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Sharpening a khukuri
- Thread starter OMRie
- Start date
Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
OMRie :
http://www.tx3.net/~howardw/Khukuris/KhukuriFAQ.htm
Contains a section on sharpening a khukuri.
-Cliff
http://www.tx3.net/~howardw/Khukuris/KhukuriFAQ.htm
Contains a section on sharpening a khukuri.
-Cliff
- Joined
- Mar 8, 1999
- Messages
- 1,760
Cliff: any hope of re-posting the sharpening info here for convenience (Cliff is THE best source for stuff like this).
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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
- Joined
- Mar 8, 1999
- Messages
- 1,760
Gosh, ghost - if I tried to free hand a sharpening session, I'd end up with crooked edges, bloody fingers, and a migrain!
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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
First off, as soon as your khukuri starts to get a little blunt you need to align the edge. This is called steeling or burnishing.
Burnishing :
Basically to burnish the edge is to reform it. You do this with the chakma by wiping it along the edge of the khukuri. This does not remove significant amounts of metal but it will align and thus restore the edge.
If burnishing fails to produce a sharp edge you need to remove some metal. Now you have to make a decision. Do you want to leave the convex bevel? If you do this is how you proceed :
Light sharpening on a convex bevel :
Use a strop loaded with a abrasive that cuts decently fast and leaves a nice finish like Tripoli compound. A strop is simply a piece of leather, the ones you buy are just more uniform and thus will provide a smoother surface than an old belt. All you do is just stroke the khukuri along the strop keeping the edge low on the leather. The leather will indent under the weight of the blade and the convex edge will get ground evenly.
Heavy sharpening on a convex bevel :
If you strop for awhile and the khukuri fails to show significant improvement then what you need to do is enhance the cutting ability of your strop. What you do is simply upgrade to some sandpaper placed on some styrofoam. The coarser the sandpaper the faster it will cut. Once the khukuri has a fine edge take it to the strop to finish and polish and strengthen the edge.
If you don't want to keep the convex bevel and instead want to use traditional flat hones and such, basically what you are going to do is add a small additional bevel to the khukuri. This is how you proceed :
Light sharpening on a flat bevel :
Rod sharpeners are the first thing you try as these remove really small amounts of metal. You can but them in many different styles, ceramics, diamonds or even a simple butchers steel. You can even make one quite quickly by gluing some sandpaper on a wooden dowel. You use them all the same way, stroke along the edge of the khukuri.
Heavy sharpening on a flat bevel :
If the rod sharpeners fail to make a difference in a couple of minutes you need to move to a more aggressive hone. You have two basic choices, the first if to get a large benchstone and sharpen by stroking the khukuri along the hone with the hone firmly fixed in place. You other choice is to get a small stone and work it along the edge of the khukuri, keeping the blade fixed and sharpening in sections.
The most important aspect of the sharpening is that you want to maintain a constant motion from stroke to stroke. This makes sure you are grinding along the same bevel with each stroke. The better you can do this the faster your work will be done and the sharper your khukuri will get. It is also important to keep the edge of the khukuri perpendicular to the hone. With the smaller hones like the rods you simply keep the khukuri fixed and angle the rod correctly. With a larger fixed hone or strop, you need to rotate the khukuri blade as you hone.
If you don't want to freehand the last part there are many devices that can be used such as the Spyderco Sharpmaker, the Edge Pro Apex, Lansky and others. These devices primarily held you to keep the angle constant from stroke to stroke. The only real difficulty with using them is the weight and thickness of the larger khukuris.
There are of course power tools such as buffers and slack belt sanders which will do the job faster, but the basic principles are the same. See Joe's sharpening FAQ for a more detailed discussion of such.
-Cliff
[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 09 November 1999).]
Burnishing :
Basically to burnish the edge is to reform it. You do this with the chakma by wiping it along the edge of the khukuri. This does not remove significant amounts of metal but it will align and thus restore the edge.
If burnishing fails to produce a sharp edge you need to remove some metal. Now you have to make a decision. Do you want to leave the convex bevel? If you do this is how you proceed :
Light sharpening on a convex bevel :
Use a strop loaded with a abrasive that cuts decently fast and leaves a nice finish like Tripoli compound. A strop is simply a piece of leather, the ones you buy are just more uniform and thus will provide a smoother surface than an old belt. All you do is just stroke the khukuri along the strop keeping the edge low on the leather. The leather will indent under the weight of the blade and the convex edge will get ground evenly.
Heavy sharpening on a convex bevel :
If you strop for awhile and the khukuri fails to show significant improvement then what you need to do is enhance the cutting ability of your strop. What you do is simply upgrade to some sandpaper placed on some styrofoam. The coarser the sandpaper the faster it will cut. Once the khukuri has a fine edge take it to the strop to finish and polish and strengthen the edge.
If you don't want to keep the convex bevel and instead want to use traditional flat hones and such, basically what you are going to do is add a small additional bevel to the khukuri. This is how you proceed :
Light sharpening on a flat bevel :
Rod sharpeners are the first thing you try as these remove really small amounts of metal. You can but them in many different styles, ceramics, diamonds or even a simple butchers steel. You can even make one quite quickly by gluing some sandpaper on a wooden dowel. You use them all the same way, stroke along the edge of the khukuri.
Heavy sharpening on a flat bevel :
If the rod sharpeners fail to make a difference in a couple of minutes you need to move to a more aggressive hone. You have two basic choices, the first if to get a large benchstone and sharpen by stroking the khukuri along the hone with the hone firmly fixed in place. You other choice is to get a small stone and work it along the edge of the khukuri, keeping the blade fixed and sharpening in sections.
The most important aspect of the sharpening is that you want to maintain a constant motion from stroke to stroke. This makes sure you are grinding along the same bevel with each stroke. The better you can do this the faster your work will be done and the sharper your khukuri will get. It is also important to keep the edge of the khukuri perpendicular to the hone. With the smaller hones like the rods you simply keep the khukuri fixed and angle the rod correctly. With a larger fixed hone or strop, you need to rotate the khukuri blade as you hone.
If you don't want to freehand the last part there are many devices that can be used such as the Spyderco Sharpmaker, the Edge Pro Apex, Lansky and others. These devices primarily held you to keep the angle constant from stroke to stroke. The only real difficulty with using them is the weight and thickness of the larger khukuris.
There are of course power tools such as buffers and slack belt sanders which will do the job faster, but the basic principles are the same. See Joe's sharpening FAQ for a more detailed discussion of such.
-Cliff
[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 09 November 1999).]
- Joined
- Mar 8, 1999
- Messages
- 1,760
Cliff: THE best words on sharpening a khukuri. It makes me personally embarrased at the way I sharpen my personal khukuri.
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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
------------------
Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor