Handle Issue

Z

zoldaman

Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
7
I was lucky enough to inherit a Himalayan Imports khukuri from my best friend a few weeks ago. I know what it meant to him over the years and as such, it has taken its place of honor in our family. The only issue is that there is a chip or wood roughly the size of a nickel missing from the corner end of the handle, where it meets the metal buttcap. I don't have this missing chip, otherwise I could just glue it back in place. Are there any suggestions for repairing the handle in some way?

thanks,

Scott
 
My naive approach would be to either fill the space with epoxy paste (== epoxy + filler/thickener + UV-resistant/color-matching pigment) or whittle some approximation of a replacement chip and fix it in place with the aforementioned epoxy. I haven't had to do this to a knife handle, so it's conjecture.
 
Pretty much what starboard said.

Best way to do it would be to level it in the missing spot and find a piece of wood that matches the handle as close as you can and epoxy it in there. Or use some type of repair epoxy that comes in a dough type form.
Either way the repair is likely to be visible.

Worse comes to worse though you could always have it rehandled.
Terry Sisco does some fine work in this area.

http://www.geocities.com/t_sarki/Sarki_Shop.html

Might help if you post a clear pic or two, then some of the experienced woodchucks around here could possibly give better advice.
 
With it being wood, glue on a piece of hardwood that's been shaped to just a little bit oversize at its sides. Superglue or epoxy it to the wood of the handle, and likewise to the buttcap. Then once the adhesive is fully set, use a combination of small diamond files and fine abrasive sheet to tailor the new piece to exact profile.
The new wood can be stained to match, if necessary.

On a horn handle clean the surface thoroughly, then build up the missing bit with epoxy resin -- add some pigmentation powder (like is used for craft mouldings) to the epoxy to get the color to match. Then file or sand it to profile as above.

I've done both to the handles of working kukris; the repair is strong.
 
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I dropped one of my wood handled villager khuks on the cement whie I was working. The handle chipped as you describe.

It was this one. This is a before picture.

Uhudaipurkhuk.jpg


I mixed up some epoxy resin with some sawdust of a matching color and filled in the chip. It may not be beautiful but this is no wall hanger. The repair has lasted for several years and this khuk gets used quite a bit. The butcap had a nut affixed to the tang. It came off an was replaced with a gob of JBWeld. That wasn't pretty either, but then again pretty is as pretty does.
 
Thanks for all the feedback so far. That gives me a few options and rehandling looks to be a real possibility as well. Here are some pictures of the issue:



and



Thanks for the help,

Scott
 
great pics.... nice and clear.
If it were me and i wanted it semi good looking , i'd probably replace the chip with similar wood and stain it. if i wanted it perfect again i'd rehandle it. if i just wanted it usable i'd just epoxy with some magic putty or the like and be done with it.
 
Done with care, you'd be surprised how un-noticeable grafting in a piece of wood can be.

I'd only consider rehandling that kukri if I was actually wanting a different shape of handle.
 
It's always sad to see something nice get hit like that. I customized the handle of my 20" Sirupati. The bell is contured more to fit my hand if I want a 2 handed grip. And you wouldn't know it to look at it, but it's the victim of being dropped on something hard also. A friend handled it and complimented me on the great job I did making it fit 2 hands instead of just one. So I told him; "The handle chipped so I did the best I could to repair it with the tools I had and thats the way it turned out." Then he said "Don't tell anyone it's to repair a busted handle, they can't tell."

So what I'm getting at is, if you can't replace the chip, try filing and sanding it to a nice shape that works for you. Sometimes these things can actually be blessings, was in my case. Also some people like to round out the bell a bit and if you did a good job, it looks like it was done on purpose. :)

Either way, sounds like you've got a good Wood Chucking project on your hands.

Heber
 
I have a Foxy Folly had the same sort of chip. I sanded the handle and then mixed the sawdust with epoxy and let it get stiffer, filled it in and sanded it. You can tell if you look close but it works great.
 
If you dont care about cosmetics, any epoxy or JB Weld would work fine. If you go this route, dont sand anything , leave the grain exposed for more bonding surface.
 
Wingin' it here for a color match based on your photo... but it may be very close. Get a sized piece of hard white oak - cut/file to shape, epoxy then let set. Stain that area with Minwax "Provincial" wood stain using a Q-tip and wipe off the excess. (try on a test piece first.)

Finish off with Tung or Tru-Oil. Make sure the wood is clean and use fine steel wool to dull the finish if needed.
 
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