Boker Barlow that came witha story: Cleaning it up

So I was at my favorite Flea Market the other day and  new (I think he's new because I hadn't met him before) knife vendor was setting out some knives in the glass case up front, I spotted an Boker Barlow in his hand and thought it might be worth a  look.

Anyway he had a very reasonable price on it and I got to talking to him and he told me the Barlow came with a story. 

He was hunting in Ohio, Muhlenberg county, and found a gut pile from where someone had cleaned out their kill. Stopped for a moment and something caught his eye, kicking over a...something or other..he found this Barlow sticking out a tree root. Someone had used it to gut the deer and forgot it.

I feel bad for the person who lost it but hope that they may either not have cared much, or at least been happy it found it's way back into someones hand again. It makes me feel better about benefiting from someones loss at least.

Here's what it looked like when I got it:

You could open and close the blades with effort, but they didn't go all the way in either direction, you could see the blood stains and an unfortunate case of rust here and there inside the knife. 

Both blades have half stops and a good amount of them left too boot! The edge, though mared by time and the elements had been well honed and cared for before lost. it had been very sharp when lost.

A little time, a lot of WD40 and some 600 grit sand paper later:

I couldn't stop humming the few lines I know of the song by John Prine "Paradise" without really realizing I was doing it till near the end:

"And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County

Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away"

Fair to say we've struck up a strong bond already. And I think this red bone came up really nicely.

 I can't get all the patina off without losing some of the steel but i also like to leave as much fot heir age on them as I can, I kinda like the look.

Anywho, guess I'll finish with some pictures of it as an edc:

Thanks for looking :)