# Handle rehab help needed.



## Ericfg (Dec 14, 2020)

I got this older (1960s?) Western, paring knife today. Stainless steel blade. The handles are separating from the tang and there seems to be some sort of darker gunk between the wood and the tang. And there's definitely some space betwixt wood and metal at the bolster area. Hard to tell from this crappy image; sorry about that.
The two pins and the single rivet are sunken slightly into the wood showing the scale wood has been forced away from the tang at some point.
I can certainly replace the handle but I'd like to try and save it, if possible.
So what would be the first step here? A long soak in mineral oil, or water? That darker gunk seems to chip away fairly easily with a dental pick and seems to run through the space between tang and scale. I highly doubt it's native to the manufacturing process.
Thoughts?


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## Ericfg (Dec 18, 2020)

So I tried a one day soak in mineral oil and that had little effect on the gunk; it was till pretty hard. The last two days have been soaked in hot water overnight and digging at the gunk with a dental tool, and that's yielded pretty good results. I've got all the goo out from between the bolster area and the first pin


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## cotedupy (Jan 5, 2021)

How did this go in the end?

Something I've had good results with is sandpaper, fine enough that you can fold it and squeeze it in the gap. Though that's probably not going to work so well if your goo is particularly goo-ey, it was more on crusty old glue.

If you're not removing the handle to clean it up - sandpaper has the other advantage of getting rid of some of the rust that's probably on the tang.

[EDIT - Sorry just seen it's stainless, so hopefully not too rusted ]


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## Ericfg (Jan 6, 2021)

cotedupy said:


> How did this go in the end?


It came out well. Soaking it in water overnight and picking at the gunk with the dental tool cleaned out all the foreign material. I'll add some images when the sun comes up.


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## Ericfg (Jan 6, 2021)

Ok. Here's some images. In the first you can see, in the upper right corner, a small metal ruler; that was handy removing crud as I used it to push through the gap between the tang and the handle.


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## SeattleB (Jan 6, 2021)

You asked for thoughts. My first thought is whether the knife is worth saving.

If it is, then it strikes me that the handle is likely to be quite unsanitary with the gaps and the rivet hole. I suggest putting a new handle on it. 

If that is not practical a quick way to make it sanitary would be to dry it thoroughly and to soak it in marine penetrating epoxy. Then use thickened epoxy to fill the gaps, let cure, and sand it.


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## Ericfg (Jan 6, 2021)

SeattleB said:


> it strikes me that the handle is likely to be quite unsanitary with the gaps and the rivet hole. I suggest putting a new handle on it.


I'm curious why you think my knife re-handling or rehabilitating techniques might be "unsanitary"? Especially since my post was about cleaning an old, possibly unsanitary, handle from a vintage knife.
And I don't think putting a "new handle" on this vintage knife will make it any more 'sanitary' if the original scales are seen to.


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## SeattleB (Jan 6, 2021)

Eric, You wrote above that "I'd like to try and save it, if possible." It appears that you are being very diligent about cleaning the handle and tang. My point is that the handle won't stay clean if used in its present condition. Those gaps and holes will collect food, and that food will grow dangerous bacteria. Perhaps you have plans for your next steps to close the gaps and holes that you haven't told us about yet. I didn't know what you planned to do next, and you asked us for input, so...


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## cotedupy (Jan 6, 2021)

I think this is just a misunderstanding! I shouldn't have thought those pictures were posted as the final result, especially as the pins look to have been removed to help with the cleaning, so the blade presumably has a fair amount of 'wiggle room' atm (?)

How did you get the pins out? I've never managed to do that particularly cleanly. 

Next steps...?


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## Ericfg (Feb 9, 2021)

Better late than never.
I found some sheet brass in a storage locker that was just the right thickness. And, brass being brass it's soft enough to cut with some quality shears. So I cut two rectangle pieces with a slot to fit the rivet. Filed them to size, dipped them in epoxy and slid them in place. Drilled a hole for the fore pin and then epoxy'd both pins in place.
After that I sanded the "unsanitary" scales to probably 600g and then added a few coats of tung oil. Looks good. And then I straightened the edge and brought it back to working sharpness.
It's a tiny knife and I got a few laughs at it at work, but in the hand it's a damned fine blade for small jobs. 
Bigger isn't always better boys.


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## Ericfg (Feb 9, 2021)

PS. Chef's knife for scale. 

.


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