cracked horn handle - cosmetic flaw or must be repaired before use?

C

Conajohara

Joined
Dec 15, 2000
Messages
89
First things first - hello to Khukman, Geraldo, K Williams! K Williams, sound advice about the horn treatment but too late for me, I got my first crack! It's about 1/2 inch long radiating out from the guard. Must this be repaired or is this just a cosmetic flaw? It's my fault, I was out in 20 degree weather and came back into a warm house. The next day I had the crack. Can these cracks spread and cause the handle to come off, or are they just in the surface of the horn?
How do you repair this, can superglue be used?
PS. Is the waterbuffalo horn solid like a deer antler or hollow like a cows?
 
:
Con:
For the cracks like Uncle Bill mentioned; they can be filled with epoxy putty if need be and then sanded off smooth. Another fix that isn't pretty, but it does work.

I have been very fortunate to not have any of my horn handles to crack, but I have had a couple of wood ones crack.
I took them out of a warm dry house into the cool, almost cold, damp outside to rasp them down to fit because they were to big.
I had never oiled them and they were super dry being well seasoned.
The combination of warm, dry to cool, damp and the relieveing of pressure by rasping them down caused the problem.

I have a Visegrip® chain wrench that can put a tremendous amount of force on anything it's wrapped
around.
I used superglue in the cracks and pulled the handle back together with the chain wrench and after finishing them up with a rasp and sandpaper have had no more problems with
them.
I had a couple of gaps 1/16" wide at least too.

My theory about the handles cracking due to the winter climate is that the laha the kamis use is pretty stable. The horn or wood being subject to the whims of moisture content dries around the stable laha and with no give in the laha the handles crack.

That is one of the hazards of natural materials that haven't been stabilized and the price we pay for living in better conditions, having nice warm dry houses to live in, than the Nepali peope who use their khukuri's all the time.

So far keeping mine leaning up against an outside wall behind our bedroom door has prevented any problems with my khukuri handle's.
And of course I have used some type of oil on them at some time or another, Especially the Wood ones.
smile.gif



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Each person's work is always a portrait of himself.

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Thanks guys thats just what I thought! Man I love this khukuri,it just keep getting better!
This was the knife I was looking for. Its the
perfect combination of weapon and tool. I cut a lot of limbs for my goats to eat as a
treat during this cold spell,the WWII cut the
flexable leafy limbs like a machete and then chopped some thick sweet gum limbs locally
called a sticky ball tree, like an ax. Well thanks again for the info and good advice!
 
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