a little rust from a khukuri stored in my backpack

"I'd like to know what the Kamis use. How many Mercedes trucks can one nation have, anyway?"

A lot!

Do you think the "cheaper" villager steel is from Tata truck springs? :)

I have two WW2 villagers. I can't detect any difference in their steel alongside my standard HI models. They did come sharper than any mirror finish khuk I have. They also seemed to have some patina on them--which may describe any rust resistance (I have observed neither "extra" rust resistance nor a tendancy toward rust myself).
 
Daniel Koster said:
The kamis don't like to make villagers, Pala doesn't like to ship them, and Bill didn't like selling them. But we sure like to buy 'em.....:D

I think if we got to see how they were made in person, we would be equally disgruntled and amazed.
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Wonder why they don't like to ship them, just that they aren't as beautiful? Or they sell for less but take the same amount to ship?

Has any forumite ever taken the trip to Nepal and visited them? Seems like at least some of the European ones could.
 
Beoram was looking for the address a week or so ago. I think he was planning a trip there.
 
hollowdweller said:
Wonder why they don't like to ship them, just that they aren't as beautiful? Or they sell for less but take the same amount to ship?

Has any forumite ever taken the trip to Nepal and visited them? Seems like at least some of the European ones could.
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I think it has to do with the profit to shipping ratio. HI can make a lot more scratch shipping 50 perfect 15" AKs to sell at 125 bucks a pop, than 50 villager 15" AKs to sell at 60-75 bucks a pop. Villagers are just great khuks though. My first khuk was a 15" kumar made villager model. Very handy khuk that still gives me the warm fuzzies to use. It has ACTUAL steel fittings. not white metal, so it feels very solid to the touch. Also it has a magic edge. Quite thin, but magic. I have damaged it many times, yet everytime i sheath it after a botched job to fix it seems to fix itself :eek:
I have no idea how it does this other than it is magic. Not a smash through anything kind of khuk, but the kind that a Nepali would grow up using and learning to respect. A tool that requires mastering and stepping out of the "unbreakable" box.
I have blued it in the past, but that has worn off. not it just has a deep gray from use. Probably one of my most beautiful khuks. Now, i just need to get an 18" WWII villager model with real steel fittings...actually i need that like i need another hole in my head, but you know...the sickness.

Jake
 
I can see a satin finish holding oil better. Same thing with phosphate coatings on firearms, crosshatching in engine cylinders, etc. It makes sense to me. All things being equal a given oil should stick better to a rougher surface.

Which reminds me...anyone ever tried applying grease for long term storage? I've had great luck with grease on firearms, especially ones mounted topside on the ship. It made the difference between daily and weekly rust removal. I'm thinking that a khuk ought to last a pretty long time with a coat of silicone grease on it. With a moderate coat, one could probably smear the leftover grease over the unprotected areas after use once or twice.

As far as the rest, I'm the wrong guy to talk about it. The only villager that I ever snagged went to my brother as a gift. (And if he hasn't put it to work by the next time I'm out there, I'll be putting a boot into a certain portion of his anatomy.)

Very interesting thread. I'm curious to see where this goes.
 
Great thread!

Blowing the dust off because when my new WWII (love it) arrived I noticed LOTS of what looked like oil drops all over the blade. I resheathed it and didn't look at it again for a few days. Unsheathing it, the beads of clear liquid were still there and thinking them to be oil I wiped them off. In the place of each of the "oil" spots there were countless dull spots in the polished finish that did not wipe off, and required Flitz for removal. Further, some black polishing/grinding schmutz was in the cho, and this had turned orange with oxide.

I suspected the scabbard wood or leather having some moisture content and being the culprit, so it sat in the sun for a couple hours and got nice and toasty, driving off any moisture. After five minutes with some Flitz on a 2x2 linen patch the blade was once again bright and shiny. Then I wiped it down with acetone to degrease/dewax the blade and applied a thin coat of Corrosion-X, which readily wetted out on the blade vs. forming beads. I've used Corrosion-X on firearms and tools for several years now, and I've found it to be a solution to some longstanding and pesky rusting problems. I was sold on it when a client showed me ordinary unplated steel bolts that had been coated with Corrosion-X were not rusty after two weeks in his ASTM B-117 Neutral pH Salt Fog chamber. Good stuff.

Four days now since treating the WWII and no clear liquid beads, no rust, no nuttin'.

Noah
 
On rust - I have little problem, and I live in the rainy Pacific Northwest. I usually wipe my khuks down with a Marine Tuff Cloth when I get them. The non-users then get a coat of Ren-Wax. Users just get wiped with a Scotch-bright pad after use.

I don't think you can generalize too much about villagers. They vary in materials and construction by nature. Some are bought from village smiths instead of being produced by HI. Whatever generalization you make about the villagers is most likely wrong. The villagers are certainly more typical of the using blades in Nepal than the very high quality HI standard line.

As to how many Mercedes trucks on the subcontinent, a lot. At least when I was there a few decades ago. They're not what most of us think of as a Mercedes though. Do a search on "unimog." It was not unusual to see these things vastly overloaded with people and livestock hanging out everywhere.

munk said:
... The Kamis are a stubborn, opinionated lot- this from the 'untouchable class"? (Kings in sheep's clothing?) Remember when Bill gave them free rein to run wild- and they turned around with a whole bunch of standard items?
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Perhaps given free reign they created the jewels they know have been polished over the centuries. Customers may look at them and say "more of the same old stuff" while the kami may view them as the tried and proven tool that satisfies the user.
 
cognitivefun said:
It is stored in my backpack, in its scabbard. It got slightly rusty despite the Ballistol. I guess because it's sealed up in there. I am going to air it out, get rid of the rust and re-apply Ballistol.

Have you had this issue with khuks you've stored in enclosed places?
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Yes

I had to go to "RIG" universal grease which completely stopped all rust problems.You ca n get RIG here:

http://www.silencio.com/

I have kuks that have been untouched,over a year in storage, that were wiped down with RIG, and there is no sign of rust.
 
I used a heavy duty pelikan case to transport 25 khuks stored blade down to the SW khonvention, and then just brought it back into the house and forgot about it for a few weeks. I was busy catching up and too lazy to unpack.

Last week I opened it up and the exposed spine of every other knife had rust spots all over them! I checked them all out and the only ones for the most part that had no rust at all, were either the villagers, or the satin finished Sgt. Karka blades. (?) Almost all the full polished knives had rust. The good news is Flitz and a little elbow grease and they were all shined up fine.

I figure I went from the blazing inferno of the Arizona desert (-: to the cool Salinas weather and didn't stop to think that there might be some condensation in the case. I know better than to leave knives or guns in their cases, but know that the best place for khuks is in their wood scabbards so have gotten in the habit of leaving them stored.

I checked them all and cleaned them up and coated the blades with Rust-Free, and they are all put away now, but I had a scare there when I opened the case.

Norm
 
Not to mention having captured the prints of everyone in attendance.

Glad to hear that they cleaned up properly Norm!

.
 
olpappy said:
Temperatures reached during buffing usually shouldn't be enough to damage the temper, unless somebody really did a bad mistake, because it needs to exceed 400 something degrees Fahrenheit to wreck the temper.
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Olpappy is right.:D Most folks worry too much about this. It's easy to burn steel on a belt or a grinder as the friction builds so much quicker even though you'd think it would do the same on a buffer.
If you're buffing without gloves which you should be you're going to cool off the steel long before it reaches burning temperature.
And I'm the same way on the belt sander. Since I haven't actively worked in so many years my hands are soft and feel heat much quicker than they once did.
But also the years of experience in grinding machining tools by hand tell me when to stop and cool the steel.

The reason the villagers are sharper is because they haven't been buffed dull, simple as that.

I have little problem with rust either and although I use Ballistol-Lube on many of my khuks there are several that haven't had anything on them for several years and they are rust free. Those are my non-users that stay in the safe.
One of them is the curvy as forged Chainpuri blade that stays in its vegetable tanned sheath all the time. No sign of any deterioration at all.
When we got back from vacation I was very surprised to see some spots on a Last Legend blade that stays in its sheath all the time as well. I polished them out with some 600 grit and used some B-L on it and so far so good. It hangs on the bedside in the open instead of in the safe.
I suspect, but have no way of proving, that the atmosphere in the safe is more stable than the air in the rest of the house as it's not exposed to drafts.

I think Dan has a valid thought with letting khuks cool off before putting them back in their scabbards.
Either that or take care of them immediately upon arriving home by taking them out, oiling them down and letting the scabbards dry before re-sheathing.
 
Svashtar said:
I know better than to leave knives or guns in their cases, but know that the best place for khuks is in their wood scabbards so have gotten in the habit of leaving them stored.
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I know that it says on the HI site that the best place to store a kukri is in it's sheath, but that seems conflict with the usual advice not to store knives in their sheaths. Does anyone know the explanation for this?

olpappy
 
The *safest* place to store them is in their scabbard (wood lined, not direct contact with the leather overall). Letting them cool down and allowing the scabbard to air out after a day's work is one thing, but then it's wiped down and back into the scabbard for them.

My $.02 anyway...and I have no problems with rust. My Napoleon sword has nice freckles from using it to trim the hedges...but it only adds to the look of it as far as I am concerned...a nice patina is forming.

.
 
now that it's summer time in T dot O, humidity is up to 50% at my place.

During winter, a thin coat of breakfree CLP will last you 3 months easy.

Summertime, I clean and oil the collection once a month. I find up here that a mirror polish is much more stain resistant than satin or lower grit finishes.
 
olpappy said:
I know that it says on the HI site that the best place to store a kukri is in it's sheath, but that seems conflict with the usual advice not to store knives in their sheaths. Does anyone know the explanation for this?

olpappy
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Just because the steel is on wood rather than touching the leather.
Personally methinks it's because of the somewhat controlled mini-atmosphere that develops inside the scabbards.
If you put 'em away warm they can condensate and form moisture inside the mini-enviroment and therefore rust if you don't live in a dry area.
When I use a non-blued khuk it usually gets a rubdown with a Scotch-Brite pad before being put away so it has time too cool down to begin with.
The added wiping down with the abrasive pad and soft cloth takes care of any condensation that might form.
 
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