Western L77 - Ideas

[CampbellAr2]

Just grabbed an old L77 with a bakelite pommel (Late WWII timeframe?). Its a bit rough and the Pommel's broken, but I'm a fan of the brand, the history, and the knife style.

Any thoughts on what I can "reasonably" do with this knife with beginner skills. I'd love to restore it, but am not holding my breath to find another bakelite pommel.

Any customization ideas or thoughts?

Many thanks!

Ed

[herbva]

Just grabbed an old L77 with a bakelite pommel (Late WWII timeframe?). Its a bit rough and the Pommel's broken, but I'm a fan of the brand, the history, and the knife style.

Any thoughts on what I can "reasonably" do with this knife with beginner skills. I'd love to restore it, but am not holding my breath to find another bakelite pommel.

Any customization ideas or thoughts?

Many thanks!

Ed

Ed, you can't put back the steel that's worn off the blade (or at least I can't), but the first thing I would do is replace that missing chip I can see on the pommel of your knife. And, I replace those missing chips all the time. If you want to discuss, PM me and I'll tell you how I do it. Herb

[CampbellAr2]

Much appreciated....I'll reach out shortly!

[Colonel26]

Just grabbed an old L77 with a bakelite pommel (Late WWII timeframe?). Its a bit rough and the Pommel's broken, but I'm a fan of the brand, the history, and the knife style.

Any thoughts on what I can "reasonably" do with this knife with beginner skills. I'd love to restore it, but am not holding my breath to find another bakelite pommel.

Any customization ideas or thoughts?

Many thanks!

Ed

Herb will be much more of an expert than I am, but other than the chip out of the pommel, I don’t see anything else that would keep if from being a fantastic user.

How far do you want to go in the restoration process? I guess you could make a new pommel out of your material of choice and in whatever style suits you. Then drive/drill out the pins and repin the new pommel.

Personally, if the leather handle is still good, I would most likely use epoxy, color it, and fill that missing portion.

If I remember correctly, Herb is an expert at coloring epoxy to match the old material. I am not. But I do know from working with wood, that if you need to make a patch you can’t always match the new to the old. Regardless of your efforts it sticks out like a sore thumb. In those cases sometimes it looks better to highlight the patch that to try and hide it. A highlighted, contrasting patch often looks better than one that is kind of close but ends up clashing.

So if you’re like me and have a hard time coloring epoxy, now’s your chance to personalize it. Color the epoxy a bold color for that one spot, cut out some more area around the pommel and make a ring of a contrasting color of epoxy…put a ring of metal between the pommel and the leather…the options are endless.

[CampbellAr2]

At this point I am a newb in the knife repair restoration wold, but this looked like an intriguing start,

I’ll probably focus on the pommel initially

Thanks!