Help on Khukuri "restoration"

G

Geoffrey Raiser

Joined
Sep 24, 2003
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118
I’ve recently purchase a nice antique Bhojpure through Atlanta Cutlery and would like to clean it up, but I don’t want to ruin its value as an antique. How far can/should I go with it? I certainly want to remove the cosmoline, and I would like to use Murphy’s Oil Soap on the wood (or maybe mineral spirits?) to remove the grime, followed up with a bit of linseed oil or Johnson’s paste wax.

I would like to rub down the blade and bolster with liberally oiled fine steel wool to remove any red rust, but I want to leave the patina on the steel.

I’m comfortable that doing the above won’t hurt the historical value much, but I would really like advice about restoring the edge. It’s not too dull as it is, but I would like it a bit sharper. Is it OK to use a steel on it to realign the edge and then lightly strop it? I believe that this would restore it to very usable sharpness, but it would also remove some of the blade’s history. As it is now it has quite a number of small nicks and one chip. These may have been caused by rough treatment in storage, but it’s nice to think that they were from hard use in the field. (I don’t intend to try repairing the chip.)

I don’t think I’ll ever put this khurkri to any real use, but I would like to have it in good “working” condition. Is what I’m thinking about doing to it a sacrilege?

Thanks for your advice!

Geoffrey
 
Geoffrey-- John Powell is the resident expert on historical khukuris. Listen to whatever he tells you concerning restoration techniques:)
--Josh
 
GR, check the thread in this forum "Tips, thricks, and useful finds." It addresses cleaning the wood.

TAL
 
If you're not going to use the khukuri, then it's best not to do anything to the edge. If a friend makes a negative comment about how sharp it is, ask him how sharp he'd be after a century in a warehouse.
 
I'd be interested to hear from anybody who HAS cleaned and sharpened one up and used it. True they are a collectors item, but the price is not much more than a new one.
 
As far as I'm concerned, having a dull knife decreases its value. Now, that doesn't mean you should take it to the grinder, but I think what you outlined above would be just fine. Sure, it might remove some of the "history" but at what cost? Are you really hurting the resale value? IMO, no. In my experience, a carefully sharpened knife (that shows no signs of "modern sharpening methods") garners more $$$ at a show because folks are impressed with its sharpness.

Someone more powerful than me once said: "It ain't a knife, if it ain't sharp" - or something like that.

And I do think that collectors sometime get a bit too antsy-pantsy about things like this because they don't like "intervention". But if you can't find a buyer for your knife...then the real "resale value" is ZERO.

Anyway, I'm sure others will chime in with conflicting views. My views come from reconditioning and reselling all types of antiques for about 8 years now; from chairs to tables to mirrors to knives, up to 150 yrs. old.

I say, if it makes you feel better about it, sharpen it. The value might drop 10% "on paper" but then when you use it for a "paper-cutting" demonstration at a show, you'll surely make up for it. $ :D $
 
Fine steel wool will take off all the surface gunk and leave the patina alone. Be aggressive if the rust is "red" and deep. Use a commercial paint remover, follow the directions and then go at it with a stiff tootbrush and toothpicks to get what's left from cracks and crevices. Repeat process at least twice and let dry between any applications. You can even put some hard elbow grease behing very fine steel wool to polish it up and rub, rub, rub with a chamois. The patina is quite deep.

I disagree with Pen about "if it's not sharp, it's not a knife". I would never sharpen an antique since there's no need to and it sharply decreases the value. If a buyer wants a sharp knife, buy a new one. A true collector restores, not reconditions.

I am a huge fan of the bhojpure these guys are selling. It is more than ready to be brought back to use and is as solid and well made of any new knife. I keep them as old treasures, but those who buy them to use have a great kukri in their hands. I have already seen one that was completely restored, sharpened and polished and I must say it's most impressive.
 
My resident experts, the dust bunnies, do not restore anything. No help from them on this one.
 
"I have already seen one that was completely restored, sharpened and polished and I must say it's most impressive."

I'd love to see a picture of one like that if you ever run into one.
 
Originally posted by hollowdweller
"I have already seen one that was completely restored, sharpened and polished and I must say it's most impressive."

I'd love to see a picture of one like that if you ever run into one.
Click to expand...

That's what I would do, if I decide to go that route at some point.
and I will post pics. My friend has a nice Digital Canon Rebel 2000 SLR that would be ideal <grins>
 
Thanks, everyone, for your most generous and excellent advice. I'll try the paint remover on the wood and be sure to get any and all red rust off the steel. I think I'll leave the edge alone; it is, after all, still reasonably functional.

I'm tempted to order another one of these from AC and refurbish the "poorer" one for real use. These are quite nice...

Best regards,

Geoffrey

PS- Uncle Bill, the thoughts of my wife and I are with you... your approach to life is genuine inspiration!
 
Use the paint remover on the entire knife. It takes cosmoline and grease right off. Just make sure everything is dry before you go at it again.

No picture on the refurbished AC bhojpure. The guy showed it to me in person and he did a helluva job. The wood had a beautiful grain and all he did was wax it.
 
Geoffrey:

If you obtained that khuk to speculate on its resale value, procedures for restoring antiques should be followed. On the other hand, 150 years from now somebody else is going to own that khuk, and its collector's value might hinge on the heroic/notable things you did with it "in the early 21st century." By putting it back to work, you may be adding history to it, not subtracting it.
 
Originally posted by cliff355
By putting it back to work, you may be adding history to it, not subtracting it.
Click to expand...
cliff - I couldn't agree more.

I think it's this idea that separates collectors from users. It's interesting that the user and collector are both monetarily bound to their knife: one as an artifact, the other as a tool. Both work tirelessly to preserve and maintain.

This argument, in one form or another, has been around for a long time. To be perfectly honest, I've sat on both sides of the fence. Right now, I'm somewhere in the middle.


Here's the interesting part:


How did the khukuri gain historic value in the first place? 9 times out of 10, by being used. That's what connects us with the past.

I do get caught up sometimes, just by looking at an old knife and imagining the times it has seen, places it has been. However, it pales in comparison to the feeling I get when I actually put the thing to use.

I know that this is at odds with what others have said and I'm ok with that. Like I said, I've done battle from both sides... :rolleyes:

Dan
 
Well, I certainly hope my comments were not misconstrued as criticism of collectors. I just don't have the funds or space to assemble collections myself. In my next life I'm planning to have alot more money though, and reside in a small living quarters attached to a large warehouse.

Aside from this, I was sanding down another old karda last night and ran into a dark stain which was too deep to remove. Eventually I gave up and rubbed some Ballistol on it and the handle immediately turned the same color as the stain.

Possibly this stain was originally caused by Ballistol, if the karda was from a WWI khuk which visited the Western Front. Ballistol was used extensively on the north side of the trenchline, and there was probably alot of it lying around.

Anyway, it certainly evened out the appearance of the handle and was a reasonably authentic means of doing so, since Ballistol is an old and hoary substance itself.
 
I got a bhojpure along with a batch of 10 very rusty kardas and chakmas.

Before reading all this, I used WD-40 to get the glop off the blade, but haven't touched the handle yet. The blade has a nice patina, but also a reddish stain (looks like maybe a spill of some kind) at the middle of the belly and some globs of dark stuff clinging to the blade (laha, maybe?). The blade is pretty sharp, and has a few nicks that could either be from use or just rough storage and transportation.

The blade also displays some side-side movement in the handle and looking straight down at the spine it seems to lean to one side a bit. Either the laha melted, or the khukuri took a lateral hit or was at the very bottom of a big pile. Since this model is not peened at the back, is the tang just sticking in what's left of the laha? Since I was not planning to put this one into use anytime soon, this is not a great concern, but if it's something I can fix or reheat and reset easily, I might try it at some point.

I'll be reading everything I can find here on blade and handle treatments (hopefully with easy-to-find tools/chemicals/oils).:)
 
Hopefully I will succeed in posting a picture of a khuk/karda maintenance aid recently constructed out of old junk in the garage. The pedestal is from a Craftsman table saw, circa 1960 and the big vice is an inexpensive Chinese copy of the Wilton product. I made a base for the secondary vice (drill press vice) out of 2 x 4s and the outfit accomplishes about the same thing as a pattern maker's vice at about 1/5th the cost. The whole thing is pretty heavy, and rolls on locking rubber casters.

The big vice can be swiveled so that a khuk blade does not extend beyond the edge of the table, thus minimizing the chances of gutting oneself while walking past it. Also, leather pads are attached to the jaws of the smaller vice with double stick tape.

This is pretty handy for sanding down AC kardas, and honing khuks with a strop. It will also be good firewood when I get up the ambition to make a more attractive looking thing.

Now, if I could figure out how to get this shot from being an attachment to part of the text, I'd be in business.

attachment.php
 

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quote:
Now, if I could figure out how to get this shot from being an attachment to part of the text, I'd be in business.

Here you go.....

attachment.php


I hope.:rolleyes: ;)
 
I never have put my 4" Wilton on my bench, but I'm missing the swivel base for it.
I've threatened to mount it on a 2X4 so that I could mount it in either wood vice on my bench, probably work half way decent like that.;)
 
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