Four-Inch Knife
Without attempting to answer on his behalf, I can understand why he might be interested in having it restored.
By way of comparison, I have a Buck 307 Wrangler sitting here on my desk. It has a broken main blade. The 307 is a 4.25" (when closed) stockman pattern knife. Today's common production stockman knives are typically from 3.25 to 3.5 inches closed. If I want to use this knife, I have to wait until another 307 with some other defect (and an intact main blade) comes along, and then send both to the factory (who will happily rebuild one from two).
It's not what you'd call an heirloom and not necessarily the most practical knife size for general carry. Nonetheless, I would just kinda like to have one, and you can't order one or buy it online any more.
There are, true enough, other 4.25" stockman patterns out there (Case even makes one), but I kinda like this one.
Only way to get a good one is to stalk one on eBay or find another busted one and salvage the parts.
Sometimes that's the only way to score a discontinued pattern.