Back from vacation

Daniel Koster

Daniel Koster

www.kosterknives.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2001
Messages
20,978
Pulled in about 2 hours ago this evening.

Despite Hurricane Isabel fighting her way through my lil' town, we only have a few branches down and we still have power. Most of my friends don't have power, some don't have water, so I'm feeling pretty lucky.

4 years of Hurricane/Evacuation training in Coastal Georgia and even bunkering down through 2 Cat. 4+ storms and this time - out of town. Very amusing.

Hope all is well with everyone else.

Give me a day to get my act together and I'll post some neat pics from the Renaissance gig.


Dan



p.s. by the way....I broke another GRS on this trip...:( :confused: :(

I'm very befuddled...shattered the handle and tang. I'm not sure what I'm going to do this time. I'll have to give Uncle a holler when he gets back in town. I'm pretty sure I can salvage something, but I'm really bummed. I guess me having a GRS wasn't meant to be... :(

I know it's not just me being abusive because I used my YCS for the rest of my chopping needs for 4 days camping (fire prep, quarterstaff carving, etc.) In fact, I beat that thing to death and so did my father-in-law, and my brother-in-law and his friend. We couldn't even dull the thing. The most they could do was mar the surface which after some clean-up and a few passes at the buffing wheel will look as good as new.
 
Welcome Back Dan! Nice to know you made it back safe and sound.

Next time you have the erge to buy a GRS, feal free to send it to me.:D;) he he he

Sounds to me like you all had a lot of fun. I can't wait to see pics.
 
Was this one of the full-size heavy ones?

I have a 3 pounder that had to visit Art a couple of times-once becasue the tang broke at the buttcap. Seems that there are some designs that have lower tolerance for little execution errors.

The internal strain on the really heavy ones must be enormous when worked hard. Is there something different about the really big AKs? Do the the GRSs have more problems?
 
Welcome back Dan Dan the GRS Man! Was this by any chance one of the GRS that has part bone and part horn on the handle? I got one recently and so far so good. I like it so well that it may replace my chiruwa AK that's my "go to" khuk. But I've only chopped with it for about 30 minutes, so that's not an exhaustive test.

Glad to see you back, hope the vacation was terrific!

Steve
 
Shattered? What was the handle material? I've had problems with bone...
 
BGRS with Bone Handle. Sweet ole khuk. Probably should have just left it alone and just admired the craftsmanship. It was really nice and the GRS's I've handled before have been such great choppers. I never set out to make something fail. I was just trying to chop up some logs for the fire when it went to pieces.

Incidently, I don't think it's the weight or size of it that broke it. I have used a 20" AK and a 25" AK heavily with no damage to either. Plus, all the beating I did on the YCS(which was made by Murali - the "last one" in production) didn't even roll the edge and it's very "forward heavy" because of the belly.



The vacation was absolutely terrific. The kids really like camping and despite a thunderous rainstorm, all went rather well. 4 days camping and then 2 days at Grandma & Grandpa's house. 2500 miles roundtrip.


My father-in-law was quite impressed with the YCS as well as the 14" BDC I brought as well. He's "old school" and doesn't attach himself to anything unless it has proven itself. I think he's ready for a khuk or two himself now...:eek: :D

After using both, he gave me a description of what he's looking for and this is the best I could come up with:

About 15" to 15.5" (no more, no less)
Full Tang (Chiruwa)
Horn handle
AK

Does anybody have anything like this? I wanted to ask before bugging Uncle about it.

Basically, it's a 15" Chiruwa AK with horn. I asked him if he would go for one 16.5" long and he said "no".

Incidently, he also said I should just make him one myself...(maybe he's taking this new hobby of mine a bit too far...:D)

Anyway, you guys let me know what you think. I have some cheaply made khukuris that are 15" AK-ish in size and full tang, but there's no way I'll send him an inferior product. He's shoot me. No, he'd disown me, then shoot me...:eek:

Dan
 
Dan, it looks like bone is turning out to be a bad thing.
Was your bone handle filled completely with laha or partly empty?

Steve

PS. We could take a 16.5" Chiruwa AK and grind 1 inch off.:)
 
From what I can tell from the fragments I kept, the handle was not as hollowed-out as yours was. It was actually filled comletely with laha.

I should mention that I did see a small hairline crack in the bone before I used it and actually half-way expected it to break anyway.

I'll be trying my hand at some welding and handling and see if I can get a nice piece of osage or mesquite on there. Wouldn't that look great? Plus it'd be tough as nails.

Dan
 
Originally posted by pendentive
I'll be trying my hand at some welding and handling and see if I can get a nice piece of osage or mesquite on there. Wouldn't that look great? Plus it'd be tough as nails.
Dan
Click to expand...

A nice forumite is sending me some elk horn. I'll either use that or a piece of white holly that is coming from Ebay.

Osage would make a great handle!

Steve
 
"I'm very befuddled...shattered the handle and tang."

Well, handle part seems understandable--but the tang too?? Water splash when hardening?

Did this have anything to do with the F.I.L. requesting a Chiruwa?
 
I doubt it. He just prefers full tangs. That didn't, however, stop him from using my hidden tang YCS to go through yard after yard of tree limbs and branches...;)
 
From the Renaissance Reception


Family Shot

family.jpg




The Woodsman

woodsman.jpg




Woodsman's...errr...backside... :D

behind.jpg




MiLady

queen.jpg




Brave Knight

knight.jpg




The Knight has a silly side too...

knight2.jpg
 
The Entertaining Jester

jester.jpg




The Woodsman and Knight prepare for battle!

front.jpg




The Woodsman proving his mug

mug-shot.jpg




The best part was when then brought out the food and told everybody they had to eat it with what was in front of them - nothing. No utensils.

I loosened the mug from belt and unloaded my puukko and spoon and enjoyed the entire meal with gazes and gasping down the entire table. :eek:

Of course, that didn't mean I didn't need a few napkins myself...:o


Spoon, mug and knife in action:

proof.jpg
 
And here's the proud Father-In-Law...(father of the groom)



Too proud to take a partial tang knife, but not afraid of being seen in pantaloons and tights...:eek: :D :D :eek:



FIL.jpg
 
Good stuff, looks like a lot of fun, is that a Karesuando you used as an eating knife? Gotta love the curly birch and reindeer antler handle.:D

Sarge
 
Greg - that is the first knife I made. I went back and put a convex edge on the original sabre grind and it cuts like nobody's business.

BTW, my F-I-L asked to use my seax to dress the bird at his end of the table...:D :D :D (did I mention being on his good side? :D)



All-in-all, I took 7 knives with me...:eek:

Puukko
SAK XLT
Patang
14" BDC
GRS
YCS
Seax


If you count all the functions on my SAK and the kardas/chakmas I had with me, I was starting to feel a bit like Tackleberry of Police Academy fame...:eek:



[edited to add]

I should also mention that I took your advice and carved myself a hefty quarterstaff, but not of oak...instead, I used some nice aromatic cedar that we found while camping. Too bad I left it under the table most of the night...:(
 
"Greg-that is the first knife I made"

Oops, my mistake, here's a picture of what I mistook it for.:o

3532.jpg


Sarge
 
Awesome pictures Pen, right up with your usual work. That looks like it was a whole lot of fun, very cute pictures of your kids too. Thanks for sharing.
 
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