Acid etching a blade

[Jaeger]

I spent the past week doing some camping and living with a Kumar Karda that I had bought some time ago but hadn't used much until now.

One afternoon I used the knife to section the rind of an orange to make peeling easier. I rinsed the blade off a little while later and didn't use the knife again until the next day. When I removed the knife from the sheith I was able to clearly see the temper line runnng along the edge of the blade where it had made contact with the orange!

A fairly useless piece of trivia but interesting nonetheless.

The knife holds a great edge and is extremely useful.

 

[DocPat2511]

Other citrus fruits work, too- some folks use lemons to bring out the temper lines on katanas and such-like. I'd think even the malic acid in apples or the acetic acid in vinegar might do the same, but I never tried 'em. Honestly, I don't care so much whether I see the temper line, as long as I know it's there.

I have wondered, though, if the water-cooling system the kamis use to temper khukuris produces a more gradual transition in hardness . . . it had crossed my mind that you might not be able to find a temper line on them.

Anybody ever tried this?

If not, I may have to break out the vinegar and see what happens.

[This message has been edited by DocPat2511 (edited 05-08-2001).]

[This message has been edited by DocPat2511 (edited 05-08-2001).]

 

[Bill Martino]

Thanks for interesting report, Jag. And, Doc, so far khukuris, katanas, and other blades from BirGorkha show a definite temper line.

------------------
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Uncle Bill
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[Anton Irmen]

I’ve just etched the blade of my newest toy, a Tarwar made by Bura, and it worked out much better than I thought. I used vinegar (actually, aceto balsamico - no difference in etching, but a huge difference in the kitchen

) with 6 vol.% acetic acid. I rubbed the blade, which was warmed with hot water to speed up the process, with a vinegar soaked sponge, and after a very short time, a nice temper line developed. The line runs parallel to the edge for most of its length, it just spares out an area of approx. 1” close to the tip and 4” close to the handle. Unfortunately, it’s a bit difficult to take pictures of this (darned mirror finish

[This message has been edited by Anton Irmen (edited 05-30-2001).]

 

[Bill Martino]

Many thanks for the report, Anton. That's the way it should look.

------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Archives (33,000 + posts)
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