Holy Cow. Talk about necroposting... I just found this thread and noticed that Joeshred had one of the khukuris I made many years ago. As I remember it took me almost as long to make the sheath as it did to make the knives. The handles were tiger maple, and the by knives were not damascus, but were forged. The large blade wasn't forged as I used A1 or D2 if I remember right. I used to put the date on one side, signature on the other side, and often put the kind of steel used on the knife also. I don't think I used D2 on many Khukuri's though as it isn't as shock absorbent at the A2. A2 was one of my favorite steels to use because of it's toughness, and how hot it had to get before the temper would be effected. With the A2 I used, I would often send the knives to a commercial heat treat lab, and also have them do a sub zero quench.
Before the temper or hardness could be changed, the A2 would have to get really hot...the way I figured it, if someone had to poke around in a fire with the knife for a little while, it wouldn't hurt the temper if the knife got up to around 400F...awfully damn hot.
My signature line changed from time to time. I have used AAB where the three letters were tied together, one that looked like an 8 with a line through it, three dots in a triangle shape, and the initials AAB in a rounded cursive script done with an electric pencil.
When I looked at the khukuri, there were a few things I wanted to change in the design to make them more useful for me. The traditional shape of the handle always dug unto my little finger, so I wanted to have that area flatter. I also liked a full tang better than stick tang for obvious strength reasons. The extra weight of the heavy brass on the handle was to offset the weight of the heavy blade a bit.
Traditional khukuris have a burnisher, and small knife. I figured that a true survival knife should have an actual sharpener, fire starter, AND a couple of smaller knives for little chores like skinning and eating.
Thanks for the nice things said about my knife. I think I only made a half dozen khukuri's or something like that. I made what pleased me in knives, and never took orders because then I would have had people asking "Where the hell is the knife I ordered?" and that would have ruined a perfectly good stress relieving pursuit. Maybe I should try making a few more...they really don't take all that long to make. The sheath's on the other hand....
Anyhow, the stuff about me being hard to find is correct. I'll try and modify the site here so folks can send me emails.
rifleace@aol.com is a valid email though..put something in the RE: line about this site, or khukuri's though please so I know it isn't spam...
All the best to everyone,
Alan B.
i have one myself but i have been too chicken to bugger mine up
