Got outside on the weekend (pics)

H

Hamon

Joined
Jun 19, 2004
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377
Hey folks. Just thought I'd share some khuk pictures that I took on the weekend. The weather was amazing, so I did a wee bit of offroad exploring, and found a nice trail that ended by a creek that had numerous photo ops everywhere. Hope you enjoy the pics.

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That's a 10.5" BDC that I etched a while ago with vinegar. You can just barely make out the hamon if you try hard.

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Another BDC pic. My girlfriend took this pic. She has become very fond of this khuk in particular.

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23" Chainpuri. Sher built, and vinegar etched by me as well, though it is a little difficult to see.

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Stag M43. Another Sher khuk. Fits the hand well, and has considerable heft.

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A little chopping comparison... 10 chops from each khuk. 18" AK on the left... 1 3/4 pounds. 17" M43 in the middle... 2 pounds. 23" Chainpuri on right... I think it weighs about as much as the AK... Anyway, you can see that the two on the left far outchopped the Chainpuri... The Chainpuri also tended to bind in the wood.

Hope you enjoyed the pics as much as I enjoyed taking them (minus the bug bites). Sorry about the quality on some of them... New camera... Still experimenting.

Travis
 
Vinegar acts as a slightly corrosive agent and makes a mirror-finished blade look grey by oxidizing the surface. It's known as a patina by some, and an etch by others. If you search for vinegar etching on this forum, or patina, I'm sure you will get many tips if you'd like to do it yourself. It's a lot of fun, and I enjoy the finished result.

Depending on how you do it, it can make a khuk look antiqued. What I do is clean the blade under very hot water with a Scotch-brite pad and degrease with rubbing alcohol. I then coat the blade in paper towel and saturate the towel with vinegar. I put the blade somewhere warm for about half an hour or so, and then take off the paper towel. To stop the acidic vinegar from corroding the blade anymore, I coat the blade with a baking soda paste which neutralizes the surface. I then wash the blade, and, depending on what effect I want, I will either lightly scrub it with the Scotch-brite pad again, or apply a little bit of metal polish.

That's how I do it... There are other ways to do it as well, but that's what I have tried and it worked to my liking. Hope this helps, and I hope this information is correct... I'd hate to mislead somebody.

Travis
 
Great pictures, Thank you
 
Good deal Travis. Nice pics and good info. I have that chainpuri and M43, but both mine are by Kumar. I have held Sweet's stag M43, also by Sher, and feel that the handle is wider and it has a bit more weight. Mine is just 27 oz., so that would seem to hold true.

I got my etching info from Dan Koster, and your info seems to match his. Only thing I do different is heat the vinegar hot in the microwave. Instead of paper towels, on knife sized blades I get some of those cotton cleaning rounds the girls use (OK, women). They are essentially 2" diameter thick cotton pads, and soak those in hot vinegar and lay them on the edge. They hold a bit more vinegar than a towel and stay in place nicely.

BTW, rolls of those cotton rounds are just the thing for your gun cleaning kit. Heavier than patches, and you can buy the ones that leave no cotton residue or strings. My wife buys these small packs of 6 or 8 rolls at Costco, and I always liberate a couple of rolls before she and my daughter get into them.

Norm
 
Svashtar said:
BTW, rolls of those cotton rounds are just the thing for your gun cleaning kit.
Heavier than patches, and you can buy the ones that leave no cotton residue or strings.
My wife buys these small packs of 6 or 8 rolls at Costco, and I always liberate a couple of rolls before she and my daughter get into them.

Norm
Click to expand...

Norm what are these cotton rounds you speak of? Surely not cotton balls as they leave stringy strands of loose cotton all about?
I wonder if WalMart would have them and in what department they would be in, maybe beauty supplies?
Thanks for any added info.:thumbup:
 
Yvsa, I think they're called makeup removal pads. They're quilted... At least the ones in the bathroom are... They're quilted, and it doesn't look like they'd leave residue. Thanks for the info, Norm. I'll have to try that on some of my other blades.

Travis
 
I'd like to know more about this "baking soda paste".

How do you make it and how long do you keep it coated on the knife?
 
Baking Soda, alias sodium bicarbonate, is a naturally occurring substance that is found in all living things, where it helps regulate their pH balance. Baking Soda is made from soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate. To make Baking Soda, the soda ash is mined in the form of an ore called trona. The soda ash is then dissolved into a solution through which carbon dioxide is bubbled and sodium bicarbonate precipitates out, forming Baking Soda. sodium carbonate (also known as 'washing soda') can also be used, but is a lot stronger & best not used in contact with skin, it's a kinda strong alkali, where bicarb is not.

sodium bicarbonate powder is mixed with a little water to form a paste if you desire, or just dissolved in warm water & the blade left to soak (don't get it on the wood bits if you can help it), it should only take a few minutes to neutralise the acid, the products are harmless, co2 gas and sodium acetate which is water soluable. NaHCO3 + HC2H3O2 ------> CO2 + H2O + NaC2H3O2 for the science...some of the heavy metals in the steel may react with the acid to produce less friendly salts, so don't drink the used solutions solutions & clean up afterwards. heavy metal poisoning is no fun.

a solution of baking soda in a plastic bottle with a generous dollop of vinegar will produce much the same reaction as mentos in pepsi. both of which are not recommended for indoor attempts (non-toxic but a tad messy & flying plastic can, in the words of my mother 'put your eye out'))

for the adventureous, a strong solution of washing soda and detergent placed in a toilet bowl and a few bottles of vinegar poured into it's water cistern above is a great ice breaker at parties. not as much fun as foam tho.

for those so inclined, and with access to refill kits for foam fire extinguishers, the liquid part goes in the toilet bowl, the yucky powder (it's made from blood proteins & stinks) part goes in the tank. cleanup takes weeks.
 
I used a paper towel wrap to etch a blade once, and the pattern embossed in the towel etched itself right into the blade. Ugly. Now, I put down plastic wrap or an old plastic bag to protect the counter top, and spread a film of ordinary mustard on the cleaned blade. Let sit and then do the other side. It needs to be exposed to air to work. I once wrapped a thusly coated blade in plastic and virtually nothing happened after several hours. I thought the kamis had gotten ahold of some stainless steel :rolleyes: It needs air to work, I found out.

BTW, mayonnaise, and other condiments, as well as acidic fruit juices work too - and give slightly different colors, which can be interesting combined. I usually just use dishwashing detergent to neutralize. Letting it sit a day or two before oiling seems to help the colors somewhat.

As with a well-used carbon steel kitchen knife, this gray patina seems to help prevent further rusting and pitting. Perhaps by holding oil on the surface? Dunno. I can definitely smell sulfur when this process is going on, and I suspect that the coating is a combination of "sulfides" on the surface. I'm not a chemist :D Watcha think Kronc?
 
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