- Joined
- Jan 26, 2002
- Messages
- 2,737
Have had my first khukuri for a few days now, a 15" AK blem. (slightly rusted). Only took a week from the day I mailed in the check. Great service.
Warning: long rambly post follows.
Initial Impressions:
Wow, what a knife! I want a bigger one, it's not any longer than my big chef's knife. Dang, that's heavy. What balance! This WANTS to chop something. There really is no bevel, can I really sharpen this thing? Man, the karda is nowhere close to having an edge, It's almost a marlinspike. Without power tools, what to do with this? OK, so where's the rust?? Only that? What a steal to get this at discount.
After a bit of elbow grease, and sanding with 400-1500 grit wet dry paper, most of rust spots were taken care of. I polished it up with something I've had a jar of for years, "Quick-Glo" (TM) chrome cleaner and rust remover. This seems to leave a bit of a protective film after light hand buffing. I'm right next to the ocean, and it seems to have done the trick for the short time so far. More importantly, it looks like it turns any remaining pitted areas into that gray color like a well used and oiled carbon steel knife darkens but doesn't rust.
Some questions and minor criticisms appear below. I think what I got is well worth the regular price and a genuine bargain at the "blem" price. When I can find the money, I want to buy more khuks. Overall, great quality. Consideration of the logistics and dificulty of dealing with a bunch of individual craftsmen on the other side of the world makes it even more impressive.
Scabbard: It's pretty loose, the khuk falls out if turned upside down. It's from new village sarki and recent comments suggest that unseasoned wood may have been employed. Should I wait a while before attempting to fix this? Fairly humid here, its California coast. Two fixes I've seen are soaking in water and drying while bound OR gluing leather pads inside scabbard. Both methods would seem better if wood is stable. Any idea how long for wood to cure? Any chance of getting the leather tucked inside of scabbard top away from the wood and gluing a shim between the wood and the leather? I assume a proper fit is for the leather at the inside top to grip the thin end of the bolster? The edges of the heads of the tacks holding the loops for the small tools are a bit exposed and can scratch the handles. I'm pretty much afraid to mess with them though. The pointy ends look peened over back into the wood. Anything I do will probably split the wood or loosen everthing up. I guess the tacks want some oiling to prevent rust? Overall good work on scabbard, it seems really solidly made and surprisingly light weight when the knife is removed. Beautiful leather. Good stitching on main seam. Chappe looks to be very well glued on with a visible bead of glue at the edge. I rounded the tip off, a little brass paint and a drop of clear epoxy should take care of the hollow if I'm really picky.
Frog: Nice very heavy leather. How do they get it strapped on so tight? But the loop is constructed with a few stitches of very heavy thread that is exposed to wear by abrasion. OK, it's probably hand-stitched, no problem there, but could they champfer in some grooves in the leather before stitching so the thread is recessed? There's got to be lots of leather-working tools that could do this job. Maybe also do this for the leather lacing? The thin leather lacing has to be a lot stronger than it looks, considering how hard the sarki must have pulled on it, but it's also pretty exposed to abrasion as is. Both things are easily fixed or it could be taken to a cobbler, but it seems very little added effort to do this at the time of construction.
Went over all the leather with black kiwi polish, using a toothbrush for the lacing. I can't believe how much polish it soaked up. I really looks great after all the cut edges are darkened.
Handle: Wonderful horn, need to find some lanolin. After filing and sanding down the buttcap edge even to the horn it feels really good. I may need to round off the pointy bit on the top of the butt some. The shape fits my hand very well. I'm not a big guy, but the handle sure couldn't be any smaller.
Sharpening attempts:
(The following might be useful to someone else trying to get one of these things sharpened up.) The khukuri was close to having an edge, so I used 400 grit paper wrapped around a half-inch rod and got an edge that would grab a finger pad and then chopped a while on a dry hardwood log (loquat wood). Excellent! Great balance and this bites into wood pretty well. Like a nice thin double bit axe. Very little of impact transmitted to my hand. Again, I want a bigger one! A couple more rounds of sharpening with 400 and 600 paper wrapped around the rod or a small flat file as well as working the belly on a medium "Oregon Stone" with water and a 800 Japanese waterstone made me believe that I might actually get this thing sharp. I tried to concentrate on a band about three-sixteenths of an inch wide just next to the edge. With the water, a very thin layer of rust would develop pretty quick on abraded areas. I would periodically take this off with fine wet dry paper by hand and build up a higher polish. Made it easy to see where I was actually removing metal. Messed around a bit with a 4000 grit Japanese waterstone as well, but I don't fancy relapping that, so not too much. Also very hard for me to use without a definite bevel on the edge to feel whats going on. A few areas can almost shave if slight slicing used. Now chops wood very nicely. The karda was another matter, as it was like a thick butter knife. I tried to thin it down near the "edge" using a file and the medium side of the Oregon stone. After a couple hours, an edge was close. Using the fine Oregon stone and the 800 waterstone I finally got an edge with ocasional sanding and polishing see where I was working. These convex edges are a bitch! Removed some metal where the karda edge thickens towards handle. The beginnings of a finger notch?? The karda was then sharpened on the 4000 waterstone without and with the nagura. Barely shaving sharp.
Po' man's strop:
Somewhere, I've seen stropping on gray cardboard (Cliff Stamp's idea?). This polishes the edge well but its slow. I load the cardboard with slurry from the waterstone and nagura and put on a cutting board. Using this I was able to get the karda shaving sharp. Cuts a sheet of newspaper. Yay! Very strange to slice paper with such a fat stubby object. If I put the cardboard on the edge of my rounded counter top I can strop the recurve and rest of the khuk edge fairly well, smoothly rotating the blade to follow the angle to match the edge. Since a only a small part of the rounded edge contacts the blade, the weight of the knife alone is enough to get a good polish. And much safer than pushing hard since I have to hold the cardboard with one hand. Now I can see a thick spot just at beginning of belly where the edge glints and doesn't go dark as you turn the blade in the light. The knife is actually thicker here. Also I bet it's where the hardest part begins. Steeled with a butcher's steel and worked the area with sandpaper just behind the edge. Cardboard "strop" again. Better, but still there.
Chakma illumination:
By this time, I had previusly tried the chakma a few times with little effect, but a did notice that on a polished edge, you can look carfully and see a dull gray mark where you are burnishing. I ran the chakma down the blade, applying a corner of the most convex side just inside of the edge, switching sides every few strokes. Wiping away the gray stuff, I could see a slightly rougher edge and it felt like the dull spot was better. And it was a little sharper. Another polish on the cardboard, and it was nearly gone. Barely shaving sharp now. There are a few very small dents in the softer areas of the blade, on the side of the edge from wacking the corner of the chakma into the blade at beginning of a stroke. Tried lightly using flat of chakma, got duller, "strop" again. Oh well. Have to read archives on using this chakma gizmo.
Result:
Shaving sharp karda, hair tugging sharp khukuri. But I need to lap both sides of Oregon stone and 800 waterstone. However I chopped a 3" dia knot off the hardwood log with the khuk and it just got a little dirty. Nice. Hopefully I can keep the edge for a while, it took a chunk of a few evenings to get it. I guess I should eventually try to thin out the thick spot. Totally different game than sharpening bevels on flatstones.
Conclusions: I guess I need a couple of new files and some o' them diamond thingies if I want to put on a bevel or thin the karda. Would definately beat re-lapping stones. And I think I want a ceramic rod and a strop too. May try rouge or tripoli on cardboard first. The cardboard actually works pretty well. The chakma is surprisingly (at least to me) effective at dulling or sharpening a blade with an established edge, especially when a corner is used. To me, its well worth polishing the blade with fine sandpaper or stropping during the sharpening process otherwise I find it hard to tell where exactly where I'm working on the blade.
If anyone read this far,any comments or answers to questions are much appreciated.
Time to help prune the neighors pommegranite tree so I can hack up all the branches!
Warning: long rambly post follows.
Initial Impressions:
Wow, what a knife! I want a bigger one, it's not any longer than my big chef's knife. Dang, that's heavy. What balance! This WANTS to chop something. There really is no bevel, can I really sharpen this thing? Man, the karda is nowhere close to having an edge, It's almost a marlinspike. Without power tools, what to do with this? OK, so where's the rust?? Only that? What a steal to get this at discount.
After a bit of elbow grease, and sanding with 400-1500 grit wet dry paper, most of rust spots were taken care of. I polished it up with something I've had a jar of for years, "Quick-Glo" (TM) chrome cleaner and rust remover. This seems to leave a bit of a protective film after light hand buffing. I'm right next to the ocean, and it seems to have done the trick for the short time so far. More importantly, it looks like it turns any remaining pitted areas into that gray color like a well used and oiled carbon steel knife darkens but doesn't rust.
Some questions and minor criticisms appear below. I think what I got is well worth the regular price and a genuine bargain at the "blem" price. When I can find the money, I want to buy more khuks. Overall, great quality. Consideration of the logistics and dificulty of dealing with a bunch of individual craftsmen on the other side of the world makes it even more impressive.
Scabbard: It's pretty loose, the khuk falls out if turned upside down. It's from new village sarki and recent comments suggest that unseasoned wood may have been employed. Should I wait a while before attempting to fix this? Fairly humid here, its California coast. Two fixes I've seen are soaking in water and drying while bound OR gluing leather pads inside scabbard. Both methods would seem better if wood is stable. Any idea how long for wood to cure? Any chance of getting the leather tucked inside of scabbard top away from the wood and gluing a shim between the wood and the leather? I assume a proper fit is for the leather at the inside top to grip the thin end of the bolster? The edges of the heads of the tacks holding the loops for the small tools are a bit exposed and can scratch the handles. I'm pretty much afraid to mess with them though. The pointy ends look peened over back into the wood. Anything I do will probably split the wood or loosen everthing up. I guess the tacks want some oiling to prevent rust? Overall good work on scabbard, it seems really solidly made and surprisingly light weight when the knife is removed. Beautiful leather. Good stitching on main seam. Chappe looks to be very well glued on with a visible bead of glue at the edge. I rounded the tip off, a little brass paint and a drop of clear epoxy should take care of the hollow if I'm really picky.
Frog: Nice very heavy leather. How do they get it strapped on so tight? But the loop is constructed with a few stitches of very heavy thread that is exposed to wear by abrasion. OK, it's probably hand-stitched, no problem there, but could they champfer in some grooves in the leather before stitching so the thread is recessed? There's got to be lots of leather-working tools that could do this job. Maybe also do this for the leather lacing? The thin leather lacing has to be a lot stronger than it looks, considering how hard the sarki must have pulled on it, but it's also pretty exposed to abrasion as is. Both things are easily fixed or it could be taken to a cobbler, but it seems very little added effort to do this at the time of construction.
Went over all the leather with black kiwi polish, using a toothbrush for the lacing. I can't believe how much polish it soaked up. I really looks great after all the cut edges are darkened.
Handle: Wonderful horn, need to find some lanolin. After filing and sanding down the buttcap edge even to the horn it feels really good. I may need to round off the pointy bit on the top of the butt some. The shape fits my hand very well. I'm not a big guy, but the handle sure couldn't be any smaller.
Sharpening attempts:
(The following might be useful to someone else trying to get one of these things sharpened up.) The khukuri was close to having an edge, so I used 400 grit paper wrapped around a half-inch rod and got an edge that would grab a finger pad and then chopped a while on a dry hardwood log (loquat wood). Excellent! Great balance and this bites into wood pretty well. Like a nice thin double bit axe. Very little of impact transmitted to my hand. Again, I want a bigger one! A couple more rounds of sharpening with 400 and 600 paper wrapped around the rod or a small flat file as well as working the belly on a medium "Oregon Stone" with water and a 800 Japanese waterstone made me believe that I might actually get this thing sharp. I tried to concentrate on a band about three-sixteenths of an inch wide just next to the edge. With the water, a very thin layer of rust would develop pretty quick on abraded areas. I would periodically take this off with fine wet dry paper by hand and build up a higher polish. Made it easy to see where I was actually removing metal. Messed around a bit with a 4000 grit Japanese waterstone as well, but I don't fancy relapping that, so not too much. Also very hard for me to use without a definite bevel on the edge to feel whats going on. A few areas can almost shave if slight slicing used. Now chops wood very nicely. The karda was another matter, as it was like a thick butter knife. I tried to thin it down near the "edge" using a file and the medium side of the Oregon stone. After a couple hours, an edge was close. Using the fine Oregon stone and the 800 waterstone I finally got an edge with ocasional sanding and polishing see where I was working. These convex edges are a bitch! Removed some metal where the karda edge thickens towards handle. The beginnings of a finger notch?? The karda was then sharpened on the 4000 waterstone without and with the nagura. Barely shaving sharp.
Po' man's strop:
Somewhere, I've seen stropping on gray cardboard (Cliff Stamp's idea?). This polishes the edge well but its slow. I load the cardboard with slurry from the waterstone and nagura and put on a cutting board. Using this I was able to get the karda shaving sharp. Cuts a sheet of newspaper. Yay! Very strange to slice paper with such a fat stubby object. If I put the cardboard on the edge of my rounded counter top I can strop the recurve and rest of the khuk edge fairly well, smoothly rotating the blade to follow the angle to match the edge. Since a only a small part of the rounded edge contacts the blade, the weight of the knife alone is enough to get a good polish. And much safer than pushing hard since I have to hold the cardboard with one hand. Now I can see a thick spot just at beginning of belly where the edge glints and doesn't go dark as you turn the blade in the light. The knife is actually thicker here. Also I bet it's where the hardest part begins. Steeled with a butcher's steel and worked the area with sandpaper just behind the edge. Cardboard "strop" again. Better, but still there.
Chakma illumination:
By this time, I had previusly tried the chakma a few times with little effect, but a did notice that on a polished edge, you can look carfully and see a dull gray mark where you are burnishing. I ran the chakma down the blade, applying a corner of the most convex side just inside of the edge, switching sides every few strokes. Wiping away the gray stuff, I could see a slightly rougher edge and it felt like the dull spot was better. And it was a little sharper. Another polish on the cardboard, and it was nearly gone. Barely shaving sharp now. There are a few very small dents in the softer areas of the blade, on the side of the edge from wacking the corner of the chakma into the blade at beginning of a stroke. Tried lightly using flat of chakma, got duller, "strop" again. Oh well. Have to read archives on using this chakma gizmo.
Result:
Shaving sharp karda, hair tugging sharp khukuri. But I need to lap both sides of Oregon stone and 800 waterstone. However I chopped a 3" dia knot off the hardwood log with the khuk and it just got a little dirty. Nice. Hopefully I can keep the edge for a while, it took a chunk of a few evenings to get it. I guess I should eventually try to thin out the thick spot. Totally different game than sharpening bevels on flatstones.
Conclusions: I guess I need a couple of new files and some o' them diamond thingies if I want to put on a bevel or thin the karda. Would definately beat re-lapping stones. And I think I want a ceramic rod and a strop too. May try rouge or tripoli on cardboard first. The cardboard actually works pretty well. The chakma is surprisingly (at least to me) effective at dulling or sharpening a blade with an established edge, especially when a corner is used. To me, its well worth polishing the blade with fine sandpaper or stropping during the sharpening process otherwise I find it hard to tell where exactly where I'm working on the blade.
If anyone read this far,any comments or answers to questions are much appreciated.
Time to help prune the neighors pommegranite tree so I can hack up all the branches!
