A khukri with black oak...

ScottRoush

ScottRoush

Joined
Jan 10, 2010
Messages
1,818
Here is a khukri that I've been laboring over (had to set the Wyrm-Dah aside to finish this). Wow.. more difficult that I thought it would be. The fun part was the forging. The not so fun part was trying to do the fuller with an 8" wheel. I now have a 4" wheel being made. But it is a 14" blade forged from laminated steel.. Aldo 1075 on the sides and 3 layers of 15n20 for the core. I was blown away last year when I made some bushcrafters from 15n20 and thought it would be a great idea to put some snazzy, character steel on the outside and a ridiculously tough steel in the core. The handle scales are mineralized Lake Superior black oak.. stuff that sunk into the lake 150 years or so ago and has been salvaged by divers. I'm starting to think of it as 'American Bog Oak'.

First.. I can't really show this without thanking Jason Knight for the inspiration. I handled his damascus integral (with keyhole grip) at Blade Show this year and have been itching to do one ever since.

Testing this blade was fun. It plows through oak and hop hornbeam (locally called iron wood for how hard it is and the fact that it throws sparks when cutting) without even so much as fazing the edge.

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Thanks folks! This may get another photograph as I'm going to back polish and re-etch with less aggressive etchant. There is a lot more activity than what I'm showing here. But it might not all come out.. I had this thing too close to finish before heat treat in the fuller and some of the hamon is muddied by forge atmosphere artifacts. I'm also not sure what effect the fuller has on the hamon since the fuller was in place before heat treat.
 
that looks like a seriously fun knife.
 
Hi Scott,

Couple of questions if you have a moment:
1. Any chance you can measure how thick it is right behind the secondary?
2. Was the oak/hornbeam dried or was is green wood?
3. What did the thickness end up being?

Thank you very much
Collin
 
Collin...

The spine at the ricasso is 5/8" and right where the secondary bevel begins is a full 1/4".

The hop hornbeam is fully seasoned... the stuff I use for my axe and hatchet handles. The oak was considered 'dead standing' when cut.. it's been in 8 foot sections since last spring and was cut into firewood about 3 weeks ago. So... somewhere in between I guess. I kept a lot of the cutting to the hard knots. I didn't take pictures but I also did some cutting to some ipe and tigerwood boards I keep for bow making. Very hard stuff. I've tested this 15n20 before.. on seasoned, frozen oak knots and (to me) it's unparalleled for edge retention.

I think I answered your third question??

Cashmore said:
Hi Scott,

Couple of questions if you have a moment:
1. Any chance you can measure how thick it is right behind the secondary?
2. Was the oak/hornbeam dried or was is green wood?
3. What did the thickness end up being?

Thank you very much
Collin
Click to expand...
 
ScottRoush said:
Collin...

The spine at the ricasso is 5/8" and right where the secondary bevel begins is a full 1/4".

The hop hornbeam is fully seasoned... the stuff I use for my axe and hatchet handles. The oak was considered 'dead standing' when cut.. it's been in 8 foot sections since last spring and was cut into firewood about 3 weeks ago. So... somewhere in between I guess. I kept a lot of the cutting to the hard knots. I didn't take pictures but I also did some cutting to some ipe and tigerwood boards I keep for bow making. Very hard stuff. I've tested this 15n20 before.. on seasoned, frozen oak knots and (to me) it's unparalleled for edge retention.

I think I answered your third question??
Click to expand...

Thanks Scott, I really appreciate the answers! That is pretty damn tough stuff that you were cutting then, and great chopping performance from the edge, which is what I would expect given the steel, but I was just curious because despite 15n20 (and L6) being ideal for choppers, they don't seem to be used too often outside of Damascus (although the available thicknesses of 15n20 probably have something to do with that). As a result, it seems hard to find much information on how the edge holds up, especially in relation to the actual medium cut.

Thanks again for the information.
 
Another winner Scott! Maaan I love your style! If you don't mind me asking what were the original thicknesses of the three pieces of 15n20 you used for the core, and was it from Aldo as well? I have heard that there "may" be some differences between the 1/8 (.140) stuff from Aldo and the normal stuff used for damascus from Uddeholm... do you know anything about that? Cause I wanna get some of the .140 some to make some blades from. Thanks! :)

-Paul
www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed
 
Yeah.. it's thin. And I stopped making my bushcrafters from the stuff because people think they want thick. Thick IS good for some things. This kukri for example. I think you will start to see more and more knives made from 15n20 very shortly. Karl Andersen recently made a knife from it by just forge welding a stack of it and making a 'mono-steel' blade.

Paul... I wasn't aware of this and I will look into it. I got mine from Aldo and it was NOT the 1/8" stuff. I can't remember.. but less than 0.095. I stacked 3 bars of it for the core.

Cashmore said:
Thanks Scott, I really appreciate the answers! That is pretty damn tough stuff that you were cutting then, and great chopping performance from the edge, which is what I would expect given the steel, but I was just curious because despite 15n20 (and L6) being ideal for choppers, they don't seem to be used too often outside of Damascus (although the available thicknesses of 15n20 probably have something to do with that). As a result, it seems hard to find much information on how the edge holds up, especially in relation to the actual medium cut.

Thanks again for the information.
Click to expand...
 
Ray Kirk uses it a lot for fillet knives.
Even fully hard, which is difficult not to do, they are tough enough to have great flex over even a short length blade.
With what I've done, and what Scott has shown here, it makes me want to play with it more.

Cashmore said:
but I was just curious because despite 15n20 (and L6) being ideal for choppers, they don't seem to be used too often outside of Damascus (although the available thicknesses of 15n20 probably have something to do with that).
Click to expand...
 
Karl B. Andersen said:
Ray Kirk uses it a lot for fillet knives.
Even fully hard, which is difficult not to do, they are tough enough to have great flex over even a short length blade.
With what I've done, and what Scott has shown here, it makes me want to play with it more.
Click to expand...

I forgot Ray uses it a decent amount. He even sells it I think?

If you do play with it some more, please keep us posted. The blade you made with the kerosene weld is really nice!
 
At first I was unsure about the rather plain handle treatment but to more I look at it to more I realize that this blade oozes character and is best showcased by a simple handle like this.
Love it!
 
Thanks Patrice.. I'm glad you see that.

Here is the blade after I've been fussing with the hamon. I will probably back-polish further and then re-etch in something less bombastic than ferric chloride.

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