Sidearms & Scatterguns K-BAR restoration?
- Thread starter Boonedavis1083
- Start date
I respect wanting to give an old war horse new life but maybe give it a new home in a shadow box with his picture and medals if available.
There is either a harrowing story behind that bend or a dropped seabag.
There is either a harrowing story behind that bend or a dropped seabag.
I have to agree with @gunsnjeeps. The particular scars and marks on your grandfather's knife are precisely what makes it special -- unique among all the millions of similar knives that have been manufactured over the years. KA-BAR will sell you a shiny new knife for around a hundred dollars, but they can't sell you one exactly like your grandfather's for any amount of money.
I would leave the knife completely as-is, and perhaps display it as gunsnjeeps suggested. Or if if the leather is really disintegrating but you want to be able to handle it, then AT MOST, find someone who knows the difference between "restoration" (which you don't want) and "conservation" (which you do), and have that person repair the leather in a way that will halt the decay without destroying the patina. You may be able to find that person by contacting a local auction house, antique dealer, or museum -- I'd probably start with the museum.
I would leave the knife completely as-is, and perhaps display it as gunsnjeeps suggested. Or if if the leather is really disintegrating but you want to be able to handle it, then AT MOST, find someone who knows the difference between "restoration" (which you don't want) and "conservation" (which you do), and have that person repair the leather in a way that will halt the decay without destroying the patina. You may be able to find that person by contacting a local auction house, antique dealer, or museum -- I'd probably start with the museum.
I vote leave it as is.
Mine is one of the 1980s reissues but it looks almost the twin to that one.
Mine is bent at the hilt. My platoon mates saw me throwing it and sticking it in a log in the PI. While I was off somewhere with out my 782 gear someone figured they would give it a try and bent the tang.
Its part of the history.
Mine is one of the 1980s reissues but it looks almost the twin to that one.
Mine is bent at the hilt. My platoon mates saw me throwing it and sticking it in a log in the PI. While I was off somewhere with out my 782 gear someone figured they would give it a try and bent the tang.
Its part of the history.
I use Pecards antique leather dressing on my old leather including my KaBar sheath and the stacked leather handle.
Do your research.
Some say Pecards causes a white "bloom" to appear after applied but I have never experienced that.
Do your research.
Some say Pecards causes a white "bloom" to appear after applied but I have never experienced that.
Ditto, DON'T FUCK WITH IT! I have an old WW1 bayonet minted in 1895 and went through I don't know how many wars before it was captured by a friend's grandfather. Made in Toledo --Spain.
If ANYTHING, I may see about straightening the blade, that wouldn't be too hard I wouldn't imagine. Looks like he had to pry something open with it. Probably fixing shit around the house when he got back!
But if you wanna workhorse, just go buy a new one $50 --easily the best deal for a knife like that. Still.
I second the shadow box. Collect all his stuff and put that in the middle.
Let them wear their scars....
One I used in service next to a new one.....
Priaprism....
As it should be....
Only issue I have with the new reissues is that instead of Parkerizing its looks to me like they duracoat or use some other non GI finish to cover the blade. I could be wrong but it looks that way to me.
The originals and my 80s reissue were parkerized.
One I used in service next to a new one.....
Priaprism....
As it should be....
Only issue I have with the new reissues is that instead of Parkerizing its looks to me like they duracoat or use some other non GI finish to cover the blade. I could be wrong but it looks that way to me.
The originals and my 80s reissue were parkerized.
The only way those blades can get a bend in them like that is when the GI stuck it straight through the top of a Natzi helmet!
I say leave it alone and put it on display, that things got stories to tell I'm sure. I was given my grandfather's USAF survival knife after he passed away, he'd used it for years as a hunting knife and I remember seeing it on him when we went hunting. It's a Camillus made in 1968, right around the time he was in Vietnam, so I wiped it off, put it in a nice display case with a little spec sheet I'd found from the manufacturer, and keep it in my gun room. Another wall has his medals and some others from family members that served in WWII and Korea.
Leave it be, there's a lot of stories and history living within that hardcore blade. Your Grandpa put some work in with that thing and cleaning it up making it look pretty again doesn't respect the blood and sweat that saturated the leather and steel. I lost my K-bar and later replaced it but the new blade just doesn't have the same relationship with me. Put it on mantle with a picture of Grandpa as a tribute to him and his service.
I would not try to repair the bend because it's best use is for display.
Straightening it would require a bend in the opposite direction and while I don't think K-bars were hardened super hard, any time you bend a knife you risk snapping it.
If you just want a restoration project, you can probably find a beat up K-bar at a pawn shop, garage sale or thrift store.
Straightening it would require a bend in the opposite direction and while I don't think K-bars were hardened super hard, any time you bend a knife you risk snapping it.
If you just want a restoration project, you can probably find a beat up K-bar at a pawn shop, garage sale or thrift store.
I too vote with those who say leave it as is. There are plenty of Kabars out in the world, but in the whole world, there is only one that your Grandfather carried and used. It earned all it's scars, and I would proudly keep it just as it is.
Keep in mind that changing it, or trying to fix it up is an indirect way of saying that it isn't good enough the way it was presented to you.You would be erasing some of your Grandfather's memory.
Keep in mind that changing it, or trying to fix it up is an indirect way of saying that it isn't good enough the way it was presented to you.You would be erasing some of your Grandfather's memory.
It is an artifact with a provenance. The only thing to do with it is to accurately record its history to date, and to mount it with said history in a shadow box. If the box could be filled with nitrogen and sealed, that would be about the most I would do.
To paraphrase The Lost Ark, right now it's simply a beat up contemporary relic. Bury it in the sand for a couple of thousand years, and it will be an archaeological find.
Restoration, or more properly, curating, is something best left up to museum staffs, who will likely not proceed until their organization attains ownership; which I doubt you'd like happening. If they want to buy, I doubt they would pay well unless the Kabar in question has some unique historical significance.
When I acquired my Garand, an October 1940 SA with a 5-digit serial, I did some restoration, but only to improve the appearance of a shooter. After a refinish with linseed oil, the correct original finish, I applied some curator's wax. It was then kept in a steel gun cabinet untouched for about three years. It turned a speckly white, looking for all the world like some form of mold. I would advise against the wax.
You can buy a Kabar and put it to your own use in the place of anything you might be able to accomplish with that artifact.
I see some quibbles about the makeup of modern Kabars. While they are accurate, they may miss the point. That's your Grandpa's personal weapon, and it is imbued with his story and is an integral facet of his own history. That should be left as is, and be a representation of the breed as it was when and after its acquisition.
A new Kabar would be the inception of its own history and your history. So get a new one and embark on your own history.
...And my condolences on your grandmother's passing.
Greg
To paraphrase The Lost Ark, right now it's simply a beat up contemporary relic. Bury it in the sand for a couple of thousand years, and it will be an archaeological find.
Restoration, or more properly, curating, is something best left up to museum staffs, who will likely not proceed until their organization attains ownership; which I doubt you'd like happening. If they want to buy, I doubt they would pay well unless the Kabar in question has some unique historical significance.
When I acquired my Garand, an October 1940 SA with a 5-digit serial, I did some restoration, but only to improve the appearance of a shooter. After a refinish with linseed oil, the correct original finish, I applied some curator's wax. It was then kept in a steel gun cabinet untouched for about three years. It turned a speckly white, looking for all the world like some form of mold. I would advise against the wax.
You can buy a Kabar and put it to your own use in the place of anything you might be able to accomplish with that artifact.
I see some quibbles about the makeup of modern Kabars. While they are accurate, they may miss the point. That's your Grandpa's personal weapon, and it is imbued with his story and is an integral facet of his own history. That should be left as is, and be a representation of the breed as it was when and after its acquisition.
A new Kabar would be the inception of its own history and your history. So get a new one and embark on your own history.
...And my condolences on your grandmother's passing.
Greg
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