Knifemakers--How Are Fullers Made?

[Drdan]

A recent post by munk brought up a few questions for me...

I have several fullered khukuris, and I'm interested in knowing just how they are carved (or pounded) into the steel. On my knives, they line up exactly on each side; how is that achieved?

Thanks!

 

[donutsrule]

http://www.anvilfire.com/iForge/tutor/jd_fuller2/top_index.htm

^^^You can keep the fullering symetric by use of one round bit above your blade and one below.

 

[donutsrule]

Another pic of a spring fuller partway down this page:
Spring Fuller

 

[Drdan]

Thanks for the link; they explain it well, and I can now see why they can be made so precisely. :thumbup:

 

[Russ Kay]

I seem to recall Dan Koster saying that the kamis put them in using something like a die grinder, not forging at all.

 

[donutsrule]

I seem to recall Dan Koster saying that the kamis put them in using something like a die grinder, not forging at all.

Maybe that's for the AK models?

I can see the hammer marks in my FFF (which I find to be beautiful), and I think it took a lot of pounding to get the steel that thin to begin with.

 

[Yvsa]

My *as forged Hanuman* has the fullers pounded in. They may be finished with a die grinder of some sort but they are definitely forged in place to start with.:thumbup:

 

[Dave Rishar]

Some (but not all) of the fullers in my pieces have hammer marks in, on, and around them. I'd have to assume that at least some of them are forged.

 

[Daniel Koster]

The only khukuri I've made with fullers so far was a three-stage process:

1 - Forge the fullers in with a spring-fullering tool
2 - straighten them with an angle grinder
3 - smooth it out with a 3" wheel on the belt sander


I have a video of them using an angle grinder to put in the fullers at BirGorkha. This leaves little divits in the blades...are you sure you're not mistaking these divits for hammer marks?


Note: that spring-fullering tool shown above would not work to put fullers in a khukuri....that kind is used for fullering a blood groove. This is the kind that you have to use:

Otherwise you won't be able to get the curves in the fuller. Also, notice that the fullers vary in depth from start to finish.


The other option is to use a ball-peen hammer with a fuller hardy:

Lots of room for error either way..........I imagine I'll get good at this after a few dozen more....


I asked JP about fullering and he said that historically they did indeed forge them in (duh...no electricity)...but that as long as there have been grinders around, they've been using those to speed things up.

I'm not saying the fullers aren't forged in....I'm just saying that I asked for a video showing how they made the fullers and they sent one showing them using an angle grinder.

 

[sams]

Thanks for the info Dan. I wondered how they did fullers in Nepal myself.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Good stuff, Dan. Thanks.

Now you've got me thinking about that video again.

 

[Daniel Koster]

I'd be happy to send a copy of these CDs (3) to anybody who would be willing to convert them to streamable video (wmv, mpg, mov, etc.)

But I'm only going to make one copy and that person needs to guarantee me that they can and will get the job done right.

 

[Drdan]

I had always assumed that the kamis forged the fullers with some unique tool as depicted above. Grinding is probably faster, and I'd guess that less skill is needed.