Restoration of fruit knives

[MLF]

Here are some fruit knives made in Sheffield, 1921, by William Hutton & Sons Ltd.



As you can see, the knives are in need of restoration. I've been told they should be soaked so the shanks can be reset. They are, however, firmly attached to the handles in their current position.



Does anyone have experience with this kind of restoration - or just any input in general? Is soaking the knives what caused the shanks to move in the first place? Was there perhaps some sort of band between the handle and the blade originally?
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[Granmaa]

I've made this sort of restoration a few times, and it's pretty easy. I don't think there was a collar/band originally; when the handles are immersed in warm water the old glue expands and pushes the blades out, which is why there is that gap.
What I do is put the handles in very hot water for a while, then, with a bit of wiggling, the blades will come out. I then drill a hole trough the hardened glue in the handle for the blade tang to go back in, and adding glue push it in making sure there is a water tight seal between the handle and blade.

This has always worked fine for me.

Miles
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[MLF]

Hello Miles,

Thanks ever so much. I'll try your method and I will post the result of the restoration in this forum.

One last question though: do you recommend a particular glue?

Best wishes

Mikael
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[Granmaa]

Well, I use a glue called araldite, but I'm sure it's not what proper restorers use. It's quite expensive and it sets permanently.

Miles
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[MLF]

OK, I'll try it out (probably this weekend) and will let everybody know how it all turned out.

Thanks again, Miles!

Mikael
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[MLF]

It took a while to finish this project because I had to order a suitable glue online and then wait for it to arrive. However, I was off to a good start.



I placed the knives in a jar and poured hot water over them. The effect was remarkable: the glue not only softened - big blobs burst out of the handles.



The shanks could now be pulled from the handles. As soon as the glue soon cooled down, it dried hard. Drilling was indeed necessary.



An old phone book provided gentle but firm support for drilling out the glue without harming the sterling handle. The operation itself wasn't too difficult. However, because drilling heated up the glue, it was necessary to drill only a little at a time and then retract it to get rid of excavated glue - otherwise, the drill got stuck.



Finding a suitable new glue proved more difficult... and I'm not sure that I actually succeded. I couldn't get araldite anywhere and wasn't keen on the epoxies, so in the end I was advised to try out a product called E6000.

I ran into two problems: 1) getting glue into the handles was not easy, because the glue was thick and would trap pockets of air, and 2) the glue took a long time to cure in the confined space of the handle. The solution to the former was to place the tube of glue in a hot water bath - warming the glue made it more runny and easier to get into the handle. However, the second problem has yet to be resolved.

The knives look great - but the glue in at least one knife isn't dry yet - even after 1 1/2 weeks. I realized this as I was removing excess glue from outside the joint and the shank turned in the handle. As I say, it may just be that the curing process takes an extra long time in such a confined space and that I just need to wait a few months before I use the knives. Alternatively, I may have to redo the process but use an epoxy resin instead, as the reaction between the epoxide polymer and the hardener won't need air. I don't like handling epoxies but maybe I'll just have to.



Anyhow, this has been an interesting project - thank you, Miles, for the excellent directions!
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[Granmaa]

I don't know much about glues, but from your description Araldite must be an epoxy resin.

It's very common in England; it's possible to get fast setting which sets in an hour, but I use slow setting because you can work with it for longer. It takes 6 hours to set.



Miles
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[admin]

Hi,
I use a similar method that works well when all of the original resin is still in the handle.
Heat gently and slowly in water, a coffee can works well, water level almost up to the handle end, but not high enough that it can get into the handle.
When the resin reaches a slightly mushy viscous state, remove and grasp handle in one hand, blade in other (wear heavy gloves!).
Push them back into place and when they are seated properly, run under cold water while holding them in place, the cold water will reharden the resin.
Method has the plus of being completely reversible and if you've set it wrongly, you can redo until you've got it right.
If there is any overflow and you have resin on the outside, rather than chipping it away, cotton and acetone do a clean and quick removal.

In cases where resin is missing from the handle, I keep some on hand and replace it as needed.
Flea markets are a good source for the material, find a resin filled weighted base compote or candlestick, they are often damaged and you can get them for next to nothing.
Peel off the thin silver with pliers and hammer the resin into small pieces. It's messy but can supply you with enough resin to fill a lot of handles.

Regards, Tom
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[MLF]

Excellent information - thank you both. The used resin approach is worth considering - there is something very satisfying about using original materials.

Best wishes,
Mikael
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[kozy845]

I know that it's a year since this thread was active, but I had to thank Miles for his simple solution of soaking knife handles in hot water.
I needed to remove some blades in order to change them for fish blades and they were proving to be very stubborn. I'm not sure what material was in the handles but even with the hot water they barely softened and took much man handling until they came loose. I had to drive a wedge between the handle and blade and hammer on it to loosen some of the blades. In the end I got them all out. I am wondering if sometimes other materials other than resin epoxy were used to set blades. Whatever happened to pitch? Wasn't thatat once used?

I have another set of blades that is proving even more stubborn as they look like the handles and blades have been welded together. Anybody ever see this? The blades are silverplate and in bad condition. Maybe I should try the hot water treatment on them and see if I get anywhere.
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