Tip Repair for M1905 Bayonet

[Patrick Chadwick]

For this kind of work, it really is worthwhile getting hold of a copper-headed hammer. They deliver a heavy but "dead" blow - i.e. no bounce - and will not mar the surface of steel. I got mine for peanuts from a boot sale, and it has a recess at one end to take a roll of hard hide for working brass or copper sheet metal.

The trouble with whacking the metal is that it is not easy to get the right force in the right spot. Personally, I would press the bend out in a bench vice, using 3 brass offcuts as backing pieces to get the "unbend" positioned precisely right. A setup rather like a pipe-bending jig, in fact. As you write that the bend is only 1/4" from the tip, hardwood dowels will probably not be hard enough for the force that will be required. Because the blade has a certain amount of spring, you need to apply a tiny amount of "overbend", so that when the vice jaws are slackened off the blade springs back to be as perfect as you need it.

This "overbend" is almost impossible to achieve by simply hammering the metal, unless you are such a skilled metalworker that you would not need any advice from the forum!


With care and a straight edge to test the result as you go, you should be able to get the blade straight to better than 1/100" - maybe as good as 0.005" - anyway, so good that you cannot see the bend with the naked eye.