Putting a handle on a vintage bhojpure

I think you're right. Also, counter intuitively, the blade seemed to cut deeper when I choked up on the handle. If I held it further back, the blade bounced off the wood. Maybe it's just bad technique on my part.
 
Thats solid stuff! Dang near impossible to break it. Many of my windsurfing fins are made of G-10 and I know it is super durable. I have slammed many of rock with it and even broke one board completely in two before the G10 gave. Can't go wrong and epoxy bonds well to it since that is what is is anyway. Dust mask at minimum is required working with the stuff tho. FR-4 is also cool. Its about the same stuff but is fire retardant (FR). It comes as blue tinted instead of green and is really cool looking.
 
Wow, sounds like it should be more than strong enough. I have a few Chinese made folding knives with G10 scales, they seem sturdy enough. Thanks for the tip about the dust mask.

Sounds like some people have had success with just making the whole handle out of epoxy putty. If I hadn't already bought the G10, I'd probably have given that a try.
 
G10 is nice. Have it in only one knife so far but quite like it. My edc btw.
 
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blue lander said:
Here's some things I want to mull over before I try this again:

1: A few people recommended cutting the handle into two halves, and carve out a groove for the tang. Would this have made for a stronger handle? It would have put the seam between the two halves directly where the point of failure was, so my thought is that it would make the handle weaker.

2: Is hickory the right wood to use here? Would something less stiff and more flexible have fared better?

3: I'm thinking a pin towards the top of the handle would be a good idea. The wood handle is at its thinnest (vertically speaking) at that point, and a pin would transfer some impact to the side walls of the handle, which are quite thick. Would one or two pins be better? The tang tapers pretty quickly so the wood further back in the handle is nice and thick all around, so maybe it wouldn't need it.

4: Would creating a larger hole in the handle, then filling with lots of epoxy, have been stronger here? The hole I drilled out was just big enough that the tang could wiggle a little. It looks like the back of the tang just cut right through the grain of the wood. If there had been a round epoxy "plug" around the tang, it might have spread the stresses out a little.

5: Is batoning with this or any rat tail tang just a stupid idea? I know some people consider batoning to be an unfair test of knife strength. It might be too much stress for any handle with this tang configuration.

6: Even though this test didn't go so well, I'm tempted to get a long leaf and try to put a handle on that. But I'm thinking the extra length of that blade would just multiply the forces involved. Is the tang on the long leaf longer than the bhojpure? Does anybody have both to compare?

7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkoLadhy_r4 this is a video of another guy putting a handle on a bhojpure. At around the 8:30 mark he cuts out another piece of steel and welds it around the rat tail tang to make a full tang. I don't have the tools to cut up a piece of steel like that, but I wonder if this is the best way to put a handle on one of these things? Or would those welds eventually succumb to the constant impact of use. The guy in the video decided not to use the kukri after feeling how soft the steel was, so we'll never know how it handled under heavy use.
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Of course, I have an opinion about all these points, and I wrote them all out in a reply here (using a borrowed computer), but when it came time to send it, I had timed-out on my login and lost it. Arrgh. Maybe I'll redo it later, gotta go now.
 
I hate it when that happens.

While I'm waiting for my G10 blocks to come in, I'm going to try to etch the blade. Maybe it'll tell us something interesting about how the blade was formed and hardened. I already tried using pepsi and bar keeper's friend, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on the steel. I'm going to try PCB etchant from Radio Shack next.
 
The PCB etchant did the trick, although it didn't reveal much as far as Hamon or anything like that. It did reveal a bunch of deep cuts in the steel I hadn't noticed before. Like this one
4ja9.jpg


Here's another gouge
qobt.jpg


I also noticed this nice imperfection in the steel right at the tang

bv0g.jpg


It doesn't go all the way through to the other side of the tang, thankfully. I have a feeling this blade wasn't made by Nepal's finest kami, though...
 
I got the g10 material in a few days ago, and it's really really not fun stuff to work with. It's difficult to cut and it spits dust everywhere that cllings to everything, and it smells like melted plastic and toxic chemicals. I tried using a hack saw to manually cut it, but it barely scratched the surface. A Dremel with a sawmax wheel did the trick, though. The plus side is that it's hard and dense. I think it's thick enough that I can just drill a hole in a single piece rather than gluing two pieces together. I finally managed to cut off a handle sized chunk today, so next I'm going to drill out a hole for the tang. I made the hande short this time, just the length of my hand plus one finger extra. I think this is going to work out well, but I really hate working with this stuff. My clothes are covered in white dust and my skin itches. I'm glad I wore a dust mask. What a mess!
 
Not to be a killjoy, but I begin to wonder if this blade is worth all the effort that you are putting into it. The steel has too many flaws to be safe as a user even if it holds up for a while. I'm basing that on your postings and pictures of this blade in an earlier thread, as well as the latest photos. Also, with a G10 handle it probably won't look like a vintage bhojpure.

I guess any rehandling job is a good learning experience, so from that point of view you can't lose, and what you end up with will be unique. However, be extra careful chopping with that blade, in case a chunk of the steel goes flying.
 
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If you start smelling the burning then you need to turn the speed down on your dremmel. If it doesnt have speed control then cut a few seconds then back off then cut a few more secs then back off.... This lets it cool a bit between cutting. Bits will last longer that way too. See what I mean about dust mask:thumbup: The dust sticks to anything with a static charge. When drilling the stuff you can use rubbing alcohol to keep things cool and manage dust. Try to keep you speeds slow and grit coarse while shaping to keep heat down. When you get to finishing stages you can do it in the sink under dripping water to keep dust down. Its messy stuff but once you get the basic shape you wont have to worry about dust so much. Avoid rubbing your skin when itching. Get done and wash it off so you dont rub it in. Another good way to cut the stuff is if you can work outside put a fan on your work to blow the stuff away from you while working. I have even duct taped a shop vac hose where I cut to remove the dust and connect a section of hose to the exhaust side and put it outside like out a window or something. Many ways to skin a cat but its messy no matter. Up side is the stuff is bombproof strong! When ya get done you can clearcoat it to make the fibers disappear.
 
Thanks for the tips. At the beginning I kept the surface wet and cut slowly, but eventually I got frustrated and decided to just finish as quickly as possible. Even with water this stuff is a mess, spraying a white slurry everywhere. Yuck. At least this stuff is strong. When G10 fails, how does it go? Does it form cracks or splinter, or does it just shatter into a million pieces? I'm thinking there's no need for a bolster if I don't have to worry about it splitting.


davidf99 said:
Not to be a killjoy, but I begin to wonder if this blade is worth all the effort that you are putting into it. The steel has too many flaws to be safe as a user even if it holds up for a while.
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I agree with you 100%, but I'm going to finish this damn thing either way. It's either that or leave the blade handle-less in a drawer at this point, and I've washed too much G10 dust out of my hair to have it all be for nothing! Plus I feel like I've learned more about this khukri from actually using it than I would have otherwise. I won't be surprised when the blade fails, but the steel is so thick and soft I don't expect it to fail catastrophically with metal flying everywhere. It'll probably just bend out of shape.
 
Put the g10 your dremel and two hands into a big transparent plastic bag. Then grind away without spreading the stuff.
Have only used a setup like this in the field for scalpel work where I didn't want contamination to get in. Should work the same in not letting stuff out.
The air movement by the dremel might be moving the bag too much but you could rig up a little frame in it. Even a cardboard box where you have a plastic sheet as a lid would work.
 
I spend about half my time at home covered in sawdust, micarta dust (nasty stuff) and G10 a time or two. By far the worst was Ivory, so fine, stinks like a dentist office on a bad day.
I usually start off with the best laid plans, goggles respirator, vacuum, sometimes a sheet over me like a ghost but without exception I end up with it all gone, I do try to keep the respirator for the toxic woods etc, but it gets tossed aside usually too.
It's like trying to sew wearing welding gloves. Too frustrating.

I still experiment with dust vac stuff but power tools just put it out too fast. Fortunately most of my work is by hand with knives and files but still plenty of mess with the dremel tool.
Everything in my man cave has a nice coating of several varieties of dust.
 
blue lander said:
Thanks for the tips. At the beginning I kept the surface wet and cut slowly, but eventually I got frustrated and decided to just finish as quickly as possible. Even with water this stuff is a mess, spraying a white slurry everywhere. Yuck. At least this stuff is strong. When G10 fails, how does it go? Does it form cracks or splinter, or does it just shatter into a million pieces? I'm thinking there's no need for a bolster if I don't have to worry about it splitting.
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Man Thats the attitude!!! GO FOR IT!!! You will never regret learning something from it and if you dont finish it you wont be happy with yourself. Cant wait to see it myself!! I wish I could show you the pile of crap ive broken and or screwed up! I made a windsurfing mast base from aluminum and carbon fiber and was my own design. I even tested it out once and was far superior to anything on the market. I took it apart to anodize the aluminum which was the final step then my house burned down. I had at least 500 hours in it and to this day I cant find the will to do it all over again but maybe someday i will. Your attitude inspires me BL Rock on!!!
 
Thanks for the encouragement! I drilled a small hole for the tang with my dremel today, and thankfully it's much easier to drill this stuff than it is to cut. I'll need to use my real drill to make the final hole of course, but that can wait until tomorrow.

Once this is done, I'm going to try to put a handle on a couple of parangs that are on their way to me from Outdoor Dynamics. I think next time I have to cut out handles I'm going to use a table saw, though.

I also picked up this blade off ebay. It's a Kerala knife from India. At some point I'll put a handle on it as well.

$T2eC16hHJIkFHSPVkJDtBSQmFPweV!~~60_57.JPG
 
I drilled out a hole, and I'm expanding it for the tang. This stuff is really easy to cut when you're going with between laminations rather than across them. Disturbingly easy, actually. I wonder if a good whack with a thin piece of metal like this tang would make it delaminate.
 
blue lander said:
I also picked up this blade off ebay. It's a Kerala knife from India. At some point I'll put a handle on it as well.

$T2eC16hHJIkFHSPVkJDtBSQmFPweV!~~60_57.JPG
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I appreciate your determination with the Bhojpure.

There are some interesting internet pictures of traditional handles for a kerali knife. It could be tricky putting on a secure handle because the tang is so narrow. It occurs to me that you could put threads on the narrow part of the tang and screw it into a longer, internally threaded piece of steel that might serve as a kind of bolster, and attach a handle on top of or at the end of the steel extension. It would be interesting to see what you come up with.
 
I don't know what kind of handle I'm going to put on it, but the traditional style looks too thin for western hands. Once I get it in my hands maybe I'll have a better idea. I'll probably go with whatever feels right rather than the "correct" style for this blade.
 
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