Restoring an Atlanta Cutlery Longleaf Khukuri Blade.

Karda said:
I would, or I wouldn't have recommended it. Nothing short of actual Laha is going to keep that blade in the handle forever. Modern epoxies fall far short of it's tenacity, IMHO. Everytime I have had to deal with laha it's been a real treat. I have a 20" AK that I positively can't get the handle to budge on, no matter how hot I boil it or how hard I hammer on it. The only way that handle is likely coming off is in pieces.
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I seem to recall reading something, I think written by Uncle Bill, where he said that superglue is destructive to Laha.
 
Places where. It's drifted to about 8 feet, had to shovel my way out the door this morning. I sent Atlanta Cutlery an E-Mail on it, if they'll pay for shipping I'll gladly exchange it for a longleaf blade (hopefully with script), if they offer to refund my 10 bucks extra, I'd take that too. Waiting on them before I decide to restore or not. As impressed as i am with the bhojpure I got I still kind of wished it was a longleaf lol. Hopefully I get a response within a day or so because resisting the urge to put an edge on this and handle it is strong. Did I mention it's a yek chirra?
 
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Please, allow me to double post out loud. Maybe the blades are put on as 19" because that's what the handled versions are? I can imagine with a partial tang+wood handle you'd get 19". I pulled out my m43 which is 18" OAL and aligned them where the tang ended and the blade overextended by about 1.5". I may have brain farted and made a bit of an arse of myself in an email saying I thought I had a bhojpure.
 
Would some better images of the script help decipher the numbers? Total noob when it comes to this. Thank you a lot! I'd be looking at the script for ages trying to figure what they mean.
 
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It's kind of deceptive without the handle. I just looked at a picture of my longleaf and it's actually pretty close. I didn't think it had near as much belly or overall curve to it but it's very similar.

I gotta backpeddle too. Told ya I wasn't no expert.
 
S'all good Bawanna my man. Bookie's done a number on you now hasn't he? looked at the swordforums review of the AC stock of Longleaves and it looks like the most bellied one on there, second type I think? Debating how I'm going to put an edge on it as there are some places that a butter knife is sharper than. The first step is to de-burr with a file then work on it with sand paper.

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Ok, this steel is insanely hard, not even lying. my files can barely touch it. I'm in for a long haul.
 
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I also think it's a bhojpure blade, based on the shape, but it is hard to tell without the handle. Whoever separated the blades into bins back at the warehouse might have had to guess sometimes.

The other thing that makes it more likely a bhojpure blade is the 1/2" spine thickness. My Longleaf is much thinner, though I don't have it handy right now to measure. That thickness makes it more desirable, IMHO, and possibly more robust if you ever want to try chopping with it.
 
Checked with Atlanta and it came from the longleaf bin, and after checking another forums page on the classification of these knives this is what they called a "type 2", a little longer, thicker, and overall more robust. The blade length is spot on as well, mine running at about 14 1/4".

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To anyone who buys one of these, the steel is freaking hard at the sweet spot, which is (of course) where it's dullest. Got most of the burr off, and an edge that'll cut paper but I need to take it to a stone before I'm done. Basic handle design is done too, a bit like those light dui and yek chirras we saw by thamar and purna in the beginning of the year.
 
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Got an edge put on it, it took a bit of filing to even it out and some sand paper to really bring the edge home. Still needs to be gone over with a set of stones but this is going to be a fine knife indeed! Got the section of maple cut to length, not it's to burn a slot for the tang and rasp the handle to shape. Got a pine-pitch charcoal glue going on that I think will work well for this deal, it's about as messy as the axel grease this came shipped in.
 
Didn't take any patina off the blade itself, just the axel grease so she's got some rustic beauty. Was going to get a fire going to heat the tang to burn into the wood (maple can have some nasty fumes if inhaled) but we're getting another foot of snow out of the blue today. Doing the best I can getting a basic template set up with an old file to start the slot and using the pellet stove as a heat source. I look like an idiot fur sure.
 
Darth. Just curious how you mix your Pine glue? Approximate ratio? Any other ingredients?
 
I typically go for 3:1 resin to charcoal. Sometimes I'll put one part rabbit dung and one part grass as well, seems to help it thicken up.
 
DarthTaco123 said:
I typically go for 3:1 resin to charcoal. Sometimes I'll put one part rabbit dung and one part grass as well, seems to help it thicken up.
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Rabbit dung! No problem! Got plenty of that around! I guess rabbits are hi fiber extruders. Thanks for the info:thumbup:
 
So in summary one should scare the dung out of the rabbit before the rotisserie? Leave no dung unused?

I think I'll stick to acraglas myself. Too hard to follow Bugs around waiting for the call of nature ya know?

Then I gotta watch a pine tree for days awaiting it to pitch.
 
Years if you want it at the right (and easiest to gather) consistency. Also lets a lot of the solid stuff run out of the pitch so you don't have to boil it and skim out the impurities.
 
DarthTaco123 said:
Didn't take any patina off the blade itself, just the axel grease so she's got some rustic beauty. Was going to get a fire going to heat the tang to burn into the wood (maple can have some nasty fumes if inhaled) but we're getting another foot of snow out of the blue today. Doing the best I can getting a basic template set up with an old file to start the slot and using the pellet stove as a heat source. I look like an idiot fur sure.
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NOOOO! DON'T USE A FIRE!!!!!!! Clamp it in a vise with only the tang protruding, and heat it with a torch. You WILL ruin your heat treat otherwise. Sorry for the typingshouting, but you will be very sad if you do it that way. If you don't have a torch just drill holes matching the edges of the tang and rock the drill to open it out.
 
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