old cutlery

[mikromicke]

A friend of mine asked me to see what I could do about some knives she inherited from her grandmother recently. I guess I talked to much about the new hones I had bought etc.

I just got the knives yesterday and they were very different from what I had expected. I promised to at least sharpen them but I'm not sure I dare touch the inlay even though some of them are damaged and missing. I do have access to a laser ablator and if I have time and ambition enough I might be able to replicate them but I'm not sure I would dare do it anyway.

The handles I assume are either bone or ivory and have unfortunately started cracking on some parts.

 

[BobS]

These are steak knives -- how bad are they and how sharp do they need to be?

Does she intend to use them for something else -- like paring knives?

 

[mikromicke]

I think she did intend to only use them as steak knives but they were pretty dull to begin with. I started working on one of them and the steel is pretty soft (at least compared to straights and to my Japanese kitchen knives) and so far they don't seem to take an amazing edge. It's almost able to shave arm hair though so I guess that should be sharp enough