Need Help to salvage a M3

[Guamsst]

All four have belt hangers ? What vintage would they be. WWII or later? I know the metal tipped ones were the last issue.

All 4 have belt hangars. one has a leather strap instead of cloth. I figure it is a foreign job, but I know next to nothing about them. Just picked them up because the scabbards were $10ea in the bin. Grabbed the 4 best condition ones I could find.

[DRB]

All M8A1s should have the belt hanger that is what made the M8 into the M8A1. The metal tip is a post war thing no as issued WWII M8A1 would have it but it could have been added to one.

Here is a new WWII era M4 with a M8A1 in the box this is what a WWII era M8A1 would look like





Here is another new one by Camillus

[Barryeye]

Now that is one good looking M3. I have never seen one close to that standard here in New Zealand. I guess most of ours were left behind by U.S. troops on their way to and throm action in the Pacific.

[Barryeye]

Took the bull by the horns and had a go at straightening the M3s cross guard today. I put the blade low in the vice and gripped the swept up part of the guard with some pliers. Took a deep breath and pushed down. Bit more resistance then I expected but the dreaded “ping” never came. It took me six slow steps to get to an angle I approved of. Quite pleased with the result. It transforms the whole knife. I have also cleaned up the blade and got most of the paint off the cross guard and pommel.
Managed to get most of the paint off the scabbards throat. Had a go with the acetone on the body of the scabbard. I used part of a clothe soaked in the stuff. It did remove a lot of black paint but it is going to take a lot of acetone and elbow grease to get it all off. Finish beneath the paint looks very worn. Right down to the canvas in many places. I’m thinking that a repaint might be my best bet.
Will acetone be safe to use on the leather handle? I think there is black paint on it. The remaining washers are solid but dry. Any advice as to how I could treat them?

[Guamsst]

Looks good, glad it didn't break on you.

I would think the acetone would turn the paint into more of a dye on the leather. Ofcourse, the leather is probably already dyed so it probably doesn't matter.

[Barryeye]

The clean up goes on. I was right there was a layer of black paint on the leather washers. Acetone did remove it but there appears to be another layer of green paint under the black. This layer dose not react to the acetone as the black layer did. Regular paint stripper does not appear to harm wood. How would it affect leather? The green paint can be removed by scraping with my pocket knife. Would this be the better option? I’ve come to a conclusion that at one time in its life this knife came into the possession of some children. No adult in their right mind could desecrate such a knife by painting it green, black and silver and bending the cross guard to look like some Hollywood pirates knife. It will never be a prize specimen of an M3 but I hope I can give it back some dignity.

[Guamsst]

Oh, you would be surprised at the ignorance of some adult children...LOL As to the green paint, I don't know how paint stripper would affect leather but since they recommend you don't get it on your skin I would hesitate to use it. Maybe try some on a piece of scrap leather first.

[Barryeye]

Good point. The scrape method is looking better.

[Dan Shapiro]

Re: scraping. Have you thought of using a fine grit sandpaper? Place the blade in a padded vise, use a strip of sandpaper so it rounds itself around the washers on the handle.

[Barryeye]

I have since tried to clean up the leather with my pocket knife and some sand paper as suggested. Took a few hours with the knife but I managed to get about 80% of the paint off. Then the sandpaper was a good help but only removed the high spots. Had I persisted I could have got more paint off but remove too much leather in the process. The dry old leather reacted to the sand paper faster than say wood might have.
Another hour with the knife and the job should be done. Then a light sand.