this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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What is this thing?

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There's a patent number on the smaller of the blades near the hinge (2037943) that led me to a US patent from 1936 but it didn't tell me a lot about this particular knife. Any information on time period, brand, model, cleaning/restoring, etc is helpful. Thanks!

Additional notes:

  • I cleaned off a decent amount of rust with some soap and WD-40 but the inner workings are still pretty messy
  • The yellow layer on the handles is peeling off at the ends

Update: thank you all so much for the information! I've gotten a lot of information and leads on the knife. Still nothing definite on brand but you're probably right that it's a carbon steel blade with an ivory handle from about the 1950s. I'll be tending to it properly with your information on proper cleaning and sharpening of a knife like this. I'll post another update if I find anything more definite on brand/origin. Thanks again!

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[–] lordgoose@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this out! I'll see about getting some gun oil and a small enough sharpener (the only one I own apparently doesn't accommodate tiny pocket knives), and I may post an update on how it looks. I'm glad to see this little guy can be restored to working condition since a handy knife like this deserves a purpose, but I am a little sad that the scales might not have much longer (relatively speaking).