Foxy Folly Combat khukuri/Machete

ferguson

ferguson

Joined
Feb 21, 2001
Messages
4,238
Holy Toledo!

I got my Foxy Folly from the 6/5 Yangdu specials today. It was number 9. Wow. What a knife. This thing is a lean, mean slicing machine.

It's 21 3/4 " long and weighs about 1 lb. - 10 oz. The spine at the bolster is .320" or slightly more than 5/16". In the first 2 inches it tapers down to .190", or a hair over 3/16". Width of the blade at the belly is 3 1/4". When I saw how thin the blade was, it concerned me, so I laid a 2x4 on a stump and chopped through it. No dulling, no rolling or edge deformation at all! It feels strange but good. This is a combat/brush blade, developing tremendous speed, with enough mass to go through the target. It has nickel silver bolster, buttcap, and chape, and the chandan handle is absolutely beautiful.

Attached are pictures comparing it to a Berk Special Dui Chirra, the closest thing in length and blade shape that I have. Oh, the spots are rain drops.

Steve
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Basically identical to mine. 3-4 ounces less is all. Mine is .300 on the spine, 21.50 inches long, and 3 1/4 on the widest part of the blade.

Now why would Bura make another batch basically identical to the two that ArchAngerl and I got from Dan while Yangdu was gone? Just a few ounces lighter is all it seems.

I hope he finally gets the length right (17-18" as ordered) and keeps the weight at 24 oz...!

Tnx.

Norm
 
Steve, PLEASE tell me what you are using on your handles! (I apologize if you have already and I have missed it or forgotten.)

I'll bet anything I have the components on my shelf to duplicate those, but just need to know what. A gloss polyurethane finish? Just clear Watco Danish oil?

Thanks,

Norm
 
Very interesting contrast to other HI blades. It's so light my first thought was "I bet if I weged the tip into something I could bend the blade." But who but a maniac would do that. It's plenty strong enough in the direction it was made to take impacts. It's light and hellishly fast. Flick it with your finger and it rings.

I'm glad Bura took a chance on this design. The experienced kami knows what he is doing. It is a departure from the HI philosophy of indestructability, but a good one.
 
Thank you, Yangdu. No. 2 is a beautiful khukuri. As observed, very different from the typical HI. Bura can really do fullers, and there is absolutely no warp to the blade -- no easy task with liquid-quenching of a relatively thin blade.

It is 17" -- if you only count the blade. Hmmmm?
 
Norm,
I've used multiple coats of Birchwood-Casey Tru-Oil Gunstock finish on most of my handles. Tru-oil is available in many sporting goods sections where they sell the gun supplies. I got mine at Wal-Mart. According to the label it is a linseed oil based product. I'll bet the Watco finish can be used the same way. The process goes something like this.

1. Use mineral spirits and a toothbrush to remove the rouge if necessary,and wrap masking tape around the bolster to protect it from scratches.
2. Start sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. When down to bare wood, move to 320 grit, then 400, 600 grit, always sanding with the grain. I use a hacksaw blade with the "set" of the teeth ground off the sides to clean out the grooves.
3. Apply a heavy coat of Tru-Oil with your finger. You can even sand the wet Tru-Oil with 600 grit sandpaper to make a slurry of wood and finish to help fill the grain. Smooth it off with your finger.
4. After 2 days wipe off any that is still tacky, and let it dry 1 more day.
5. Lightly sand with 1000 grit wet or dry sandpaper. Wet the sandpaper in a bowl of water. It makes the finish very smooth, and keeps the paper from loading up. You don't want to remove finish, just dull it. You can reuse this piece of sandpaper til you complete one handle.
6. Dry off the handle thoroughly and recoat with a VERY THIN coat of Tru-Oil.
7. The following night, if the finish is dry, wet-sand, dry it off, and recoat with a THIN coat of Tru-Oil. Repeat every night until the pores are filled, and you can look deep into the finish and see the soul of the handle.

No stain is used.

Chandan and Rosewood are very oily woods. I have had problems with the Tru-Oil staying tacky for many days. If this happens, after each coat I heat the handle with a hair dryer for 2 or 3 minutes to set the finish. It seems to harden the finish before the woods natural oils can leach into it.

I'm not recommending these methods, just reporting what I've done. As always, your mileage may vary.

Thanks to Walosi and Yvsa for their input and past posts regarding refinishing handles!

Steve Ferguson
 
Norm;
I thought the two prototype initial specimens were 28 oz but the right length? What do you mean they were the same as these? I'm sorry I missed this. These were great blades, I knew it when I saw them, but was broke and left them alone. They are instant collectors and I bet one hell of a useful bush knife. I can't believe Bura did the fullers with so little metal and room for error. Just beautiful.



munk
 
Steve,
That was a most elegant and poetic description of an otherwise prosaic topic. I agree with your process.
 
Howard Wallace said:
Flick it with your finger and it rings.

I'm glad Bura took a chance on this design. The experienced kami knows what he is doing. It is a departure from the HI philosophy of indestructability, but a good one.
Click to expand...

Mine rings like a bell also! I checked it with my son's guitar tuner and it's E flat. I can whistle near the blade and it starts resonating and ringing!

That is too cool! :eek: :)

Steve
 
I just opened up the box containing number 4. There were a lot of feelings involved with this one. I was anxious and excited in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. Seeing the familiar triangular box in the mailtruck had me feeling the same way I did when I ordered my first HI, a Shop 1 BAS. I also felt a bit of sadness when I picked up that package. This is the first khukuri I've bought in two years. The last one I bought was an M43 by Kumar. It was a special UBBB even though I paid full price for it because I got it on Uncle Bill's birthday. That M43 brings back memories of Uncle Bill and others I never would've known if not for this forum. It reminds me of Terry Sisco who designed the M43 model, and of Kumar, that mad genius who gave Uncle Bill his fair share of hairpulling frustration.

When I first picked up the knife I could believe it. This is one massive-looking blade. The massiveness is confined to its looks however, as it feels as light as a feather. I have a 20" Kobra. This Foxy's Folly is one inch longer and only 4 inches heavier. It feels lighter. I think that it may become my bump in the night blade.

The handle is of beautiful chandan wood. I don't know what chandan is, but I like it. The blade itself is rather thin, but that's okay. I have other HI blades that are overweight. It's ironic, but the largest looking blade I have is one of the smallest, weight-wise. I was very pleased to find that the blade on this particular knife sports a convex bevel. I haven't seen those in a while. I hope they're back for good.

I think that's it for first impressions. Oh yeah, my blade has the initials S.B. Is that Sher, or did Bura and Sher switch initials.

OT, I traded one of my khukuris and I need to stop by the PO tomorrow to mail it. Where do I go to get the triangular boxes HI uses? Last time I asked for them at the Post Office, they said that they no longer carry them.
 
kamagong said:
The handle is of beautiful chandan wood. I don't know what chandan is, but I like it.
Click to expand...
Chandan is Sandalwood. Lots of it get's ground up for incense. It's chock full of aromatic oil. It really doesn't need any finish although some people give theirs one. I like to leave them as they are. To me, they look mysterious and old, and they age gracefully.
 
Howard Wallace said:
It really doesn't need any finish although some people give theirs one. I like to leave them as they are. To me, they look mysterious and old, and they age gracefully.
Click to expand...

I agree. :)

Steve
 
munk said:
Norm;
I thought the two prototype initial specimens were 28 oz but the right length? What do you mean they were the same as these? I'm sorry I missed this. These were great blades, I knew it when I saw them, but was broke and left them alone. They are instant collectors and I bet one hell of a useful bush knife. I can't believe Bura did the fullers with so little metal and room for error. Just beautiful.



munk
Click to expand...

Munk, I will defer to Yvsa here, but I think it went something like this: the first two prototypes came in at around 17", but were too heavy at close to 30 oz. I believe. I held Yvsa's at the SWKK, and actually really liked it, but it could have been close to a half pound lighter, which is what Yvsa clearly specified. 17-18" and about 24 oz. was the target.

Then 6 weeks or so later, two more came in from Bura. Like Yangdu just did, Dan, who was handling things at the time for Yangdu, put out an email announcing their arrival, but instead of selling them independently as was just done with these ten, folks who had prepaid for a FF got to opt for one. Since I had prepaid for 2, I asked for one, and Archangel grabbed the other. These are the same weight as the first two, but now are close to 5" longer!

Now we have these 10 that are evidently 24-26 oz., 24 according to Yangdu, but that are identical in other respects to the ones AA and I received.

What seems to have happened is Bura went by the weights he was sent, but kept the length the same. So to recap, so far we have had:

1) The length right and the weight too heavy
2) The length too long AND the weight too heavy, and this last time
3) The length too long and the weight pretty much right.

NOW, we need to just get the word to Bura to keep the weight the same, but drop 4-5 inches off the length, and we should get what we all paid for.

I hope! I'm beginning to see what Uncle Bill dealt with all these years. The communication issue is a real hurdle it seems. The cool thing though is that even the out of spec knives are neat in their own right, and someone always seems to like them. The bottom line is that we would never had gotten the two out of spec knives that AA and I snagged (the one I got is perfect for me!), or the two Yvsa and Dan got, or these last 10 for that matter, if Bura had not come up with something different.

God only knows what we'll get next, but I'm really hoping Yangdu has passed on the above info to Bura and the next batch will be to Yvsa's original carefully planned specs.


Thanks,

Norm
 
ferguson said:
Norm,
I've used multiple coats of Birchwood-Casey Tru-Oil Gunstock finish on most of my handles. Tru-oil is available in many sporting goods sections where they sell the gun supplies. I got mine at Wal-Mart. According to the label it is a linseed oil based product. I'll bet the Watco finish can be used the same way. The process goes something like this.

1. Use mineral spirits and a toothbrush to remove the rouge if necessary,and wrap masking tape around the bolster to protect it from scratches.
2. Start sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. When down to bare wood, move to 320 grit, then 400, 600 grit, always sanding with the grain. I use a hacksaw blade with the "set" of the teeth ground off the sides to clean out the grooves.
3. Apply a heavy coat of Tru-Oil with your finger. You can even sand the wet Tru-Oil with 600 grit sandpaper to make a slurry of wood and finish to help fill the grain. Smooth it off with your finger.
4. After 2 days wipe off any that is still tacky, and let it dry 1 more day.
5. Lightly sand with 1000 grit wet or dry sandpaper. Wet the sandpaper in a bowl of water. It makes the finish very smooth, and keeps the paper from loading up. You don't want to remove finish, just dull it. You can reuse this piece of sandpaper til you complete one handle.
6. Dry off the handle thoroughly and recoat with a VERY THIN coat of Tru-Oil.
7. The following night, if the finish is dry, wet-sand, dry it off, and recoat with a THIN coat of Tru-Oil. Repeat every night until the pores are filled, and you can look deep into the finish and see the soul of the handle.

No stain is used.

Chandan and Rosewood are very oily woods. I have had problems with the Tru-Oil staying tacky for many days. If this happens, after each coat I heat the handle with a hair dryer for 2 or 3 minutes to set the finish. It seems to harden the finish before the woods natural oils can leach into it.

I'm not recommending these methods, just reporting what I've done. As always, your mileage may vary.

Thanks to Walosi and Yvsa for their input and past posts regarding refinishing handles!

Steve Ferguson
Click to expand...

Steve, thanks very much for the info and taking the time to break it down. I have refinished two gun stocks and a set of pistol grips with Tru-Oil, but never thought to use it on Khuk handles for some reason.

I will follow your steps exactly and see how it goes.

Thanks again.

Norm
 
Thanks Bri in Chi, for the comment, and for the new word, prosaic. It's my second this week, the other was didactic. Thanks goodness for dictionary.com. :)

You're welcome Norm. Use it as a guide, but change things as circumstances dictate. I intended it to be instructive, but not didactic, pedantic or dogmatic. ;)

Steve
 
that timeline is correct with the exception that the first two (one to Yvsa, one to me) weighed in at 28 oz. and the right length (17.5 inches)

The next two were also around 28 oz. but too long (at 22 inches). The handles were longer, though - an improvement.

The last set were made exactly like above. But, when Yangdu went to Nepal she told them to take 4 oz. off the blades - they're now all around 24 oz. and 22 inches. Right weight, wrong length.


Patience, my friends.....we'll get it right eventually.
 
Howard Wallace said:
Chandan is Sandalwood. Lots of it get's ground up for incense. It's chock full of aromatic oil. It really doesn't need any finish although some people give theirs one. I like to leave them as they are. To me, they look mysterious and old, and they age gracefully.
Click to expand...
Don't tell me it's that stuff that Uncle Bill had so much trouble getting a hold of back in the day. Whoa, talk about an unexpected bonus. I wonder where HI is getting all of theirs. IIRC, it's pretty hard to get a hold of.

I don't really finish my handles either. I like the matte look better than the shiny one. However, I think I may just have to sand the outermost layer so I can get a whiff of this magical wood.
 
Most of the aromatic oils are in the heartwood...don't know if you'd get much in a khukuri handle. It'd be interesting to know though...

Ferrous had a scabbard made of the heartwood...it was awesome!

.
 
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