Figured Wood Donation

kevhen

kevhen

Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
46
After reading about the problems with coal, electricity, food prices, etc., in Nepal, I wondered what I could do to help Yangdu and her people. She is providing a great service and it is important that HI makes it through this difficult time. I am sending her a case of highly figured hard maple and walnut crotchwood to be used for handles on HI products. I will be sending her large blocks but I am including here a few photos of small pieces, scales/small blocks, to show what will appear on her knives in the near future. If anyone wants to contribute a couple of dollars towards the cost of shipping the wood to Nepal please include it with your purchase of the DOTD's or just paypal your donation to Yangdu at himimp@aol.com. The cost of shipping the wood is $58.50 and that's before the wood import duties and taxes Nepal adds on.
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Beautiful wood, especially on that last puukko, but aren't the blanks a bit small for most khukris?
 
Third Rail, as I stated in my posting, I will be sending Yangdu larger blocks. These pictures show what's inside the large blocks. The kamis in Nepal will have to cut them to size.
The scandi in the last photo is the same one as shown in the first photo. The only difference is there was a drop of water on my lense in the last photo which blurred the handle a bit. That drop of water also blurred the handle in the second photo. Damn ye aqua!!
 
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That is beautiful stuff.

Has it been treated or impregnated with plasticizer? I've used similar highly figured wood in my own projects, in both treated and untreated forms. The results are usually very satisfying. Sometimes l like to just stare at the wood.
 
Howard, the wood is kiln-dried to 7-8% for the furniture industry. The wood in the photos has just been given a light coat of clear mineral oil to show the figure for photography. When I make a knife I seal the wood with 3-4 coats of Antique Oil as I did with this knife over the past few days. When the wood absorbs no more oil I'm done. After that, it's like a car, once or twice a year give it an oil change(a coat of oil). I personally like the feel of wood and wouldn't want a khuk with a stabilized handle, but to each his own.
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kevhen said:
... I personally like the feel of wood and wouldn't want a khuk with a stabilized handle, but to each his own...
Click to expand...

Many people share your view. I know an experienced and very good knife instructor who swears that a synthetic handled knife is easier to disarm than a knife with a natural handle. He's not talking about coefficients of friction.

I do note that with my knives, natural handled ones tend to age. Oxidization can darken the wood and make the grain less evident. This is very evident with a wood like cocobolo as it ages. The oils from ones hand can also contribute to oxidization that obscures grain structure. An old walnut burl dresser may still show beautiful grain structure when a well used knife of the same age, with a walnut burl handle, will have darkened considerably and show little structure. There is another beauty to the dark old natural wood handles, but it is not the same beauty they started with. Stabilization can retain the evident grain structure for some time. The stabilized wood may be like an airbrushed photo of a supermodel in a '65 Playboy magazine, as opposed to a vibrant and real 3-D woman. They're still both fun to look at.
 
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In Feb. I gave Auntie some Koa wood from Hawaii for the same purpose. I didn't take any pictures so I can't compare them to yours; but unfortunately I don't think mine do compare with the lovely grain shown in the photos above.
 
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