The funny thing is how I found it... Growing up in a new 60's housing plan,the new suburbia , the fathers all got together and built a baseball field for the kids on land locked property above the housing plan... It was flat but not level, outfield was higher than home plate... They welded a pipe back stop together and covered it with cyclone fence...
I always ended up playing out field because I sucked as at baseball...
The ball got hit down the first base line in and ended up in the woods...


looking for the ball, me and another friend both saw the ball at the same time in a big bush type plant and then realized that there was a big knife next to it... I said I sucked at baseball, not competition, I got to it first...
It's been a very long time since I told that story... and it's not a
BS fairy tail... My wife asked my what my father said when I showed him the knife??? I replied, Hell, I don't remember ... Probably his usual ... That's nice, I don't care if its right or wrong, just do something !!!

The shop can clean it up for you. Finding a matching sheath (of correct age) might be difficult but securing a current production one wouldn't be necessarily a bad idea if you wanted to press it back into use (more on this later).

If you want a proper write-up with a formal letter, crutchtip on here does that for a small fee. He's the guy that Randall will send you to for validation.

You'll have to send him the knife, though, nothing is going to be done via pictures other than "yeah that's pretty".

FWIW, if you're looking for a "user" knife, you won't have any problems trading this one for a current production equivalent with sheath. Lots of guys here love the older knives with a story behind them.

Interesting story Dave. One has to wonder how that knife got there in the first place and how long before you found it. It's already been cleaned once by your own admission but I think I'd leave it alone if it were mine and just retire the ol' gal.

Great story Dave. The only thing that I found in the woods was a piece of petrified coral and poison ivy. I would buy a nice display case and tell the story. Welcome to the Forum.

Dennis

Dave just in case you are wondering what one looks like after it has been sent back to be “cleaned up”, well here is mine. Granted mine was not in the shape yours is but.....the shop does outstanding work.

That is very nice !!!!

Hi Rob,
I'll be straight up... Not sure, what is the purpose of a write up letter ???

Hi Ronnie....
Looks shinny new !!!
I watch antique shows occasionally, how does that effect the value ???
Drives me crazy... It would be worth... but you cleaned... or ...Its worth more because it was professionally restored ??? I remember seeing a guy that had a rare old coin and polished the value right out of it ....

Hi Warren,
Yes... I cleaned it up and sharpened it...I was 14 yrs old !!! I had no idea it had some value to it... At the time the value to me was I had a big honkin' knife that you could shave with... My father worked for a big meat packing company... Deer hunting camp I was trained by butchers to sharpen knives... As I got older, I sharpened everyone's knives at camp...

As far as how it got there... years later we narrowed it down to a kid in the neighborhood that was always in trouble and spent a lot of time in juvy... ( probably in prison now )... We figure he took or stole it from his father and lost it or hid it where I found it...The problem was asking him, we didn't know what jail he was in...The odd thing is everyone knew I found a big knife, if his father was missing one, I would think it would have made it back to my father and would have been returned...

Thanks Dennis,
Poison ivy and oak is the normal find for me... A display case sounds interesting ....It's just sitting in my knife box under my reloading bench...