Handle cracks

Do a search on handle repairs there is lots of information.

JB weld is good stuff. I have fixed a few pots and tea kettles with it. It is a bit thick for khukuri repair. I find that I have to work it into cracks with a sewing needle.

Be warry of JB Quick weld, it is not as strong as the normal JB weld.

I use a Home Hardware epoxy that has a 1/2 hour (maybe 1 hour I can't remmeber for sure) and takes 3 days to reach full strength. It has a low viscosity and almost flows as easily as super glue. I can inject it into cracks and crevices with a syringe. This stuff is more shock resistant than JB weld.

Epoxies work best if they do not have to bridge gaps. Once you get the epoxy or glue into the handle use C clamps or hose clamps (as suggested by Uncle Bill) to close the crack. Becareful you don't attatch the clamp to the handle.

Will
 
Would a wood handle be a better choice for taking in and out of the cold? Or will they eventually crack in the same way as the horn?

I suppose a properly oiled or treated horn handle would be the best way to prevent such happenings.
 
Bruiser, I agree with Uncle - it's a toss-up. Once either material has received proper TLC and stabiized at room temps, with some outdoor use in milder weather, the thing to avoid is abrupt temp or humidity changes. I didn't have Khuks when we lived in Minnesota, but we had a "usual" practice of not bringing our guns directly into the heated house after exposure to the cold in a cornfield. I started using synthetic lubes on my shotgun, because the wind and temps there would cause my "old faithful" 3-in-One oil to gum up. I never heard what the windchill was in pheasant country, but winters in Oklahoma never caused that reaction. If the temp is brought up slowly, so the wood or horn, which has contracted from the cold, doesn't expand too rapidly, you should be able to avoid the cracks, or keep them to a minimum. The wood, especially, may still contain some moisture, and shouldn't be allowed to freeze. If I still lived in that country, weekend football on TV would be the best protection against cracks :D
 
Yes, I've also heard that football has magical properties :)

Do you think a good compromise might be to leave the khuk in the garage overnight as a "decompression chamber"? The garage is sort of in between inside and outside temps.
 
Garage, mud porch, anyplace where they can spend some time at about 50% of the outside and inside temps. I never had a gunstock out in it, but we had several stretches of -10° highs in MN.(when the unpacked snow squeaks under your boots, it is -10°, or colder - when the roof joists in the houses upand down the street begin to pop, it is around -20°.. old Minneapolis weather wisdom :D) Weather like that is too extreme to go out in, anyhoo, but a "resting place" in weather in the thirties down to the teens is a good idea, and it should be above freezing. The amount of moisture in a handle is microscopic, but the wood/horn is under pressure from the bradded-on butt cap, and freezing moisture can raise it. Both materials are "in between" - not fully cured but still brittle and under pressure, and both will contract with the cold while the frozen moisture will expand, so the result is predictable. "Fully cured", as to wood for handles, grips, etc. is stacked in a kiln for four to seven years. I don't know about horn, but it may be longer given the density. Pistol grips made from wood like this run at or above $200, and I only know of two makers who go to this extreme on their own.
 
The best actually. There's more knowledge about wood and leather on this forum, let alone about khukuris that I don't think anyone can find better.:)

As has been stated when it gets down to certain temps it ain't gonna matter the material.
But in what the rest of the country determines is usual winter temps, such as 15*-20* above and upwards, I believe that the wood is less apt to give problems.
And the drier you can keep wood the better which is a good reason to have a good wood penetrating oiled finish that goes all the way through.
Oil helps to disperse moisture and is our great friend in the winter with leather as well as wood.:)

The reason I believe wood is better handled to take the differences in temp and conditions is because it is less dense than horn......
That is normally. There may be some woods that approach the density of horn, I don't know, but even with that I believe the wood is more forgiving because it has a bit more give to it than horn.

And I may be all wet and full of bull but I also think wood is warmer to hang onto than horn as well.
 
Wal got one wood handle that I'm certain is more dense than horn. Remember the gaps in the rails on the railroad tracks on cold days? And how they disappeared in hot weather.
 
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