More fun with Khukuris

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hollowdweller

Joined
Sep 22, 2003
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A big tree went down on the cabin on my place. Some friends came down Sat and we had a "Cutting the tree off the cabin" party. Went up on the roof and took the crown out with the Ganga Villager. Worked great. I wish I'd have had somebody taking pics.

The 15" Ganga Villager has seen a lot of use at our place, but I have never really had exactly the right edge on it. About 2 weeks ago I sat down and really worked on it. Hadn't used it since but when I broke it out Sat it cut about as good as the 17" model. I was really surprised how much the sharpening and polishing helped the penetration! :thumbup:
 
hollowdweller said:
A big tree went down on the cabin on my place. Some friends came down Sat and we had a "Cutting the tree off the cabin" party. Went up on the roof and took the crown out with the Ganga Villager. Worked great. I wish I'd have had somebody taking pics.

The 15" Ganga Villager has seen a lot of use at our place, but I have never really had exactly the right edge on it. About 2 weeks ago I sat down and really worked on it. Hadn't used it since but when I broke it out Sat it cut about as good as the 17" model. I was really surprised how much the sharpening and polishing helped the penetration! :thumbup:
Click to expand...


How which does your Ganga weighs at 15 " ??
 
has anybody here etched their BGRS villager? I wonder if they are heat-treated differently, or if we're just more apt to beat the heck out of them...

I do know that excessivehigh-speed buffing can lessen "hardness points"...

I probably just need to get one and do a Rockwell hardness test on it.


You're the honorary Saint of the BGRS Villager, hollowdweller....:D
 
Daniel Koster said:
has anybody here etched their BGRS villager? I wonder if they are heat-treated differently, or if we're just more apt to beat the heck out of them...

I do know that excessivehigh-speed buffing can lessen "hardness points"...

I probably just need to get one and do a Rockwell hardness test on it.


You're the honorary Saint of the BGRS Villager, hollowdweller....:D
Click to expand...


IS it because that a Khuk is case hardened.........??? That a Khuk is harden on the surface...............?? but not all the way through ? so after years and years of use and sharpening .......the soft metal will surface ?? :confused:
 
no - knives (good ones, anyway) are not case hardened.

I have no scientific analysis of khukuri steel used (nor am I a scientist, or metallurgist).

I have just read articles and have spoken to other people who (with backing data from multiple rockwell tests) have shown that steel can lose it's hardness - from many different factors. But one of them being heat-generating buffing. Wish I could remember where I saw the data...but sorry, can't. :(
 
Daniel, I've seen Satori's Ganga Ram, and he etched it. If my memory serves me correctly, it was a little bigger than some of his other kuks. You might be able to see it in his Salayan/ Ganga Ram review.

Yep, just checked. It's on the last page. You can see his GRS's hamon in a couple of his pix.


mike
 
Daniel Koster said:
no - knives (good ones, anyway) are not case hardened.

I have no scientific analysis of khukuri steel used (nor am I a scientist, or metallurgist).

I have just read articles and have spoken to other people who (with backing data from multiple rockwell tests) have shown that steel can lose it's hardness - from many different factors. But one of them being heat-generating buffing. Wish I could remember where I saw the data...but sorry, can't. :(
Click to expand...

Daniel.........1st of all I am no expert........... :o

But I have read that the Japanese way of hardening is different from just 'case hardening'.........this may sound kindergarden to you all........... :o

but they put clay layers on part (the back of the blade)............and thinner layer on the edge .....and quench the whole blade...........the effect they claim is that the edge shall harden all the way through but the back still remains unhardenned coz of the thicker insulation on the back.........thus retaining a softer back compare to the edge.............does this sound right ? :o
 
Yep....familiar with the process...





:D :p


And you are correct. But that's not the only way to show the quench line (erroneously called the temper line - but can't change that now...:rolleyes: )


You can also just heat up the spine of the blade and that will remove the hardness from the spine. If you leave the edge in some water while you're doing that, it will leave the edge hard, and you get differential hardening.

Another way is to just edge quench the blade...dipping only the edge into the quenchant while letting the rest of the blade cool slowly.

The kamis harden their edges in a way that is similar to edge quenching. Except instead of dipping the edge in water - which might be hard, given the size/shape of khukuris, they pour water over the edge which rapidly cools and hardens it.
 
Both my standard and this villager both rolled a little when I first got them so they are not extra hard. No rolls after I reprofiled both. I have another Ganga Villager that Heber has been working on a sheath for me for that has never rolled.

Overall though the polishing thing may be true. I have rolled more polished edges than villagers, and I own (I think) more villagers.
 
Generally I've heard that the villagers have a better edge than the polished versions. I'm not sure about the actual tempering, as that would be done before the polishing process.


mike
 
Daniel Koster said:
has anybody here etched their BGRS villager?
Click to expand...

That's one of the few that I haven't etched, but since you asked, it can be arranged. I'll try to have some pics up later on tonight. I'm not going to make any guarantees, though - this one has seen a lot of use, has a decent patina on it, and sports a bit of pitting on one side from blood. :eek: (No joke, someone else had an accident with it and put it away "dirty.")

Now that you mention it, though, I am a little curious about it...
 
Let her rip dave. Let us know what you find. Maybe you could post a pic of your Baby Ram next to your Ganga Ram.


mike
 
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