Handles by Fir. Pix. Nice stuff.

Thanks for posting those, Uncle.

Someday I'll have to figure out how to use the little chunk of webspace my ISP provides.

Main point of the wooden handle pix is to illustrate what looks like three different kinds of wood to me. Woodchuck comments?

The horn handle could use a good buffing, which I haven't gotten around to. May not either, since it's on a 15" AK that I use for odd jobs in the house and garden.
 
How come my handles don't look like that? :(

Did you carve the last one yourself? Very nice.
 
Did you carve the last one yourself? Very nice.
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Yes, and I know it shows! A lot of the imperfections should polish out with a little more work.

Main point, is if I can do that equipped with an X-acto knife, a hacksaw blade, emory paper, and a good allotment of patience, someone with real tools and any amount of experience or skill should be able to do much better with a horn handle. The wide ring is what I did first, and I think it's the most important for increasing grip and control. Easiest to do also. I found the other two areas more dificult to work and mistakes are tougher to hide or correct. No excuse for anyone to have slippery horn handles. If I can do this, most if not all here should be able to do better.
 
firkin,

Interested in doing another one? (my expense)

Dan
 
...Interested in doing another one?...
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Yes, but the next few gotta be mine! No way am I going to risk anybody else's khuk after only doing one. You flatter me.

I have a couple posts up on how I did it though; I really believe that any one can carve the big ring on the handle like I did if they just lay it out and proceed slowly.

Ask me again after I've been able to buy a more horn-handled khuks and seen that I can do better than this.:) I'm definitely interested enough to look at buying better tools when finances allow. Besides Uncle has said that when things are back to normal and special orders resume, around $25 extra gets you a carved handle done by a Nepali artist. Hard to beat that.
 
Firkin:

Thanks for posting the horn handle. You described the carving that you did, but I was having trouble picturing it. It looks great, and ought to solve the problem of a slippery horn handle.

S.
 
While we're on this subject, I'd like to put up a lil' unsolicited testimonial (OK, call it spam if you'd rather) for a friend of mine.

He's a professional wood-checkerer and engraver by trade. At one time he did a lot of engraving for the high-class London shotgun makers, and he's one of the few people I've come across who can engrave a replacement part on a top-quality antique gun - a hammer or a trigger-guard or a breech-plug - so that you'd never ever guess it wasn't the original part. That takes some doing.

These days, what with the death of the British gun trade, he's not nearly as busy as he used to be; and his prices for engraving and checkering are *cheap* - from around 25 UKP for a monogram and scrolled border, or a dog-and-pheasant motif.

So; if anybody likes the idea of treating a cherished khuk to a trip to the beauty parlor, please bear him in mind. I can pass on his e-mail address on request. (Please note that because of UK laws, it'd be an infinity of hassle to send him gun work, unless it's on something small & detachable, such as a lock plate)
 
Reading about what Firkin did made me more enthusiastic for a handle job I want to do. I have this India-made Jungle Fighter which was sent to me as a gift by a forumite from the USA about six months ago. The blade is really very nice, but the mediocre horn handle is VERY short indeed and the brass buttplate not too nicely done - not an HI product! It detracts from the overall quality of my collection, so something has to be done. I want to make a longer handle for this khuk, from wood. I'll grind off the peened-over mousetail tang, remove and discard the buttplate and the handle. Then I'll braze a length of threaded rod onto the end of the tang, to lengthen it in preparation for a proper size handle. The handle will be cut from some nice dense red-brown wood, long enough for my hand, and inletted onto the tang and into the brass bolster. The handle must have a recess in the butt end, to receive a nut. The nut will be screwed tight out of sight inside the handle, and I can plug the hole with something. The handle should have proper khukuri-type rings. Do you guys think this procedure will work if I don't make a hash of it along the way?

"The best laid plans of mice and men......" Skakespeare, I think.
 
If I had an address I would send you a couple of tools that I have in a drawer that I have never used for checkering. The one liners would be best for the round handles on Khuks I think. There are a couple of other bit for the handles. If you don't want them maybe someone else might want them. Yes I still have some for myself.:) :) :D
 
Pappy, I would be delighted and honored to receive and use those tools if they're truely "extra". How generous. I'll contact you by email. If I reach the point where I trust myself to work on other's property, I'll work on a handle for you in return if you like.
 
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