Knife I found in attic

Khukuri Monster

Khukuri Monster

Joined
Aug 4, 2004
Messages
373
I found this knife in the attic, I believe it may have come from my grandfather, but I'm not sure. It's kind of interesting looking, does anyone know if this particular style of knife has a name?

strange%20knife.jpg


It's about 20" long, and weighs just over a pound, with a lot of distal taper. It feels light and balanced when I swing it around. I think it was hand forged since there were a few forge marks on it, and it is differentially hardened. Unfortunately it was fairly badly rusted, I removed the corrosion with emery cloth but you can still see all the pits that were left over.

Also, I would like to make a handle for this knife by heating the tang with a torch and burning it into a piece of wood. Is there anything I should be aware of before I do this? In particular, should I drill a hole in the block of wood first or similar?
 
Instead of burning it into the wood, drill a hole that the tang fits into snugly, and fill it with acraglas, or 2 ton epoxy, then push the tang into the handle. After it cures, drill a hole about midway down the length of the tang, thru the handle and tang. Run a pin thru the hole and epoxy in place. Is the tang long enough to go all the way thru a block of wood? If so, you could take a page from the kami's book, and peen a buttcap onto it. Just my 2 cents worth.
Kind of a nice looking blade. Wonder how well it's been tempered?
 
If it's sharpened on the flat side, or the side that's facing down in the pic it's called a Wharncliff blade. They're pretty popular right now after not being so much for a long, long, time.

Does a file cut the hardened edge?

Edit:
Listen to Bill. He has steered you right. That's what I would do except I would mix some of the shavings from the drill or sanding dust with enough epoxy or acraglass to fill about the last 1/8" or so of the hole. Doing so will effectively hide the hole you drilled for the tang.
Of course putting a guard or ferrule on it will hide the hole as well.
 
It is sharpened on the flat (bottom) side. The edge seems hard, a file will glide along the edge in the harder part. It is softer towards the tip and towards the tang.

A file bites into the spine easily. The tip was damaged so I had to file down about 1/2" and reshape part of the spine.

The tang is a little over 4" long, which is too short to put a buttcap on. Maybe I could weld on a piece of round rod though to extend the tang. Would this be too weak?
 
Khukuri Monster said:
It is sharpened on the flat (bottom) side. The edge seems hard, a file will glide along the edge in the harder part. It is softer towards the tip and towards the tang.

The tang is a little over 4" long, which is too short to put a buttcap on.
Maybe I could weld on a piece of round rod though to extend the tang. Would this be too weak?
Click to expand...
Not if you cut a groove in the round piece and fit it carefully before you weld it on. Lots of old knives were done that way. I would still pin it like Bill suggested.

Being sharpened on the flat definitely makes it a Wharncliff.
Sounds like a decent blade that should give a lot of service yet.
 
VML I thought the exact same thing about this blade when I saw it, a good binogoan (well maybe its tenegre I always mix the two up) blade from Visayas. But then there is something funky about the file work on the ricasso, as well as the ricasso shape that makes me wonder. The tang also strikes me as a little too long as well. Zelbone on the EEWRS could probably give a positive id, as Visayan blades is his speciality.
 
Federico now that you mention it, I see what you mean about the ricasso. Maybe Zel will get a chance to see it. Very likeable blade shape to me. I've seen pieces referred to as gununting that resemble it.
Regards from Texas
 
Welcome, KM. Tell us more about your interesting location. ;)


Bill has the glue-up instructions right on the money.
 
I'm positive he never visited the Phillipines, maybe he picked it up junking or at a garage sale.

It's amazing how much people know about knives around here...
 
An item like that would likely have been brought back from the Pacific theater by a soldier retuning home. Bolos were often more utilitarian, but I think this one was more of a weapon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top