Refinished an old Military Knife today (Colonial Prov R.I.) with pics

[Cannon]

I bought this knife a few weeks ago for the sole purpose of refinishing. Let me start of by saying I'm not a collector and I don't know values of anything.
I went to a local gun show and this old folder caught my eye. The guy at the both let it go pretty reasonable because the collector value was pretty much gone. Atleast that's what the fella told me. It had one broken blade, rust and a lot of grit.
It had character and is one of the bigger folders I have ever seen. The blades were very wobbly and the knife blade had close to .25 inch of play before the lock would touch the base of the blade.



I had some time to tinker today so I went for it and it made for a fun morning. I didn't take very many pics during the destruction. Trust me - it was challenging my will. Once I had it apart I smoothed the blade out and added a small weld to the lock so it would engage the blade without any play. I found a metal saw zall blade and cut it out to fit the broken blade. I ended up having to put a small spot weld on it as well. It was not very much heat. I sandblasted it and parkerized it with magnesium (black). I put it all back together and did some more touch ups, blasted and parkerized it again.
Here's the result:




With both blades extended it over 15 inches long!
There's no wobble and it locks up tight. I could have smoothed it out more but I think some of the pitting keeps some of the age and character.
What the heck is Colonial Prov. R.I. anyway?

 

[Bradsknives]

I bought this knife a few weeks ago for the sole purpose of refinishing. Let me start of by saying I'm not a collector and I don't know values of anything.
I went to a local gun show and this old folder caught my eye. The guy at the both let it go pretty reasonable because the collector value was pretty much gone. Atleast that's what the fella told me. It had one broken blade, rust and a lot of grit.
It had character and is one of the bigger folders I have ever seen. The blades were very wobbly and the knife blade had close to .25 inch of play before the lock would touch the base of the blade.



I had some time to tinker today so I went for it and it made for a fun morning. I didn't take very many pics during the destruction. Trust me - it was challenging my will. Once I had it apart I smoothed the blade out and added a small weld to the lock so it would engage the blade without any play. I found a metal saw zall blade and cut it out to fit the broken blade. I ended up having to put a small spot weld on it as well. It was not very much heat. I sandblasted it and parkerized it with magnesium (black). I put it all back together and did some more touch ups, blasted and parkerized it again.
Here's the result:




With both blades extended it over 15 inches long!
There's no wobble and it locks up tight. I could have smoothed it out more but I think some of the pitting keeps some of the age and character.
What the heck is Colonial Prov. R.I. anyway?

Your knife is a WWII US Navy Pilot survival knife made by Colonial knife company located in Providence Rhode Island. These knives came out late during WWII and were eventually replaced with a fixed blade survival knife in the 1960's. There were two versions of this knife, a Navy Pilot and Air Force Pilot model. The only difference between the two is the Navy Pilot model had a bail. The Colonial Knife company has been around since the 1920's and is known for manufacturing military knives, Boy & Girl Scout knives, commemorative knives and a lot of novelty/advertising knives. Also, they made some very interesting switchblade knives from the 1940's up into the late 1950's that are very collectible today. The Colonial knife company is still in business today manufacturing knives and tools.

 

[Cannon]

Awesome! Thanks for the knowledge!

 

[Knife Lady]

Good clean up job Nice knife too.