I'm new to the Khukuris, how do you put a shaving edge on one?

B

Broken Arrow

Joined
Dec 1, 1999
Messages
651
Hello, everyone, I'm new to this world of real Khukuris. I was wondering how do you sharpen one so you can shave with it if needed? I have one of those el-cheapo atlanta cutlery ones, but I think my wife got me a HI Khukeri for Christmas. Thanks for any info.
 
Sharpening a khukuri :

http://www.tx3.net/~howardw/Khukuris/Sharp.htm

Speaking of poor khukuris, I recently got yet another tourist class blade. It is about 16" OAL, and only 1/8" at the spine. It had no edge to speak of as the convex bevel didn't go down that far. The face was about 1/16" of an inch thick. It is kind of sad that this was marketed as "a real gurkha knife". While it does look kind of decent from a distance when it is cleaned up. Anyone using it would have a very poor impression of the quality of blades used by the Gurkhas.

I ground an edge on it and it would not last any length of time at all chopping. This is not surprising as during sharpening (1" slack belt sander) the metal was fracturing instead of being ground evenly. It also failed even the lowest standard of strength as when chopped it into a piece of wood and leaned on the handle so as to split the wood the blade just bent.

It is kind of interesting to watch how people react to the difference in performance between a "kukri" like that and a khukuri from HI. When the 1/8" blade breaks up during chopping or bends during a lateral stress test most people make excuses for the blade "get an axe" etc., I then ask them to repeat what I have done and let them try it with the 18" AK.


-Cliff
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top