Chopped some firewood with field Kukri

J

Jobesmirage

Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
36
So I had a few questions too... I ended up chopping apart a tree for firewood and it took me a bit. The tree itself was pretty big originally, not as large as one of the last posters but definitely like a 6 inch diameter at some points.

My hand and arm is sore and it took a little bit but the kukri took A LOT. Ha

I am a bit of a newbie guy here so in the latter pictures you can see the front of the blade which is looking a little dull, maybe chipped, or something. I don't really know how you would describe it but was hoping someone here in the forum would know or could tell me since Ive seen a lot of posters here with exceptional knowledge. (even on sharpening and maintenance from the Uncle Bill help thread)


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the very tip end of the blade is deliberately outside the hardened 'sweet spot' which is further back on the swell of the blade, so is more likely to get dinged on very hard woods, but less likely to snap off of you accidentally hit any rocks or knots. looks like time for the abrasives to touch it up. more worrying, i note a teeny line perpendicular to the edge further back, by the arrow in the cropped photo below. is that just a scratch or does it appear in the same place on the other side? hopefully not as that could be a crack that might propagate. with luck when you touch up the area it will turn out to be a scratch that then disappears. oh, and you should probably try to hit a tad further back than where you have stuck the blade in the log (again, on the centre of the sweet spot). see also This linky on working edges.


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These are pretty good questions, I think that from the photo you posted (not sure from which one) it seems to be a scratch, although there are other scratches on the other side, its not a crack from one side to the other.

Thanks for the attention to detail and your time!
 
When you chop on the ground like that, you are most likely going to get chips in your blade.
It's not a fault of the blade or the heat treat.
I've chipped several khukuri, even ones by the royal kami by chopping to close to the ground and hitting it.
HI khukuri are not warranted for chopping dirt and rocks.
 
Even if you did not hit the ground, there is also dirt that is stuck to the wood and going through that can cause your blade damage. Just sharpen it out and you will be fine :)
 
Like the other guys said. It appears your hitting the ground with the tip while chopping. Throw a log under the piece your chopping to raise it up and that should save your tip.
 
I don't know if against the rules but I've split (batonning) a lot of hard wood lugs (half, quaters an eights) with my klvuk and it did it flawlessly. I'm just careful to avoid hitting too close to the soft tip or use the blade near the handle also soft.

It is not has fast as using a splitting axe but much lighter in a backpack.
 
Hm, I didnt realize that dirt would damage the tip of the blade. New info all the time! Next time I will consider putting a log underneath the other log.

Now that being said, can I sharpen this with one of those sharpening pucks that Ive heard about or is this something that I should just leave?
 
It's a convex edge so standard V shape sharpening equipment won't work and can damage blade geometry. Get yourself a leather strop and some compound, or a large wooden dowel wrapped with 800/1000 grit paper also works great. I prefer the telephone book method shown on YouTube. The phonebook or a mousepad will allow you to sharpen the edge without destroying the convex geometry. Always use light with little to no pressure, the weight of the kukri produces the perfect amount of pressure without rounding the edge profile. The wooden dowel method is good for getting chips and dings out because it allows you to focus on a particular part of the edge, like your tip. Just remember to follow the same angle as the current convex angle.
 
A puck will work if used carefully. I myself just use a coarse and fine stone and sometimes sandpaper.
In Nepal they use a suitable rock, used carefully.
 
A Steel or Chakma works pretty good at restoring the edge. Before sharpening, I would steel out the affected section of edge. A few dings don't hurt anything.
 
Wow, I remember reading that "linky" of Kron's back when I first started lurking here. I do wish K_C had had the time and opportunity to finish it up with the detailed pics of the sharpening as he had intended. However it is still full of great information. Particularly as a reference working in conjunction with some of the other sticky posts about useage, sharpening ect that are in the How To: Link Library. I for one learned a lot about the proper chopping technique that is used with Khuks. That has saved me a lot of overly sore arms over the time I have used it, getting that wrist flick going. Hubby still chops like he is using an ax or chopping knife with it fixed firmly in his hand, he gets it done but only because he uses a lot more energy than me.

As for the tip's little chips. The larger scratches in the side of the blade at the sweet spot hint that Bill Siegel is probably correct and there was small pebbles/dirt stuck to the wood a bit. I always try to prop what I am chopping up off the ground a bit but even then you get some of these scratches ect from junk clinging to the wood. Just make sure you strike the wood with the sweet spot instead of the softer point or recurve and you will be able minimize them and sharpen out any small scratched/dings easily. I wish everyone could see the process when these types of blades are hardened. It is a very interesting skill to watch, and it goes a really long way to understanding what is meant by differentially hardened.
 
Karda said:
A puck will work if used carefully. I myself just use a coarse and fine stone and sometimes sandpaper.
In Nepal they use a suitable rock, used carefully.
Click to expand...

So... looking at the knife right now do you think I should use the medium side and then some extra fine sand paper, moving in a circular motion? (sorry if this is a bad question but Im just looking at the puck instructions now)
 
Shavru said:
Wow, I remember reading that "linky" of Kron's back when I first started lurking here. I do wish K_C had had the time and opportunity to finish it up with the detailed pics of the sharpening as he had intended. However it is still full of great information. Particularly as a reference working in conjunction with some of the other sticky posts about useage, sharpening ect that are in the How To: Link Library. I for one learned a lot about the proper chopping technique that is used with Khuks. That has saved me a lot of overly sore arms over the time I have used it, getting that wrist flick going. Hubby still chops like he is using an ax or chopping knife with it fixed firmly in his hand, he gets it done but only because he uses a lot more energy than me.

As for the tip's little chips. The larger scratches in the side of the blade at the sweet spot hint that Bill Siegel is probably correct and there was small pebbles/dirt stuck to the wood a bit. I always try to prop what I am chopping up off the ground a bit but even then you get some of these scratches ect from junk clinging to the wood. Just make sure you strike the wood with the sweet spot instead of the softer point or recurve and you will be able minimize them and sharpen out any small scratched/dings easily. I wish everyone could see the process when these types of blades are hardened. It is a very interesting skill to watch, and it goes a really long way to understanding what is meant by differentially hardened.
Click to expand...

I tried to mainly hit with the hardest part of the blade, but after a bit I get pretty tired and I started missing with it (clearly)...

also... what is this... proper chopping style?
 
kronckew said:
the very tip end of the blade is deliberately outside the hardened 'sweet spot' which is further back on the swell of the blade, so is more likely to get dinged on very hard woods, but less likely to snap off of you accidentally hit any rocks or knots. looks like time for the abrasives to touch it up. more worrying, i note a teeny line perpendicular to the edge further back, by the arrow in the cropped photo below. is that just a scratch or does it appear in the same place on the other side? hopefully not as that could be a crack that might propagate. with luck when you touch up the area it will turn out to be a scratch that then disappears. oh, and you should probably try to hit a tad further back than where you have stuck the blade in the log (again, on the centre of the sweet spot). see also This linky on working edges.


View attachment 485911
Click to expand...

So that's why the tip isn't hardened. I'd wondered about that for a while. Knowledge!
 
Jobesmirage said:
I tried to mainly hit with the hardest part of the blade, but after a bit I get pretty tired and I started missing with it (clearly)...

also... what is this... proper chopping style?
Click to expand...

The idea is to let the blade do most of the work rather than holding the handle in a death grip and using arm power. A kind of snapping motion.

I'm not the best person to describe proper chopping style with a khukuri, but probably the most common newcomer mistake is to grip the handle too tightly and swing too hard. That could explain your hand or arm getting tired. The khukuri in the photo seems like a KLVUK model, which usually are not too heavy, so technique might explain the tiredness, which in turn leads to mis-hits.

Also based on the photo it looks like you were chopping at right angles to the trunk, which requires more force to get good penetration. I think it's best to come in at more of an angle so the blade isn't hitting totally across the grain.

Chopping technique has been covered in other threads in this subforum, but I'm not sure how to find them, as the Bladeforums search facility is somewhat limited (or maybe I haven't figured out how to do complex searches).
 
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