Sharpening with camel fur ?!

K

Kurdy

Joined
Jun 4, 1999
Messages
143
Hi.

Since I got my HI Especiale recently I took it to my father*s friend who is the best sharpener in my town. He did the job very nice and kukri shaves now. I was surprised when he told me that he finished the job with sharpener made of camel*s fur lubricated with some paste (I think it was something like T-24)!! After that I gave him my other knives and watch his work. Forget to say that he start the job with sand paper don*t know granulation.
Does anybody of you use that kind of sharpener and what are experiences ?

Kurdy
 
I've only seen camels on television and in the circus
smile.gif
, but my family has always used sandpaper to sharpen knives in the field. My grandfather would leave a sheet of it on the tractors for quick touch ups and I have used it as my only sharpener for two week long backpacking trips. Even the finest grits won't give me a shaving edge but they will get the job done.
 
Very interesting! Kurdy, is the camel fur bound together in any way -- perhaps like a close-cropped paint brush or shaving brush, or is it woven like some kind of cloth?

[This message has been edited by Steven F (edited 06-13-2000).]
 
You can put polishing compound on a variety of bases and it'll work -- leather is the usual for knives, but people polish gemstones with compound on a base of leather, rock felt, even wood and iron -- even old vinyl records; I've polished flats on an old record and got good results that way (then I broke the record I was using and the next one I tried didn't work well at all -- different formula of vinyl, I guess ... I eventually found another one that worked)....

I wonder if he was really using camel fur or felt made of camel hair. I have no idea whether camel hair makes particularly good felt ... it might be the best felt in the world for all I know.... Or maybe it really was camel fur ... I'm sure if you put polishing compound on fur it would work, though I don't see why it would work particularly well....

-Cougar :{)
 
OK, I*ll check with him (about camel fur or hair). Sorry for not answering but have computer only in my working place.
 
Mr. Sharpmaker said to me that it is round slab of camel hair maked under 50 tons of pressure. Good material for this is sheep fur also.

Kurdy
 
Thanks for the update, Kurdy. It would seem, then, that the camel-fur sharpening system is a modern product -- I can't imagine that in pre-industrial times they had the capability to apply 50 tons of pressure to create the slabs.
 
Safety Tip,

The camel also spits and bites. They are legendary for spitting.

I think dart boards are made of camel hair as well and they are round. Does the manufacturing process may involve 50 T of pressure?

Will

[This message has been edited by Will Kwan (edited 06-14-2000).]
 
I don*t care if it is too modern product or could I do the job with dart board - I just care that blade shaves after finishing with it. It has some good features so you don*t need to polish blade after ! Very fine and smooth but hard material.
(Best feature is that you almost can*t go wrong with the edge when you do the job)
 
I have a recipe somewhere for camel chili. It came from Texas. Back years ago when gold prospectors used camels instead of mules, and some had escaped and ran wild. 50 gal. of camel chili. YUMMM!!

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Greetings from East Tennessee.
 
“The bottom line is performance.”

I can understand that. I have been told I have some ugly khukuri’s but I can’t tell.

Does a camel have fur or hair? O.K., I'll lay off the camel.

Will


[This message has been edited by Will Kwan (edited 06-15-2000).]
 
And, Will, I have heard it said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

I think he has hair but I have never been up close and personal with a camel (excepts cigarettes and how I wish I had one just now!) -- elephants, yes, camels no.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
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