when I saw that it's made from stainless steel. In my experience, ss is good for one thing and one thing only: 'not rusting' - it takes forever to sharpen and doesn't keep an edge at all.

I've got some truck springs at the back of the shop that I've been turning into chisels as needed - I think I'll make my round knife based on your photies!