Consistant Tip Damage

E

Empire_ian

Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
80
Hey guys, still using my discount NKH import kukiri, and still waiting for the chance to buy a more expensive HI one.

Ive noticed that the whole time Ive been using it, Ive been pitting the tip, and getting small nicks.

After I sharpened up the blade to where I wanted it, I cut down several one and a half inch thick trees, and now I have a very serious 1/16 inch deep, quarter inch long nick in the tip.

I anticipate having to put a new edge on with a courser sandpaper, and my mouse pad.

Why is the Tip so much weaker than the sweet spot? Is this a problem with a nepalese kukiri's zone hardening, a problem with using a British Service type geometry for heavy work, or a problem with buying a 70 dollar production model from NKH?
 
Most khuks seem to be hardened in the area of the sweet spot, but the portion of the blade most prone to damage is the tip, especially when cutting close to the ground.

Personally I practically pay no attention to the tip, as it is unimportant to my usual chopping activities.

Andy
 
Empire ian said:
Why is the Tip so much weaker than the sweet spot? Is this a problem with a nepalese kukiri's zone hardening, a problem with using a British Service type geometry for heavy work, or a problem with buying a 70 dollar production model from NKH?
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IIRC, The tip of the blade on a kukri is not hardened so that it will not just break off when prying or shatter in your face when you accidentally hit something hard.
 
The tip should not be hardened and isn't a problem if you are chopping in the correct spot. As Karda said it is done so that the tip will bend rather then break.
 
Karda said:
Not a very good subject to bring up here, simonby.
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Doesn't bother me at all. First, that's a smaller AK. Second, it's a rat tail tang, not a full tang. Third, it bent, didn't break.

Give me that knife and in half an hour I'll have it back in shape. Give me a day, and it'll have a new handle on it. Give me two days, and I doubt you would be able to tell it had been tested.

Andy
 
I thought that test on the AK was great. It proved that HI kuks do what they are supposed to do. In this particular instance, bend instead of break.
The way knifetests.com abused it was wrong. You not supposed to hammer on the pommel, its not designed that way. Wolf is right, you can break just about anything. HI kuks just take more effort to break
 
simonby said:
So that´s the reason why the AK bent so easy?
http://www.knifetests.com/himalayanimportsangkholadtest.html
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1.) It didn't bend easily. Try that with any other knife and see if it bend/breaks.
2.) It did exactly what it should. HI differentially hardens their blades, so only the sweet spot meant to strike with is hard precisely so that they will bend rather than break. Worse comes to worst, you can pound it roughly back into shape and keep working

Noss doesn't use knives like they are meant to be used, he's seeing how much over-the-top abuse they will take before failure. Unless you're James Bond and get stuck in one of the infamously improbable death traps, such as getting sealed in an underground blast shelter but for some reason still have a kukri to hack your way out with, you'll never do those kinds of things to them.

That's another reason i prefer Chiruwa handles. The handle will probably break long before the blade, and it's much easier for some dope (like me) to replace a pair of scales glued and pinned on, or with paracord, or duct tape, and fashion a new handle on a full, exposed tang than to fashion something to pein onto a rat tail.
 
I meant it bent and stayed that way and not brake. Dont mind "so easy"... I´m from sweden, pardon my english.

I rather have a bend tip then a broken tip.
 
originally designed as the only tool in the house hold. Hardened sweet spot. Chakma to smooth softer parts back in line. Not a lot of files, belt sanders, and stones around the fields of Nepal.

Rat tails on mine have never failed...and they should have. :)
 
simonby said:
Dont mind "so easy"... I´m from sweden, pardon my english.
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Not a problem ...I doubt many here would be able to write in Swedish at all. ;)

Heck, I have enough trouble with American style English as at least one forum member would no doubt agree. ;) :D
 
Bonkers said:
Not a problem ...I doubt many here would be able to write in Swedish at all. ;)

Heck, I have enough trouble with American style English as at least one forum member would no doubt agree. ;) :D
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Hey, whut chu mean 'Merican style english? It's the dang Brits who dun talk funny. What for kind of way is that to talk? :D;)
 
simonby said:
I meant it bent and stayed that way and not brake. Dont mind "so easy"... I´m from sweden, pardon my english.

I rather have a bend tip then a broken tip.
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you'll note they said "destruction test"; they intended to attempt to destroy it.

they failed. i do believe they proved you can depend on that knife.

they also voided the warranty, but that's another issue.


Bladite
 
Empire_ian said:
Hey guys, still using my discount NKH import kukiri,...

Ive noticed that the whole time Ive been using it, Ive been pitting the tip, and getting small nicks.

After I sharpened up the blade to where I wanted it, I cut down several one and a half inch thick trees, and now I have a very serious 1/16 inch deep, quarter inch long nick in the tip.
I anticipate having to put a new edge on with a courser sandpaper, and my mouse pad.

Why is the Tip so much weaker than the sweet spot?
Is this a problem with a Nepalese kukuri's zone hardening, a problem with using a British Service type geometry for heavy work...

or a problem with buying a 70 dollar production model from NKH?
Click to expand...

Well first of all Empire_ian, let me welcome you to the HI Forums.:thumbup: :D

I'm sure what the rest of the guys here told you is spot on but I'd like to ask a couple/few questions and maybe add something from a different perspective.

You say you've been, "Pitting the tip and getting small nicks."
If you are actually getting "pits" that means there will be very small pieces of steel broken off the edge...
The "small nicks" should be small areas where there are still small bits of steel raised up away from the surface of the edge.
These "small nicks" can be pushed back into place with the chakma or in the case of a large one gently tapped back into place with a hammer. Empire_ian your serious nick can possibly be done this way... Like most of the guys say, "We just ignore them." simply because they cause no harm, just don't look pretty.;)

You ask, "Why is the Tip so much weaker than the sweet spot?" Well Empire_ian it's not that the tips are "Weaker" so to speak, it's because they are, "Softer."
And it's not, "a problem with a Nepalese kukuri's zone hardening." as you asked but it is done on purpose as has been explained by some of the other guys that have answered.
But to add my "quarter's worth," The tip is left softer so as to not "Chip/Break" small pieces of steel off that go flying every which way possibly hitting the user in the eye or other very vulnerable place which could cause very serious injury...

Empire_ian you said, "I anticipate having to put a new edge on with a courser sandpaper, and my mouse pad."

And that could be just what you need to do. Even though a kukuri's edge is almost always convex which is the strongest edge that can be put on a knife there's convex, and there's convex...:rolleyes: Yup, it can be confusing...
The problem is getting too thin of a convex edge on a chopping instrument like a kukri... Naturally a too thin convex edge is going to be weaker than a thicker convex edge...
The trick is to figure out which convex edge is best for you and the flora in your neighborhood...:thumbup: :cool: :D
A heavier/thicker convex edge can be put on by raising the spine of your blade to a steeper angle, helluvit is if you go too thick your kukuri won't chop effectively.
Just remember, Moderation pays off in all things... :p :D




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Steely_Gunz said:
Hey, whut chu mean 'Merican style english? It's the dang Brits who dun talk funny. What for kind of way is that to talk? :D;)
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it really IS the brits that do not speak english 'correctly'.

:D i've heard that american (USA and canadian by extension) english is more like the english spoken in england up till the victorians decided to modify their accents to seperate themselves from the rif-raf and under the influence of their german royal family. we (americans) thus speak the language of shakespeare, and webster in a more original 'pure' format than the current englanders, seems west virginian is the closest. the australians are kind of halfway between due to their later colonization. the BBC also had a lot to do with the current 'standard UK english' which they required all their broadcasters to use rather than regional dialects. my first wife went to an elocution school to learn to speak upper class BBC english rather than the south croydon accent she learned as a pre-schooler.

i've found that here in england, if you drive more than about 30 miles, the accents, dialects, idioms change considerably. guess that was about as far as anyone could easily travel in one day up till the victorians.
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anyhow, as noted, the pointy end is soft to prevent a brittle failure. i've had a number of fully hardened production knives fail on board my ship when used (arguably incorrectly) for prying, or unscrewing - if it's the only tool on you at the time & you don't have time to go back to the engine room for something else, you use what you have, cuss if it breaks, keep using the stump, then replace it later... much easier if you can use another tool to thump it back into shape if it bends...pretty no longer counts at that point. anyhow, as they are hardened by hand with water from a teapot, the hardened zones do vary, you might get a harder tip on some.
 
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