21" Chitlangi

kamagong · Mar 10, 2002

I received a 21" Chitlangi from Uncle Bill a couple of days ago. It's everything that I expected, and I fully concur with MauiRob and Yvsa in their assessments of this fine blade. At 21 3/4" it's a monster and dwarfs even my 20" Sirupati. Strange thing though, it feels a whole lot lighter. It even feels lighter than my 20" Kobra.

Now for a woodchuck dilemma. The handle is made from a lighter colored specimen of saatisal. The problem is that the red polishing compound the kamis use. I've tried my best to get it out, but there are still traces of it remaining, particularly near the rings and the checkered carving. What's the best way to get rid of this gunk? Wal?

Oh, I do have one gripe about the knife. This is my third blade by Bura (I have a BGRS and a tarwar) and on all three blades the first inch or so is unsharpened. Anyone else notice this is on Bura's work?

SamuraiDave · Mar 10, 2002

I wouldent worry about the first inch of any of your blades not being sharpened. The reason why is probably because they are dead soft like the tangs and Bura didnt see why he needed to remove more steel in an area that is to soft to hold an edge.

I have a 18"AK Sanu and the 1/2" after the cho is like the 1/2" before the cho. Dosent bother me a bit.

As for the woodchuckin, search for threads concerning Murphy's Oil Soap. Many of us have used it successfully to remove the red stuff, but I gotta warn you I dont think you can EVER get ALL of it out! Some of it is real easy to remove, but to get it all out without sanding it down a bit is not in the cards. Good luck, and keep on chuckin!

Walosi · Mar 10, 2002

Kam, I agree with Dave - the kamis begin their edges where they begin to harden the edge bevel - not only Bura.Several of mine are filed flat for the first inch or so ahead of the cho (maybe it's just to keep us fat cat customers from hurting ourselves

)
For some reason, the Chitlangis have much more rouge in the handles than the others. Most of my wood handles had nearly all of the rouge brushed out, but the coloring of the wood in the Chitlangi almost seems deliberate. Again, Dave is right. It is nearly impossible to get it all out, as the wax (or whatever) put on at BirGorkha has carried it fairly deep into the grain, and only excessive sanding could get to it all (and not evenly, I'd bet).

CoalBlack · Mar 10, 2002

Hmmm, my Chitlangi has very little of the red stuff worked into it. My WWII and GS had plenty though. As for cleaning it out, I'm using this stuff called "Prelude" furniture cleaner, toothpicks and a soft tooth brush. So far it seems to be working well at "getting the red out".

Walosi · Mar 10, 2002

I'm almost glad to hear of a Chitangi without excess red in the handle. I'd even begun to suspect a "regional traditional" thing, as Chitlang is in a copper mining area, and pics of some of the mountains nearby show solid red bluffs like those in western Colorado (but MUCH bigger

) Maybe the buffer, out of respect for the "jadu khukuri" just rouges up his wheel for a really good polish when they come to him. There have been tales of certain cars getting special treatment because they were the favorites of the guys on the line - why not the magic khukuri.

Yvsa · Mar 10, 2002

Originally posted by Walosi
I'm almost glad to hear of a Chitangi without excess red in the handle.
There have been tales of certain cars getting special treatment because they were the favorites of the guys on the line - why not the magic khukuri.

Bro mine didn't have all that much rouge on it either, just enough to accent the grain IMO.
The slight, very slight, bit of rouge hides really well when turned in the light showing off the beautiful browns and golds along with several black bands and inclusions.
For several weeks I had quit doing anything at all with anything, no knife work, no Flute work or even playing my Flutes, but now I'm beginning to get a hankerin' to do some fine tuning sharpening and 'Chuckin'.

A few more coats on the Chitlangi to completely seal the grain and it ought be about 30 feet deep inder the finish.

Walosi · Mar 10, 2002

(B.)....See A.

Bill Martino · Mar 11, 2002

Song of the woodchuck.

MauiRob · Mar 11, 2002

I received a 21" Chitlangi from Uncle Bill a couple of days ago. It's everything that I expected, and I fully concur with MauiRob and Yvsa in their assessments of this fine blade. At 21 3/4" it's a monster and dwarfs even my 20" Sirupati. Strange thing though, it feels a whole lot lighter. It even feels lighter than my 20" Kobra.

Awesome blade eh?

I said the same thing about it feeling lighter than my kobra!

Everyone should own at least one of these!

Yvsa · Mar 11, 2002

Originally posted by MauiRob

Awesome blade eh? I said the same thing about it feeling lighter than my kobra!

Everyone should own at least one of these!

Told y'all so!!!!

Bill Martino · Mar 11, 2002

Maybe some day we'll get enough to offer it on the shopping site.

firkin · Mar 11, 2002

Maybe some day we'll get enough to offer it on the shopping site.

Good luck with that!!--I already want at least one 21-incher to go with my 18-incher.

I think the "renewed interest" in Chitlangis that Yvsa mentions on another thread will recur any time that you get a few of these in and the lucky purchasers report back. It may be tough to build up any stock.

The double fullers are indeed magic, they'e also magic on my YCS. Both seem lighter weight yet paradoxically bigger than they are, and somehow more precise when chopping.

Now I really wonder what the tin chiurra is like.

MauiRob · Mar 11, 2002

Hey Firkin,

What are the specs on your 18" Chit.? I'm REALLY curious!! Please give weight and pob if possible--THANKS!

Not that I'm going to buy one--I musn't, I can't, ah hell my couch is pretty darn comfy anyway, and besides the tv is down there, and the fridge

firkin · Mar 11, 2002

MauiRob:

I haven't a scale, but Uncle said it was 21 oz.

It's this PGA:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=191226

Balance point seems to be about 3 1/4" from the very end of the bolster or 9 1/4" from the tang keeper. Uncle's description, "agile" is right on.

What amazes me, is in hand, it seems much more than an oz lighter than my 22 oz Gelbu special. And the balance point on the Gelbu special seems to be at least 1/2" closer to the handle (and this is accounting for the longer Gelbu handle).

The Chitlangi isn't as snappy, flick your wrist quick as the Gelbu, it has a smoother, flowing feel that seems like it would be much less fatigueing over long use. Less effort to wrist-flick, just less punch and snap than the Gelbu. The chitlangi is much more comfortable and effective to use to chop wood, maybe that's because of the slight belly--the Gelbu almost hasn't any belly.

Don't have an 18" sirupati to compare these with. I suspect the sirupati would be to the GS as the GS is to the Chitlangi. That is if the sirupati weighed in at a similar 21-22 oz.

MauiRob · Mar 11, 2002

Thanks Firkin

I feel an 18" is in my future. I think I should wait and see what Yvsa and Uncle have up their sleeves with the Cherokee Rose first though

firkin · Mar 11, 2002

RE: Part of edge unhardened and unsharpened--

If a little bit of the blade forward of the cho is unhardened and unsharpened on blades of kinves 18" or larger, I see little problem. It's not a large part of the edge and I'm unlikely to do fine paring tasks with a blade of that size. I think it may be more problematic on 12 and 15 inchers. I've used that part of my 15 inch AK blade which is hardened and sharpened up to the cho. For 12-inchers thats a healthy chunk of the total edge. But on larger and heavier blades I'll happily accept that part of the blade soft if it helps to insure no tang problems...

If you're going to sharpen with flatstones then that area of the blade can be a real problem if the profile wants to round off the corner of your stone. With the exception of my YCS kardas, I had to use flatstones on all of my kardas before I got a thin, straight edge that I later finished as convex with sandpaper over a somewhat soft surface. I had to do do quite a bit of file/stone work in the unsharpened area of the blades near the handle to use the stone to hone the entire sharpened edge. But then I want my kardas razor sharp. And I still need to relap the stones since some of that area was too hard to file. Carborundum paper wrapped around a file helps here though. All the khuks had more finished edges.

If the karda handle is too short, this area can be ground or filed to a useful finger groove, but it's a bit of a pain to have to do this just to stone the whole edge. I suspect this may be partly a cost control measure, some of the pictures of older examples in the FAQ and HI site seem to show notches or other detailing in this part of the kardas.

On orders not from stock, I'd be willing to pay a premium to get more attention paid to the small tools. To me, they're part of what makes a khuk. I use the now somewhat modified karda that came with my AK for lots of utility tasks like cutting thick leather or whittling. The drop to the blade and hefty handle (now slightly reshaped to fit my hand) make it a lot nicer to use than a folder or ordinary kitchen/utility knife for heavy cutting.

Now I'm sure I'll be told I need a JKM-1 and Kumar Karda too!!!!

Yvsa · Mar 11, 2002

Originally posted by firkin
Now I'm sure I'll be told I need a JKM-1 and Kumar Karda too!!!!

Only if you promise to put a single bevel edge on them.

Now you wanna talk about sharp!!!!!!!

Oh, and by the way it's best to use diamond hones to put the single edge bevels on and a bit of patience.

firkin · Mar 12, 2002

Only if you promise to put a single bevel edge on them.
Now you wanna talk about sharp!!!!!!!

Now there's a thought! (I mean for me, I suspect you've already done it--).

As for patience, I think re-lapping my stones is pretty good training in that area.... Especially since one is a waterstone that I won't use carborundum paper on that's coarser than it is, at least for the later stages. Somehow sharpening knives is fun, but lapping stones really sucks. But then I just use carborundum paper/water on a flat surface, I've never tried the glass sheet and abrasive powder method.

Bill Martino · Mar 12, 2002

Bro, I think you should make a sharpening video -- you do it as well as anybody I've seen. In fact, you could probably sell quite a few if you had the inclination to start a second career.

MauiRob · Mar 12, 2002

Bro, I think you should make a sharpening video -- you do it as well as anybody I've seen. In fact, you could probably sell quite a few if you had the inclination to start a second career.

Let's schedule shooting for a few days before the next Catoosa Konvention? I'll film it with my video camera, but I'm no videographer.

Oh, and I'd probably buy at least 2 copies myself!!