All About Pocket Knives

Those are a couple of nice scores, Joe. I like that anvil.

Thank you, Mike.
That anvil is brass. I have another one that is copper.
Apparently much harder to come by but I stumbled onto mine at a flea market last year.
Much softer copper anvil is on the right.

FRJ wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2023 2:56 am Thank you, Mike.
That anvil is brass. I have another one that is copper.
Apparently much harder to come by but I stumbled onto mine at a flea market last year.
Much softer copper anvil is on the right.

With your "finds" all I can say is you deserve a thumbs up . Your flea markets yield far better finds than anything we see here. All we get is over priced worn out junk !

Picked up this hatchet at a yard sale yesterday. Only markings are True Temper / Flint Edge. Very unusual with the elongated hammering head. The guy I bought it from had no idea of what it was called or what it was used for. Looked on-line and found one very similar, but it was an Ebay listing, and the title had more adjectives than a 6th graders grammar textbook. Kind of like Framing, Roughing, Carpenter's, Timber, Peg, Rough Hewn Hatchet. I don't know what this was used for but think the peg type construction is most likely, but if you watch the TV shows they use wooden mallets for that. Any ideas. All comments appreciated. Here are some similar ones. These are very uncommon according to my searches.


https://www.etsy.com/listing/900067651/ ... ool-hewing


https://www.longrifle.com/artisans-work ... -tomahawk/

Thank for the thumbs up, Louisville.Boy1947.

FRJ wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2023 2:56 am Thank you, Mike.
That anvil is brass. I have another one that is copper.
Apparently much harder to come by but I stumbled onto mine at a flea market last year.
Much softer copper anvil is on the right.

Joe, nice score! I collect anvils too ... when I can find 'em. I have steel and aluminum ... but I have not seen a brass nor copper. Very nice

Dan In MI wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 5:48 am Great work, Mike and GSPTOPDOG! I've never seen a Collins pick head, either...but I found a huge Collins Legitimus machete (about two feet long) some years ago. Sadly, I wasn't able to purchase it.

Thanks Dan ..., I have been lucky enough to find a few Collins Legitimus machetes over the years. I use them as well when doing landscaping/yard work.

Unk wrote: ↑Fri May 05, 2023 2:37 am Very nice work, Topdog. What did you use to clean it up? It looks like you heated it up over the barrel before dunking it in the oil?

Unk, thanks I soaked these old piles of rust in white vinegar ( can I still say; "White" vinegar anymore? ...am I in trouble now? ). I just used the barrle to set the pick on for the picture. I do use the burn barrel to clean cast iron skillets and pots/pans, putting the cast-iron in the fire burns off the baked-on carbon built up on the outside of the pan. The fire rust the pans so, I then soak the pans in vinegar to remove the rust.

Here are some pictures of the rust sludge left in the tub after cleaning and scooped out for removal. The rust on the tools before cleaning and then the tools after coming out of the vinegar.

For some reason ... ... I started collecting files... ... So... I look for odd and off brand/older files, foreign made files Railroad files, ect...etc...

When I find them they are usually pretty rusty, so they need a good cleaning...and...

Here are files I just finished cleaning, including a Souther Pacific Railroad, a Matco file, which I have never seen before... and a file from Poland... the only one I have ever found.

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 2:07 am For some reason ... ... I started collecting files... ... So... I look for odd and off brand/older files, foreign made files Railroad files, ect...etc...

- I cannot walk past a file at an estate sale. Especially old "made in the USA" files - Nicholson, Simonds, Delta, etc. Swiss made. I buy'em, clean'em up, and use them. I keep them in a drawer on my tool box, but I have so many I can't close the drawer.

Unk wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:12 am

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 2:07 am For some reason ... ... I started collecting files... ... So... I look for odd and off brand/older files, foreign made files Railroad files, ect...etc...

- I cannot walk past a file at an estate sale. Especially old "made in the USA" files - Nicholson, Simonds, Delta, etc. Swiss made. I buy'em, clean'em up, and use them. I keep them in a drawer on my tool box, but I have so many I can't close the drawer.

Unk wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:12 am

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 2:07 am For some reason ... ... I started collecting files... ... So... I look for odd and off brand/older files, foreign made files Railroad files, ect...etc...

- I cannot walk past a file at an estate sale. Especially old "made in the USA" files - Nicholson, Simonds, Delta, etc. Swiss made. I buy'em, clean'em up, and use them. I keep them in a drawer on my tool box, but I have so many I can't close the drawer.

... I don't know why but I have a big pile of 'em and getting bigger all the time. ... I do use them and I traded off a batch I had put together all made in Sweden...and after trading them off... ... I wanted them back

Unk wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:12 am I buy'em, clean'em up, and use them. I keep them in a drawer on my tool box, but I have so many I can't close the drawer.

Just curious... How do you clean them?

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:44 am

Unk wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:12 am

Just curious... How do you clean them?

That's a nice pile of old tools! In the past, I usually use a file card if they aren't too rusty. If they are very rusty, I use Evap-o-rust, then scrub with the file card.
Evap-o-rust is pretty pricey, though. I might have to try vinegar. Looks like it does a pretty nice job.
I used the wire wheel on my bench grinder on a file several years ago, but I felt like it dulled the file, so I haven't ever done that again.

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 1:37 am Joe, nice score! I collect anvils too ... when I can find 'em. I have steel and aluminum ... but I have not seen a brass nor copper. Very nice

Thank you, GSPTOPDOG. They are jewelers anvils.
I don't really collect them but I ain't passin' these little ones up if they aren't crazy pricey.

Your tool clean up is impressive. Nice work.

I can't pass up files either but I'm getting fussier about what I buy next. Maybe.
I like options.

Joe, that is a lot of files! You need a filing system to find the one you are looking for!

just bob wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2023 4:30 pm Picked up this hatchet at a yard sale yesterday. Only markings are True Temper / Flint Edge. Very unusual with the elongated hammering head. The guy I bought it from had no idea of what it was called or what it was used for. Looked on-line and found one very similar, but it was an Ebay listing, and the title had more adjectives than a 6th graders grammar textbook. Kind of like Framing, Roughing, Carpenter's, Timber, Peg, Rough Hewn Hatchet. I don't know what this was used for but think the peg type construction is most likely, but if you watch the TV shows they use wooden mallets for that. Any ideas. All comments appreciated. Here are some similar ones. These are very uncommon according to my searches.


https://www.etsy.com/listing/900067651/ ... ool-hewing


https://www.longrifle.com/artisans-work ... -tomahawk/

Bob, that is an unusual hammer, with the elongated head. Never seen one like that.

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:44 am

Unk wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:12 am I buy'em, clean'em up, and use them. I keep them in a drawer on my tool box, but I have so many I can't close the drawer.

Just curious... How do you clean them?

TopDog, I also clean my files with this home-made tool. It's a copper pipe that is smashed flat on one end and curved over 90 degrees. You just rub it back and forth on the files, and the soft copper will form to match the grooves in whatever file you are cleaning. It gets down into the valleys between the teeth where it is hard to clean.

Unk wrote: ↑Thu May 11, 2023 1:15 am

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:44 am

Unk wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:12 am I buy'em, clean'em up, and use them. I keep them in a drawer on my tool box, but I have so many I can't close the drawer.

...Unk, you are ... a Genius! ... That is the hard part for me is getting the rust out from the groves. Even after soaking in the strongest vinegar, you have to scrub the "scale" off or it will come back as rust everywhere it is left even though it looks black coming out of the bath. My scotch bright pads don't always do a good job rubbing out that rust/oxidation.

Unk wrote: ↑Thu May 11, 2023 12:51 am Joe, that is a lot of files! You need a filing system to find the one you are looking for!

Unk wrote: ↑Thu May 11, 2023 12:51 am Joe, that is a lot of files! You need a filing system to find the one you are looking for!

Mike, I had one but I filed it away and now I don't know wh .?.?.?.?.?.?

Unk wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 11:10 am

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:44 am

Unk wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 4:12 am

Just curious... How do you clean them?

That's a nice pile of old tools! In the past, I usually use a file card if they aren't too rusty. If they are very rusty, I use Evap-o-rust, then scrub with the file card.
Evap-o-rust is pretty pricey, though. I might have to try vinegar. Looks like it does a pretty nice job.
I used the wire wheel on my bench grinder on a file several years ago, but I felt like it dulled the file, so I haven't ever done that again.

I use Evap-o-rust on items with fragile non-metal handles or maybe something really expensive, BUT... It is too expensive for the volume of tools I clean. Also, it does not last anywhere near as long as vinegar. It seems to "play-out" after only a few uses, even after I strain it through a filter to remove the metal debris. I saw an add that said it one gallon will clean 300 lbs. of metal, but for me itis about 30 lbs.

I bought a gallon of Evap-o-rust years ago and the first time I used it, I pored all of it out it into a tub to clean some old tools. The tub was in a room just by my back door and somehow the tub had a small crack in it and overnight all the Evap-o-rust leaked out onto my floor! Not a happy day

I also use the wire wheel on my bench grinder on a certain tools but not on files. Sometimes I get a tool with tar or a glob of paint on it and so I hit it with the wire wheel.

FRJ wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 1:00 pm I can't pass up files either but I'm getting fussier about what I buy next. Maybe.
I like options.

Looks like you have a very "fine" collection... and maybe some rough as well...

FRJ wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 12:54 pm

GSPTOPDOG wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 1:37 am Joe, nice score! I collect anvils too ... when I can find 'em. I have steel and aluminum ... but I have not seen a brass nor copper. Very nice

Thank you, GSPTOPDOG. They are jewelers anvils.
I don't really collect them but I ain't passin' these little ones up if they aren't crazy pricey.

Your tool clean up is impressive. Nice work.

Thanks Joe ....Well, sometimes, I see a small anvil at an antique show and they are asking some crazy price, then I go to flea market and I find one for a few $$$ and I can't pass it up as well