- Joined
- Oct 18, 2001
- Messages
- 20,978
Of all the khuks/knives coming out of BirGhorka, the AK Bowie (IMHO) is the most fun to modify.
There have been quite a few mods posted here and I'm sure there are others who have yet to post their "upgrades".
This one is going to get a new handle design.
There are many things you can do with the handle....
An easy mod for the Average Joe would be simply rounding the handle slabs - Just put it in a vice and go at with low grit emory cloth, shoe-shine style. Follow up with finer grits until you get a smooth finish and then buff with wax.
An intermediate level mod would be to pry the handle slabs off and put on new ones.
If you're comfortable with both of those tasks, you could go more advanced by completely re-shaping the shoulder & tang, adding a guard and a new handle. (been done already - do a search)
For this one, we'll take it just a hair above intermediate level....(unless its owner requests otherwise....which is ok too...)
On that subject, the request was made to soften up the handle a little bit....make it easier in the hand for chopping, etc. Also, having made mods to a few AK Bowies already....I know from experience that it wouldn't hurt to add a little weight to the handle....vs. just slapping on a piece of wood.
We decided to go with a dense stabilized wood which should add some heft to the handle and at the same time, keep it feeling "warm".
Achieving proper balance in a knife is very important. If your balance point is too far back, the knife feels unwieldy and the handle clunky. If your balance is too far forward, you will quickly wear out your forearms using it.
Additionally, there are different balance points for different tasks.
A fighting knife would ideally be balanced at the front of the index finger - when holding the knife.
A light duty camp knife would ideally be balanced right in front of the guard.
In our case - we want this bowie to be a chopper - the balance needs to be about an inch-to-two-inches in front of the guard. (your typical khukuri balances anywhere from 1.5" to 3" in front of the bolster)
For comparison sakes....the H.I. Seax balances right at the front of the bolster....that's what makes it feel lighter in the hand (compared to an equally long 14" BDC that is clearly more front-heavy).
We don't want this Bowie to be stabby...much too fat for that....
....we want it to chop with authority...!! !!
Ok....let's tone it down a bit.....
How about some pics?
Here you can see the Bowie after I pulled it apart and cleaned it up a little. Same method as always - drop it in a pot of boiling water for a spell and then pry the handle off with chisels and a hammer. It's actually that easy. Despite being peened, the pins usually slide fairly easily through the horn after it's been softened (from being in boiling water). This one stuck a little on one side, so I round the edge of the pin and tapped them through the other way with a file and hammer.
I took off the mirror polish for now by using a ScotchBrite belt....you could do the same thing with 600 grit sandpaper by hand. Eventually I'll go back to 240 grit (by hand) to get all the scratches running the same direction.
Next step is to lay the Bowie down on some pieces of graph paper and trace an outline. The outline will be a little bigger than the knife...but that actually works in your favor. When you cut out the handle slabs, as long as you cut outside your trace line...you'll have a little extra to work with....allows you to cut right to the shape, rather than glue up a solid block (hard way).
I've superimposed a picture of one of the UBDOTD Bowies from a few days back for comparison.
The new design smooths out the bumps and provides a full handle width all the way to the end of the tang. The same glue-up holes will be used and the last one will be a lanyard hole (perhaps with a brass tube....we'll see).
I've colored the new handle to help it contrast with the old (drawn in ink - the part being removed is shaded).
Now for some balance pics.
The blade alone is quite forward heavy - nearly 3.5" in front of the "guard". That' makes a good case for not just wrapping the tang in paracord and hitting the trail....far too front heavy to be useful.
Now, with the block of stabilized maple rubber-banded to it (new idea for BruiseLeee) the balance pulls back quite a bit....almost to the cho. For a well-balanced all-around khukuri...balancing it at the cho is a great idea. You can chop as well as do martial arts without feeling too klunky. Until the owner tells me otherwise, we're proceeding with this as a chopper...so let's move that forward a bit (away from the cho).
The red line shows the balance point.
The blue line shows where I'm shooting for the balance to end up being after we remove some of the maple (from shaping the handle.)
The green line is where most bowies I've handled are usually balanced. Yes, the horn is significantly lighter than the wood we're using.
Here are some pictures to illustrate the difference:
Now...let's say I put this all together and decide that I want to move the balance back even farther.....what to do? all lost?
Nope. One of the tricks of the trade is to slip a brass (or stainless or mild steel) shims between the handle slabs and the tang (one on each side) to add weight to the entire handle area. You won't add but a 1/16" of thickness - which could ultimately come off the handle anyway - but you'll add a bit more weight and I bet we could pull the balance all the back to the cho.
But if we're making this one a fighting knife...probably best to thin down the blade first.....it's quite the beefy bowie.
The plan from here is to get some input from the owner and then start some handle shaping. I'll post pics as I make progress (hit and miss at best usually...) and we'll take it from there.
Come along for the ride!
There have been quite a few mods posted here and I'm sure there are others who have yet to post their "upgrades".
This one is going to get a new handle design.
There are many things you can do with the handle....
An easy mod for the Average Joe would be simply rounding the handle slabs - Just put it in a vice and go at with low grit emory cloth, shoe-shine style. Follow up with finer grits until you get a smooth finish and then buff with wax.
An intermediate level mod would be to pry the handle slabs off and put on new ones.
If you're comfortable with both of those tasks, you could go more advanced by completely re-shaping the shoulder & tang, adding a guard and a new handle. (been done already - do a search)
For this one, we'll take it just a hair above intermediate level....(unless its owner requests otherwise....which is ok too...)
On that subject, the request was made to soften up the handle a little bit....make it easier in the hand for chopping, etc. Also, having made mods to a few AK Bowies already....I know from experience that it wouldn't hurt to add a little weight to the handle....vs. just slapping on a piece of wood.
We decided to go with a dense stabilized wood which should add some heft to the handle and at the same time, keep it feeling "warm".
Achieving proper balance in a knife is very important. If your balance point is too far back, the knife feels unwieldy and the handle clunky. If your balance is too far forward, you will quickly wear out your forearms using it.
Additionally, there are different balance points for different tasks.
A fighting knife would ideally be balanced at the front of the index finger - when holding the knife.
A light duty camp knife would ideally be balanced right in front of the guard.
In our case - we want this bowie to be a chopper - the balance needs to be about an inch-to-two-inches in front of the guard. (your typical khukuri balances anywhere from 1.5" to 3" in front of the bolster)
For comparison sakes....the H.I. Seax balances right at the front of the bolster....that's what makes it feel lighter in the hand (compared to an equally long 14" BDC that is clearly more front-heavy).
We don't want this Bowie to be stabby...much too fat for that....
....we want it to chop with authority...!! !!Ok....let's tone it down a bit.....
How about some pics?
Here you can see the Bowie after I pulled it apart and cleaned it up a little. Same method as always - drop it in a pot of boiling water for a spell and then pry the handle off with chisels and a hammer. It's actually that easy. Despite being peened, the pins usually slide fairly easily through the horn after it's been softened (from being in boiling water). This one stuck a little on one side, so I round the edge of the pin and tapped them through the other way with a file and hammer.
I took off the mirror polish for now by using a ScotchBrite belt....you could do the same thing with 600 grit sandpaper by hand. Eventually I'll go back to 240 grit (by hand) to get all the scratches running the same direction.
Next step is to lay the Bowie down on some pieces of graph paper and trace an outline. The outline will be a little bigger than the knife...but that actually works in your favor. When you cut out the handle slabs, as long as you cut outside your trace line...you'll have a little extra to work with....allows you to cut right to the shape, rather than glue up a solid block (hard way).
I've superimposed a picture of one of the UBDOTD Bowies from a few days back for comparison.
The new design smooths out the bumps and provides a full handle width all the way to the end of the tang. The same glue-up holes will be used and the last one will be a lanyard hole (perhaps with a brass tube....we'll see).
I've colored the new handle to help it contrast with the old (drawn in ink - the part being removed is shaded).
Now for some balance pics.
The blade alone is quite forward heavy - nearly 3.5" in front of the "guard". That' makes a good case for not just wrapping the tang in paracord and hitting the trail....far too front heavy to be useful.
Now, with the block of stabilized maple rubber-banded to it (new idea for BruiseLeee) the balance pulls back quite a bit....almost to the cho. For a well-balanced all-around khukuri...balancing it at the cho is a great idea. You can chop as well as do martial arts without feeling too klunky. Until the owner tells me otherwise, we're proceeding with this as a chopper...so let's move that forward a bit (away from the cho).
The red line shows the balance point.
The blue line shows where I'm shooting for the balance to end up being after we remove some of the maple (from shaping the handle.)
The green line is where most bowies I've handled are usually balanced. Yes, the horn is significantly lighter than the wood we're using.
Here are some pictures to illustrate the difference:
Now...let's say I put this all together and decide that I want to move the balance back even farther.....what to do? all lost?
Nope. One of the tricks of the trade is to slip a brass (or stainless or mild steel) shims between the handle slabs and the tang (one on each side) to add weight to the entire handle area. You won't add but a 1/16" of thickness - which could ultimately come off the handle anyway - but you'll add a bit more weight and I bet we could pull the balance all the back to the cho.
But if we're making this one a fighting knife...probably best to thin down the blade first.....it's quite the beefy bowie.
The plan from here is to get some input from the owner and then start some handle shaping. I'll post pics as I make progress (hit and miss at best usually...) and we'll take it from there.
Come along for the ride!
:footinmou