- Joined
- Dec 6, 2005
- Messages
- 69
hello all
well, have decided to write a nice report on my 6 hour stint today, on sharpening a dull kukri i had. this is a kukri i got from ebay ages ago,from nepalkukri. was long before i heard about HI. has a brass handle, nice cross hatching on it,did come very sharp but that soon blunted from my chopping. as a noob i had no idea how to sharpen it, but my knowledge and such grows. today i was sick of staring at it so i decided to give it a go with my finger stick whetstone, things...anyway, i got these as a cheap set off ebay aswell! the dark grey one is the roughest, green medium, and the other grey very fine, almost a slip stone. i started firmly with the roughest, re profiling the edge to a more round (is the right word convex? sorry, its late here in england, very tired!). i made sure that i missed nothing, tested the edge regularly on some cardboard, cleaning off each grit ready to change to the next stone. finally got to the fine one, steady strokes for an hour, got it nearly shaving sharp- one arm is now much less hairy then the other! BUT, i realised that the whole blade was scratched up. (this is my first try at this kind of honing method, no way am i touching my 20inch jange! yet..!). i then remembered that i had bought some 320 grit sandpaper, so i used that and some 150, to get most of the scratches out- still quite a few from my efforts, but im not bothered as i intend to use it. very lightly and careful around the edge- i found it blunting a bit, but just used about 30 even strokes of the fine stone again, back to keen! managed to slice a sliver of flesh on my hand, so can attest! its still not finnished- i need to sand the chakma as it has gone rusty, and the handle keeps rattling with dried epoxy. was strange, when i washed the blade, some red coloured water kept running out of the handle. would the technique of putting it in bloiling water solve the problem, or would it make the blade come loose? i am glad to say also, that i thought it was a peice of junk, but holding it up to the light, i see the hardened edge as lighter patch, same as on the other side of the blade, so not a trick of the light! i have included a few pics of what i used and of the kukri- still not sure my my 6mega pixel cam makes grainy close ups! pic also of a small part of my collection of knivesswords etc. as you can see, it was me who bagged that espada sword- it is one of the most substansial swords i have, feels, well, like a real sword should! balanced well, but had to sand it due to some black gunk on the blade- sanding helped with sharpening, used my ceramic hone on it- still havent got the hang of doing it with a hone, they are very difficult for me at least, to get hold of over here! (ceramic hone). keep getting a strange burr on the opposite edge, any insights? the espada is so so sharp.
ok, the kukri isnt exactly slicing pepsi cans or such (i do have a 1000/6000 grit ceramic waterstone, but not really useful for a kukri i found. i much prefer hones, sandpaper etc, much less messy and you can "feel" your progress.) , but its one of the sharpest ive done to date. now all i need is to hone myself! thought i would share my ramblings with you people, as im getting tired of being eyeballed as a knife weilding nutball! you know what i mean!
thanks again,
chris
well, have decided to write a nice report on my 6 hour stint today, on sharpening a dull kukri i had. this is a kukri i got from ebay ages ago,from nepalkukri. was long before i heard about HI. has a brass handle, nice cross hatching on it,did come very sharp but that soon blunted from my chopping. as a noob i had no idea how to sharpen it, but my knowledge and such grows. today i was sick of staring at it so i decided to give it a go with my finger stick whetstone, things...anyway, i got these as a cheap set off ebay aswell! the dark grey one is the roughest, green medium, and the other grey very fine, almost a slip stone. i started firmly with the roughest, re profiling the edge to a more round (is the right word convex? sorry, its late here in england, very tired!). i made sure that i missed nothing, tested the edge regularly on some cardboard, cleaning off each grit ready to change to the next stone. finally got to the fine one, steady strokes for an hour, got it nearly shaving sharp- one arm is now much less hairy then the other! BUT, i realised that the whole blade was scratched up. (this is my first try at this kind of honing method, no way am i touching my 20inch jange! yet..!). i then remembered that i had bought some 320 grit sandpaper, so i used that and some 150, to get most of the scratches out- still quite a few from my efforts, but im not bothered as i intend to use it. very lightly and careful around the edge- i found it blunting a bit, but just used about 30 even strokes of the fine stone again, back to keen! managed to slice a sliver of flesh on my hand, so can attest! its still not finnished- i need to sand the chakma as it has gone rusty, and the handle keeps rattling with dried epoxy. was strange, when i washed the blade, some red coloured water kept running out of the handle. would the technique of putting it in bloiling water solve the problem, or would it make the blade come loose? i am glad to say also, that i thought it was a peice of junk, but holding it up to the light, i see the hardened edge as lighter patch, same as on the other side of the blade, so not a trick of the light! i have included a few pics of what i used and of the kukri- still not sure my my 6mega pixel cam makes grainy close ups! pic also of a small part of my collection of knivesswords etc. as you can see, it was me who bagged that espada sword- it is one of the most substansial swords i have, feels, well, like a real sword should! balanced well, but had to sand it due to some black gunk on the blade- sanding helped with sharpening, used my ceramic hone on it- still havent got the hang of doing it with a hone, they are very difficult for me at least, to get hold of over here! (ceramic hone). keep getting a strange burr on the opposite edge, any insights? the espada is so so sharp.
ok, the kukri isnt exactly slicing pepsi cans or such (i do have a 1000/6000 grit ceramic waterstone, but not really useful for a kukri i found. i much prefer hones, sandpaper etc, much less messy and you can "feel" your progress.) , but its one of the sharpest ive done to date. now all i need is to hone myself! thought i would share my ramblings with you people, as im getting tired of being eyeballed as a knife weilding nutball! you know what i mean!
thanks again,
chris
