Before and After

Refurbished Boy Scout Knife

A Foster City customer of mine requested I refurbish an older Boy Scout knife that had deep across grain scratches from an overly aggressive, coarse abrasive of a dremmel tool. It required me to regrind the flat blade edge keeping it cool and working carefully as it was a live (sharp) blade. Also I did not want to over heat the blade and anneal it as it had been heat treated from the factory many years earlier for it to hold an edge and be considered a knife.

This was an easy accomplishment being a custom knife maker for over 25 years, entering and winning many different knife making awards and selling all the knives I make. The after picture shows the knife with an even looking flat ground blade as if it were brand new. I also polished the guard and pommel. All for just $30.00. The knife could now be proudly displayed and handed down generation after generation.

Sharpened Gardening Pruner

Here is a before and after pic of a good quality hand held pruner rusted over and needing sharpening. First I clean the rust off the surfaces that would make plant material drag if not removed. Then I hand scrap the flat section of the nipper being carefully not to roll an edge and render it useless. after this step with special ceramic abrasives I sharpen the edge and the receiving convex portion the main blade edge will glide across. The result is a sharper-than-new pruner for only ten dollars.

Sharpened Auger Bit

Here is an example off a smart plumber taking care of his auger bits to make fast work of drilling through studs and joist by having me sharpen and repair. One bit had been badly destroyed by a hidden nail and needs a full reshaping. With a special device I designed I remove material from the underside of the auger where the chip is released upon drilling. Then I remove the worm screw (replace if necessary) and groom the upside or leading edge of the auger. I then lightly reshape and sharpen the dull circumference teeth for maximum loading, clean cutting and performance. This I accomplish at your job site for a reasonable price determined by each bit.

Restored Carving Set

These are before and after pics of a Foster City customer who wanted this carving set restored and fixed where broken. The silver engraving and embossed sections under the blade and surrounding the stag horn handle needed hand finishing to keep cool ( by not melting old epoxy) and by not take any material off.

The high carbon blades need several different buffing and hand finishing techniques to get the natural heavy stains out that have accured. Again taking the minimum of material off. This is restoring not refinishing.

If you notice I made a 416 stainless steel pommel for the missing butt cap on the fork. This steel I used has the same patina as the silver but will not tarnish and will last much longer. I heat treat it to 45 on the Rockwell hardness scale for that mirror like finish of polished silver. The stag handles were polished and lubricated as they were dry and starting to crack. The blades were also sharpened to a razor like performance. All for a very affordable price.

Restored Shears

Here is an example of rare antique shears that I restored. They don’t make them like this anymore! I brought them back to fine shearing functionality and polished them to enhance their beauty. These belonged to a customer’s great great grandmother who used them as a child in the textile industry during the 1840’s.