Friday, February 06, 2009

Oklahoma Knives

On our recent trip to Oklahoma, I recovered three knives from Mimi's house as well as several files and old lawnmower and edger blades that the knifemaker could make use of.




The knives were the old high carbon steel blades with wooden handles that were found in the kitchen. Two were commercial knives and one (in the middle) looked like a homemade version of a butcher knife most likely made from a saw blade.



The paring knife had this insignia stamped on the blade:




I let Paul have a go at them to see what he could do and he was able to clean them all up.



The smaller paring sized knife got a new handle from exotic wood and was given to Tracy for a utility/fishing knife.


The homemade knife got a good polishing and some work to the handle. The blade is 6-3/4" long and the handle is 4-1/2".


Paul was able to remove the rivets and existing handles to clean and polish the steel. These strips of hardwood were added to reinforce and fill in the gap that had resulted from lots of years of use. It also made for a thicker handle and a better grip.


This knife has a letter "A" on each side of the handle that I think could possibly stand for "Alfred" Taylor Thompson - Tracy's grandfather.


This knife is destined for Lafayette in the near future. Tracy's parents may know the history of this family treasure.


The commercial butcher knife was most likely an Old Hickory. It has a 6-3/4" blade and a 4" handle with the following stamped on the blade:


The handle and blade are in great shape. The spine of this knife is almost twice as thick as the homemade knife and it has a lot of life left in it. I'll have to decide if I want to bring it to PPRV #7 or leave it at home.

Many thanks to Paul for "hitting a lick" on these great old knives.

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