Maschco and Korten Restores

As I have mentioned previously, I scored a couple of good looking blades in a Cooma antique store recently.

Today, I finally had the chance to honemeister them.

The Maschco was first, and wasn't that a mistake! I had to kill the edge, and then grind some pitting out towards the heel. This had the bonus of squaring the edge quite well. One thing that I hadn't noticed when I picked this up, was that the spine at the toe-end had quite a bit more wear than the heel end. This would eventually affect the edge depth at the toe, but not enough to be a big problem.

So, killing the edge/grinding out the pitting was done on a #600 diamond plate, and was quite a smooth job.

Next was #1000 synth stone, followed by #3000 synth, and #8000 synth. Final hone was on a #13000 natural stone, followed by a hundred or so laps on the strop. All stones had slurries applied. Strop was just left bare.

This blade took almost 90 minutes to get a satisfactory edge! I ended up starting back at #1000, four times, because what felt ok at the start, didn't finish right. Eventually, though, it all came together. I had similar issues last year with the Broken Hill Bengall, so this time I was half expecting it. It didn't disappoint.

A quick run up the arm saw the result I was wanting, Lovely, clean and hairless!

Super glued the damaged scales. Turns out the the other side had a fault line in the same spot, so I ran a bead of super glue inside there, to get it to infiltrate the crack. Left it a couple of minutes, then drew up the excess with some paper. It doesn't look great, but it is certainly authentic.

Pics in the next post.



Now, the Korten was a different beast altogether. One thing that struck my right away, was that it appeared to have been honed on a butcher's steel. Touching the edge, it felt like it was a single-sided edge. It was very weird.

Anyway, lightly killed the edge on the #600 diamond, then a single run up the stones saw this one finished in under 15 minutes. 60 or so laps of the strop, and this one is now the sharpest in the stable... even sharper than the Wester.

Pics in the next post, too.

Blades are now bathing in a quaternary ammonium solution for a couple of days. Then they should be ready to slice. Once they come out, I will see how the polish up.

I gave the Wester a touch up on #8000 and #13000. But I noticed it has a fairly significant pit-mark down near the heel. Surgery will need to happen fairly soon, unfortunately.

 

Maschco, as purchased:


Note the pitting towards the heel:


Closer in:


After honing:




Scales, after gluing:



Korten, as purchased:




After honing:

 

Thanks. That Maschco fought me all the way. I should have started with the Korten, so at least it would feel like I had done something early.

 

Yeah, the Korten is really good.

The Maschco was far gone to start along the spine, but has a lot of meat on it still. Sometimes I will use tape, but depending on the height of the blade, can leave a harsh edge. The Wester is an example of this, because it is such a small blade height.

I will pull out the usb microscope tomorrow if I have the chance, and run it down the edge to see how it looks up close.

I just don't have the desire to make new scales right now, to be honest. When these crap out, I will probably un-pin, re-glue and then look at it. Hopefully it is a fair way in the future though. Would need to source some exotic, knotted-to-hell wood, to make it worthwhile! As a $9 blade, it is worth keeping, and a scales upgrade at some stage wouldn't hurt it.

Hospital Grade 4% W/V Quaternary Ammonium CPD is on the bottle, supposed to be diluted as 1:20 mix. I probably used it as 1:10 or higher, using 60 degree temperature water as a catalyst. It still probably won't do anything against spores, but will be bad news for other things. Apparently if it gets in the eyes, the damage is immediate and permanent; bad skin irritant... all of the good stuff. I already pulled the blades out earlier, after a couple of hours. Apparently adding hot water makes a large difference to immersion times.

I'm tempted to run the Korten tomorrow morning.

One final thing that I noticed earlier, after washing the blades down. The ammonium solution has possibly tinted the metal surfaces, an ever-so-slight blue tinge. It could be the light I am looking it, so I'll check it out in daylight tomorrow. If it has been blued, then the cutting paste and Dremel may see action sooner than expected.

 

Yeah, that was my thought about the liquid. I was thinking that I would make sure everything was killed, but a bit of reading showed it was unnecessary.

Especially after a couple of double-shot espressos...
Why is the room shaking? It doesn't feel like an earthquake.

I thought of a thin liner, but I might give more thought to new scales. It just won't be too soon. I should be able to glean 6 months out of them anyway, as it won't be a daily driver, but part of a slow rotation.

Looking at the blades this morning, they definitely have a patina of some kind on them, which wasn't there last night. I'll try to get photos later. Makes them look decidedly vintage again, but still wickedly sharp.

 

Cheers. I tried the Korten this morning. After 2 strokes, it was clear that it needs a bit more work. What was scything through arm hair, was no match for the facial wire brush.

I think I will attack them both with the Dremel, and go back to #1000 onwards.

I'll get there, though!