Fixing Tiny Gaps Between Buttcap and Handle

Just finsihed doing it, took all of five minutes. I'm extremely pleased with the results, tight buttcap and no damage to the brass. My WW2 is now perfect except for those superficial scratches. I appreciate all of the the help very much.
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
A little epoxy is the easiest fix.
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I've used the epoxy fix and it works good. Some places- Texas Knifemakers Supply (I think thats right) sell colored epoxy. I used a bit of charcoal powdered up one time and a little black ink another time. Both worked and the fix is barely noticeable.
 
HI khukuris: Made by humans, fixable by humans. --Josh
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I think that is part of the attraction. I'm getting closer to trying to mix up a batch of laha every day. Why use "permanent" epoxy??
 
Firkin-- Do you have a recipe for laha? I'd be interested in trying some. One problem for me is the rigidity of epoxy as compared to the flexible materials used in khukuri handles. Laha seems like a good solution. Maybe that's why the kamis use it...
--Josh
 
Commercial laha is pretty neat stuff. Clean and easy to use. The village kami grade laha can be very nasty stuff and you have to be very careful using it.
 
Firkin-- Do you have a recipe for laha?
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It's essentially Nepali version of cutler's resin.
Pitch mixed with wax(es) and/or a bit of talc, brick-dust or other fine material. Lots of variations.

Pappy mixed some up a while back...Maybe he can give us an update.

If I remember, it was something like:
1 part carnuba wax (pure--usually available as flakes)
1 part beeswax
2 parts pitch or rosin

May not be Pappy's recipe, but I'm pretty sure that this is one of several I've seen.

Melt together without lighting the mess on fire (use electricity) in a pot that will henceforth be used for nothing else.

The trick is finding the few sources of suitable pitch and carnuba wax as they are rarely used for this purpose here. One place that caters to re-enactors sells straight pine pitch and, beeswax isn't that hard to find. Pure carnuba wax seems pretty scarce, but a couple of places sell it.

Fed uses a particular pitch formulation marketed for some type of jewelery-making process. There is a confusing variety of pitch concoctions used for temporarily attaching stones or metal while working. Which ones to use for permanent or semi-permanent applications isn't obvious to me unless someone says they used it and it worked.


Search for "cutler's resin" on this forum and you should dig up a couple of exhausting and tedious threads:) Myself and a guy called ddean had sort of a contest to see who could dig up the most info on the web. There's a bit on Shop Talk archicves too. I ought to look those up myself and get it all downloaded to my hard drive for safe-keeping.
 
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