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Gentlemen. Last month I told you of the bubbud M3 Kinfolk that I acquired. The cross guard was bent far out of shape. A leather washer was missing and had been replaced with a bit of rag .Perhaps most important of all the blade had been snapped and welded back together. The handle had been painted green and then black. The scabbard had been painted black and silver.
Well the knife cleaned up far better then I hoped. I carefully bent the cross guard back in to shape .Without removing the pommel I managed to slide in a tap washer above the cross guard and glued it closed. Then I shaped it with a file. The blade responded very well to steel wool and oil followed by some light polishing with some emery paper. As advised I used acetone on the handle to remove most of the paint. Careful scraping with a pocket knife and a little sanding got rid of most of the remaining paint. I used leather shoe dye to bring the handle back to a uniform colour and then fed the dry leather with a bees wax based product I have used before on old leather. The leather lapped it up and I had to feed it often over a number of nights. As the leather was nourished it expanded and compressed the tap washer. This will need to be reshaped again.
Then I got impatient and tried acetone on the scabbard. When that failed I used commercial paint stripper. Left it on for two minutes. As a result I may have ruined the scabbard. It has gone a pale green and a lot of canvas is showing. A coat of paint or two may help recover it but I don’t feel confidant. I should have listened to advice I was given on this forum. So now I am looking for an appropriate scabbard for it.
All in all I am very pleased with my US$16.00 purchase. I like to think that I have given this old relic back some of the dignity it deserves. It sure doesn’t look out of place with the other M3s in my collection.
Barry
Well the knife cleaned up far better then I hoped. I carefully bent the cross guard back in to shape .Without removing the pommel I managed to slide in a tap washer above the cross guard and glued it closed. Then I shaped it with a file. The blade responded very well to steel wool and oil followed by some light polishing with some emery paper. As advised I used acetone on the handle to remove most of the paint. Careful scraping with a pocket knife and a little sanding got rid of most of the remaining paint. I used leather shoe dye to bring the handle back to a uniform colour and then fed the dry leather with a bees wax based product I have used before on old leather. The leather lapped it up and I had to feed it often over a number of nights. As the leather was nourished it expanded and compressed the tap washer. This will need to be reshaped again.
Then I got impatient and tried acetone on the scabbard. When that failed I used commercial paint stripper. Left it on for two minutes. As a result I may have ruined the scabbard. It has gone a pale green and a lot of canvas is showing. A coat of paint or two may help recover it but I don’t feel confidant. I should have listened to advice I was given on this forum. So now I am looking for an appropriate scabbard for it.
All in all I am very pleased with my US$16.00 purchase. I like to think that I have given this old relic back some of the dignity it deserves. It sure doesn’t look out of place with the other M3s in my collection.
Barry
I really think it will turn out pretty darned nice. I need to find my JB Weld to fill the hole for the leather thong so I can redrill it. Looks like it spent allot of time hanging from a nail or something. That hole is pretty chewed up.
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