Defacing History Or Giving It New Life?

D

DPris

Joined
Nov 27, 2003
Messages
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Dan thinks it would be an interesting project to send him my beat-to-hell Atlanta Nepalese Bhojpure khukri so he can re-shape the chipped edge & broken and bent tip, and remove the cracked handle & loose bolster.
Then we'd send it to Paul Bos for heat treating. Then back to Dan for re-bolstering & re-handling.
I was planning on just getting the edge & tip repaired & doing as little as possible so as to preserve a historical artifact. But, it's pretty sad as it is, and the idea of giving it new life is beginning to appeal.
Opinions?
Denis
 
Do or not. Depending upon the cost and your motivation, it might be better just to get a peice of steel and make a khukuri.


munk
 
Well I guess as Atlanta brought in boatloads of them, even though antique, if its battered & you want to rejuvenate it, that seems fair enough to me.

If you do anything to it though, you might as well do evrything to it, from that perspective! ;)

Your Choice. :D

Spiral
 
I'm kinda leaning toward a complete makeover.
Dan, what wood for the handle? I've got a replacement one (ordered two but the other one was so far gone it was useless) from AC, but don't know if it's usable.
Denis
 
A bit of old ivory is always nice I think! Still old walruss stock easily available in the states I belive?

if you gonna di it up you might as well go the whole hog! ;) :D

Spiral
 
Oddly enough, I was just thinking today that ivory would look nice on it.
And then I just got to thinking today that ivory would look expensive on it.
Dan, can you do an ivory handle for $50?
Then we'd have to look at the bolster.
Dan, can you do a sterling silver bolster for $29.95?
Starting to get my enthusiasm up.
Denis
 
The only ivory I have seen for sale in the states is the mammoth/mastadon/big hairy ancient elephant stuff dug up in Russia. I bought a nice big chunk a few yrs back and it was beautiful after being worked. Some restorers I know told me of using old handles from forks, knives, spoons, etc and billiard balls. Spiral did some work using old silverware that he found at flea markets. Maybe he'll post the pix. Here's a pix of some nice original grips I just posted on EEWRS forum's thread about ivory. Dan, are you up to doing some grips like these? $50 should cover the labor and cost....
grips.jpg
 
Yeah....$50......in pesos even....

Sheesh guys, the ivory alone would be around $150-200 for a khukuri-handle sized piece. Same for Oosik, Giraffe bone, etc.

And then, I would be so scared to carve into it, I'd probably shelf it for a year, till the stink wore off.....

:eek:
 
Dpris,

Ivory carving aside, and I have to confess, in full ignorance of such things, I am led to concur with Spiraltwista.

This is what is known as a "binary", yes or no decision.

Once you commit, how far you went doesn't really matter.

If you go for it balls out, I say.
 
Pen where are you getting your ivory? All the sources for pre-ban ivory Ive found have been far costlier. I paid $50 for a pound of scrap. I have a barong whose ivory cockatua is missing, I contemplated re-making one, but after checking the price for a nice ivory tip large enough for the project I almost had a heart attack ($600). Now Im considering making a sterling silver cockatua, though the amount of soldering scares me, though Ive finally got a torch that can melt hard solder.
 
Dpris, JP,Federico et.all

This place has all sorts of ivory, elephant is expensive,{but not as bad as you were done Fed!} but Hippo & walrus are not so bad. {Especialy the white walrus & some of the hippo tusks, if you have good diamond bits!} :p

Ivory sellor USA based.


walrus

Hippo



Cheers JP, I Will post pix of my Ivory, silver & tool steel small knives later.Ive posted them before, but they are a bit primitive & European realy.
& they will pale into insignificance next to your skillfully carved pieces! ;)
I Love that Lion one!

You guys might like Trish Adams modern carving work, she does,

RW11pt5KnifeHandles.jpg


HAND-CARVED EAGLE KNIFE HANDLES. Approximately 1 1/4" base diameter by 5" long eagle head, hand carved in fossil oosik-$140. Same but carved in ivory-$225.

Guess she could do some amazing restoration/replica/fake or brand new original work! I wonder if shes pretty as well? :D

Cheers,
Spiral, :)
 
my guess is that if she enjoys carving oosik (look it up if you don't know where it comes from ;)) she's got to at least have a good sense of humor.

:eek: :D



At the Blade Show there is a vendor in the back corner that sells handles made of bone & ivory. Found a piece I really liked and asked how much......$700......:eek: :(

I very carefully put it back down on the table.....:o
 
Great source! Yrs ago when I did buy a 3lb chunk all that was available seemed to be mammoth. Wish I had known about the other types available.

This is a grip made from that mammoth ivory. The grain is visible as is the slight split. An old bolster is attached.
ivory.jpg
 
Is that the kind of bolster you like, JP?
 
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