Making it your own...

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May 3, 2002
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I just finished reading Kendo's thread about his work on the Yvsa special and it made me want to share. About two months ago I bought a villager from Uncle Bill for a "hard use" knife. I have an assortment of HI kukris that are fine knives, but the reasoning went along the lines of: I have a WW2 and a 15 inch siru but their both Buras and I don't really want to mess them up. Chitlangi? More of a weapon. 20" ang kola? Love it, but I cant lug it around the woods all day. So the villager it was. Unfortunatly the first few times out showed a problem: the handle kept slipping around and exposing a razor sharp edge at the bottom that sliced my hand. After trying to peen down the buttcap to keep things in place and having the same thing happen again, it was apparent that other measures were called for. I examined the situation: Excellent blade, Good solid sheath and good wood for the handle. This was a keeper and I would simply have to establish dominance. :rolleyes: I drilled out the aluminum rivet that held the handle in place,liberally coated the inside of the handle slabs as well as the tang with two to epoxy :D and replaced the rivets with copper tubing filed to form and flared at the ends. The buttcap went away and left a finished wooden handle. I smoothed out all the sharp edges while I was at it and now holding this kuk is like petting a friendly cat. I am planning on taking pics and will post if someone will just tell me how:confused:

Back to lurk mode.
 
yep it is rather fun i find now when things are wrong with the khuks,you have to fix em up an personalise em. making them more unique.
as for the users,i couldant stand to see all my khuks just hangin on the wall,so i have passed some on to my sons, good excuse why i need to get more. :rolleyes: ;)
i cant realy help with the pics, i dont know either ???/.
wouldant mind an email pic from you though. regards Kendo
kendo@dodo.com.au :D :D
 
The knives we modify ourselves tend to become our favorites. Anybody want to tackle the "why" of this observation?
 
Originally posted by Bill Martino
The knives we modify ourselves tend to become our favorites. Anybody want to tackle the "why" of this observation?
Click to expand...

We put a little or alot of our self into it. We become one with the item. THAN story time! I remember the problem with this and this is what I did to fix it! Another story to add to our long list of stories thru out our life! Not to mention the satisfaction!
 
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Originally posted by Bill Martino
The knives we modify ourselves tend to become our favorites. Anybody want to tackle the "why" of this observation?
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In my case, the ones I use most are the ones that tend to get fiddled with; a handle that's too wide for my little girlie hands gets thinned down, then wrapped in suede for a non-slip grip; the finish on woodwork gets scratched up in use, so a new finish is applied; an edge gets chipped by a lurking stone and needs reprofiling; a karda falls out of the scabbard and a new one is made to replace it. My attitude is, to treat each instance of minor accidental damage as an opportunity to fine-tune the knife to my needs & preferences.

Since the places and ways in which the knife gets damaged in everyday use tend to highlight the areas in which modification is desirable, the knife in effect 'evolves'; its weaknesses are weeded out and fixed, and as time goes on the knife becomes more and more suited to its purpose, and therefore more & more indispensible.

The other category of favorites (this doesn't apply to HI products, for obvious reasons) are old wrecks I buy cheap and nurse back to health; for example, I bought an old, basically good quality WW1 vintage khuk whose handle was a bundle of splinters, and whose blade was notched and missing the front inch or so. I got it very cheap, spent a lot of time renovating it, and now have a 'favorite' working khuk with a custom handle exactly how I want it, and a blade reprofiled to suit my taste.
 
Just finished up the work on the villager and decided to add some decorative "jimping" or filework to the spine of the blade. I'll have to say that I'm pretty pleased with the overall effect and I definately have "my" knife now. :cool:
 
After reading all the posts on how to take off rust,I got interested,none of my K's get rust! I left one out (no oil no tuff cloth etc! Well shes rusted real well now!! Great!! NOW I get to try some stuff!
jim(Saint):cool:
 
Long before the dot.com world washed over us, folks would 'invest' of themselves in the creation, or repair, or maintenance of their possessions. There was a sense of pride of ownership than came from the effort to fix a toaster, or time a car, or build a bookcase.

That 'investment' of self...in other views, became 'sweat-equity', for instance, in the home-building, or a spiritual investment in the care of another. Humans take ownership in a sense that often has nothing to do with having a name on the title...but in the sense that part of who and what we are becomes a part of the project or person, and as the objects of our various investments fare...in a sense, so do we. We are often not even aware of what we have invested ourselves in.

an·i·ma (ãn'ə-m&#601)
n.
The inner self of an individual; the soul.
In Jungian psychology:
The unconscious or true inner self of an individual, as opposed to the persona, or outer aspect of the personality.

That 'inner self' of the Jungians is created in part, by the investments we make...the people, things, and activities to which we give value. And, conversely, which give value back to us.


(Or maybe not. What do you think?)


Kis



:rolleyes:
 
All the reasons listed and something else. Society allows us lttle invidividual control. WE make compromises all the time, especially at work. Fixng a khuk reverses this trend. A khuk redesigned for the owner's needs is positive oppostite answer to, 'yes sir." for at that moment, we reversed the tide.

munk
 
I have been guilty of making minor reconfiguring of the handles of my khuks and rounding off the sharp edges. With wood this is relatively simple enough even for someone as all-thumbs as me as long as you work slowly. There's a real satisfaction when your "home-made" improvement actually works and makes the knife more comfortable for YOU.

Like the Marines say: There are many like this one, but this one is mine.

Andrew Limsk
 
I think I am just a tinkerer at heart. There is not too much I own that I don't modify in some way. Even if it is decorative only. I don't touch cars or electronics though. Not enough know how, cars are too expensive if you really screw it upu and electronics can kill you if you do something wrong. I usually wait and leave something stock for a while and the modifying just sort of happens along the way.
 
Not the least is how we use our khukuris and when. Every scratch or blem tells a story about the khukuri, some of which we've been priveleged to experience. Inspiration to modify a khukuri often comes from these experiences and adds to its character or soul.

Just my thoughts...
 
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