Accessories for my Pen Knife

Sylvrfalcn

Sylvrfalcn

Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
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My new villager Pen Knife is such a sweet working man's khukuri, that I decided to upgrade it's karda and chakma. I retained the original handles, but ground new blades out of old files. Now the karda will take a long lasting, razor sharp edge, and the chakma will not only burnish the edge on most anything, it'll also throw a nice, hot, spark when struck against a sharp flint. The karda's blade is tempered down to around 59 RC, and the chakma is full "brittle hard" except for the tang. Since they're such little knives, I was able to make both blades from one file (just call me el cheapo grande).
Next on tap, fun and games with the scabbard. :D

Sarge
 
That's great. This is one of those projects I absolutley have to learn to do for myself...
 
Sarge, great project.

Your V. PK looks just like mine... I thought villagers all had steel fittings, but a magnet shows my PK's bolster & buttplate is white metal (unfinished nickle silver, I think). Is yours steel?

Another villager (WWII) has white metal bolster & steel buttplate, so you never know.

I don't love brass- get tired polishing it- and steel rusts quick in this marine enviornment. Think I like white metal best... especially villagers.


Ad Astra
 
I have another Pen that could be a double (or triple) of that one. I finished the handle with multiple coats of Watco followed by a coat of varnish.

It chopped much better after I sharpened it.

You can inhibit oxidation with wax. Lee Valley makes a wax for this purpose that is cheaper than Rennaissance wax, and works well.
 
DannyinJapan said:
Can someone send me some Lee Valley Wax ?
I get the black spots bad here in Japan...
Click to expand...

Have you tried Clove Oil, the traditional treatment for Japanese blades?
 
o'er here in the good ol UK, which is known for it's exemplary weather and beneficial climate*, i use a beeswax furniture paste polish which is basically beeswax with enough solvent to soften it into a slush which applies nicely to my swords and knives, i sometimes warm the blades to make it even easier to apply. wipe off excess & there you go. no rust spots on any of the little darlin's for another year.


*- UK weather: it generally rains 366 days a year, 25 hours a day and is damp and foggy if it is not raining, which usually happens (the not raining bit) on a day in august traditionally known as 'summer' - i've got to qualify that a bit, it never rains in the catchment areas for our city reservoirs, so we have water shortages and garden watering bans in spite of all the rain. i don't have to worry about the garden tho, the dogs have killed off most of the plants and dug holes in most of the grassy areas.
 
Ad Astra said:
Sarge, great project.

Your V. PK looks just like mine... I thought villagers all had steel fittings, but a magnet shows my PK's bolster & buttplate is white metal (unfinished nickle silver, I think). Is yours steel?

Another villager (WWII) has white metal bolster & steel buttplate, so you never know.

I don't love brass- get tired polishing it- and steel rusts quick in this marine enviornment. Think I like white metal best... especially villagers.


Ad Astra
Click to expand...

Yup, the fittings on mine are white metal, and I agree with you on the appearance/maintenance aspect of the stuff. I've got some nice Argentinian Gaucho knives with the handles and scabbards elaborately done in highly polished nickel silver. They go over big at barbecues. ;)

Sarge
 
Thanks Dan,
Have to look at 'em close to tell anything was done to them. In the attached pic, if you look close at the upper half of the blade, you'll see diagonals that are faint remnants of the old file teeth. Sort of left 'em on as proof marks.
Pen knives have long been one of my favorite khuks, ever since Afghanistan and I got my hands on a monsoon rusted one from the very first run. Your design work on the knife is excellent, and I have no doubt it'll stand the test of time. Now that mine's got some good old W-1 tool steel in it's accessory knives, it's a field/survival knife par excellence.

Sarge
 
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