Tip Repair for M1905 Bayonet

[Harlan (Deceased)]

I was thinking the same thing Jim...

Don't use anything realy hard, and definitely not metal, heat, etc, or it will mar the finish for sure in some way... You can direct the force directly to the spot to the bend and bend it back into place by using wood to place onto the little bend on the end and 'tap' it into place without any damage.. You could never use a plastic hammer, etc to hit the exact spot anyway, and plastic hammers are not hard enough to bend the hard tempered blades anyway.

If it were mine, I'd get a wide(ish) dowel from Home Depot, Lowes, etc, for a couple of bucks. They come in stalks about three feet long and the wood is hard and dense (Harder than a soft 2X4).

(More info) - A few years ago I walked into a Home Depot and two different kids working there told me they didn't have "dowels" or "Wooden dowel pins".... (They didn't know) They have them... I walked around both Home Depot and Lowe's and found the dowel stalks shoved into little slots in the back of both stores, and nobody working there knew they even had them in the stores.)

Cut the stalk off to a manageable length to use it with a hammer and tap on the bend in the blade. I have a wooden workbench in my little shop, and if I had your blade here I'd use the bench as a backstop to tap against against it. (Possibly have to BEAT with a larger hammer).

As Jim said, take your time and go slowly. (It's easier to bend that to 'unbend' so go slowly) The bent tip should go back, or at least make it much less noticeable.

~ Harlan