A word about the pins used by BirGorkha.

Bill Martino

Bill Martino

Joined
Mar 5, 1999
Messages
34,096
If you take a look at the katana threads and look at the handle you'll see it is pinned in a couple of places. If you look at our Chiruwa style handles you will see that they are pinned, also.

These pins are made in BirGorkha out of the same old material, small chunks of MB leaf spring. Save for a few one man village aruns I believe we are the only place that uses steel pins. Others use aluminum, copper, metal that is soft and easy to cut and form.

What is important about this is aluminum or copper pins will wear, loosen, and finally fail under heavy use. Pins made of spring steel will not.

In the world of HI anything less than perfect is a blem.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
In this respect, the HI katana is an improvement on the original; those itty bits of dowel you find on nihonto don't exactly inspire confidence...

Bill; do they harden and temper the pins, or just use them annealed?
 
Thanks for the info uncle Bill.--- I never thought to ask.--- The chiruwas I have are very beefy khukuris and now knowing this they look even stronger.
 
Tom, I am not sure if or just how much they harden the pins. I saw them shaping pins at BirGorkha on the last visit and was amazed that they make their own pins rather than buying commercial stock and using that.

Well, I just checked a pin on a chiruwa Ang Khola and if it is hardened it is not by much but it is considerable harder than copper or aluminum.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
Uncle Bill,

Do you know whether the pins in the 3 Village Chiruwa Sirupatis you recently posted are MB steel or not?
 
A hardened pin wouldn't be very strong, nor would it bind well to hold the parts together. There must be maluability(sic)for strength and that softness to be upset and bind, locking the parts together.
Dan
 
The bamboo pins (mekugi) on the traditional Katana do seem weak by it self. Actually, when mated to a properly made tsuka (handle) the pins are fine. The traditionally made handle consists of a wood core (hinoki wood) exactly fitted to the nakago (tang), then there is a full wrap of stingray skin (same), then over that full silk wrap, last but not least the fuchi and kashira (end caps) completes the handle. All together the traditional handle is very resilient. I never had any problems with my Nihonto yet, and I have used mine extensivly .
 
Thanks, Dan and BA. As an old flight test engineer I can tolerate a lot of aluminum but when it comes to pins holding stuff together I always preferred steel. Soft pins scare me no matter where I see them but I guess the kamis know what they are doing, however, I wouldn't want to see copper or soft aluminum used.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
I agree with Dan K - hardened pins would be brittle and liable to snap under the shock of a jarring blow. Tempered spring-steel pins should be pretty well indestructible. Even annealed, spring steel is pretty tough, flexible stuff.

Another plus for HI khuks, I reckon.
 
Just found out from Gelbu that I am wrong about the pins -- partially. "Most" of the kamis make their own pins out of steel but a couple use aluminum and visiting kamis will use whatever might be at hand. The kamis will make a liar out of me every time.

The reason I posted this is because when I was watching the kamis make pins out of spring steel I was really impressed at how well they did the job -- pins were nice and round, straight, looked almost machine made. And, I thought steel was a better choice than aluminum or copper because of the following.

In emergency situations, especially when the local hardware store was miles away, I've used aluminum or copper to pin things that had broken on a machine, generally a motorcycle, and the pins I made would fail quickly and would have to be replaced several times to make it back to civilization.

The way some of our forumites use khukuris I figured the same thing would happen to a handle over time -- soft pins would wear, loosen and eventually fail. I even had a couple of complaints about this over the years.

Which is best material for pins? For khukuris? If all experts say aluminum I'll ask the kamis to quit using steel as much as I personally like steel pins.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
Steel pins on the AK Chiruwa's and Aluminium---(unless they're stainless steel) --- on the AK Bowie. "My trusty magnet test."
 
Steel pins are great but can't they get nails? I wonder if they were only making them from leaf spring stock that one day because they'd run out of pin stock, nails or wire or whatever they normally use.

Brass or aluminum is fine if it's big enough. Many people like the looks of brass but personally I prefer blued steel pins; I think that looks great. Aluminum is seldom used for pins; it isn't cheap and it doesn't contrast like brass either. Opinels have a soft aluminum rivet that the blade pivots on ... it seems to hold up okay.

-Cougar :{)
 
HI katana is ... just different kind from "traditional" type. A workhorse that bytes! As a weapon, katana must be maintained all the long while between battles like airforce pilots, training, training, training. Bamboo pins are not bad if the owner can/will always take care of his katana. They're more delicate than tough. HI way of making blades goes quite the other way IMO.

Still brass pins seem to be better for Chiruwa style by preventing from rust on more exposed steel. Larger than current steel pins will be needed.


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Did you enjoy today?
\(^o^)/ Mizutani Satoshi \(^o^)/
 
To the best of my recollection we have never had a failure (a couple of slabs got loose but were repaired by owner before failure)of a pin in any handle to date so maybe I better keep my mouth shut and let the kamis just go on doing what they have been doing as far as pins go.

But, many thanks for input all -- some very good ideas and consideration. Jay, the magnet test is a good one, better than the file test I use.

Kumar got coached by some old kami (nobody told me but I can see in the work) in the making of a somewhat unique handle and I HAVE to get a pix taken and posted. Stay tuned.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ

[This message has been edited by Bill Martino (edited 05-29-2000).]
 
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