Knife Restoration

[TXGunNut]

Ran across a couple of interesting knives that I'd like to repair and return to kitchen service. Both have split panels so they can't be used for food prep until repaired. Found them while going thru my mom's stuff getting it ready for garage sale/storage. Naturally, they came home with me. I'm not a knifemaker but I enjoy making comfortable and aesthetic panels for quality steel on occasion. The cleaver is marked "General Cutlery Co" but the other knife is unmarked as far as I can tell. I think my mom inherited them from her parents and they quite likely inherited them from an uncle or purchased them from a farm sale in Eastern NE or IA in the 1920's or therabouts. The knife is obviously well-used but the cleaver has seen only a moderate amount of use (and a bit of abuse) considering their likely ages.
I'm considering ordering walnut panels from TOW (to match my other knives), grinding off the existing rivets and putting some new wood on these old knives. I'll then gently clean and put new edges on them...my grand dad wasn't much on sharpening knives and these are pretty sad. Could explain the hammer marks on the back of the cleaver and the grinder marks on the other knife.
Will get the history from my mom on these two in an upcoming lucid moment but if they are indeed heirlooms what would you do? Would you stash them away or repair them and put them back to work? If repair how would you go about it?

[Hickory]

Do you have some pictures of the knives and closeup pictures of the handles?
I have done this sort of thing before and have a lot of handle material on hand.

[TXGunNut]

I guess that would help. I took pics, e-mailed them to myself and saved them. Guess I forgot that last crucial step.

[Hickory]

PM coming your way.

[TXGunNut]

Thanks, Hickory. I'll seriously consider your generous offer. Found out the cleaver was my grandmother's but I never saw her use it. It was part of a set, think I found the meat fork from that set. The knife is a bit of a mystery, she didn't recognize the pix I took. I can see it's had a rough life but I like a little character, even in a knife. I think it may make a decent skinner. We'll see. There's something about this knife, it's seen a lot of hard use but I think it deserves another chance.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Talk about an abused cleaver? I once traded a very simple no frills 4" hunting knife I had made to a guy for a butchering cleaver with 18" handle and 12" cutting edge. The cleaver had been used for he said 15 years on his parents farm to cut kindling wood and other small wood cutting chores. The back edge had the typical hammer dents and the wood was held together with duct tape. I restored the metal, put some ash on for the handle and replaced all brass rivets. Now I have a conversation piece hanging on an improvised "meat hook" near my loading bench.Robert

[TXGunNut]

That sounds like a cleaver designed for quartering beef and pigs. This one is about half that size. I don't know whether to remove the dings or leave them alone.

[mdell49]

I've looked at a lot of cleavers in antique shops and secondhand stores and can't remember an old one that did not have hammer marks on them. These old cleavers would break pelvis and split animals sometimes I'm sure persuasion needed to be applied. I would leave it alone. Replace the panels and go. The knife I would put a few coats of linseed oil on them put a good edge on the knife and go to work with it.

[Hardcast416taylor]

This Spring I helped a neighbor take several very dead pigs to a small butchering outfit I had not knew existed. On a wall he had a collection of about every size cleaver you can imagine, my guess was he had 40 with a sign asking for other odd sized specimens to put on the wall.Robert

[Blackwater]

Absolutely, I'd repair them. Likely as not, you'd be hard pressed to find a modern blade with the abilities these likely have. Heat treating is expensive today, and (tragically) most people are afraid of really good, sharp knives today. That's as dysfunctional as any of the other, many unexplainable things we "moderns" typically do these days. And as to handle material, any good hardwood would do, and many old knives had handles of red oak, hickory, ash, cherry and just about any other naturally occurring hardwood in the area. Walnut would be fine, and takes a nice finish easily. Red oak makes for a more rustic, original look sometimes. All sorts of ways to go. You sound like you're plenty up to the job of re-stocking them. If you want to consider some "upgraded" woods, try Jantz or some samples and variety. They have a good selection and it's all in stock and they ship pretty rapidly in my experience.

I think most of us would appreciate a look at the final product. And the blades, of course, can be polished up, even if all the marks don't come out in the process. I call them "character marks" and have no problem accepting them. Makes me think of all the stuff they've done in their time, so I actually kind'a like them.

[TCLouis]

That knife pattern seems to have been the mainstay of EVERY old farm's kitchen.
Some show years of sharpening/abuse.
Simple carbon steel blade that "worked"

[Alstep]

I like old kitchen knives that have been sharpened down from use. Yours are just getting broken in. Clean 'em up and sharpen, there's a lot of good cutting life left in them. If you really want new handles, just go out to the woodpile, hack out a sliver and whittle 'em out. Good for a few more generations.

[William Yanda]

I don't know where it went, but my Grandmother on my mother's side had a butcher knife and some paring knives my uncle made for her from an old saw blade.

[Dusty Ed]

Howdy TX
The knife as though it was made in 1800's from the pins in the handle
The clever made after 1900.
Dusty Ed

[DerekP Houston]

That sounds like a cleaver designed for quartering beef and pigs. This one is about half that size. I don't know whether to remove the dings or leave them alone.

Just IMHO, I salvaged my grandma and grandfathers knives. a few case carbon steels and some no names, my dad was tickled to get them back with new handles and just cleaned up. I left all the beauty marks and just had the tips/edges reground and sharpened. I still use one myself, nothing quite like using a bit of history. My knifemaker kinda laughed when i could get a new blade for similar price but I like them just the same.