Restoration Of Blanchard Head Knife

[nordicdistrict]

Hi there,

So I just received this head knife and it has obviously seen some years and could use a little restoration.

I was kind of surprised that the knife still had a reasonable edge and it should turn great with a bit of sharpening.

I also want to clean and polish the blade to bring the shine back, but I've never restored a tool before and I'm not sure where to start and with what. Can I do this by myself or should I pay to get it done professionally?

Another pic:

[Jaymack]

Post this question on bladeforum.com. I'm sure someone there will help you.

[bruce johnson]

The old Blanchards are nice knives and well worth the effort. I start off with whatever grit I think will get me to even with the bottom of the pits. Then I scrub out the grit pattern with a finer grade, go to a finer grade from there until the grit patterns are all but gone. Somewhere in there I set the edge bevel and taper I want. Then I go to polishing compounds on buffing wheels to get a final shine (black then green for me). After that I go back and do my final edge sharpening, then stropping off the burr. I have to be in a "zone" to clean up knives. If I am preoccupied, tired, or in a hurry to just do something it isn't going to be knives. I figure the average knife takes me about 3-4 hours. Some of the really hard steels like a Rose knife can have 4-8 hours in it.

[nordicdistrict]

The old Blanchards are nice knives and well worth the effort. I start off with whatever grit I think will get me to even with the bottom of the pits. Then I scrub out the grit pattern with a finer grade, go to a finer grade from there until the grit patterns are all but gone. Somewhere in there I set the edge bevel and taper I want. Then I go to polishing compounds on buffing wheels to get a final shine (black then green for me). After that I go back and do my final edge sharpening, then stropping off the burr. I have to be in a "zone" to clean up knives. If I am preoccupied, tired, or in a hurry to just do something it isn't going to be knives. I figure the average knife takes me about 3-4 hours. Some of the really hard steels like a Rose knife can have 4-8 hours in it.

Thank you for the feedback, Bruce. I admire your restoration work, which is truly beautiful. My main concern is ruining the knife because of insufficient tools, knowledge and method, but I'm also determined to give it a go. Being a somewhat novice what is the coarsest grid you'd start out with? In terms of polishing compounds I currently have yellow and white for the edge sharpening, but I guess they might be too fine to get the shine out on the face of the blade.

Thanks, I'll make sure not to hurry the process and give it the attention it needs.

Edit: Also, do you sand down the handle at some point and give it a bit of oil?

Edited November 24, 2013 by nordicdistrict

[lightningad]

Looks exactly like the Blanchard I just picked up at an Antique dealers for just £15 !

An hour with Japanese water stone and it's got an astonishingly sharp edge...bargain of the year for me!

Adam

[zuludog]

I'm sure you'll get some good advice here. You could also try this website & forum; they have a section for leatherwork

http://www.britishblades.com

[rawcustom]

Get a cheap pull retrieving magnet from HF ($9) and probably 4 sheets of the following wet/dry silicon carbide sandpaper: 120, 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000

Attach the magnet to the blade as a handle and place a sheet of sandpaper on raised piece of glass or your rectangle marble/quartz/granite tooling pad. Line up your sandpaper to the edge of the raised flat surface and spray some simple green on for cutting fluid. Now you should be able to sand the blade the length of your sandpaper, and the elevated flat surface will give you clearance for the handle while you sand the blade flush to the bolster. Flip the sandpaper around after a while to use the far side and repeat. This will be the fastest way to refinish the blade and keep the surface flat and true.

It's a personal call how far you want to take it. If you're looking for eliminating 100% of the pitting don't be surprised to watch some of the makers stamp go with it.

[Sanch]

go with rawcustoms advice but keep going to the highest grit you can get 2k or 3k if possible..good advice from him. also don't do it if your not prepared to give it some real attention. for edge treatment I would start with 1k, 2k, 6k 12k hones then some green compound on "canvas" JMHO

[silverwingit]

Good technique advise. You might look into 3M wet or dry polishing papers.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-WET-DRY-TRI-M-ITE-PCS/dp/B0095I79RA/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1417977864&sr=1-2&keywords=3m+polishing+papers

I used them to lap my splitter blade to a mirror finish.

Michelle