I broke my villager (for real)

Roadrunner

Roadrunner

Joined
Jun 9, 1999
Messages
4,729
I know this looks like a late April Fools, but I'm serious. I decided to try to throw my villager model today. It stuck once, but after the second throw the tang snapped off almost even with the blade. It had hit handle first a little bit crooked, but I wasn't throwing with all my might or anything, I was actually just sort of lobbing it and letting the weight do all the work. My question to Uncle Bill is whether or not this is covered by the warranty. I understand that throwing would definitely be considered abuse, but I thought it would be worth asking anyway. Thanks in advance.
 
I wouldn't think damage by throwing the khukuri would be covered by Uncle Bill. They weren't made for throwing, just for cutting,chopping and utility work.
God Bless.
Terry
 
My suggestion would be:

A. Search for threads on how to fix the blade yourself.

B. If you want a throwing knife, buy one. There are plenty out there for under $20. Khukuris are not throwing knives.
 
I believe non-HI Villager models are usually sold "as is." They are usually good value, but they wouldn't be covered by warranty.

It would be interesting to see some pictures of your knife. Perhaps someone can come up with some suggestions on how to fix it.

n2s
 
I generally try to replace every knife that is broken but the chances of getting any villagers right now are next to nothing and I can't afford to replace villagers with HI products.

You have two choices.

1) get the tang welded back. Couple hours work and ten bucks to the welder.

2) send the knife back and wait until something comes along to replace it with. You'll have to bug me from time to time so I don't forget about it.

Advice: Don't use your khukuri as a throwing knife unless you are an expert. Two, if you are bound to throw a khukuri and really don't know how get a chiruwa style and count on breaking the slabs off the handle.
 
Roadrunner, The first thing you might think about when you think about throwing knives, axes, or tomahawks. In most cases once you throw that weapon what have you got to defend yourself. I really have been places where if I had thrown my Randall made Bowie I would have been weaponless. Not too good a feeling.

Your knife may never be a chopper again. I know they can be repaired and look pretty good, but I don't think I would trust it to the heavy work that it was originally used for.

If Uncle Bill finds you a replacement. You should thank your lucky stars. The villages are fairly inexpensive and are not HI products, of which I can not imagine any one throwing. The HI's are covered from what I can see so far even from breakage and damage. I know that s__t happens even when one is trying to be very careful.

Don't throw no more Khuks. My son says there is some guys in Austin, TX throwing Khuks but they don't look like any of HI's Khuks.

Some of these cat working in the welding shops do some pretty fancy work with the torches and good steel welding rods.

Good luck!
 
I own ten khuks. The tenth and last one I purchased (a panawal) was a blem. The slabs were loose. While I don't really use my khuks, I decided this one was to be abused, so's I can really come up for all my khuks if it doesn't break. If this one can take it, it's a testimonial to the others lying peacefully in my suitcase.
Wife: "What are you doing?"
Me: "Chopping down some branches from this dead louquat tree."
Wife: "What have you got there?"
Me: "The Panawal."
Wife: "What?"
Me: "One of my khukuris."
Wife: "I'll bring you the saw."
Me: "No thanks, I'm all right."
Wife: "Why are you mucking up your khukuri?"
Me: "It's the Panawal. It's shot already. I'm gonna use it like any tool. It must work for me."
Wife: "Use the saw instead."
Me: "Have you seen this baby chop? This isn't a tourist khuk!"
Wife: "Your hands will get blistery an' all."
Me: "That's me AND the khuk that'll get put through the paces. I put this bit of tape around the loose slabs."
Wife: "You're gonna break it, swinging it like that."
Me: "No fear! Not with honest work. Mebbe if I throw it, or use it like it's not supposed to. But it's MADE for cutting an' chopping."
Wife: "That khukuri's getting all grungy. You're gonna have a hard time cleaning it afterwards."
Me: "Nope. Gonna throw it in the shed after use, together with all my other tools."
Wife: "When your folks come, how will you be able to show off your whole collection if this one is in the dust amongst your tools?"
Me: "That's the point! I'll take them to the shed first. Show them this workhorse, all scratched and mucky. Show 'em a khuk is made to do a real job of work. Then we go into the house an' I haul out the shiny ones. They'll not doubt that those are also able to work hard!"
Wife: "Why are you breathing so hard? I'll get you the saw."
Me: "Let's have some coffee, that's a good girl!"
 
Failures at the blade/tang junction seem to be the most common failure mode for khukuris. It is usually the result of improper hardening of that area.

Quality control is difficult for khukuris made in the villages. There is no way to test the hardness at that junction.

I suspect this knife may have broken under normal use also. More common damage to be expected from throwing khukuris is damage to the handle. You are fortunate to have discovered this defect at a time when you did not need the knife. I recommend hard chopping with any new khukuri that is going to be relied upon in the field, to discover if such a hidden defect exists. Almost all such defects will be discovered after a few minutes hard chopping and prying.

I would take Bill up on his exchange offer if I owned the knife.

If you chose to repair the knife, a welded junction should be stronger than the original knife. Have the welder heat the whole tang area and let it cool slowly. The steel should be soft in this area.
 
Wow, thanks for all of the replies. First, in case my first post was misunderstood, I understand that throwing is a little above and beyond the abuse which any good using knife is expected to endure(note that I used my villager as a test subject, not my HI Gelbu Special). The more I've thought about it, I can see now how even a light throw could put much more stress on the tang than it would see in normal use. I have invested in a dedicated throwing knife now which seems to be working better. Thanks for all of the suggestions also, and thank you Uncle Bill for the quick response. I think that I'll call this one my mistake, I don't want to put either of us through the hassle of getting a replacement, especially since I won't be at this address much longer. I'm on leave from the Army at the moment, but I'll be going to Korea very shortly so I'm sure that shipping would be a nightmare. No hard feelings, it sure was a good learning experience though!
 
We learn from experience. I hear I have one villager in the air. If and when it shows up it's yours.

Speaking of experience -- I have a pal who throws khukuris. He can hit a playing card at 10 paces every time. He's been at it about 30 years but he won't tell me how many khukuris he damaged or destroyed getting to where he is at present.
 
Howard Wallace :

I suspect this knife may have broken under normal use also.
Click to expand...

I would agree to Howard here, heavy pounding and chopping will also exert very large forces on the khukuri. If for example you took the khukuri and reversed it and used the spine as a hammer you could easily generate more force than a throw. I can anyway, as I don't throw that heavy as its hard to control. I don't throw khukuris though as the edge can get manged if you miss the target and you can knock the handle (not the tang) apart.

-Cliff
 
Personally, I wouldn't try and weld the tang back on.

Even if you're a skilful welder (or get one to do the job for you), there are various factors at work against your chances of success.

1.You'll be joining two pieces of high carbon steel with low carbon steel (welding rod). Although the join, once ground out, may look like it's back to being one piece of metal, it's still two pieces of Material Type A held together by a dab of Material Type B. The join will always be a potential weak spot.

2. The welding process will anneal (soften) the steel at the base of the blade. I welded my 30" Kobra when the tang busted off. Under hard use, the weld held up, but the blade tore apart right through the cho, like toffee, because the weld had softened up the steel

3. Welding introduces enormous stresses into the steel of the blade, doing nasty & unpredictable things to its crystalline structure. As well as annealing the steel, it can sometimes have the reverse effect and spot-harden it, making the blade brittle.

(This is why the cheapskate Spanish, Chinese and Filipino swords with welded-on rat-tail tangs are accidents waiting to happen. Nine time sout of ten, when they fail, they fail at the junction of tang and blade. Doesn't matter if the welding was done before the heat treatment - in fact, that can be worse, as the high-carbon steel reacts differently to the heat than the low-carbon weld, creating a weak spot)

If you want to weld the khuk up and hang it on the wall, fine. Personally, I wouldn't ever use it again. Imagine what might happen if the blade shore off during heavy chopping and went flying through the air - now that (as Crocodile Dundee would say) is what I call a throwing knife...
 
I've welded some tangs back together with good success (not one ever failed) BUT I either did the welding with the blade in a can of water high enough to go past the cho OR I wrapped the blade right down to the weld in a water soaked towel.

Samurai Dave had a couple of tangs welded and so far I think they both have held up well.
 
Thanks again for all of the suggestions. Right now I don't think that I'll be fixing it any time soon, if at all. It's a nice enough blade, but it doesn't really speak to me, not so much that I want to put that much effort into it. Uncle Bill, I'd be interested in taking a replacement if you get it soon enough and don't mind the hassle. Please e-mail me if that villager you're expecting comes in. If that works out, do you want the broken blade back? I'd be glad to ship it to you.
 
We'll work it out. I think Samurai Dave can save that knife so we may send it directly to him if he's interested.
 
Sorry,
I have projects out the wazoo along with finals coming around. And on top of all that the Department of Defence decided to make my life harder by giving me another later date for Boot, so I gotta go figure out what summer school classes are still available.

The BAS that I have is going to get shipped off someplace for cryogenic treatment soon. (I dont know where yet, havent got around to it.) But it has 2 welds in 2 places in the tang. If it holds up anything can.

Roadrunner, I'd go ahead and check out the threads on fixing the thing. It is worth the knowledge and the most complex part is finding a place that will weld it. It isnt that hard, just time consumeing. On a Villager you could probably do it in one Saturday. (Of course you could be like me and have all your weekdays and weekends occupied.)

Oh yeah, I have my Naginata 90% finished, now I have to start saving and find time to get that last 10% done. Maybe this weekend:rolleyes:

(Now I know why my father can never complete a thought, too much stuff to get done NOW!)
 
Here is an idea for you: A friend of mine has a shop and he could fix the villager:). I would like to buy it:D and have him weld it back together for me. Roadrunner and Uncle Bill, what do you say?
 
Roadrunner,

I just got a H&B Forge throwing knife for my birthday. weather has been nasty here so I've not had too many chances to test it out. My first impression is that this is a fine throwing knife! It is very large and well made. I have two cold steel throwers and this knife has already out preformed them.

This info is from the H&B Forge website..
http://www.hbforge.com/index.html

The finest throwing knives on the market today are made by H and B Forge. Tens of thousands of them have been sold over the last 35 years. They may be thrown from the blade as well as from the handle. 14 " long and constructed of 3/16", 41-40 steel with indestructible leather handles, they are ideal for shooting matches, rendezvous, etc. They have continued to be one of the most popular throwing knives in America today.

Good luck throwing!
 
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