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Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:25 pm
by KleenCut61
This Decoration Was Done with the Best Intentions By My Grand Father , It Is To My Knowledge Testor"s Model Enamel , Wood Be My Guess Because it looks like it did 30 Years ago , I Would Like To do Restoration on the Handle And Sheath , Were I See Crosses and Four Leaf Clovers and such , Without Doing Damage to the Leather or Stampings .. ( Enamel Paint Removal ) Any Help Here Would Be Most Appreciated .. Ty >.K.C.

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:13 pm
by orvet
My personal take on this would be that this was my grandfather's attempt to personalize and customize his knife. A lot of guys did that during World War II, depending on where they were and what kind of materials they had access to.

I don't know if your grandfather was in World War II or not, but I would at least think that he was influenced by "Theatre Knives" as they are known. Theater Knives are basically modifications made to knives to make them more functional or more appealing to the user. Or in some cases just to establish who the knife belong to.

Someone once said; "Combat is days of sheer boredom, punctuated by moments of absolute terror!"
I am sure this was the case in the trenches of World War 1. There is a lot of "Trench Art" that was produced in World War I because there was so much boredom among the troops. Soldiers would whittle wooden figures, make lamps from shell cases and all sorts of things primarily for the purpose of passing time.

A friend of my father's was a prisoner in World War II in the infamous Stalag 13. I remember one time he showed my dad and I a wooden picture frame that held the pictures of his children which his wife had sent him. He had whittled it from pieces of wooden shipping boxes. It was held together with wooden pegs which he also whittled. It was whittled from pieces of wooden boxes, probably from the Red Cross, that were sent to the prisoners. The Germans that allowed him to keep a small pocket knife and that's what he used to whittle the frame with, and as I recall a number of other small wooden objects.

If it were my grandfather's knife I would want to know the story behind it before I changed anything. There may be a very significant reason why he painted it and why chose the color he did.

That's my two cents worth. ::shrug::

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 11:54 pm
by KleenCut61
Thank You Dale for your Input on The Matter , The Knife Looks to Be Modified Guard Also , I may have Left Out Some Significant factors Now that I have Someones ::handshake:: Attention I do have some further Recollections On The Knife , Yes I Have Hurd of Trench art and such , Shells , Knives , Figurines , Some very Talented Pieces Hence the Art ( Stigma) , This One How ever Has a some what different History , ( My Grandmother ) Was the Youngest Of 11 Children When She Lived in west Virginia on a Farm . Two of Her Brothers Were in Service , One Was a Tank Crewman , The Other Drove a Motorbike , Any How When her Husband Passed at an early age of 56 , She Remarried to my (* Step Grandfather *) Whom She Lived With When she Received The Knife from a Brother of One Of the Brothers That served ! The Knife Was Infact as I Remember it as A Child Going Fishing With Step GrandDad In Pristine Condition ..Who Was a Barber By Trade , But also a Basement Doodler :D For Lack of a Better Word :roll: Which is Why I Feel the Need To Resto the Entire Rig , And I Would Like To Complete the Work My Self No Matter How Difficult the Task ! Any Pointers Would Be a Great Help .. Thank You Very Much ::tu:: ::tu:: K.C. ( Joe )

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 12:23 am
by eveled
If I were you. I’d rehandle it. You can get a kit from KaBar. It will work on the Camillus. The red paint doesn’t bother me. But the guard is destroyed. Here is one I redid. I reused the original guard.
677EF0E4-2388-4119-962D-5D732D738DF3.jpeg
8941EB40-A62C-4762-86E7-6C6BE554C365.jpeg
C6471D0C-B999-4680-9B77-81D3C9CF1072.jpeg
The sheath on yours does not look original to me. I’d toss it and buy a new one.

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 12:33 am
by KleenCut61
[quote="eveled"]If I were you. I’d rehandle it. You can get a kit from KaBar. It will work on the Camillus. The red paint doesn’t bother me. But the guard is destroyed. Here is one I redid.~~~ You did a fine Job !! I will Look into The Kit As well , I no of only one Way to Remove Paint And That's with Blast media , ( Dry ) Method … Hence chemically ( Wet ) Method . To Me The Sheath is more important than the Knife We Have to see What I can come up with Ty for your Contribution on the Matter ::tu:: K.C.

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 12:56 am
by eveled
If you want to save the handle. Use a mechanical means to remove the paint. Sand file scrape pick etc. then sand it smooth then I used black sharpie in the grooves finished with Cordova shoe polish. The metal parts can be painted with black model paint.

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:41 pm
by KleenCut61
eveled wrote:If you want to save the handle. Use a mechanical means to remove the paint. Sand file scrape pick etc. then sand it smooth then I used black sharpie in the grooves finished with Cordova shoe polish. The metal parts can be painted with black model paint.
Got It , Thanks again … K.C. ::tu::

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 11:09 pm
by eveled
And post more pictures when you are done! ::groove::

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2019 1:27 pm
by mrwatch
while I really don't know, I suspect that any paint remover on the sheath will dry it out or damage it, removing the design you want to keep. You may want to search YouTube for ideas first.

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:13 pm
by Byrd
Use a round needle file to scrape the paint out of the grooves. As others have said you will need to treat.The bare leather with something like Minks Oil to preserve it. OTOH since the knife was your Grandfathers I'd leave as is for memories sake.

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:14 pm
by KleenCut61
Well Here it is With Enamel Blasted off , I just happened to have the right stuff For the J-O-B ! The ( R ) Could be Rory WWII , Or Roger ( Korea ) Either Way It Was A Neat Discovery ! ::tu::K.C.

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:19 pm
by Meridian_Mike
Well.... it does look nice. Good work!
I'm glad you could get the red off since that made you happy.

::tu::

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:21 pm
by KleenCut61
Thanks Mike … Yes I am happy Know :D ::tu::

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:24 pm
by Meridian_Mike
KleenCut61 wrote:Thanks Mike … Yes I am happy Know :D ::tu::
That's what knives really are.... something that makes us HAPPY!!
::tu::

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 6:48 pm
by Byrd
Well that sure looks a lot better than it did! It would've driven me nuts too.

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:38 pm
by eveled
Looks good!

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:07 pm
by doglegg
I never expected those results. That is pretty phenomenal! ::tu:: ::tu::

Re: Enamel On Stacked Leather

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:49 am
by KleenCut61
Byrd wrote:Well that sure looks a lot better than it did! It would've driven me nuts too.
Tysm I was happy to see the Stamped Figures still there It was Bone Dry , The Walker wax raised them again Alls well that ends well . ::tu::
Byrd wrote:Well that sure looks a lot better than it did! It would've driven me nuts too.
Thanks I agree ::tu::
eveled wrote:Looks good!
Thanks for your input eveled . Now if I can only find the Big Red Belt that was with it ::facepalm:: ::tu::
doglegg wrote:I never expected those results. That is pretty phenomenal! ::tu:: ::tu::
Ty Sir alls well that ends well :D :D ::tu::