When we go antiquing I always have an eye out for vintage knives. There's a lot of garbage but once in a while I'll come up with a hidden gem.
I found two vintage Dexters. I did some research and found out they were probably 50 to 80 years old. What brought my attention was the distill taper of the blade and the tang. The blades were relatively thin and especially so at the tip. The tips were also very flexible and sprung naturally back in place. I'm thinking who ever made these knives knew what they were doing. After further research I found they were made out of 1095 high carbon steel. A steel that is very hard to find these days.
I started with the one that was in the worst shape. It was a 330mm chef's knife with full bolster. It had been ground down tremendously and had a huge bow in it. I don't know what it would be good for in it's current state. I removed the handle and cut down the bolster before I began the arduous task of grinding it down. I still need to take a little off the heel to get a nice straight cutting edge and refine the choil. The bolster has a big gauge in it that will never come out. I'd like to get a better polish on it as well.
Once the blade is done I think I'm going to tackle making a handle. Wish me luck.
