Ideas for reworking old knife

[Brasilikilt]

Hello

I thought I might show you guys this BFK (big friggin knife) I bought at a junk shop.

As you can see the whole thing is about 16" long, with a thick and burly blade.

The person who made this likely recycled an existing knife or cleaver and ground it down into this blade.
The handle is purple heart and amateurish in it's construction having been fastened to the handle with some kind of epoxy and modern nuts and bolts. :shake:

I already cut through the bolts and used the string to keep the handle on while taking the pictures.

I want to rework it, but figured I would run the question by you guys and see what kind of suggestions you have.
(seriously, I see all kinds of great stuff on here that I never would have come up with on my own!)

One idea I had was to make a very early Perkins style Bowie which is thought by many to be a very close copy of the original knife Jim Bowie used during his famous Sandbar fight.

This is my idea, but many of you will undoubtedly come up with some really cool suggestions of your own.

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing your ideas.

Iain

 

[AeroncaTAL]

Iain,
Looks like that knife would lend well for a Perkins Bowie. Make a nice traditional knife.
Scott

 

[Twice boom]

IMHO..The BFK has an overly abrupt up word sweep for a point to lend itself for a Perkins.That is if you wanted to keep the Perkins at the original size.

You could though make a Bowie type with an exaggerated clip point out of the BFK by altering slightly one to one and a half inch of the BFK's point to less pronounced one .I think the clip and little straighter point will lend itself well with minimal effort on your part..The handle tang can be made little narrower,enough to slip a metal guard of some sort. Bone handle with a metal sliver made from two pieces of metal should serve well to finish the handle,s end....

No charge. :grin:
Twice..

 

[mrclean100]

It looks like once you get rid of that upsweep you will still have 10" of blade plus the handle . It doesnt look like it would be too much of a challenge to copy that perkins bowie . I dont know if you have worked on many knives , I have only worked on a few , but in my experience its best to use tools like hacksaw and files over grinders and sanders . The work goes slower but you can keep a better eye on your progress .

 

[Birdman]

Personally I would just rehandle the knife n leave it as is. Not knowing what type of steel it is ya may put alot of work into it n make it all pretty n still end up with a junk knife. Use it for awhile as is n see how the edge holds up before ya do anything to it.If the edge stands the test of working n stays sharp then consider reworking it. That sure is one honken big blade. If its balanced in your hand n feels good n easy to use ya might consider just trimming some of the up swept point off making the back of the blade a bit straighter n rehandleing it with a nice wood handle done properly. ? does the steel in the handle taper in thickness from the blade edge to the end of the handle? It sort of looks like it from the one picture. If it does the knife may be older then ya think.

 

[Brasilikilt]

Hey fellas

Thanks for your interest and suggestions :thumbsup:

I put some work into this blade last night and was surprised to find out that it took a nice edge rather easily.
I did some testing by carving, then chopping on various bits of hardwood and tree branches I had laying around..It was still sharp :grin:

I was convinced that the steel is of at least adequate quality to continue working on it.

It does have a taper to the tang, but my feeling now is that this might have been a leaf spring off a truck :hmm:

I clamped the blade onto a flat board with a straight-edge and started sawing off that "Nike swoosh".
This is what I ended up with:

I rummaged around in the shop and found a real nice stick of walnut burl, drilled some holes to match those in the tang, and then cut it down the center.

Later on I found these buffalo horn slabs

I gotta tell you all that I'm having a hard time figuring out which to use.

I don't have any silver for a bolster or end cap, but was thinking about poured pewter

Anyways, I'll keep you guys posted on my progress

Thanks :thumbsup:

 

[pichou]

A. What you have.

B. What you like.

C. Comparison.

D. A little extra shaping.

Scale is in 1/2" increments.

Go with the horn. :wink:

 

[Birdman]

Hey Pichou way kool graphics.neat overlay system. I like the burl wood myself but I'm a sucker for nice figured wood anyway.

 

[pichou]

Thanks.

I'm using that same overlay analysis to compare Brit scalping knives from the Upper Great Lakes. Part of a research project I am honored to be part of.

 

[Twice boom]

And how's it going . Lots of F's assume......:>)

The Madison Grant book was an eye oppener to me .Much thanks your way. :thumbsup:
Twice...

 

[Brasilikilt]

Thanks.

I'm using that same overlay analysis to compare Brit scalping knives from the Upper Great Lakes. Part of a research project I am honored to be part of.

Wow, and to think that kind of historical researching technique is applied to my clumsy hunk of steel.

Thank you, that's really something! :grin: :bow:

The only thing that gets me is the size difference between my knife, and the Perkins/Shively knife.

I did a little web research and found this website.
http://antiquebowies.com/antiqueBowies/historic/perkinsShively/perkins-shively.htm

They state the dimensions of the knife with the following sentence:

"The Perkins/Shively Bowie knife as displayed in the Old Capital Museum in Jackson, Mississippi is 15 ¼ inches long with a 10 ¼ inch blade."

My knife so far has a 5" handle and a 10" blade which only makes the blade 1/4" shorter than the Shively/Perkins knife.

I totally lack the skill and materials to produce an exact reproduction, but I'll be happy to get some practice and come up with a good knife that comes as close as I can in terms of size and general appearance.

Thanks again Pichou, that comparison technique is pretty sweet! :thumbsup:

Iain

 

[Twice boom]

Forgetaboutit.:.) Least wise making a Perkins out of the one you have....You might be able to make a baby Perkins ,which will be nothing wrong in itself. The problem is as I said ,the up sweep eats up lot of the blade and while you may have 10" blade overall ,in reality for what you want you only have 8" usable.

The blade on the big knife must not have a very hard blade if you were able to cut it with a hack saw. You might want to start thinking about rehardening and retempering while you are at it.. ..IMHO..
Twice.

 

[pichou]

OK based on those sizes, you're looking more like the blue one here

Problem is you have too much tang, and a curved blade.

 

[AeroncaTAL]

Heck, even if Iain can't get an exact replica, he'll have a great period looking knife!
Scott

 

[Brasilikilt]

Hey all

For those interested, I figured I would keep you posted on my progress.

I went ahead with the buffalo horn as it's been sitting around for a LONG time unused

So as of now, this is the knife after putting on the horn slabs and doing a little shaping

I left the bit of tang sticking out the butt of the handle with the thought that I will do a poured pewter end cap, but don't know if that will scorch the horn or not.
I figure that if it's done on antler, I can do it on the black Buff horn???

I also have a chunk of iron that I can cut a groove in, and then affix it to the end as a pommel with hopes that it will act as a counter weight and cause the knife to feel a little less blade-heavy.

I really have appreciated everyone's input so far and learned that it's best to construct a copy of a knife from the ground up, rather than trying to modify an existing blade.

Any way I see it, it's still becoming one of the better knives that I have made, and is simply part of the learning process.

Thanks again for all the input. I will be sure to post pics when she's all finished.

Iain