I am looking for a safe way to deal with this item rerouting new loomex may not be an option at this time.
I was thinking load center with afci breakers.

I wouldn't use afci anywhere not required by code. They can have tripping problems.

gfi dead-fronts are less expensive than gfi breakers, but must sit outside the panel. gfi breakers look nicer.

It looks like you have 3 wire circuits, so you will need some 2 pole gfi breakers.

What is the new procedure for putting K&T into a knockout?

You don't have many circuits, so when you install 15 amp breakers, you might have a problem.

I was thinking loom over the wire and a 2 screw connector.
This must of been the old service at one time. There is a 100 amp panel in the basement now.
I definitely have to get him some fuse restrictors while working on this

Looks like I should megger everything to as there is 25 and 30 amp fuses installed atm.

And I dont think i have any neutrals too attach to a new load center for each circuit either

No neutral = no gfi

Gee i think i found the the fuse panel that is in my avatar

And ohh this is all mounted to the back side of a wall the "cover" is a piece of plywood . that white is some sort of abestos paper too

Ohh that 3 wire loomex is 10/3 and is feeding that mess.

Doug,

How about using the existing location as a splice box and run new wiring down to a centralized breaker panel?

I am wondering what year this stuff is from too.

Larry that may be an idea, but I am still wondering about the lack of neutrals too

Re: lack of neutrals.

Aren't all six fuses on the right tied to the neutral?

Top two fuses on left tied to the black phase and the bottom four on the left tied to the red phase?

Doug, that one is just plain scary-looking to me. I'd go with the junction box option as well. How much trouble would it be to extend a few MWBCs to that location to re-feed the circuits from the main panel?

I can't imagine an installation like that where a non-pro would be dabbling with all of those live components. It makes us appreciate the 'dead front' design of today's panels, even the ones that are 60+ years old.

I see what you mean by lack of neutral. The one along the fuse blocks doesnt seem to have a purpose, it looks like just the load side of fuse hots are running to the fuse holders and the 3 conductor neutral isnt connected to the knob and tube neutrals. This means you may have to do some digging, possibly the main knob and tube neutral is in the vicinity if you can open up the wall a little more.

Safest option is to find the where the first device is on these circuits and try to refeed with new 14/2 or talk the owner into a rewire - which may not be that bad if it is all original framing and it is not some mansion. Just abandon the old wiring, devices etc and wire as new.There are probably not many of the old devices on the original knob and tube.

I'm not against new wiring, but if it isn't an option, can you protect the entire subpanel with a 2 pole GFI?