Powerwash a khukuri?

bric

bric

Joined
Jun 10, 2011
Messages
294
Hey all, I've been away for awhile (virus from a forum site led me to pursue other interests for awhile, but HIKV relapsed and I was interested to see what was going on). Got a question. I've been looking at the handle of one of my khuks (Ghurka hat knife) and the wood has a beautiful grain but appears to have forge dirt/scale ground into the wood making it kind of dingy. Many will probably scoff at wanting to lift the dirt out of there and soak in some tru-oil to make it "pop", but the wood is so beautiful it seems to be asking for it.

So far the Ghurka hat knife has been a collection/display piece, however the handle is amazingly comfortable - more so than most standard khuks with the hat being a ring the secures the blade in hand against the pinky. I've given it the whack test, but that's about all the use it's seen.

I've been wondering the best way to get the grime out of the wood. I've already sanded it with fine sandpaper, but that was not enough. I need to be careful not to remove the fine detail the kami (Lokendra) put into it. I've considered immersing it in mineral oil to "lift" the grime out, but I don't know how effective that would be. Lately I've been considering powerwashing it (lightly) which I think would immediately lift out the grime, but not sure if it would cause the pine-glue to fail. It's probably a stupid idea, but I'm tempted...

Any thoughts?
 
I scrub my wood handles with Dawn dishwashing soap and a scouring pad when I first get them.
 
I used motor oil on the wood handle of the last khuk that I acquired. I believe that motor oil has detergent in it, and it seems to be effective in refreshing untreated wood.
 
bric:

Can you post a picture of the handle, clear enough to show detail?

I'm wondering if it is Neem wood. I had one of those Ghurka Hat knives in Neem wood and at first the handle also looked dingy, as if it had dirt or oil deep in the grain. The actual wood grain was not visible, even though the handle seemed fairly smooth.

First I discovered that the engraving on the handle had been decorated with some kind of ink (dark blue and red) that was water soluble and got into the surrounding wood even from careful, light sanding. That accounted for some or all of the dirty look of the wood. It might also be that Neem wood looks dingy until it is properly sanded and polished. I'm not sure, since this was my first time working with Neem wood.

I removed all of the ink with a damp cloth and damp Q-tips to get in the tight spots, plus sanding. It was a lot of work spread over a couple of weeks. Eventually, when I got to 1000 grit sandpaper and higher, a very nice grain started to appear. Also, with the finer sandpaper I didn't have to worry so much about ruining the beautiful carving job.

By the time I got to using Rottenstone (about 8000 grit, give or take a couple thousand), the handle was amazilng, like a polished bronze sculpture. I finished it with about five coats of lathe polish.

At first I was concerned that removing the ink decoration might spoil the appearance of the handle, but in the end it actually enhanced the engraved Ghurka face and other details. The added color might have looked good in low-definition photos, but was not up to the quality of the engraving (by Lokendra).

You might want to try some of this before doing anything more drastic.

-- Dave
 
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I sanded off most of the red and blue ink with fine sandpaper when I got it. I also scrubbed it with toothbrush and mineral oil. Yesterday the handle was much lighter...I haden't oiled it since I received it and cleaned it up quite awhile ago. I put a light coat of mineral oil on yesterday which darkened it considerably. You can see how beautiful the grain is. I hadn't seen warty's post (or the OP of the method) before. It brings up an interesting question of whether I want to raise the grain and sand off the hairs to make it ultra smooth. It was pretty much ultra smooth to begin with...

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bric:

Thanks for posting the photos. Your handle is almost exactly like mine except for the degree of polishing.

I'm not sure how fine a sandpaper you used, but most "hardware store" fine sandpaper is around 320 grit or maybe 400. You have to go up to 2000 grit and higher to get the full potential of this wood.

I know that many people like to leave their khukuri handles a bit rough for a better grip. However, the shape of the Ghurka Hat Knife gives you a good grip even when highly polished, and it is a work of art more than a simple "user" -- in my opinion.

I thought mine was pretty smooth when I got it, and the color of the wood seemed like a dull gray. Yours is already better than that, but you might be surprised at how much better it can get.

Please post an "after" photo if you do anything more to it.

-- Dave
 
After much consideration the Murphy's Oil Soap was my choice to start with...it's got its second liberal coating soaking in now (first soaked in to a dry finish pretty quickly - the wood was thirsty). If I had started earlier in the day I'd probably be getting the pressure washer out now...

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Good thing you posted that, bric.....Because i was just going to tell you that you might want to try murphys first. ;) :D
 
I can safely rest my obsession with getting the grime out, but that really opened up some pores in the wood. This is going to take quite a bit more sanding to smooth it out.

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be careful introducing water to the handle, if only because the steal between wood and tang is not likely to be 100% water proof. While you can dry the outer portion of the handle, under normal conditions the water on the tang could stay there for many rust-forming days.
 
Nice work, thank you for sharing
 
I can't tell how completly it has dried on the inside, but the handle has dried quicker than I expected (or feared), and (so far) hasn't cracked. At this point everything seems quite sturdy and stable and there are no signs that the bond between handle and blade is anything other than solid.

I've been using 150 grit sandpaper to get back to solid wood. I'm using a knife to restore some details where they had been, shall I say, "washed out." I have a new appreciation for what went into the creation of this handle.

I don't know if it is variations in the wood or the direction of the grain (or both), but the wood at the hat is much harder than elsewhere on the handle. I wonder if this was by design knowing that that the hat is the most vulnerable part of the carving.

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"I don't know if it is variations in the wood or the direction of the grain (or both), but the wood at the hat is much harder than elsewhere on the handle. I wonder if this was by design knowing that that the hat is the most vulnerable part of the carving."

bric:

I observed the same hardness properties with my GHK. Most of the hat brim is end-grain, which happens to be very hard for this kind of wood because the grain is very fine and interlocked.

I'm not sure about the top portion of the hat, but it appears that the handle was carved from a single piece of tree limb, and the hat portion would be closer to the center of the limb. For some species of trees the wood gets harder as you approach the center (the heartwood). For other species, the reverse is true.

I mentioned earlier that when I first got my GHK the wood was a smooth grayish color (except where ink had been applied). Now that you've done the powerwashing and 150 grit sanding, your handle looks a lot like mine looked at the outset. Continued sanding with finer and finer grits will bring back the nice reddish-brown color and show some beautiful grain.

I was skeptical about Neem wood the first time I saw it, but the GHK has made me a believer.

-- Dave
 
This thread inspired me to clean up the handle on my Cherokee Rose. It is the same kind of light wood and looked grimy. This is my go-to knife for heavy Bowie practice. I cleaned it with vegetable soap, let it dry, then put on a coat of watco Danish oil. It was a bit light still so I gave it a second coat with the same type of oil with dark walnut stain incorporated. I was a bit apprehensive about the inlaid bone yab-yum symbols. It turned out well though. The walnut stain gave the white part of the bone a very nice aged look.
 
I've been thinking ahead to how I'd like to finish this once I'm done with the sanding... After all the work to get the grime and ink out I even considered a little fine black marker to provide some contrast on the edges of the mountains on one side of the knife - but I don't think I'll be doing that. I've also been thinking about mixing a little stain (dark reddish) in with the oil that I'll apply to it.

Like the sanding, my thoughts are a work in progress...
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Sanding is done! I wiped the handle with mineral spirits to clean off the dust. The handle is as smooth as glass (maybe too smooth!) but like david said, the shape and hat of the handle provide for an excellent grip even without friction. The handle is so smooth it is a joy to, well, handle ("check this out - feel how smooth it is!"). It feels great and should be ideal for preventing blisters.

The handle shape keeps the knife from twisting (e.g. blade will hit straight) because it is oval shaped with the Ghurka being longer front-to-back than he is wide. The handle narrows in all directions up to just under the Ghurka's chin - making for a comfortable forward grip (for lighter precise work with an evenly balanced knife) with the smallest pinky finger resting on the chin and wrapping around the thinnest part of the handle. There is also a comfortable rear grip with the middle finger resting on the chin and the pinky wedged against the underside of the hat for heavy chopping (with a tip-heavy balance).

The more I think about it, this blade is almost too perfect not to be a user. This is one of my smaller, lighter Khuks (there is a separate thread going on about this topic) and it is perfectly designed, blade and handle. Very lively with no shortage of chopping power at 18" just under 19oz.

I'll be interested to see what some oil does to the open pores on the wood.
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