Sharpening the karda.....

Andrew Colglazier

Andrew Colglazier

Joined
Sep 14, 2006
Messages
4,409
Holy Crap!! This little thing is convex ground to beat the band!

After 1/2 an hour with stones, diamond steel and sandpaper, it is just getting to the point, here and there, where an edge that might draw blood can be detected.

This thing came about as sharp as wet bread.

Is that usual?

The khukri was not at all bad, not shaving sharp but it would chop. Are the kardas usually so dull?

Thanks!

Andy
 
Seriously tho.

Mine have been fairly sharp, but not razor sharp.

A few minutes on a belt sander and I used one to cut the exhaust hangers off my Mustang.

Eric.
 
eswartz said:
Seriously tho.

Mine have been fairly sharp, but not razor sharp.

A few minutes on a belt sander and I used one to cut the exhaust hangers off my Mustang.

Eric.
Click to expand...

Phooei..... I don't have a belt sander. Guess I'll dish up some more elbow grease.

:(

Andy
 
I never use or sharpen my kardas. I just don't see the point of sharpening mild steel. JMHO.
 
mine was just shaped like a knife... almost across the whole "sharp" edge I could see a line of flat... just wasnt quite taken to a full point.
 
I've got a dozen or so, all but one duller than a t*rd. I tried to sharpen one on the sharpmaker, gave up. I should try on sandpaper, for practice.

Can you get a usable edge on these things? If you can, I'd be happy to use the sandpaper a little more. The smaller blades are easy; its the bigger stuff I can't sharpen worth a darn.
 
I use a belt sander. Honing by hand just takes too long.

Sometimes I replace them with a Mora. Recently I've begun purchasing bare Mora blades (the very small ones) and simply replacing the karda blades with them so that the handles still match the khukuri.

It's an extra $6 or so this route but you wind up with a karda that's a darned good knife in its own right, never mind the khukuri.
 
Dave
which mora blade are you using? Most of the commonly available ones seem too long/wide for the khuk sheath.

Pat
 
Mine have all come nice and dull, but I don't ever use them anyhow. I take them out, save the weight, and rely on knives that I always carry anyhow that I much prefer.

Chris
 
Outdoors said:
Dave
which mora blade are you using? Most of the commonly available ones seem too long/wide for the khuk sheath.
Click to expand...

Try the Frosts ones that are 3" or under -- smaller is better.

The tang will be far too long (and a bit too wide) to fit. The standard karda tang seems to be a short triangle with a small spike at the bottom; despite this, they grip pretty well and are a PITA to remove. Shortening a Frosts tang far enough to fit in the existing cavity necessitates going into the hardened area, so forget hacksaws and such. I measure it out, notch it lightly on either flat with a Dremel cutoff wheel, and snap it off instead. I do the rest of the shaping on a bench grinder with frequent dunks in the water bucket to prevent any wonkiness with the blade's heat treat, although I don't get scared if I see a little discoloration on what's left of the tang.
 
Well, after more work with stones, steel and sandpaper, I finally got th is little karda to the point where it will slice paper and even shave hair a bit. It is a working edge that will provide my wife with a useful tool.

It was easier to put a good sharp edge on the khukri!!

Andy
 
Shann said:
I've got a dozen or so, all but one duller than a t*rd. I tried to sharpen one on the sharpmaker, gave up. I should try on sandpaper, for practice.

Can you get a usable edge on these things? If you can, I'd be happy to use the sandpaper a little more. The smaller blades are easy; its the bigger stuff I can't sharpen worth a darn.
Click to expand...

I've tried both a sharpmaker and even coarse japanese waterstones on the karda that came with my Kumar Kobra, to no avail. That one's going to need to visit the belt sander!

However, I DID get a shaving-sharp edge on the karda for my Ang Khola with just the sharpmaker.
 
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