Knife restoration - Puma 8101 Texas Bill (standard)

[kwakster]

A few years ago a member of Tactical Forum in Germany sent me this vintage Puma 8101 Texas Bill, advertized in a 1950's Puma brochure as a "throwing Scout knife" (German: Wurf und  Fahrtenmesser)
The request was to give the knife some TLC, post some pics how i do things, and then return the knife to it's owner.

[kwakster]

Handle disassembled.
Tools used: a modified Swiss Made PB flathead stubby no.5, a thin scalpel blade with a purposely overstropped apex (polished blunt), and the flathead screwdriver on my old Amefa army knife.

[kwakster]

Started with the blade:

[kwakster]

This is how the blade looks after regrinding by hand both sides with only 400 grit wet & dry SiC paper using WD40 oil as a lubricant on a semi-hard rubber backing.
Somewhere in the past the edge had already been sharpened convex, so in order to remove as little steel as necessary i just evened things out to a new edge of around 30 degrees inclusive.
It's not completely finished yet (there is still a bit of edge damage left under the letter T), but that can also be done after the handle is re-installed.

[kwakster]

Separately polished the miniature guard a bit, then put the handle back together using glue between all the washers:











How the knife looks at the moment:

[kwakster]

The knife is now almost done.
The blade surface was refined with 800 grit wet & dry and some WD40.
The new convex edge apex measures ~30 degrees inclusive and needs to have it's tiny burr removed later, after which the sheath will receive a few coats of warm Granger's wax.

[RichColvin]

That is great!  Thank you for sharing.

[Sir Amwell]

Hi. Lovely work. Can you explain the process of restoring the handle? More specifically, the work done to all the washers? Thanks.

[BPalv]

The knife is now almost done.
The blade surface was refined with 800 grit wet & dry and some WD40.
The new convex edge apex measures ~30 degrees inclusive and needs to have it's tiny burr removed later, after which the sheath will receive a few coats of warm Granger's wax.

Beautiful work!
I would also like to know how to restore a handle like that.
Thanks,
Al