Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

Recently i bought this nice little knife, and although it looks quite a bit like an old Marble's Woodcraft model i don't think it's a real one.
The blade has no markings and the pommel doesn't have the mushroom shape like the Woodcraft models i've seen online.
Based on this and the typical handle construction with 2 stag panels held together by brass rivets my best guess is that it's a Solingen made Woodcraft copy from the 1930's or even the 1920's.
It is however a well made knife with hard steel (harder than my F.Dick basterd file), and i intend to find out if i can get the blade in working order again.
Anyone seen these before or got any idea about a maker or manufacturer ?

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Re: Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

After removing all the edge damage and restoring the full convex blade shape with 400 and 800 grit wet & dry using WD40 oil as a lubricant on a semi-hard rubber backing.
Removed the tiny burr with some 1.0 micron diamond paste on hard cardboard, and the new edge angle is +/- 26 degrees inclusive.
It's apex will whittle a chesthair from root to tip, and was also tested by whittling an old piece of wooden cutting board, which it does just fine.
The swedge was recut using 2 diamond files.
(You can click 2x on each pic for a bit more detail)

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Re: Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

A couple of days ago i also bought the real thing, and although it needs a bit of TLC i like it already.
It still has an almost full blade geometry and also the original leather sheath.
My knife was part of a 1930's run for the Brown Shoe Company operating from St.Louis USA, as an incentive for parent buyers of a children's line of shoes marketed with the licensed use of the cartoon boy Buster Brown and his dog Tige.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Brown

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Re: Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

Handle disassembled, washers numbered & lined up for glueing and reassembling:

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Re: Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

Back together again.

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Re: Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

This is how the knife currently looks.
Reground the blade by hand to it's original full convex zero edge shape, but used only 800 grit wet & dry (using WD40 as a lubricant on a rubber backing)
This was coarse enough to get a good sharp apex again but also fine enough to leave most of the old patina intact, which was the idea.
The sheath has been cleaned, waxed, and restitched.

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Specs:

Overall length: 21,0 cm
Blade length: 11,1 cm
Maximum blade thickness: 4,47 mm
Steel type: drop-forged 1095 or 52100 steel
Hardness: harder than an F.Dick standard basterd file no.1
Handle material: Brass guard, brass/fiber/leather washers, aluminium pommel with small brass nut
Sheath: Leather
kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Re: Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

Restoration projects like these can be very rewarding, as not only do you get to bring pieces of knife history back to life, it's quite useful to practice your skills, plus it pays for itself as generally i use the proceeds of the sale of a restored knife to buy other oldies that could use some work.
Currently busy with another Marble's Woodcraft fixed blade, probably made in the late 1920's or early 1930's.

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Re: Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

The knife as it looks now,

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Re: Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

A few old pictures.
The first one shows Webster Marble (on the left) together with an associate.

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1916 patent for the Woodcraft model:

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Re: Vintage Marble's Woodcraft ?

Post by kwackster »

How the first knife currently looks:

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