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(Small project that only took 42 years to finish !!)
When I was in high school, I couldn’t afford new files to do the metal working I was doing at the time. So I used to go to a local scrap metal dealer and buy “worn out” files for 25 cents each. I would take them home and re-sharpen them to near new condition. In 1970, when I was a junior in high school, I had a file I had re-sharpened three times and it was finally, truly worn out. However, it was good steel and I really couldn’t bring myself to throw it away so I made a boot knife out of it. File steel blade, rosewood, buffalo horn, and brass grip. It came out fine and I had always intended to make a scabbard, but never really got around to it.
For the next many years I was in the Navy and far from home. The knife sat in a tool box and was only used as a letter opener, or such, from time to time and, eventually, was lost in the shuffle of tools and gear that was moved from one place to another.
In 2010, 40 years after I had made the knife, I rediscovered it. It looked a little the worse for wear and I thought I would spruce it up a bit and do some engraving on the brass”¦and it still needed a scabbard. I didn’t get the engraving done until 2011 and just now finished the scabbard in 2012. The knife has two dates on the pommel, 1970 for the year I made the knife and 2011 for the year I finished the engraving.
So here it is today. Now I suppose I should use it for something other than to fill up space in the tool box.
Started with this:
Made it into this:
When I was in high school, I couldn’t afford new files to do the metal working I was doing at the time. So I used to go to a local scrap metal dealer and buy “worn out” files for 25 cents each. I would take them home and re-sharpen them to near new condition. In 1970, when I was a junior in high school, I had a file I had re-sharpened three times and it was finally, truly worn out. However, it was good steel and I really couldn’t bring myself to throw it away so I made a boot knife out of it. File steel blade, rosewood, buffalo horn, and brass grip. It came out fine and I had always intended to make a scabbard, but never really got around to it.
For the next many years I was in the Navy and far from home. The knife sat in a tool box and was only used as a letter opener, or such, from time to time and, eventually, was lost in the shuffle of tools and gear that was moved from one place to another.
In 2010, 40 years after I had made the knife, I rediscovered it. It looked a little the worse for wear and I thought I would spruce it up a bit and do some engraving on the brass”¦and it still needed a scabbard. I didn’t get the engraving done until 2011 and just now finished the scabbard in 2012. The knife has two dates on the pommel, 1970 for the year I made the knife and 2011 for the year I finished the engraving.
So here it is today. Now I suppose I should use it for something other than to fill up space in the tool box.
Started with this:
Made it into this:
