Restoring a Vintage Knife

I found a way to turn a $10 knife into a $20 knife, using about $10 worth of brass Corby bolts and some mountain mahogany wood slabs.  This project didn't make sense economically, but it was fun and turned out nicely.

This knife was part of a three knife set which I received as a wedding gift in 1975.  It was used in the kitchen for many years, and then as a camping knife more recently.  The blade was badly stained, and the wood handle had seen too many visits to the dishwasher.

I had been given a block of mountain mahogany, so I sliced off a couple slabs for the scales.  I drilled holes for brass Corby bolts, epoxied it together, and trimmed and sanded the scales to fit the tang of the knife.  It came out pretty nice, considering how it started. The wood is really that red.