Ontario Cutlery Restore, My Second

A newbie's journal.

This is my first attempt with micarta so it was a learning process throughout. I can't begin to express my gratitude for the wealth of knowledge and the generosity of spirit found on this website. Thank all of you very much.

I work out of my kitchen so most of this was done with small power and hand tools. An orbital sander, dremel with a sanding disc, coping saw and the controversial jig saw.

It's a no name Ontario Cutlery 6/8" that came to me with broken scales that had also polished up pretty well. Not to sure of my design skills, I didn't want to commit a better quality blade to something that might have looked more like a dogbone than a set of scales.

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The dremel worked pretty well with the sanding wheel attachment. I paired the blanks together and roughed it in with the jig saw (the material was clamped to a table. Do not try cutting something and holding it at the same time. Really, don't.). The sanding wheel worked well to get the shaping done and to break the edges. The orbital sander thinned things down and by changing grits, got the surface pretty smooth. The machines can only get it close. Then came a lot of hand sanding.

The biggest frustration for me was the G10 wedge. Hand sanding wouldn't get it flat and the orbital sander wouldn't get it even or parrallel. Had it walk away from it for a while. When I came back, it then all kind of fell into place. Blade is centered and tight on the pins.

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Used some Mothers on a dremel pad and was a little disappointed at first with the lack of results. Then I got brave and kicked the RPM up to about 20 and watched the shine come out.
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I'll hone it tomorrow and see how it shaves. The end result is acceptable, I think, workmanlike and practical.

There's an O.S.T. Cutlery 5/8" Blue Steel that probably will be next. I may get a little creative. It's getting time to either thin the herd a bit or start shaving twice a day.

Thanks for all the help.