finished up an interesting project

Daniel Koster

Daniel Koster

www.kosterknives.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2001
Messages
20,978
Here's the page:

http://www.kosterknives.com/jpkukri.htm


And here's the pic:

JPKukri001.jpg


A new handle on an old khukuri.

But there's a trick here - the new handle is actually an old handle blank donated by the owner.

And the bolster is solid steel (1018).

I have had this project kicking around for a very long time....glad to finally finish it!

Enjoy!

Dan
 
Very cool pic, Dan:) beautiful work. Now THAT'S a steel bolster;) My very first khuk, a Kumar made villager, has an honest to goodness steel bolster and buttcap. It seems like the most villagers, and a lot of other khuks that are supposed to have steel fittings, are being made with white metal instead. I love steel. Steel just has a certain "feel" to it. It's cold and heavy. It grays nicely or it can be polished to a clean luster.
Once again, beautiful work.

Jake
 
Nice job, Dan. The juncture of the blade and bolster looks very clean.

Interesting approach to the main 'ring': the whole bottom 2/3 of the handle is raised. Bet that's a very comfortable grip, with the pinky curled in the small section.

When you say that the bolster is a solid piece of steel, do you mean that the wood does NOT extend into it, and just butts up against it?
 
Dan,


Did you put on the false edge or was it already there?

If you put it on, why?

It seems the khukuri blade is at a funny angle for a backcut.

BTW, beautiful work.
 
WOW! Love the false edge....

What a look. Wicked, mean & in a hurry.... piratical, even.

Now I want one. :(

Ad Astra
 
I want one too.

Guess that's HIKV at work.

Very nice Dan! The false edge looks great.

~ b
 
Beautiful.....love the color of the handle and nice bolster. What's the overall length and weight....?
 
Don't even think that Bruise. We all know that the very thought of a flat edge on a khuk gives Dan(and others), horrid nightmares.

;)
 
Aardvark - it is indeed quite comfy. The bolster is solid - and the handle was put together just like you would a guard.

Howard (and others) - the false edge was already there. There is precedent for it, I believe. The owner would know. ;)

fenryr - specs:

overall length is 17.25"
blade is 12.5"
handle is 4.75"
belly is 2.5" at the widest
spine is just a hair under 5/16" at the bolster
weight is 1 lb. 7 oz., which is 1.33 oz/inch


Bruise - the edge is a very slight convex with a small, slightly more obtuse convex micro-bevel.

Bamboo - this one took a very long time, but most of that was spent figuring out the bolster and getting it just right (around 14 man-hours believe it or not). Outside of the bolster, it was probably an hour to clean up the blade and sharpen it, 2-3 hours to put the handle and refinish it.


Thanks for the nice words, everybody. I like this blade enough, I think I'm going to copy it. It's hard to describe in words. Just feels really good.


Oh, and don't look at the pictures with too rosy-colored-eyes....it's an old blade that has pitting, scarring, blemishes, scratches, etc. I did my best to clean it up and give it a fresh look without removing too much of the "age". ie. I didn't want to completely regrind it. (this was done with the owners consent and bidding, IIRC. :p) So, if you look carefully, you can see what I'm talking about. Makes it more special for me like this. Going to be hard to send this one home!
 
The owner is John Powell and had this to say:

"Good things are worth waiting for. WOW"
"You can say who the proud owner is and that I think your work is tops."




I'm beaming right now.....:D




But, I shouldn't let it go to my head....I'm sure at least half the excitement he's feeling is it finally being finished! :o






JP also has this information to add:

----------------------------------------------------

Dan

You may want to post this picture of the grip blank you used. (see pic below) Somewhere I have a pic of the blade as I got it. Pretty skanky before I sent it to you.

The blade is c1860 but the clip point origin eludes me. I'm sure it was done later but probably after the kukri had done service with a Gurkha unit. It is an armoury made blade. If it hadn't been in such bad shape or had a bolster I wouldn't have had you refinish it.

...

Thanks again, you did a great job on this and I have printed out the page from your web to go with it.

----------------------------------------------------



The one he sent me has the * above it.



attachment.php



Here's the funny part - when I first sent him the pic earlier....he figured I had used a different piece of wood for the handle.

Don't throw away those old handle pieces!

What a difference, eh?


For comparison sake:

JPKukri009.jpg
 
Nice work Dan. I wonder since the handle was an old blank if it was meant to be shaped to the final profile after installing it on the blade?

It just looks strange after being used too the handles with the raised center ring.
 
Very interesting closeups of the handles. Are they old?

Some of these handles have a step change of diameter at the center of the handle. This preserves the functionality of the central ring while looking nothing like the ones we are used to.
 
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