New HI owner, Now What?

P

Preacher Man

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It's official. I'm a new HI owner. A fellow forumite sent me a never used, blem Foxy Folly at no cost. It’s my first real Kukri. I can't believe how light it is. The blade is so beautiful; it looks like an artistic representation of a leaf. The Kuk needs a little work, and that's were I'm a little lost. The Kukri has a little rust in the edge, pommel and spine, and the wood handle has a couple of hairline cracks.

My benefactor suggested simply using the Kukri as a chopper to get most of the rust from the edge. I plan to do that. He also suggested using steel wool and sandpaper to remove the rest of the rust, and to remove the original finish and give the Kukri a satin finish, more in tune with a user knife. Something else he mentioned was using citrus juice to etch the blade. I guess this will help to develop a patina and further protect the blade.

I don't know what to do with the hairline cracks on the handle, if I have to do anything at all. Some post on the reliability of HI hidden tang handles leads me to believe that hairline cracks are nothing to worry about. Is that the case?

My benefactor is an experience Kukri lover and I will follow his advice. That been said, I'm curious on what other ideas or methods do you guys use to take care of similar situations.

Oh, before I forget, Is it my imagination, or does the Foxy Folly has somewhat of a scandi edge?
 
sand the handle lightly and then give it a tru-oil treatment. The oil will make the cracks close up somewhat...
 
A fine scotch-brite brand scouring pad will take care of the blade and give it a satin finish. Light smooth strokes. Follow up with a light oil.
 
you can try cleaning the blade and applying vinegar to it to darken it a little. I personally wont sand it rougher as I find that smoother surface rust less. the edge would probably clean up with use and the other rust sites can be sanded and oiled and patinated. the pommel and spine maybe you can coat it with some anti rust paint if its a user and looks isnt an issue.
 
Welcome! All good advice above. If it was mine, I would put some thin (not the gel type) superglue into the cracks in the handle. It will wick down into the finest cracks and stabilize them. Several applications might be needed to fill the cracks. Just touch the tip of the glue to the crack and slowly squeeze. Capillary action will wick the glue deep into the crack. Wipe off the excess. Sand with 220 grit sandpaper, then apply a light coat of Tru-Oil, boiled linseed oil, Watco oil finish, or nearly any other type of wood finish to the handle. You're ready to go.

Steve
 
I'm late to the party. All of the above suggestions are fantastic ideas:thumbup: Enjoy your new blade, PM. The WWII is a great khuk. Up until the point that I had so many khuks for so many different chores/applications, the WWII was a trusted and loyal camping blade. Small knife for small stuff, WWII for everything else:D
 
You can also dab some naval jelly on the rust spots, it'll remove it in seconds.
I know guys like to artificially make their kukris look like users, but I decided to leave mine buffed out and shiny, and let nature take its course.
 
Preacher Man,

I think all HI khuks have sort of a scandi edge that convexes a little right before the edge. But I usually sharpen mine on a strop laying that bevel pretty much flat on the strop and the springy ness of the strop gives it some convexeyness.

I'd just use the handle. If it breaks off which is fairly rare(but I've done it) you can replace them. If you search a bit both Aliloff and Dave Risher have rehandled khuks using stacked leather which is pretty awesome and I'm sure very shock absoribing.

Great snag on the khuk by the way FF is one of my faves:thumbup:
 
Thanks for all the responses. I think that I’ll just use the Kukri first, to get some of the edge rust out, but also to see if the cracks on the handle extend some. If not, I'll oil the handle to see how much it closes before applying some superglue. Alter that, I’ll have to sand down the handle some. Right now it is a little too thick for my taste.
 
Use it a bit before doing any handle alterations. You might just come to like the fit.
Also it's real tough to put wood back on.:D
 
PM, if you should need to superglue the hairline cracks after giving it a good oil treatment be sure and get a good quality superglue such as Loctite or similar.
Walmart used to sell Bondini2 in their paint department and I recommended it highly because it said on its bottle that it could be used on greasy or oily surfaces and it always worked well for me.
Walmart quit handling it and the last time I bought any there it was the Loctite brand and I didn't see anywhere where it said it could be used over dirty or oily surfaces and I haven't needed to so I don't know how well it would work, but being a high quality outfit it should be fine.
If there's any question about it there may be a pre-cleaner for such surfaces before using superglue although I don't know of any that's for a specific purpose. We did have a pre-cleaner for the Loctite proper, which was used on threaded parts to keep them tight.

If I were to use superglue over an oil treated surface I would at least wipe the cracks out with acetone or other super solvent before using the glue.
The oil can always be reapplied. :thumbup: ;) :D
 
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