A CRACK? There's a mysterious line on my new HI khukui

TheDandyLion

TheDandyLion

Joined
Mar 27, 2013
Messages
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I recently acquired a British Army Service khuk from the HI website. Today I used it for the first real time to start a fire in my wood stove. I have chopped a few 2x4s with it, nothing extreme and today I started to split some Doug fir to start my wood stove. These Pieces were maybe 4" thick and had one or two pencil thick knots max. I used a baton and split with the belly of the blade, according to warranty this is in no way misuse of this khukri. After going through a dozen pieces and some earlier chopping I decided to sharpen it for the first time. Upon doing so look what showed up on my blade:

http://imgur.com/a/K1eDt


So is this a crack? I can run my finger over it, there's a bump. I couldn't polish it out. Maybe just a quirk with the differential tempering? I didn't notice it before use.
 
My first thought was the differential tempering as well but I really can't tell for sure.

Hopefully one of our own black smiths will shed more light on this.

Can always run it by Yangdu and see what she thinks. She'll take care of it, if it's an issue, no worries there at all.
 
Hm. This shouldn't be cracking in that orientation but you never know, cracks don't follow logic at times.
Are you sure it's not a scratch? Maybe a grain of sand during one of the sharpening moves along the edge?
Can't wait to hear what the experts think.
I hope it's harmless.
 
Bawanna said:
My first thought was the differential tempering as well but I really can't tell for sure.

Hopefully one of our own black smiths will shed more light on this.

Can always run it by Yangdu and see what she thinks. She'll take care of it, if it's an issue, no worries there at all.
Click to expand...

Well I think it could be a stress fracture between hardness levels. Maybe this happened during quenching
 
Jens Schuetz said:
Hm. This shouldn't be cracking in that orientation but you never know, cracks don't follow logic at times.
Are you sure it's not a scratch? Maybe a grain of sand during one of the sharpening moves along the edge?
Can't wait to hear what the experts think.
I hope it's harmless.
Click to expand...

I sharpen with circular motions mostly with a fine arkansas stone... It could be that... The line is pretty jagged too
 
Could be a fold line in the steel from forging?

Yangdu will keep you happy no matter what so just wait for her input.
 
If they were folding the steel, or forge welding, I would say that's a cold shut. It could be a crack from the heat treat, but it doesn't look like a normal crack, to me.
 
TheDandyLion said:
Well do you guys think it's safe to use?
Click to expand...
I would use it, also out of curiosity.
Using it more might tell you if it's a crack.
If it is you can still return it and if it isn't, even better.
Just wear goggles just in case.

I have an old Katana with layer seperation but I doubt HI folds steel?
 
Jens Schuetz said:
I would use it, also out of curiosity.
Using it more might tell you if it's a crack.
If it is you can still return it and if it isn't, even better.
Just wear goggles just in case.

I have an old Katana with layer seperation but I doubt HI folds steel?
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm not so sure HI folds the steel. I might use it still until I see the issue worsening, maybe I'll e-mail Yangdu and see what she has to say
 
Send the pic to auntie, and see what she says. Regardless, I am sure she will take care of you beyond your expectations.
 
The photographs are not really very good for the subject object, but the crack or scratch is traveling in a most unusual direction for a knife. If the steel was like 5160, it could be a cold shunt from working at too cool of temperature. That will leave curved cracks in strange places. It is curved, what ever it is. Only one other thing that I've seen similar is a scratch caused by a nail in the sheath where the chak mak & karda leather mounts. The tip of the nail really gouged a good one on me. Springs used for the blades at Bir Ghorka are not folded during forging.
 
Bookie said:
The photographs are not really very good for the subject object, but the crack or scratch is traveling in a most unusual direction for a knife. If the steel was like 5160, it could be a cold shunt from working at too cool of temperature. That will leave curved cracks in strange places. It is curved, what ever it is. Only one other thing that I've seen similar is a scratch caused by a nail in the sheath where the chak mak & karda leather mounts. The tip of the nail really gouged a good one on me. Springs used for the blades at Bir Ghorka are not folded during forging.
Click to expand...

The crack was a pain to try and photograph, I did the best i could.
 
1. Use it some more, wearing gloves and goggles, to see if it gets worse.

2. Study the line with a strong magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe to try to determine how deep it goes.

3. Slide a piece of soft, flat wood in and out of the scabbard to see if there's something in there that might have scratched the blade.

4. Check your sharpening stone. Maybe some kind of grit got on it and scratched the blade.

If it turns out to be a real crack (or if you just can't tell after further study) I would be inclined to ask Yangdu for an exchange. This is obvious a knife that you will be using quite a bit, so why take a chance on a blade failure when you're not expecting it.
 
It's not really a fold line, but it could be a grain line. At any rate I would just shoot Yangdu an email with a link to the thread:)
 
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