I have had quite a unique opportunity come my way. I have had a chance to restore an old school anchor knife.
Last year when we were staying in Northern Michigan, we had a chance to walk through someone's broke down abandoned house. It was packed wall to wall with stuff, and in some places it was several feet deep.
The windows were busted, and in some cases the walls were open and we could see outside. Before it all got torn down we were able to collect a few cool things. I found a few knives, and one was this anchor knife.
It didn't always look this nice. I had to put quite a bit of effort in it to bring it back to life. It started much rougher.
The metal has a nice patina on it on which shows as a dark grey color. It is an aged condition that actually protects the surface from rust.
I used WD 40 and a scotch brite pad to clean all of the metal. I cleaned the blade, the bolster, and the rest of the metal in the handle.
The handle was in poor condition. It was water damaged which means that water had been in the wood and made it swell and push away from the metal it is attached to. The wood had aged and dried over time, so it was very light and porous.
I used epoxy to fill the gaps between the wood handle and the metal. There were some large gaps. I then used some 6" clamps to hold that together.
I used 18p grit sand paper to clean up the wood surface and the tops of the pins and anchor. It put a nice shine back on them! Once the wood was cleared of epoxy and the surfaces were smoothed out, I oiled it.
I used Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) with a paper towel. The handle was so dry, so it soaked up alot of oil. It changed the surface from a dry light brown to a dark wet looking brown.
I believe it was originally called smoked oak. I am not sure where the wood originated, but it has a beautiful finish.
So this knife is still very sharp, and I haven't even tried to touch up the cutting edge. It took several days to return this to working order, and I immediately put it into service. So I have been carrying and using it everyday!
I hope you all enjoyed this rehab project. Make sure to follow me for more of this!
Be well
~The Yeti
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