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Dahlgren Ongoing Resurrection
Here are some eBay pics of a blade I picked up a week or so ago (hope the seller doesn't mind me using the pix). I really like the shape of the blade and of course it's Swedish so I couldn't resist the challenge - can't rest anything that came from Eskiltuna. My idea is to regrind the blade and lose the nasty bevel (assuming that's what it is) as well as the odd hone marks at the top. Looks like someone went to town on this girl and lost track of time. It's as close to a wedge as I've seen out of Sweden so I can grind it more than a hollow ground.
I may name her Inga... stands for "I Need Gentle Attention". Maybe not...
Today I'm in the process of grinding all the sins off the blade. Just finished some time at 600 greaseless but it wasn't nearly enough to get the job done without 5 reapplications of compound. So I dropped to 400 and it's starting to look better. Another half hour and I think it may be ready to go back to 600 and then hand sanding. The pitting is pretty deep in places so I may want to get it all polished up and then drop back to 600 or so for a satin finish. Doing a final mirror finish may just accentuate the pits that will remain.
The scales aren't too bad, but I may gin up a design to replace them anyway. I'm thinking streaked horn but if anyone has seen a blade like this in something better I'm more that willing to go that way. I suspect the key will be that the lines of the scales should compliment the blade shape.
I'm posting this because the blade was so badly abused and I know I'll forget to post anything like "before" pictures once I'm really into this one. Also because I wanted to get some ideas before I go off into creative land in my head and wind up making a half dozen sets of scales before I'm happy with one. Finally I'm less likely to call something "good enough" if you guys are looking over my shoulder. OK here we go - here's the before pictures...
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