Western Restoration & Upgrade

[orvet]

I haven't posted a lot of knives in here recently because I haven't had a great deal of time in the shop due to my wife's illness. She is starting to improve and was able to go visit her great grandkids in New York for a week before the Oregon Knife show. That gave me time to finish up some projects and do a few more knives before the show.

I'm not sure what the model number of this knife is, I got it several years ago from one of our members. The leather handle was gone before I purchased the knife.

There are some obvious imperfections in the blade, but I don't like to remove a lot of metal from a knife just to make it shiny, I think that destroys too much of the knife's character and story.

Instead of leather or stag, I replaced the handle with giraffe bone and mosaic pins. I also made the sheath. I was pleased with the way it came out.
I hope you enjoy the pictures.

[cudgee]

Beautiful work all round Dale.

[djknife13]

Dale, I'm happy to hear your wife is improving and you are getting back out to your shop. Your family has been on my prayer list for some time now. Nice work on the knife by the way. Take care my friend.____Dave

[dlr110]

Excellent work Dale. We are still praying for you and Alyson.

[Jeffinn]

That giraffe bone is stunning! And the mosaic pins really set it off.
Jeff

[Gone2Three]

Nice work there Dale, it turned out beautifully!


Randy

[glennbad]

Wow, looks great! The giraffe bone really goes with the overall look of the knife. Stunning!

[Reverand]

I love the look of that giraffe bone! Very classy look, especially with the mosaic pins.

[zzyzzogeton]

Looks good. What's the blade length? 5-/2" or 6"?

Any "before" pics?

[Dan In MI]

Dale, I'm happy to hear that your wife is improving, and that Western looks fantastic!

[orvet]

Looks good. What's the blade length? 5-/2" or 6"?

Any "before" pics?

6" on the nose.
I think I took some before pics but can't find them. I was in a rush before the OKCA show and may have forgotten to take the pics.
I got the blade with pommel & spacers, the only thing missing was the leather.

[zzyzzogeton]

Looks good. What's the blade length? 5-/2" or 6"?

Any "before" pics?

6" on the nose.
I think I took some before pics but can't find them. I was in a rush before the OKCA show and may have forgotten to take the pics.
I got the blade with pommel & spacers, the only thing missing was the leather.

That would make it a 1941 L44-6.

Handle material indicators -
L = Leather
A = Amber composition (celluloid)
5 = Stag
2 = Pearl composition
X2 = Pearl composition with black underlayment

1931 44 pattern knives 1931 had 4-1/2" or 3-1/2" blades with 2/A/L/X2/5 handles.
1936 had 4-1/2" or 5" blades with A/L/5 handles.
1941 had 4-1/2", 5" and 6" blades with L/5/2/X2 handles. For some reason, Western chose to add length suffices to the model numbers starting in 1941, i.e., -4-1/2 or -5 or -6

The 44-6 and 44-5 came in L and 5 handles. The x44-1/2 44s came with X2/2/5/L handles.

After WW2, the 44 pattern pommel changed from the classic Western mushroom to Western's bird beak pommel, which it had introduced in 1936.

[orvet]

Thank you Wayne!
I knew you would know exactly what it was!
I appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share it! Much obliged!

[Collectum]

Great work as usual!!