Scabbard maintainence.

Yvsa · Aug 5, 1999

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Some things I learned while fitting the bigger longer Karda and Chakma into the 18" AK scabbard.

The little tacks will come out with a little flexation and hard manipulation of the scabbard.
This can also be attributed to weather conditions and time itself.They can and probably will rust causing them to loosen.

To fix them,pull the tack out a bit and put some Super Glue Gel on the tack and press it solidly back in.Try to get some of the glue under the head.If it is the long trailing piece on the back,put some glue underneath the leather so it will help hold it down as well as the tack so it wont ever come out.

The Super Glue Gel won't run or evaporate as quick as the regular stuff and you can use a toothpick or other small bit of wood to carry a drop where it is needed.

I pulled the little tacks out of the bottom of the small circles of leather that keep the karda and chakma from rubbing together and glued them in place.
I also set them in good and put some glue on top the heads so that it would stay bonded and not scratch the handles.

Cracks or small tears in the leather can also be fixed with the Super Glue.You can use the regular stuff for this. I had one place that looked suspicious and I put a small drop into it and smoothed it out.
I wouldn't recommend this on a real nice patterned leather without checking in an inconspicuous place first.
The glue makes the leather very slick and shiny.

I had some places on the scabbard that were kind of rough an not as slick and neat looking as the rest of it. I had some old Fieblings Leather Dye and used it.I left it on overnight and then buffed it off the next morning. I think something like Scuffkote would work.
After getting it all cleaned up I still had the little off surface place where I put the super glue. I got out the 220 grit wet or dry paper and sanded it down lightly to match the rest of the surface. I then sanded the rough spots until they were nice and smooth too.
The dye had worked into some of the areas real nice and the buffing made them hard like the rest of the scabbard.

This is the one I said looked like a cross between Rawhide and Leather.
After I did all this I got out the Kiwi and gave everything a nice coat of it.After ii dried I hand buffed it to a smooth even surface that no longer has the funny little rough spots in it.

My scabbard is now better than original and the glue will prevent rusting and loosening of the small leather pieces on it.I used some olive oil down inside to help preserve the wood and slick things up.It allowed some parts to stretch a little without softening them up any.The 18"AK now is up to what I wanted and feel like I needed and is ready to go anywhere rain or shine.

Later on I will probably make the other scabbard I thought would be nice,but since I was able to get some longer tools in this one it isn't really needed for what I wanted now.

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>>>>---¥vsa---->®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.

Brian C · Aug 6, 1999

Thanks for the detailed information, Yvsa. Tacks -- so that's how the handle on that chakma got scratched! I hadn't looked until your message prompted me to do so.

I'll have the try that Super Glue Gel tip. I make an occasional custom leather sheath as a hobby and use Plasti Dip (a rubber coating) to cover interior hardware such as snaps. However, unless you recess the hardware enough, I've found it can wear off fairly quickly. I bet the Super Glue Gel will prove more durable.

I've been planning on refinishing two of my khukuri sheaths and your tips will come in handy. Thanks again.

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Cheers,

--+Brian+--

[This message has been edited by bcaffrey (edited 06 August 1999).]

Berkley · Aug 6, 1999

I've noticed that on almost every one of my khukuris that the tacks in the karda/chakma holder rings are slightly angled, causing one edge of the tack head to be angled up where it will eventually scratch the handle. I've had good luck using a small triangular file to carefully remove the elevated portion of the tack head and smooth it out to avoid the scratches. It's become a routine maintenance item whenever I get a new one. (Too often, according to my wife).

Berk

[This message has been edited by Berkley (edited 06 August 1999).]

Bill Martino · Aug 7, 1999

Very good and helpful info, Yvsa. Be careful. You may be getting a call from Kami when he gets here. Sounds like you would make a very good hand in the shop.

Uncle Bill

Yvsa · Aug 7, 1999

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Glad it can be of help.
For anyone that doesn't have a small grinder with a buffing wheel on it there is always a shoe repair service.You can do the preliminary work and for a couple or three bucks you can get it stained and buffed out and polished. A good shoe repairman will tell you what can be done and the cost first also.

I filed down a couple I couldn't take a nail set too.
Remember to put the big knife in the scabbard when pounding that hard on it. The wood is soft and could split without support.

I know I get caught up in the blades so much that sometimes I forget the scabbards.With knives this big the preventive maintainence is very important. You take care of them and they will take care of you.

Uncle Bill I would love to go to Nepal and live among the people there. I know an old Cherokee warrior that was a Captain in Nam.He went to some of the places we "didn't" go to.
I think it was the Montangeards
(sp. I know I butchered that spelling) that took him in and allowed him to participate in some things most outsiders would never see. There was a lot in common with those people and the Old Cherokee. I can see it in Nepal too from the way you speak about certain things.
I would like to visit there and then come home and resume being a problem to our children.

(vbeseg)

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>>>>---¥vsa---->®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.

Bill Martino · Aug 7, 1999

Yvsa, most people I knew who spent any length of time in Nepal were changed forever by the experience. I exclude those who stayed at five star hotels and did not associate with the Nepalis and I also exclude government employees such as embassy workers who stay with their own rather than mix with the local population.

Howard, who posts here, visited Nepal years ago and I think I see the mark of Nepal on his posts, email and letters to me. I believe the experience changed him some. If I am wrong Howard will tell us.

It is quite an experience.

Uncle Bill

Howard Wallace · Aug 8, 1999

Yes, Yvsa, I believe that you would like to go to that land.

I can provide a little glimpse of what it was like 20 years ago. My summer semester just ended, and I am free of schoolwork for a while. I took the time to figure out how to upload pictures to a webpage, and I can show you a few of the old Nepal pictures I scanned. Ill see if I can start a thread at http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum26/HTML/000421.html and put a few pics in.

Bill is right, of course. My brief exposure to Nepal and its people left a deep impression on me. For example, heres a picture of me and my family a couple of years ago, in the mountains near my home in Washington.

<

The lady packing the Panna Butta is my wife Janet. She was such a nice girl before she started hanging out with me!

[This message has been edited by Howard Wallace (edited 08 August 1999).]

Bill Martino · Aug 8, 1999

Howard, you look like a Nepal trekker or Peace Corps Volunteer.

Uncle Bill

Yvsa · Aug 8, 1999

:
Thanks Howard.
You know I used to live in Washington? You probably picked that up in another thread though.

I love every bit of this wonderful and varied country of ours.That is a beautiful pic. I forget sometimes how dark the evergreens get in winter.

Most of the forest here is hardwood,but there are some pines in far eastern and in a larger part of the southern part of Oklahoma.
(There is even some purty goot trout fishin heah now.(revertin ta Okie
speak thar fer a minute.

)

I deceided that Barb was the girl for me when she tod me she had a 30-30 Winchester and hunted deer by herself in Northrn PA.She actually got a small buck once too.

She loves her 15" AK;do you think I have corrupted her? (vbeg)

I have a story I tell people in private about her being Polish and me Indin and what we would have had to have named our kids if we would have had any together. Of course her kids are my kids and vicey versy so every once in a while when one is being a what thier name would be I call them that and add thier number so they will know which one I am talking too.

Oh yeah. She is a Pennsylvania farm raised girl and she can cook like you wouldn't believe. Even all my relativs call her Aunt or Sister or Cuzin. (inside Indin joke)

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>>>>---¥vsa---->®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.

[This message has been edited by Yvsa (edited 08 August 1999).]

Jaeger · Aug 9, 1999

Yvsa,
What part of PA is Barb from? I was raised in Berks County from about 6 yrs. old. After some moving around ( Montana, Pittsburgh) I have settled down in a little farm house with a few acres in northern Berks county. If she has any Pennsylvania Dutch in her then you are eating well!

I'm anxious to hear your reactions to the 18th Century model. I'm jealous! There are just too many models and too little $.

Bill, you're just going to have to stay in business until I can buy one of each.

Mike

Yvsa · Aug 9, 1999

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Mike she is from Corry and Warren PA.
No Pennsylvania Dutch,but the Polish people are kinda like Indins and like to eat well.Her dad was full blood and a farmer and woodsman.I would have loved to have known him.We would have got on famously.He knew many of the old medicines of my people and used them.I have vsited the ol farm place and it is beautiful and on a nice hill.Just too day-imed cold up there in the winter. I froze up there a year ago when we were on vacation in July. Drinkin some beer and having a fire in July.It was needed too and I wasn't the only onecrowding arund it.

Believe me you don't need to be jealous and you sure wouldn't want the kind of check I am able to get these with.

I will give a mini report anyway. I hope to have it by Wed. or Thur.

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>>>>---¥vsa---->®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.

ghostsix · Aug 9, 1999

Yvsa,I met a Mescalero Apache at Oshkosh.A warrior spirit.A pilot,obviously,MIT eng.going for the gusto.He looked like straight out of Siberia with some sun.No breed.He was ordered to the Ute Res. as a B.I.A. Official.That must be interesting when predator tribes deal with their natural prey. Would they send an Apache to the Navaho,the Zuni or the Digger Indins?Do any Commanche survive?
I delt with the Montanyards;they are good people.The Meo as well.
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[This message has been edited by ghostsix (edited 09 August 1999).]

Jaeger · Aug 9, 1999

There's not much better than a cold beer, a hot fire and some good friends. Pa. can get a bit brisk in the winter, especially the northern reaches. There's a pretty sizable Polish population up north of me in the coal regions. A lot of good people up there but the region is pretty depressed and a lot of the towns are getting pretty run down. Beautiful country. Just have to watch for the "cash crop" farmers. They don't take too kindly to strangers walking around their stash. Best to carry a big gun and a big khurkri.

Mike

Bill Martino · Aug 9, 1999

Interesting stuff. Mother's side paternal grandparents came to Iowa first, then Kansas from PA in covered wagon. Pennsylvania Dutch folks named Stough, pronounced like "ow" when you hit your finger with the hammer.

Uncle Bill

Yvsa · Aug 9, 1999

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ghost there are many from tribes some people thought were extinct.
I know a man that is about 80 now and he is Comanche.He was a WW II Code Talker. It wasn't just the Navajo that had that honor. There were Choctaw or Chata as well that were Code Talkers. It is like some people think the Indin songs are just sounds made up. They don't realize that Indins are people just like themselves with a "real" language making the culture viable.Interesting to note that there are no swear words in the original languages. The ones a person might hear now are slang and have been made up since the influx of the European and others.

Toanswer the other question. The B.I.A. would like to see us all kill ourselves off especially with that huge amount of dollars that is unaccounted for by them that belongs to us.

Most of us get along now.Especially in those kinds of instances where someone who was an enemy is now in charge of something they really shouldn't be.

There have been some world wide indigneous peoples meetings to talk about these very things you are asking about. I think the last one was in Canada not to long ago.
The Elders are still among us and thier wisdom still guides those that will listen. The ones who don't won't live anyway.
It is like the Lakota words
Mitakuye Oyasin they mean
"We are all Related."
I have it written down in Cherokee around here somewhere,but almost every tribe recognizes those words and thier meaning.

How did this get so far off topic. It is a good thing Uncle is forgiving.

hehehe.

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>>>>---¥vsa---->®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.

Bill Martino · Aug 9, 1999

Actually, Yvsa, this is not off topic. The owner of Himalayan Imports is a Sherpa. It is of some interest to learn that the fellow who is responsible for getting your khukuris to you is also a blood brother.

Uncle Bill

Yvsa · Aug 9, 1999

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In that vein I concur.

Just another good reason to hang out with my friends here.

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>>>>---¥vsa---->®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.

Bill Martino · Aug 10, 1999

And friends we are!

Uncle Bill