Bilton arrival

[Crustysnow]

Greetings,

So, the new Bilton, by Rajkumar Kami, arrived a couple weeks ago. It is very nice and I am quite happy with it so far. There are a number of pics here and they will explain alot. It will take some getting used to with such a short handle, but the adventure to discover what tasks it can accomplish should prove 'fun'. It has performed equally well on small willow shoots and home-made hotdogs thusfar. Nice fit and finish, Satisal wood handle I believe. Only mod. I did was to bevel the bolster where it meets the blade. The angle there was chewing up the leather on the sheath, interestingly I have done the same with my ASTK for the same reason.

Cheers,

Smudges/discoloration on blade are from cutting willow.

I have large hands, but not 'xtra-large', so it is a good thing that the blade is not sharpened before the cho. Just the nature of the Bilton.

But, the bell fits nice between the 3rd and 4th finger.

Nice clean cuts.

So, after handling the massive ASTK, the Bilton feels like a toy, almost 'not real', but I have a keen slice on a knuckle that tells me it is very real.

 

[SilverFoxKnows]

I took a file and turned the cho into a choil on mine. It's not real pretty but it fits my hand better. One of these days I'll get the hang of my itty bitty belt sander and put sharp sharp edge on mine. How thick is yours? Mine is around 1/4" thick, maybe a hair more.

 

[Crustysnow]

I took a file and turned the cho into a choil on mine. It's not real pretty but it fits my hand better. One of these days I'll get the hang of my itty bitty belt sander and put sharp sharp edge on mine. How thick is yours? Mine is around 1/4" thick, maybe a hair more.

Mine is right at 3/16 of an inch. Since my blade is quite shiny, I took a stone to the edge and removed some suspected soft metal - and it did seem to come off quite readily. Incidentally, the willow were cut with a modified Khukri chopping technique - with the bell wrapped by the thumb and forefinger and a flick of the wrist and the willow - pencil dia to 1/2 inch - was harvested.

 

[snow and steel]

I use mine in teh kitchen - its great for food prep, [don't laugh at me] and it makes cooking sort of fun.

 

[jdk1]

WOW! Y'alls Biltons are thin? The one I bought my son is around 5/16". It's really stout! Good thing too since he's been chopping pretty hard with it. If it was chiruwa it would be a short pry bar! Take care.