- Joined
- Dec 12, 2003
- Messages
- 293
Well yesterday a Chiruwa AK arrived and well, WOW! It isnt for me, its for my brothers birthday (it is going to be kept until his 18th next year unless something better comes up, which I doubt it will). I honestly cant think of a way to describe it other than WOW! I only have 2 Khuks to compare it to, a 18inch WW2 and a BAS (not HI), I wouldnt say it is my favourite but that is mainly because I am going to give it away eventually. The balance is magnificent, the weight of the handle brings the centre of gravity back to just in front of my hand, it seems to negate the weight of the blade to the extent that it genuinely feels like an extension of my arm rather than a weight on the end of it (that doesnt make much sense, the best comparison I can give is for you gun owners out there, when you fix a bayonet onto the end of a rifle it can bring the weight of the weapon too far forward, but I encountered at least one type (I cant remember which) on which the addition of a bayonet did not move the point of balance forward, thus the bayonet was an extension of the rifle rather than a weight stuck to the end of it, does that make more sense?). The other thing about it is that the handle is the perfect size for my hand, the length of the horn is the exact width of my palm, since my brothers hands are not far off the same size (but not so stumpy as mine) it should suit him down to the ground. Anyhow, getting back to Khuk day, I couldnt do much yesterday as I had out, so today I got down to some work.
I decided not to test it fully as really my brother should do that, it is his Khuk and he should be the one to test it. I gave it a good wipe down a cloth and oiled it quickly before sharpening it with Chakma from my WW2, brought it up to a good usable edge that will not dull down before he receives it. I then cleaned up my WW2 and my BAS. I then read something in the forum archive about acid etching with fruit juice, I decided to give it a go and spent the afternoon giving it a nicely greyed finish, it looks rather more pretty now than it did before, more matt and with only a couple of small imperfections, those I will deal with this time next week when I get another day off. Thanks to the guys who contributed to the etching discussions, they were a great help. I also wanted to say thanks to Uncle Bill for putting up with the odd worried e-mail when the CAK took a little longer to arrive than expected, another symptom of HIKV perhaps?
I fully intend to make this an annual holiday, maybe monthly or even weekly, that wouldnt be too regular would it?
I decided not to test it fully as really my brother should do that, it is his Khuk and he should be the one to test it. I gave it a good wipe down a cloth and oiled it quickly before sharpening it with Chakma from my WW2, brought it up to a good usable edge that will not dull down before he receives it. I then cleaned up my WW2 and my BAS. I then read something in the forum archive about acid etching with fruit juice, I decided to give it a go and spent the afternoon giving it a nicely greyed finish, it looks rather more pretty now than it did before, more matt and with only a couple of small imperfections, those I will deal with this time next week when I get another day off. Thanks to the guys who contributed to the etching discussions, they were a great help. I also wanted to say thanks to Uncle Bill for putting up with the odd worried e-mail when the CAK took a little longer to arrive than expected, another symptom of HIKV perhaps?
I fully intend to make this an annual holiday, maybe monthly or even weekly, that wouldnt be too regular would it?
. JK, that's a great gift though, I'm sure he'll love it. Those Chiruwa AKs are the greatest.
. Actually I am sitting by my PC day and night awaiting another of those Sgt Karka AK's for that purpose.
