As promised to Uncle Bill

[Chambers]

I promised Uncle I would do a review of my two newest acquisitions as soon as able. I recently recieved "the Twins" I call em. Uncle Bill calls them a 15' Ang khola and a BAS. These are my first Khuks and I am mightily impressed. The Ang has what has got to be the thickest spine I've ever encountered on a knife before. This thing is scary tough. It gave me the opinion that should I ever need to stick something in a railroad tie that would stop the train this would certainly do the trick. So naturally I went out to play with them as soon as possible. I have so far only beaten up the Ang as the BAS is going to be my "nice" one. (don't worry I'll beat that one up eventually too)

One look at the Ang convinced me there would be no chance of me bending this thing laterally so I decided to do some chopping. I had a small tree growing up too close to the house so I decided to remove it. Many chops into the ground, misses onto buried concrete chunks and accidentally taking a nick out of a metal gatepost later I was done with the tree. The ang looked like it had been out mudwrestling but was still eager to go. Fine. I chopped lengthwise through a 5' diameter piece of wood and raised three blisters. I finished by splitting three pieces end to end and called it a day.

Final score
Ang - 5
Chambers- 0 +three blisters


I was a little pissed about the blisters but common sense would dictate a pair of gloves if you're going to be out chopping anyway so I can't complain too much. Both knives needed sharpening and if anyone has any suggestions for this I'd appreciate it.

Awsome tools Uncle Bill You'll hear from me at the end of the month.

Thanks.

C

 

[firkin]

" Both knives needed sharpening and if anyone has any suggestions for this I'd appreciate it."

Dunno if search is back online here yet, but a search of this forum will get you lots of suggestions. Also find the URL for the FAQ at the sig of Uncle's posts. Look for the "maintenace" part.

Very briefly, convex edge, idealy full convex (whole bevel), with fairly high polish for durability when chopping. A lot of khuks come with a semi-flat or slightly hollowed section on the bevel now, the kamis seem to make this when they use the new (to them) power tools.

Some people try and go for the full bevel, others just work more on the edge. Depends on the actual knife, skill (courage) of sharpener, and available tools. Belt grinders, benchstones, handheld stones, sandpaper on mousepads, sandpaper wrapped around dowels, diamond hones, etc all have their adherants. You'll quickly find that the sweet spot in the belly is harder--maybe 58-60 Rc.

Just don't burn it with power tools or get the blade too thin behind the edge and whatever method you choose should work with a little patience.

Welcome to the khu-khu khukuri knut-house.

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

Blisters huh? Hmmmm. The tool needs to be sharp, your hands need to be dry (sweaty hands will blister quickly doing nothing tougher than raking leaves), but most importantly chopping should be done by letting the weight of the tool do the work. Good aim, a good chopping rythm, and a comfortable swing, are far more important than how much "force" you put behind it. You're also less likely to hit stuff you didn't intend to hit. Few things are more frightening to me than watching an inexperienced person try swinging an axe, and hearing them grunt loudly as they put everything they've got into the swing. Mercifully, they usually wear themselves out in a few minutes and go find something else to do.

Sarge

 

[Bill Martino]

Thanks for report.

 

[BruiseLeee]

Originally posted by Chambers
Both knives needed sharpening and if anyone has any suggestions for this I'd appreciate it.

Pendentive was gonna offer a CD with some sharpening videos for the cost of shippin' and the cd (5 bux I think) He'll make the offer here eventually when his work quiets down a bit.