Hi Terry.  Another member suggested I check with you on this.  I put up a bblog post about a knife I was trying to fully identify.

It's an old Russell that the seller said was a Civil War era knife.  I bought it but thought it was an old Navy Knife.  Couldn't read the etching on the bblade ut it looked like (Blank) KNIFE.

Since then I read in a research book that the Russell Navy Knives have Cocobolo handles and mine has Stag.

Then later today I found they do also have stag handles.

So do you know anything about these Russell's?  Are they indeed Civil War knives?  Issued to the US Navy or what?

Any info you might give me would really be appreciated.

http://www.iknifecollector.com/profiles/blogs/civil-war-era-russell-stag-can-anyone-help

Lee

Terry,

Your a featured member!!

Oh, just a FAST fix for your recurve blades. Get a cheap synthetic stone, cut it into finger stones (whatever size you will be able to hold securely in your hand). Do it with a small hammer and a knife with a flat belly unless you have a rock-splitting chisel or stone saw and then just tap it slowly into the stone. Eventually it will break in two, try to keeps the taps controlled and make sure the force is constant at the same angle, you don't want to switch angle inside the stone.

After that you can get a Belgian Coticule bout stone along with some finger stones to get the slurry up. I can recommend many other stones but it depends on the kind of finish and action you want from the stone. The reason why is because coticule also works great for restoration, because they consist of garnets they cut differently than other stones. So, if you grind it down into a powder, apply some water and dip your fingertip in the powder and then rub on the steel, you have full control of how much good vs bad oxidized steel you remove with the addition that the garnets won't leave scratches because of their round shape (perfect for restoring filemarks or details like stamps too).

Now I'm off to deal with my bloody 17-pack of chisels I have to restore. Blargh, some stuff are 80-100 years old, the steel has become insanely hard from age-hardening! Most chisels are aged for a max of 20-30 years. Boy it's harsh to bring these puppies out, but it will be worth every second after it's all done.

Hope to talk to you soon

Regards Hal

May I ask what your main tools are? I take it that you work mainly with stones and compounds (like rust removers, abrasive powders etc etc, all the stuff that goes into restoring).

The very hardest thing to make on a stone is a perfect belly. It depends if you meant a single or double bevel because the second option is much more easy. On the first one you basically have to step into the hardest sharpening process in the world, combining tangents into one single flush bevel.

I take it you aren't working with single bevel tools however so that shouldn't be a problem. I would say that you need a good bevel gauge (if you don't already have one) and some tips of how to work on the stones.

If you want to I am more than happy to share what I can with you (so far 1 out of 50 has listened to me about sharpening, the rest are hellbent on powertools. Sorry to ask such a question but it's frustrating to type up long replies only to have them land on uninterested eyes). Basically what I specialize in is perfection polishing, I have two separate rooms when I polish to keep out coarse particles from the foundation stage (shaping and sharpening stage) when I move to the polishing stage. At that point it's all cosmetic polish, way beyond functional sharpness (20k grit plus, natural stone ofcourse).

Tell me what you think and if you like it we can start sorting out your problem of getting flush bevels. Once you get the feeling for it then it will be there. Similar to riding a bicycle, when you develop that "sense" you feel exactly where the steel is touching the stone and can literally ride it in any direction, at any part of the stone.

The stage after that is how to wear down a stone evenly so that you don't have to dress them - saves material and time, but we'll get to that later :)