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Been a busy fortnight... Few more vintage pre-war steels have turned up from America that I purchased 5 weeks ago, restorations been going great.
First up was a 12' round that was looking pretty ordinary but under the several millimetres of gunk was revealed clean factory lines still evident and what is essentially still a brand new steel!
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Removed the original wooden handle and fitted a plastic orange handle just so I can use it at work for the next week to see how it performs.. the last 2 days it has run beautifully.
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Next up was a 14' round.
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This particular piece has a deer antler handle and chrome plated brass presentation fittings. This indicates that 100 odd years ago this particular steel was presented as a gift to a young apprentice butcher who'd just successfully completed his apprenticeship. After a quick disassemble and clean, this thing looks like it just came out of the box, it's obviously done less than a weeks work in it's entire life, it has 2 minor knife hits on the finger guard and deep factory lines and a mint stamp. I think this is about as mint condition as an original pre-war F. Dick steel gets.
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Gave the fittings a light buff and reassembled. This will remain a personal display piece of mine in its original state. Whoever this belonged to originally, they obviously treasured it dearly.
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Today another 14' round arrived on my doorstep, this one I plan to make my every day use piece, it has the extremely rare SUPER LARGE stamp. this steel will take a little more work as the original factory lines are almost completely worn out, it'll be sanded smooth, polished and new lines cut in by myself, the brass fittings will be straightened, polished and the original wooden handle will be replaced with a modern resin one. Really looking forward to having this one completed.
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After this one, I currently have 5 more to do, that's if I don't see and buy any more! things will start to slow down a bit now as I have gravid turtles and my focus will shift to them. Hope everyone is well.

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Been a busy fortnight... Few more vintage pre-war steels have turned up from America that I purchased 5 weeks ago, restorations been going great.
First up was a 12' round that was looking pretty ordinary but under the several millimetres of gunk was revealed clean factory lines still evident and what is essentially still a brand new steel!
View attachment 329950
View attachment 329951

Removed the original wooden handle and fitted a plastic orange handle just so I can use it at work for the next week to see how it performs.. the last 2 days it has run beautifully.
View attachment 329952
View attachment 329953
View attachment 329954

Next up was a 14' round.
View attachment 329955

This particular piece has a deer antler handle and chrome plated brass presentation fittings. This indicates that 100 odd years ago this particular steel was presented as a gift to a young apprentice butcher who'd just successfully completed his apprenticeship. After a quick disassemble and clean, this thing looks like it just came out of the box, it's obviously done less than a weeks work in it's entire life, it has 2 minor knife hits on the finger guard and deep factory lines and a mint stamp. I think this is about as mint condition as an original pre-war F. Dick steel gets.
View attachment 329956
View attachment 329957
View attachment 329958
View attachment 329959
View attachment 329960

Gave the fittings a light buff and reassembled. This will remain a personal display piece of mine in its original state. Whoever this belonged to originally, they obviously treasured it dearly.
View attachment 329961
View attachment 329962

Today another 14' round arrived on my doorstep, this one I plan to make my every day use piece, it has the extremely rare SUPER LARGE stamp. this steel will take a little more work as the original factory lines are almost completely worn out, it'll be sanded smooth, polished and new lines cut in by myself, the brass fittings will be straightened, polished and the original wooden handle will be replaced with a modern resin one. Really looking forward to having this one completed.
View attachment 329963
View attachment 329964

After this one, I currently have 5 more to do, that's if I don't see and buy any more! things will start to slow down a bit now as I have gravid turtles and my focus will shift to them. Hope everyone is well.

Cheers!
if you change the handle from wood to resin it won't be original any more
 
if you change the handle from wood to resin it won't be original any more
I know that mate, wooden handles aren't allowed in the industry today so the resin handles are only if they are to be used... all original wooden and antler handles are kept so they can be refitted ;)
[doublepost=1600245202,1600189312][/doublepost]She's all done!
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[doublepost=1600249821][/doublepost]Finishing touches, brass finger guard straightened to original position and a green stick chrome polish and she's looking better than the day she was first made 100+ years ago.
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[doublepost=1600547750][/doublepost]New custom made and barrel shaped bone white nylon handles fitted to 2 big 14' Pre-wars that I've chosen for every day use at work. 1 polished up as a slick and 1 left rough with original cut factory lines. I picked these up for $19 and $22 respectively and just yesterday after I was finished fitting the new handles I was offered $550 cash for the slick... I haven't even had the chance to use it yet and I've no intentions of selling it as I'd probably never see another one with the rare giant sized makers stamp.

So stoked with how they're looking now, the original yellow brass fittings and nickel coated brass fittings contrast nicely with the white handles, they're gonna stand out from a mile away at work - I'm gonna have to keep a close eye on them! Bring on the week!

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2 more arrivals from the states for restoration.
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The 11' flat will go into my personal collection as a display piece as it's extremely rare.
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The 14' round will be restored and fitted with a nylon handle and be a daily use piece.
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Hi F P
Mate , you must have the sharpest knives in the world ,,,,ouch !!! :)
Hehe... well, they're not blunt... found that out back in April of 2015... 27 stitches later and 4 months of physio and learning how to use my hand again after I severed all tendons and nerves, I still today have 4 permanent stitches holding my first 2 fingers together and no feeling in my right hand and only about 80% of my original strength. When that incident occurred, blood shot from my hand about 2 metres across the room so I knew I was in trouble... due to the nerves being cut it was completely painless, didn't feel a thing... still don't. When the paramedics arrived, my hand was all wrapped up and the lady was like OK let's take a look at what we have here, probably thinking a tiny little cut... she unwrapped my hand and blood was going everywhere... she nearly fainted, she asked me are you OK, I said I can't feel a thing. I practically cut my hand completely in half down the side of the 1st finger than straight across my palm.

I was unconscious on the table for 4 hours at Toowoomba base having micro surgery by 2 hand specialist doctors they flew in from Brisbane.

I returned to work in August 2015.

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14 days after the accident when the external stitches were removed.
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So are you left-handed? Hmm, I'll reword that... Were you a left-hander before the accident? Or did you have to become one after?

Nasty injury.

S
 
So are you left-handed? Hmm, I'll reword that... Were you a left-hander before the accident? Or did you have to become one after?

Nasty injury.

S
No I'm right handed... had just finished sharpening them and was actually cleaning the knife when the accident happened so it really made the following months a learning curve... learning to brush my teeth and shave left handed... felt totally uncoordinated at first lol pretty well ambidextrous today because of that injury so like they say, every cloud has a silver lining.
 
Just out of curiosity , do you have any feeling at all in your right hand or is it completely numb ?
 
Just out of curiosity , do you have any feeling at all in your right hand or is it completely numb ?
Have normal sensation in my pinkie and ring fingers, thumb and outer edge of my hand straight down from my pinkie... the rest is numb.
[doublepost=1601230536,1601230418][/doublepost]I constantly drop things as I cannot grip properly missing so much feeling... I've gotten a lot better, I don't drop things now near as often as I was 1-2 years ago but I still drop stuff daily. Lol
[doublepost=1601230731][/doublepost]where I struggle the most now is handling turtles and digging up my turtle nests to retrieve eggs for incubation each year... that task requires fine dexterity and a gentle touch so as not to damage the eggs... my confidence isn't what it used to be so I take longer but still get it done... I practically hold my breath now when handling eggs.
 
Thanks for the reply. Maybe you could find someone close by who shares your passion for turtles , and or is willing to learn from your experience to help you out in those situations. I had to go through 6 months of chemo for bowel cancer back in 2012, and 1 of the drugs they pumped into me called OXALIPLATIN left me with peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage to my hands and feet). My fingers , palms of my hands and bottoms of my feet were completely numb. I used to drop things a lot at first , and thaught I would never be able to play my guitar ever again, but fortunately , over several years, most of the feeling in my hands has returned. The under sides of my toes and soles of my feet still feel like dead meat to this day, so no more getting about barefooted any more. But thankfully at least I can spank the plank again.
 
Cheers man. Yeah the doctors told me it could take 10-12 years before I regain any sensation in the damaged area of my hand so I'm half way there!
 
The weirdest thing I had to deal with was learning to balance again. It's not really the first thing you would think about , but we use our toes to help us keep balanced while standing and walking. When you have no sensation in your feet its not that easy. I've had quite a few falls , had trouble standing in 1 spot and tended to walk in a zig zag type pattern until I got used to it. Most people probably thaught I was half drunk. :-S
 
Getting another gel-blaster soon, can't wait. I was looking at a shotgun but they only fire single shots at a time (not the kind thing you wan't on the field, trust me) so I'm going for a machine gun, something that does a bit more damage. What kind is yours Kev?
 
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