Thread: Henckels and Ben Hur in Cocobolo

I finished my 3rd and 4th restorations. I used Cocobolo that I sourced from Woodcraft. I made the designs myself. I really like the Ben Hur, with the notch for the finger. The Henckels I did traditional. The original scales on both were cheap looking plastic (not celluloid). Th wedge on the Ben Hur I actually used a piece of the original scale. The Henckels has its' original white wedge. I sanded both by hand, from 100 grit to 1000 grit. Then I soaked them overnight in Tung oil. Sanded them again with 1000 grit. Then wiped on another layer of tung oil. Then finished with Meguiars car polish.
The Ben Hur was given to me by a friend, it was quite pitted. Because of the etching on the blade I did not take it completely to pit freestarting with 600 grit on up to 2000 grit. The Henckels I got off eBay, and was in pretty nice shape. I restored the blade with 1k, 1500 and 2k sandpaper, then some Mother's polish, and some jewelers paste.
I used Brass 0-80 washers from microfasteners.com, and a 1/16" brass rod from a local hobby shop. The peening is not up to the quality of some of the guys here, but still my best work. The blades are snug and centered.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Ben Hur:

Henckels:


The Ben Hur before:

Henckels left, Ben Hur right

The Ben Hur:

Really nice work !!!! everything looks tight and snug...

The wood finish came out looking great even in the pics I bet it looks even better in person...

NICE! Great work for so early in the restoration sickness!

Like Glen said, if the finish looks that nice in pics it must be great in person... finishes are darn tootin' hard to get nice pictures of.

Great job. I especially like the Ben Hur!

Yes, the finish does look better in person.
As far as snug, the only imperfection is the wedges stick out just the teensiest bit above the wood at one spot. That was because I didnt leave the wedges in place when doing the final sanding... live and learn.
Thanks for the compliments, I really feel proud of these 2 and can't wait to work on a piece of Amboyna Burl I have for a Wostenholm and a dubl Duck Special #1

Thanks Legal. I really love the design of it too, and that Cocobolo was the best section of the piece I bought, the colors are astounding.
I am probably going to repeat that design alot, I rally like it, the finger notch is perfect when the handle is extended straight out, and when the handle is up at a ninety degrees it gives more room on the tang for my fat fingers.

Very nice work, the scales look great. You are right to feel proud.

love the notch in the bottom of the scales. nice touch.

great looking pins too.

NICE I want one

Very, very nice...Twice't!
Respectfully
~Richard