Custom karda/chakmak

J W Bensinger

J W Bensinger

Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Messages
2,228
Hi everybody. Just got my first HI khuk- (29oz 18" GS). I was thinking about making some custom karda and chakmak-maybe micarta, maybe hardwood and 52100 or O-1. Anybody have any suggestions? Is that something anybody'd be interested in?
 
sounds like a great idea. I was just sharpening my quasi-custom karda that I use extensively in the kitchen I got from Yangdu a couple years back. Her dad, Pala, was visiting her in Reno. Of course, Pala being Pala, he couldn't just relax and sit still. He found a bunch of larger karda blades that had damaged handles due to the heat/shipping mishandling and made some oversized custom wood grips for them with some tools laying around.

Very hand-filling and a good step up to making it a useable knife for a western hand. I use the thick blade to bone meat.

Andy Roy of Fiddleback Forge makes a version of the karda that is pretty dang sweet as well.

Can't wait to see how these turn out:)
 
I like the size of the K & C from my 25" siru. Plenty of length to work with.

zAluREQ.jpg
 
This was my initial idea- more grip area on the karda, and a little bit of a choil to choke up-
Figured I'd do the chakmak with one square edge for flint/ferrocerrium rod and one rounded side for edge burnishing. (Although I've never been very good at getting that to work for sharpening)image.jpg
Don't know if the screwdriver/prying tip is a good idea or not.
 
These at least will be full tang. Differential harden on the knife and differential tempering for the chakmak- figured if the fuller was thin i could leave the edges hard and draw the fuller back to spring temper.
 
Interesting about the fuller being a thermal break during tempering. Ive been playing with tempering myself and it is really hard to get a consistent temper across any length of blade evenly with a torch. Seems the fuller would actually help spread the heat more evenly to prevent drawing the edge to spring temper in spots.
J W Bensinger said:
These at least will be full tang. Differential harden on the knife and differential tempering for the chakmak- figured if the fuller was thin i could leave the edges hard and draw the fuller back to spring temper.
Click to expand...
 
When I differential temper (as opposed to diff. harden) I temper in an oven first to get the edge temper correct- 5160/1075/1084 work well @ 350 degrees for an hour- I do two 1 hour soaks. Then I use the torch to heat the non-edge section to purple or so- the relative thinness of the fuller helps protect the cutting edges. (I also sometimes use the heat block paste from jantz- it really works well as long as the section to be heated isnt too thick.
 
When you torch temper, heat the thick part of the choil/base of the blade until you get a little straw starting to show and only the start "pulling" the color up the blade. I still temper european style swords this way- not my favorite game, but I can only oven temper up to 25" or so.
 
J W Bensinger said:
When you torch temper, heat the thick part of the choil/base of the blade until you get a little straw starting to show and only the start "pulling" the color up the blade. I still temper european style swords this way- not my favorite game, but I can only oven temper up to 25" or so.
Click to expand...

Gottcha! Thank you so much for the info! I tried quenching the entire blade and then torch temper from the spine until I got the straw color and just chased it down to the end of the blade until I got to the tip like your describing. Im still pretty spotty and need plenty of practice but I guess ill get better? So the clay would act as a heatsink to protect the edge then while tempering. Dont want to divert your thread any more here so ill leave it be and wait for your handiwork! Cant wait to see them!
Thanks again!
 
J W Bensinger
Sorry for being so curious but I googled your name, found your business' Facebook and from there your knife maker homepage. Cool custom work.
Would it be fine with BF rulz to post the link here?
 
Wow! Second that! Beautiful stuff! Man Id quit my job right now to sit around the shop with someone like you!
Jens Schuetz said:
J W Bensinger
Sorry for being so curious but I googled your name, found your business' Facebook and from there your knife maker homepage. Cool custom work.
Would it be fine with BF rulz to post the link here?
Click to expand...
 
J W Bensinger said:
View attachment 397687
Ndoghouse- this is the heat blocking paste. It's useful stuff, and quick to use and to clean up.
Click to expand...

Nice to know that something like that exists. Without that information I would seriously have tried to find some clay from a hobby store for differential hardening. Lol.
Anyways first I need to do some stock removal before heat treating. So I hope I will remember about that paste in a few months.
 
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