What to do with a really old knife?

[minibatataman]

So I bought a really old menkiri off of eBay for a grand total of 80 cents.
The knife is in a bad shape and the edge is pretty much gone. What should I do with it? Oversized nakiri? Undersized noodle knife? It cost nothing basically but Im looking for a fun project, so I want do something with it, any ideas?

 

[HugSeal]

In my opinion that profile is fun enough to simply go for a restoration. IT kind of depends on the level of rust though. If you have to remove too much of the lower part to get to good steel then the little spike at the heel would look silly.

I personally would just give it an acid bath/grinding/whatever choice for removing rust, and see how it polishes up.

If you can keep the original profile you could round it off a bit near the tang for a comfy fingergrip and then make a little club-handle or something.

 

[LucasFur]

Watch a few youtube videos on how to restore it so that's its useable?
not sure if that's an answer you were looking for.

 

[minibatataman]

Restoring in itself isn't an issue, it's more me wondering if I should just restore it or if anyone has any interesting ideas on what I can turn this into.

 

[Bensbites]

One of my favorite knives was a cheap eBay Nakiri, I converted to a bunka and @makitsharper(Instagram) thinned the crap out of it. Whenever I post photos of that knife, it always gets comments. Other makers have even tried to copy it.

Have fun. Look at what you have and what you want in your collection. I would cut off the back of the blade and shorten the tang to get a nakiri style blade. Maybe convert to a ktip.

 

[Gregmega]

Man, this is too fun of a shape to change. Simple rehab and enjoy. If that doesn’t work out you could chop it down. But you can never put metal back on.

 

[minibatataman]

Man, this is too fun of a shape to change. Simple rehab and enjoy. If that doesn’t work out you could chop it down. But you can never put metal back on.

Exactly what I'm thinking, but Jesus it's huge

 

[minibatataman]

One of my favorite knives was a cheap eBay Nakiri, I converted to a bunka and @makitsharper(Instagram) thinned the crap out of it. Whenever I post photos of that knife, it always gets comments. Other makers have even tried to copy it.

Have fun. Look at what you have and what you want in your collection. I would cut off the back of the blade and shorten the tang to get a nakiri style blade. Maybe convert to a ktip.

Lol yea exactly, I don't have a nakiri, I'm thinking of doing something like that. Love your bunka btw

 

[Benuser]

I would have no use for a noodle knife so would certainly convert it. Whether it becomes a nakiri or a bunka will depend on the balance.

 

[minibatataman]

I would have no use for a noodle knife so would certainly convert it. Whether it becomes a nakiri or a bunka will depend on the balance.

Balance?

 

[Benuser]

I wouldn't like the balance point to be excessively forward. Just moderately.

 

[minibatataman]

I like the idea of a nakiri or bunka, I just feel that a 350mm one is a bit excessive
This might also be better off as a cleaver maybe... I'll have to see what is possible after I get the rust out
Couple of other knives on the way that I'll work on, will be posting those too