Picked up 2 drawknives at the fleamarket recently 1 of them in really good shape barely any rust the other very rusty in need of electrolysis. So i went about the usual throw the rusty one in the Electrolysis Tank, Steel Wool on the other to clean up the bit of surface rust and straight to flatten the quite rounded back with a filing guide to get an angle that would flatten enough of the back without removing tons of material.
Heres the Result, not very visible on picture but hairline cracks, hairline cracks everywhere, which surprised me since it looked very well used and even came reasonably sharp even though it has a bit of surface rust. Suppose thats what happens when the quench goes sideways.
On to Drawknife 2, comes out of the Electrolysis tank and after cleanup what do i find? a weld slap bang in the middle of the blade, still went on to flatten a spot on the back and since i didnt find cracks i just did the whole back. Well theres a definitive soft spot on the weld, obviously, but either side the steel is still good and it being a drawknife i can happily avoid using the middle section, not a perfect solution but it works. Also made 2 barebones basic new grips for it nothing fancy, they just work and are comfortable in the hand.
I guess this is just another reminder that not all old Tools (that seem good) are actually of "good old Quality"
The 2 Culprits
Regards Philipp