How are the bolsters made?

ferguson

ferguson

Joined
Feb 21, 2001
Messages
4,238
I would love to know how the bolsters are made on the khukuris. Does anyone have any pictures of a Kami making the bolsters?

In the faq, there are some pics of Bura with some pieces of sheet brass that I suspect were bolsters in the making, but I can't figure out how they are formed. Anybody?

Thanks,

Steve
 
In this picture, Bura has brass pieces cut out that may be bolsters. Ideas about the next step?

Steve
attachment.php
 
Steve unless I'm mistaken the pix of Bura is showing him making the handle for the Royal Banspati.
There were two versions of this knife, a 27" and an 18" IIRC. I have the 27", both versions along with their karda and chakma were brass handled. They are very beautifully carved with the Tashi Dil carvings, but very smelly as the brass from that part of the world tends to be.:barf: :barf: :barf: :barf:

The bolsters are made with a set of small anvils made just for that purpose.
I thought there was a pic of them on the website.:confused:
I don't recall the kami that was using them, but it seems as if it were Kumar. again,:confused:. ;)
 
Steve,
As I told you in our personal conversations this seems to be the most elusive process to be done by the many "expert" knife makers I have asked here in America. They all can do it as a solid piece and attach to the blade, or drilled out, or this or that, but even after showing them a completed bolster seperately they just cannot do it.

In the tape done long ago by the now defunct Gurkha House, they show two small sheets of brass pounded over hardened wooden molds or 'anvils' as YVSA correctly points out made just for that purpose. But that is only for one type of grip and blade.

It's an art to us and very common to the kamis I've spoken to. "You get a little piece of metal sahib, bend it, hit it, solder and fit it and it's all done. Very simple." Yeah, maybe to them.
 
:confused:

Why is this more dificult to grasp than pounding out a bowl or helmet from sheet stock?

Just last week on television, I watched some coppersmiths reproduce some near-life-size, detailed hollow copper decorative lions for a belltower restoration project by exactly this process. head alone consisted of at least six pieces soldered together.

I think that the quest for CMC-like perfection has driven some of the makers into a rut. Not their fault, it's what their customers seem to want.
 
a while back, and here's the answer:

The handle is fitted, to the blade tthen laha spread into any cracks, then the bolster is made from a sheet of metal, shaped, then soldered in place onto he khuk.

Keith
 
Here's one pic of a bolster being made.

sanu%20at%20work.jpg


Off to look for some more if I can find them.:)

Oopsie.:mad:

Here's another...
PrakeshHandles1.jpg


And another...
PrakeshHandles2.jpg


They're not the clearest pix, but in the last few you can at least see the bolster anvils and the small hammers that are used.
 
I've tried making brass bolsters and steel bolsters from flat metal. I've tried soldering, brazing, and welding to join the ends into a ring. They all had one thing in common -- looked terrible.
I've seen the G.H. video and made small anvils from railroad spikes; the bolsters still looked bad.
The best luck so far has been starting with 1.5" hollow steel fence post, cutting it to length, heating it red and hammering it to shape. These bolsters still looked pretty bad, but at least there wasn't an ugly weld or solder joint.
Forming buttcaps is also much harder than it looks; an even domed shape without hammer marks sounds simple enough until you try doing it.
The kamis have a wider range of talents than we think.
 
Originally posted by Art S.
The kamis have a wider range of talents than we think.
Click to expand...

I agree Art. The bolsters and buttcaps the kamis make have quite a lot of fileing done on them to make them look as nice as they do though. I happened to get one khuk where the edge of the bolster and the handle hadn't been totally cleaned up and there was a good 1/32" burr at the junction I had to carefully file away.
I believe the brass they use is quite a bit thicker than what we realize, maybe even 1/16" thick!
Even at that it's quite a trick to get the beveled part of the bolsters as even as they do.
What amazes me is the preciseness of the joints on the Royal Banspati handle.
Bura makes a sort of square dovetail type joint that he solders together. In addition to the very narrow seams the multiple fits that make up this handle is beyond belief!!!!
Bill says Bura uses no pattern or anything, just cuts the brass out and then solders it together.:eek:
A series of close, well focused pix or a video on the bolsters and perhaps the Royal Banspati handle would be as interesting as the video on the khuks!!!!!!!:cool: :D
 
The things that we could do now if we'd started learning them 40 years ago.
 
Have a video by another company in Nepal that makes Khukuris. Won't mention the name out of respect for Uncle Bill. It shows the Kamis cutting a piece of brass then hammering it around a mandril to shape. They then solder it together and use Laha to glue it to the handle and blade when it all goes together.
 
That's kinda how I envisioned it. I've made a few helms and arm armor (or arm harness, as it is called), and I can say that the kamis got skilz wit da hammah.

Keith
 
Ill have to upload some pics of kris hilt I made recently. It features a bolster I made of sheet brass. Simple fittings, but functional. Anyways, Im always amazed how much easier brass is to work with once its annealed. Just like folding paper or aluminum foil. Ive found the easiest way to hide the solder seam is not to do a straight butted joint, but have it overlap just a little bit. A little filing, and walah invisible seam.
 
Thanks Fed,
I didn't mention that they do anneal the brass before they work it. Helps with about any metal. I believe that the kamis in general use the overlap style of making the joints in the bolsters too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top