1907 Bayonet Grips - Repair or replace?

[Peter Laidler]

You keep changing the goalposts..............

[Flying10uk]

I only thought of this option today.

[mike1967]

I would clean the whole bayonet up best i could, and just leave them be. It is what it is. But thats just me.

[browningautorifle]

I only thought of this option today.

Why not just do what you want and show us after. That's what you'll do anyway...

[Flying10uk]

I'm open to suggestions, but when I photograph the repaired bayonet, in a day or so, I may just photograph it with the various options of grip laid in because it doesn't have any grips fitted yet. The bayonet it's self is repaired it's just a case of deciding on which grips to fit.

[Flying10uk]

Here are some pictures of the bayonet it's self, showing the repaired cross guard and the various grip options. I have only photographed the original grips fitted on both sides. Unfortunately I didn't think to photograph the damage to the cross guard before repair. The most amount of damage was in the area pointed out by the pen tip and this area required the most amount of weld applied. However the rest of the same side of the cross guard also required a thin layer of weld to bring up to correct level.

As can be seen, the blade is in very good condition for it's age. I may try to match the re-blued cross guard to the pommel, later.

[Doco overboard]

I thought it read 1905! Looks like I would go with the new ones, they'll get broke in a little after being handled a bit.

[bigduke6]

F10, I've brought a few bayonets back from death row, sometimes just a little can make a huge difference, A 1903 I did some time back had one grip that was beyond repair but the other side was good, after a good clean come up well so decided just to replace the one side, pics below which am sure some have seen but a good example of what one home made grip can do.

[Peter Laidler]

If you 'bone' the wood it closes the grain up tight and eliminates the 'newly-sanded' look. Alternatively you can use a coarse rag and brown furniture polish to buff the wood against the grain in a way that you'd polish the toe caps of your shoes/boots. But the usual good job Big Duke

[henry r]

It has been repaired and fiddled with already so i would fit the used 07 grips off the m17.
I would also polish back the new bluing to match the rest of the bayonet, but that is just me.

Btw cinders there is quite a folling for vintage cars with original paint even if it is worse for wear. For some people the more sunburnt the paint is the better. The last few shows i went to i didn't bother looking at 90% of the restored cars. I only looked at the original ones and the og paint modified ones.