Mirror finish

C

cheftothestars

Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
296
Morning,

So I have a lovely M43 heading my way.

Im thinking that as I use the blade the finish will end up pretty trashed, is there anyway to lose the shine by rubbing with something?

Or would this ruin it?

thanks

Chef
 
Chef,

Allow me to chip for a moment.

I used to mess with my mirror finish Salyan; even tried with fruit enzymes to get the patina of temper line and guess what? it stays put and after a while i realize the mirror finish is gone and left is what i perceived as iridescent hues on the surface.

Then when i got a villager's finish ASTK i whacked it real hard on the log and it shown me some very wavy temper lines which i fancied a lot. It certainly became a working khuk.

Now this gives me a good idea which blade i should keep clean and which one for chores. Don't get me wrong but unless you have a buffing wheel with the skills of Kamis, the scuff marks on the mirror finish blade will only add character to your khuk.

I really like what JParanee did to his Gelbu Special and Ultimate Fighter but i don't have cold blue solutions in Malaysia.

Not to mention the rust will set in quick. So use it and make it work for you.
I still polish and oil my khuks but they will have to prove them worth again after the hard working day.
 
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If you don't want the polished finish it is easy enough to get a satin or villager finish by using some scotch brite or fine sandpaper on the blade.
If you want to restore the polished finish, it is best done with jewelers rouge and a buffing wheel. Be careful, though, buffing a khukuri can be quite dangerous for the inexperienced user. A flying khukuri can do all sorts of damage.
 
Chef,

If you bought the M43 to be a user, the best thing to do is take a bunch of pics of it new, and then just use it. Sharpen it, keep it oiled, treat the wooden handle from time to time and use it. Wipe it down right after each use. If you cut things up like a pineapple (acidic) be sure to wash it off and oil it up right away. (btw, that will take the mirror finish off immediately) It is probably a good idea to keep an oiled gun rag with the kukri so right after each use you can give it a quick wipe. Treat it just like you would a rifle in the field and you will be ok.

If you look at the recent post (M43 arrived) you will see what 69 and 66 years of real use looks like compared to a new one. They still look pretty darn good if you ask me. And one thing to consider, if I decided today that I want a satin or mirror finish on one of the old ones it could be done easily with a little elbow grease. So you can always get that finish back if you want it.

Hope you enjoy it,
Bill
Virginia
 
One other thing, if you plan to use the kukri in the kitchen, get in the habit of washing it good with soap and water "before" you touch food. Gun oil and other metal lubes add an unpleasant flavor to foods and can possible be dangerous to ingest. At best, they certainly don't add a nice layer to the taste!

You can, as an option, use regular veg oil or olive oil on the blade. That is best if you use it often and the kukri (or any carbon knife) is kept at room temp. The downside of those oils is that being organic, the veg oil and olive oil can spoil if left for long periods of time.

Bill
Virginia
 
Great info there guys thanks.

I like the fine sandpaper idea, seems easy enough to do.

Im going to use this blade so Instead of having streaks of mirror and sap id rather have an all over worn look so I think the sandpaper will work.
what do you treat the handle with?

Im new to kukris so Im not even sure if the M43 is a good work tool or should I get a smaller 15# villager?
I mean I can hear you all shouting "Of course its a great tool" but until I get it in my hands I wont know what its telling me to do with it.
Thats right, blades tell you what to do with them if theyre quality!

Thanks again

Chef
 
shortwinger said:
One other thing, if you plan to use the kukri in the kitchen, get in the habit of washing it good with soap and water "before" you touch food. Gun oil and other metal lubes add an unpleasant flavor to foods and can possible be dangerous to ingest. At best, they certainly don't add a nice layer to the taste!

You can, as an option, use regular veg oil or olive oil on the blade. That is best if you use it often and the kukri (or any carbon knife) is kept at room temp. The downside of those oils is that being organic, the veg oil and olive oil can spoil if left for long periods of time.

Bill
Virginia
Click to expand...

Yea when I first started work in kitchens about 25 years ago all the chefs used carbon knives and I can remember cutting lemons and watching the metal staining the fruit and then my cloth etc etc then stainless knives got cheaper and better quality and the carbons sort of dissapeared, although the carbons had the best edge ive ever used in a kitchen.

Thanks Bill
 
The best way to do it, chef, is to kill two birds with one stone. When youre done killin' trees and come in, wash the blade with dish soap and scrub it with the dish scrubber ( the kind that is like scotchbrite). That will get the sap off and leave a villager finish. Then make sure you dry it well and oil it with some light oil our use tuff cloth to prevent rust

There are many things you can treat the handle with. Around here we recommend Tru-Oil, Boiled Linseed Oil and the like. I have even used Minwax natural wood stain and preservative with good results.

What the heck are you going to do with a 15 pound khukuri? :eek::foot::confused::rolleyes:
 
There is a consensus that Mineral Oil does good double duty for handles and its safe to ingest when used on carbon steel blades for food prep. I bounce back and forth between Tung Oil on my handles and Mineral oil on my blades. I'm starting to stick with mineral oil because i"m too lazy to use 2 rags to apply both:p
 
A mirror polish is fairly easy to maintain I have some Bagwel Bowies that are 20 years old and have been used and look great. The secret is learning to use a Buffing wheel. But as karda mentioned it is a very dangerous proposition and real bad things can happen fast.

I just cut my self buffing a BDC a day ago and thank god it was only a nick.

Best off staying away from the wheel

Other options are just letting it patina with age and use

forceing a patina with fruit juice or ferric chloride etchant
 
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Im not too concerened about keeping the mirror polish, I really want to lose it but in an even manner.

Im hoping the sandpaper technique will do the job.
 
Chef, look up ferric-chloride or motherboard enchant. In the states here we get it at RadioShack and mix it 1 part ferric-chloride to 3 or 4 parts water.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=172101&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1278450972 http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=172102&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1278450990 is an example of a rough sanded 12" CAK that I etched What is really cool is that the hardened part of the blade gets much darker than the unhardened spine. Like all of these processes it is very important to get the blade super clean and dry first NO OIILS left or fingerprints. Straight white vinegar works pretty good to force a patina as well but it turns out more black then anything else.
 
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There are quite a few ways knifemakers use to put a final finish on the blade, mirror finish is one and as said, it's done by using finer and finer sandpaper and then going to a buffing wheel; another finish is a satin finish and a good satin finish is much harder to get than one would think. But, perhaps the best way is to use fine scotch brite pads. Stroke down the blade in one direction only, with a lift up at the end of the stroke.

If you want an antiqued look, you can dip a blade in a solution of five parts water to one part bleach. You can take it as far as you want, but the end result will be a lightly (or heavily) pitted grayish blade.

Another, quicker way is to use a mustard and vinegar solution. Dab the mixture on the blade, wait 30-60 minutes and wash off. You will be amazed at some of the effects you can get, and it's fun and non-toxic.

There is one more formula I am aware of which turns steel an almost absolute black, but it's fairly compicated. Still, if anyone's interested, I'll post it.

Dave
 
If anyone wishes to do a search, here and in the archives, there are quite a few topics on the subject of mustard, vinegar and FeCl etching and patination as it relates to khukuri and the steel used in them.
 
Jay,

no problem, I'll be happy to share, but I need to go find the formula. I know I have it somewhere on my computer, lol. It's used on fine old firearms and, mainly, tactical blades, the idea being a black blade is harder to see, it also offers some rust protection, even though the process itself consists of slow rusting, carding, re-rusting, etc., until you get the result you want.

Also, Karda's right, these subjects are common topics of conversation and one could literally spend hours reading the various threads.

Dave
 
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There are quite a few ways to create a black finish on a blade, but almost all of them depend on rusting the blade. A lot of guys use a fixture of hydrogen peroxide and plain old table salt. The Hydrogen peroxide is loaded with salt until it will not dissolve easily, and the fixture is applied (sprayed is best) to the blade. The blade instantly forms a red coating of rust. Then hang the blade in a moist place for a few days. It will continue to rust. Take it out, and "card" it, you are rubbing off the loose rust and putting a elementary polish on it. Then boil the blade-this is the step that turns the red rust to black. Repeat as you wish until you get the look you want. That's it in a nutshell.

Dave
 
So what is the preference to different finishes on Khukuri blades? Is it all aesthetics or are there practical applications for polished, semi polished and black? I would think it would be harder to maintain the finish on a black one. Maybe I'm missing something. Just curious.
 
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