Handle cracks

I have one horn karda and one horn chakma with two to three hairline cracks each. Both came with different khukuries. Got both in December.

Never really thought about mentioning them until this thread came up.

CARman
 
A lot of the karda's and chakma's on mine have them, but most were cracked when I got them and no change.

On the other hand the khuk handles have developed cracks.

Also sometimes cracks on the back of the handle near the bolster where the weight of the blade would push back on when chopping. I guess those are stress cracks.

Never had any cracking wood handled ones.

This subject keeps coming up over and over. Must be some sort of a problem. Also seems like people like me that have more recently purchased ones seem to be reporting it more, where people with older ones aren't having it as much.

I know I wouldn't rule out buying a horn khukuri. But with all the reports I'd be more likely to go for wood.
 
I plan on giving Tora a try, I don't like having a great kukri with an untrustworthy handle. Maybe the Tora ones will prove to be different.
 
The Tora I have has a beautiful wood handle. no cracks. However the blade is a wimp. Thin. Be sure to ask the thickness if you get one. Mine is probably a quarter inch or less and is only suited to machete stuff. Well, really less than machete stuff. Blade is too soft.
 
I've never had any problems with either wood or horn handles cracking, btw.

It might be because I'm at a relatively low altitude ~ 450 ft., with a decent amount of humidity.
 
It often gets bone dry where I live, hot in summer and below zero in winter, and I've never had a horn crack.



munk
 
Is it possible that the cracks stem from a preexisting condition like the crack was already there and perhaps the low humidity of winter just opened it up? Maybe the grain was too grainy. Or maybe the water buffalo was a real head banger.
 
Originally posted by hoghead
Is it possible that the cracks stem from a preexisting condition like the crack was already there and perhaps the low humidity of winter just opened it up? Maybe the grain was too grainy. Or maybe the water buffalo was a real head banger.
Click to expand...

Yep. And remember the solid black horn is stronger than the pretty grainy stuff with white or other colored streaks.
 
Originally posted by hollowdweller
The Tora I have has a beautiful wood handle. no cracks. However the blade is a wimp. Thin. Be sure to ask the thickness if you get one. Mine is probably a quarter inch or less and is only suited to machete stuff. Well, really less than machete stuff. Blade is too soft.
Click to expand...

Crap, I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up.
 
Most of the non stress cracks on mine have been grain lines that started cracking.

I have one that was one of 2 of the same kind I bought. I kept the one with the blackest horn and it is the least cracked of any I have. However as it dried the horn became less black and developed a white area that has a small crack. Nothing major though. Also same knife has a small stress crack on the back of the handle near the bolster that appeared after a lot of chopping. Neither of these impair the knife.

I live in a very humid area and I can't see it makes any difference. I also keep stuff on the handles. I think the horn is just uncured. I have quite a few stilettos and other knives with horn handles and none have cracks and I have never put anything on any of them.
 
I do not see any cracks on my horn-handled khuks and knives (Kumar Karda, BAS, Pen-Knife, 12" Villager AK, Non HI-Balance). Some of them are recent purchases.
I used to use Ballistol on the horn-grips and bought some lanolin only a month ago. Both seems to work well.

Maybe one could heat the handle from time to time, so the laha will get soft and the pressure of the shrinking horn is distributed. When I heated the handle of my Pen-knive some days ago I had even some laha coming out of the bolster. (that was of course because the laha expands when heated - but it might help with the stress too.

I plan on getting a Gelbu Special as the next khuk and wonder if I should take one with a wood or horn handle... maybe I will leave it to Bill and not specify this...

Andreas
 
My handle has shrunken a tad and the bolster is loose.

How does one usually go about tighening it?
 
Originally posted by hollowdweller
The Tora I have has a beautiful wood handle. no cracks. However the blade is a wimp. Thin. Be sure to ask the thickness if you get one. Mine is probably a quarter inch or less and is only suited to machete stuff. Well, really less than machete stuff. Blade is too soft.
Click to expand...

Hollowdweller,

You were informed about the blade being too thin if I remember correctly...:confused:

Ref your posts here on HI and over at Ramanon.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=285967
http://forum.ramanon.com/viewtopic.php?t=3249
http://forum.ramanon.com/viewtopic.php?t=3675

Regards
Leanne

:)
 
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