Blem Available: Scourge Anniversary

[Kailash Blades]

Hey there guys! Up for grabs today is a scourge anniversary with the following options:

• Blade Finish: Satin
• Handle material: Indian Rosewood
• Sheath: Kydex
• Kydex Colour: Black
• Grind Type: Standard Grind
  
  

Due to our differential hardening the main body of our knives is quite soft, meaning that it can bend and take a set quite readily- in this case the blade got to our 1st QC check straight and then developed a bit of twist after seeing uneven forces in our kydex press. This wasn't caught in our pre shipping qc check and made its way to the US. Here's a photo of this twist:



As you may be able to see the belly portion of the edge pulls a few mm (3ish?) to the left. The spine is generally straight and within spec. There are no other issues with the blade.
This misalignment should not impact durability but may lead to it pulling slightly to the right during deep cuts. If taking chops at a branch or sapling from alternating directions you may need to adjust the angle of cut on one side for completely even results.
If you're handy in the workshop this could likely be straightened by clamping the ricasso in a big vice then clamping the belly between two planks of wood and twisting- as stated previously our blades take a set very readily.

Buyers from North America only for this one. Cost is 145 usd before shipping.
if you're interested in picking up this quirky little number send us a DM or email
Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week!

 

[Bill_Melater]

Just as a point of curiosity, has Kailash ever tried a through harden/spring temper on any of these blades rather than the traditional differential hardening? Or maybe that wouldn't be a benefit. Just something I've wondered and this seems a convenient time to float the question.

 

[AntDog]

If a kydex press can bend and set a knife, something is wrong IMO. That shouldn’t happen at all.

 

[Kailash Blades]

Just as a point of curiosity, has Kailash ever tried a through harden/spring temper on any of these blades rather than the traditional differential hardening? Or maybe that wouldn't be a benefit. Just something I've wondered and this seems a convenient time to float the question.

Yes- we do so on some double edged customs so we can get proper edge performance from both sides. The tangs are still usually left soft though.
the big benefit of spring temper is simply that- it's springinesss. This allows for the use of much thinner sections which is important for swords and machetes over a certain length. This is part of why we don't really make anything longer than 24". If we were to make such blades with a traditional differential quench they could very easily bend and deform from normal lateral forces in use. There is some benefit that could be found in a moderate stock thickness blade that it intended to pry also- it could resist taking a set in a way that our normal steel would not.
The big advantage of a traditional nepali heat treat is shock resistance. As the body of the blade has so much less internal strain it is an order of magnitude less likely to crack/shatter etc. This is important for hard chopping blades, particularly those without full tangs (lots of strain at tang shoulders). In a world without lateral stresses differential hardening is king.

If a kydex press can bend and set a knife, something is wrong IMO. That shouldn’t happen at all.

Agreed. This blade has a very wide front bolster and as it was pressed it was not aligned properly. This meant that as the force properly came down the blade was at an angle. On a normal knife it would be difficult for twist to occur in this scenario but with the extreme tip drop of this khukuri the belly has enough leverage and distance to be impacted. Works are in place to alter the press to remove such a possibility.
It's worth noting that differentially hardened blades do bend really very easily. Katanas have a strong reputation for going out of whack from mild lateral forces. I've bent and twisted multiple of our knives batoning with the grain through very hard twisted wood. They bend back just as easily though. A while back we had to break a knife and so had it bent past 90 until failure. It went past 90 a total of 12 times in alternating directions before work hardening enough to break- much like an aluminium can or credit card would.

 

[jdk1]

If a kydex press can bend and set a knife, something is wrong IMO. That shouldn’t happen at all.

I'm 99.99% positive that happened during hardening. It's not uncommon with khuks and I've seen plenty. I've owned a few like that from Tora. The thinner the blade stock, the more likely this is to happen. its more rare with Himalayan Imports, due to their thick stock, but Simon, with Tora, had a real problem with this a number of years ago, as his khukuri were usually much thinner, which made them so much more usable. 5160 should be oil quenched, ideally, but I understand why the kamis use the traditional tea pot method and can appreciate the differential hardening it produces.

If the edge in the belly tests hard with a file, it should be a fine chopper. There's no way a Kydex press caused this situation. Kailash Blades makes beautiful khukuri! You also have some extremely useful looking models, along with incredible historic models. I'm a huge khukuri fan, but an old, damaged body has limited my use. That said, I'm having a hard time not ordering a Mutiny to hang on the wall! Few kamis understand the value of a curved handle, but you seem to have that feature down, as well as killer fullers! I'm a real sucker for that curved handle and down swept blade! Keep up the good work!

 

[Kailash Blades]

Warp during quench was my instinct as well, However we have multiple employees who had hand son the knife post quench and they all say it was straight up until sheathmaking- one of these is the sheathmaker himself so he's sticking his neck out to take the blame rather than shifting it onto others. We also have another recorded case of this occurring during kydex pressing, but it was caught prior to shipment.

We edge quench in oil to achieve our differential hardening rather than using the teapot method- we get more complete hardening along a greater distance of the edge this way, then temper to produce the desired result with greater final edge stability. In contrast teapot hardening has no tempering step and so the ability to slowly build up hardness in specific locations and more mildly hardening the tip/ricasso is important to ensure the overall durability of the blade given the poorer compromise in the characteristics of the final steel.
The mutiny is a very beautiful blade that's for certain. I have a 12" which sees much more work than itially anticipated- it's quite light and handy and is great for small tasks around the garden

 

[Bill_Melater]

I'm very lacking in detailed knowledge of heat treatments and how different steels perform but having made a few kydex sheaths, I can say with the pressures needed to get good "resolution" on the forming, I can see how if something wasn't set right, you could bend a soft steel. But again, I'm speaking from limited experience. I've learned to not be what one would call "gentle" with the C-clamp I use on my setup.

Hopefully someone picks that blade up. Call me a hipster or an elitist, I tend to only like the traditional blades. That being said, I've got some other blades (not Kailash) with the same sort of defect and they still chop really well to the point where I think I'd have to baton before I'd notice anything. That amount of deflection will still chop branches like a champ!

 

[Steven65]

Sir my humble advice is to permanently mark the blade to denote it is a blem knife.

If you don't and the knife changes hands a few times, as they tend to do, someone will think it's a first quality production blade and will start complaining online.
Reddit, Facebook, etc.......Once that starts, it's hard to stop and defend.

File some grooves into the Ricasso or laser etch a deep mark, but permanently mark it so everyone knows going forward it is a blem and you can never be accused of selling sub-standard product.

 

[Kailash Blades]

I'm very lacking in detailed knowledge of heat treatments and how different steels perform but having made a few kydex sheaths, I can say with the pressures needed to get good "resolution" on the forming, I can see how if something wasn't set right, you could bend a soft steel. But again, I'm speaking from limited experience. I've learned to not be what one would call "gentle" with the C-clamp I use on my setup.

Hopefully someone picks that blade up. Call me a hipster or an elitist, I tend to only like the traditional blades. That being said, I've got some other blades (not Kailash) with the same sort of defect and they still chop really well to the point where I think I'd have to baton before I'd notice anything. That amount of deflection will still chop branches like a champ!

I think another compounding factor here is the size and power of our kydex press- we swap out the jaws and use it to make micarta as well so it is thick plate steel and powered by multiple car jacks! as we're pressing up to 30" of blade and such a huge area of foam at the same time a bit of power certainly helps, but it is by no means a gentle process. I like the traditional blades too- I think that a lot of the issues people have with traditonal blades are readily solved with a few smaller changes rather than complete redesigns (delete cho, micarta handle, non traditional sheath). The falo is a good example of a blade which bridges a lot of these gaps for western buyers with minimal changes to the format.

Sir my humble advice is to permanently mark the blade to denote it is a blem knife.

If you don't and the knife changes hands a few times, as they tend to do, someone will think it's a first quality production blade and will start complaining online.
Reddit, Facebook, etc.......Once that starts, it's hard to stop and defend.

File some grooves into the Ricasso or laser etch a deep mark, but permanently mark it so everyone knows going forward it is a blem and you can never be accused of selling sub-standard product.

It's an interesting suggestion for sure. Currently we have so few of these blades out there that they're all accounted for. If a situation arose where somebody picked up a blem without knowing and described the issues we could readily identify it as such and provide documentation. Going forward though maybe it's a good thing to integrate into our processses.

Take care,
Andrew and the team at Kailash

 

[Kailash Blades]

Still available- price drop to $120