Handle Work Question

A

Aleous

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Aug 24, 2013
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I just got my hands on a 18 inch Fox Folly(Woohoo!) and had a question about traditional Khukuri handles, reworking them.

The blade on my Fox Folly is perfection but the handle is a bit big and fat for my small hands(for a westerner) so I thought about having some work done on it to slim it down.

Anyone know anyone who works on or can work on slimming down a handle or even re handling a traditional Khukuri?

I wouldn't want to mess with it myself but my dad's a carpenter by trade so I thought I might ask him to just sand it down until it fits my hands.

If that doesn't sound like a good idea I would like a professional to handle it(see what I did there?) slimming it down for my small hands or even re handling the khuk with some custom wood.
 
Last edited:
Aleous said:
I just got my hands on a 18 inch Fox Folly(Woohoo!) and had a question about traditional Khukuri handles, reworking them.

The blade on my Fox Folly is perfection but the handle is a bit big and fat for my small hands(for a westerner) so I thought about having some work done on it to slim it down.

Anyone know anyone who works on or can work on slimming down a handle or even re handling a traditional Khukuri?

I wouldn't want to mess with it myself but my dad's a carpenter by trade so I thought I might ask him to just sand it down until it fits my hands.

If that doesn't sound like a good idea I would like a professional to handle it(see what I did there?) slimming it down for my small hands or even re handling the khuk with some custom wood.
Click to expand...
I just bought one exactly the same length. It's a monster yet very light and thin. A vey fast moving blade, yet my handle is fat also. I'll be interested to hear comments.
Thank you
 
It's not magic to slim the handle down. I'd just go at it with a file until you get close to what you want for size, then go to sand paper of progressively finer grits until she's smooth as a babies back side.

I just work it so you take every thing down together, the rings, grooves etc, I just keep everything the same just shrunk.

I'd be happy to do it for you, or I was until you inserted that professional word.
Take that out and we can talk.

I'm uneasy on a full rehandle on the traditional handle although I'm working on one now as a learning experience. I'm gaining a lot of respect for the kami's. I bet they make the whole knife in the time it takes me to make a new handle.
But I have no fear of reducing the diameter/ slimming it down.
 
My opinion: It's really hard to get the shape and proportions right on a rehandle. Suppose you or someone you trust made a new handle. You'd still have to do a lot of shaping/filing/sanding to get the size right for your hand. Right now you have a perfectly good handle that just needs to be filed/sanded down a bit, which is a lot easier than starting from scratch.

If you really want the learning experience, make the new handle and when it's finished then decide whether you want to remove and replace the existing handle. Maybe the best approach would be to buy the cheapest khukuri you can find and practice your rehandling on that one.
 
davidf99 said:
My opinion: It's really hard to get the shape and proportions right on a rehandle. Suppose you or someone you trust made a new handle. You'd still have to do a lot of shaping/filing/sanding to get the size right for your hand. Right now you have a perfectly good handle that just needs to be filed/sanded down a bit, which is a lot easier than starting from scratch.

If you really want the learning experience, make the new handle and when it's finished then decide whether you want to remove and replace the existing handle. Maybe the best approach would be to buy the cheapest khukuri you can find and practice your rehandling on that one.
Click to expand...
The re handle option is probably what I will resort to if the reshaping/slimming doesn't work out since it seems way more complicated then.
 
George Azar said:
I just bought one exactly the same length. It's a monster yet very light and thin. A vey fast moving blade, yet my handle is fat also. I'll be interested to hear comments.
Thank you
Click to expand...
I remember that one! I just missed out on it. Please share some pictures if you would be so kind! The Fox Folly is an amazingly beautiful blade, I can see why Bawanna has such love for the model.
 
Bawanna said:
It's not magic to slim the handle down. I'd just go at it with a file until you get close to what you want for size, then go to sand paper of progressively finer grits until she's smooth as a babies back side.

I just work it so you take every thing down together, the rings, grooves etc, I just keep everything the same just shrunk.

I'd be happy to do it for you, or I was until you inserted that professional word.
Take that out and we can talk.

I'm uneasy on a full rehandle on the traditional handle although I'm working on one now as a learning experience. I'm gaining a lot of respect for the kami's. I bet they make the whole knife in the time it takes me to make a new handle.
But I have no fear of reducing the diameter/ slimming it down.
Click to expand...
I would be honored to have you work on my Fox Folly Bawanna, you may not consider yourself a professional but I've seen your work and pics of your workshop and have always been left amazed at your craftsmanship.

I think it's important to keep the traditional handle shape like you said and just slim everything down together.

If you think it's possible I was thinking to slim the handle down as much as possible without compromising it's structural integrity and try and match the handle in the picture you find on H.I. website showcasing the Fox Folly.


Hope it's okay to borrow this pic from H.I.'s main website, just wanted to show what I was looking for slimmer handle on my own FF.
 
I can't email or PM you but I'll be happy to slim it down for you. All you need is mostly patience. This time of year with so many outside things that need done and wife wanting to go and do stuff I don't get as much time as my room as I'd like.
That being said I hate keeping a persons knife or gun away from them one minute longer than necessary.
I'm one guy that loves being told "go to your room". If it had a refrigerator and a bathroom I could live out my days there happily.
 
I've noticed in the past year or so that Lachhu tends to make handles that are a little fatter than usual, at least recently. Good for some hands, not so good for others. All the kamis try to make the handles proportional to the blade size, and for smaller blades this is a good thing. For larger blades, well, that depends on the user.
 
Bawanna said:
I can't email or PM you but I'll be happy to slim it down for you. All you need is mostly patience. This time of year with so many outside things that need done and wife wanting to go and do stuff I don't get as much time as my room as I'd like.
That being said I hate keeping a persons knife or gun away from them one minute longer than necessary.
I'm one guy that loves being told "go to your room". If it had a refrigerator and a bathroom I could live out my days there happily.
Click to expand...
Thanks Bawanna! Trying to upgrade my membership now to Basic but having issues so will let you know when that gets up and running so I can get PM's.
And no problem just let me know when you have free time on your hands, no rush, your a great guy, thanks again.
 
I'm married with children, I'll never have free time but I do the best I can.
Let me know if I can help getting you into basic. With the new forum layout I haven't played with that yet.

Used to be you paid and then you changed your status yourself.
I see now it looks like a person can gift another person a membership just clicking on their name.
We'll make a plan soon as you figure it out.

If nothing else you can just email Yangdu and tell her to send your email to me.

I'd just post it here but Bookie and his voodoo dolls and stuff, bad enough without opening the door to my email stuff.

Can't be too careful now days.
 
I used to think the same about them large handles but when I got my 20" AK i realized that the larger girth handles index so much better and you actually dont have to hold them near as tight (eg.Kraton etc.) to get the job done. Its a leverage thing as far as the blade twisting on you when your chopping. Your chopping with a bent knife and trying to keep it straight with a small diameter or rubberized hi tech or whatever handle and it just dont work. Get used to the ergonomics first then reduce the girth to fit. Using two hands is just so detrimental that it renders all design elements useless. Take advantage of the ring and properly use the drop of the handle like it was meant to be. Id recommend doing some research on the proper ergonomics of its use before modifying it. Once you take off the girth you cant really put it back. It aint a western blade and shouldn't be treated so. There is no comparison to western Khukris and i wouldnt even call them Khukris. You might notice HI may lengthen their handles to accommodate westerners big wide hands but they dont shrink the girth.
 
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