Staining and Oiling

I may have to give the vinegar a shot next time. Makes sense because of the acidity. Unfortunately, the scale on the receiver was pretty heavy, so I can't say that I don't have my doubts. We also tried naval jelly, which worked well for some parts.
 
When I soaked in Vinegar the scale came of but also got some surface rust, which rubbed off easily.

Better results were obtained with phosphoric acid (main ingredient in Home Despot's "prep and etch"). Didn't create red rust removed the scale effortlessly and colored the whole steel dark grey, almost black.
 
I've got to get back on topic for a moment.

After you guys let the wood soak up as much oil as possible and let it dry, do you then seal it with a finish or just let it be with the oil? Again, I'm thinking of using tung oil.
 
The tung oil I've used would in my opinion be much to thick to soak in. I'd thin it way down so it has a chance to penetrate.

I'm in the rub it on and keep rubbing it on camp rather than the soak it camp.

A lot depend on the user. If your gonna be out in the wet a lot and leave your knife by the fire at night for long periods of time, you want to seal it, tung oil itself works and seals good. Tru Oil, varathane that sort of thing with petroleum additives seal it up good. Just wipe off the wet, oil up the metal and you done.

I like to love my knives often both users and wall hangers and I enjoy rubbing good wood so linseed oil is my potion, at the first sign of thirst (or not) I rub in more, they just get better and better.
 
Bawanna said:
The tung oil I've used would in my opinion be much to thick to soak in. I'd thin it way down so it has a chance to penetrate.

I'm in the rub it on and keep rubbing it on camp rather than the soak it camp.

A lot depend on the user. If your gonna be out in the wet a lot and leave your knife by the fire at night for long periods of time, you want to seal it, tung oil itself works and seals good. Tru Oil, varathane that sort of thing with petroleum additives seal it up good. Just wipe off the wet, oil up the metal and you done.

I like to love my knives often both users and wall hangers and I enjoy rubbing good wood so linseed oil is my potion, at the first sign of thirst (or not) I rub in more, they just get better and better.
Click to expand...

Interesting. So, basically, it doesn't matter what I use, except that linseed will need periodic wipe downs (not that it's an issue). I will more than likely use this while camping or hunting, but mostly hunting. At the worst, it gets dropped in the snow or gets wet in the rain. Either oil will protect the wood. I'm just unsure if sealing it is absolutely necessary, or if there are costs and benefits to doing and not doing it.

Out of curiosity, why do you prefer to wipe instead of soak, Bawanna?
 
There are definitely costs and benefits to sealing the wood with something like a varnish after you oil. It will be better at protecting the wood from the elements and from wear, but a lot of people don't like the look or feel. I don't like either, and only oil my wood handles.

I prefer to wipe rather than soak as well, mainly because of one bad experience with BLO. Soaked a VBCAK and my Dui Chirra together with its karda and chakmak. 48 hours later, the handle of the Dui which I had just sanded to blond perfection, and the lighly colored wood on the VBCAK were both almost stained red. My only conclusion was that there must have been some colored finish applied to the karda and chakmak, because no matter how much I sanded them I got brick red dust. The BLO also left a bit of a sticky residue on the blades, and almost etched them a little. Like a yellowish etch. It was apparent once I resharpened the VBCAK, bringing the edge back to normal steel color.

About removing forge scale, as Bawanna said, good old apple cider vinegar. I suppose any old vinegar would work too though. Haven't tried phosphoric acid though.

I took the scale off my newest KLVUK, because it will see mostly kitchen duty, and also off my Tamang, mainly just for looks. It wasn't quite as quick as a 10 min soak and it rubbed right off, more like 20 min, then some scrubbing with vinegar soaked steel wool and paper towels. The results were great though, and still much easier than grinding the scale off, which I did on another KLVUK. Left a nice grey etch, showing the temper line on the Tamang.

This is a bad pic, but it shows the KLVUK and Tamang in the middle, with another KLVUK and my AK Bowie to show both forge scale and "normal" steel color.

 
I may switch to pure linseed oil after all you guys have said. I'm probably worrying about it too much. Perhaps the best thing I can do is get back into some woodworking and just use different oils to get some experience for myself. You guys have been very helpful, and this is one of the most newbie friendly forums I have ever been on! However, forums can only take one so far. I've just got to see it for myself.

SingleGrind: How does the straighter profile of the tamang stack up against the more down turned profile of other blades? (Getting off topic again, I know)
 
First I love that tamang! And my KLVUK looks very similar after the vinegar treatment.

You nailed it Jackal. No need to overthink it. Dropping your knife in the snow or even the creek won't hurt a thing no matter which oil you use. The key is oiling it when it needs it which even with linseed oil isn't often once you've got it well oiled.

With like Tru Oil there's really no need to reoil since the surface is sealed, but that also means that your not getting any new oil inside that wood.

Singlegrind, the handles on these Khuk's really don't have any finish on them at all except perhaps polishing rouge which is usually is red. I suspected this and karda confirmed it. They are not oiled or varnished or anything just polished.

That could be what turned your oil dip red. Oil will nearly always darken a bit but shouldn't change color unless it's contaminated with something.
 
Bawanna, I used BLO a couple times prior, with only mild/expected darkening. That's why I as well suspect it was something "contaminating" it. Either way, I nixed the BLO soak method

Jackal, before I get off topic, I forgot to mention, all those khuk handles above have only been treated with nice clear mineral oil. All but the Bowie have probably 10-20 coats of it. I just keep coating once or twice a day til they stop looking/feeling so thirsty, then only a coat every now and again. The Bowie is both new, and horn handled. I slathered on a thick coat of oil and let it sit for a few days. Seems good for now... I'm no expert on horn though.

Now to wander; The Tamang. I really can't say enough good things about it, and can only summarize by saying, get one. The more gentle curve brings the center of gravity out farther from the hand, and makes the blade more tip-heavy. That makes it an awesome chopper for things like tree limbs, large shrubs and undergrowth, not necessarily chopping down a tree, though it could do it no doubt. It's not a chopper the same way a similarly sized AK would be.

I like to describe it like a Super-KLVUK, because it can do everything the Keshar can do plus more. It's a little heavier than a KLVUK, and also a bit longer. The handle on mine is pretty slim, which helps the ergonomics. The weight is just right. It just feels wonderful in hand, and is such a pleasure to use. There's a thread on the main forum I did called "Weekend with Tamang and Tibetan Short Sword" where I rant and rave some more about how much I adore this blade :)

Oh ya, plus if all that ain't good enough for ya, the original Tamang has a wicked cool backstory about being bought in Nepal.

My Tamang is in my top 3 most used khukuris. My Thamar Dui Chirra is probably #1, then my first KLVUK, then the Tamang, only because it's newest of those 3. It'll take #2 pretty soon, but I could go on for ages about how much I love that DC. Hate to say it, but even more than the Tamang. You need one of those too. Or a Yek Chirra or Tin Chirra..or all 3... I digress
 
I don't mind the handles getting a bit darker, personally. I'm not going to stain them anymore by the way. The one thing that turned me off from BLO and pushed me towards pure linseed instead was the heavy metals in BLO (unless some don't come with them). I'm just not going to mess with that stuff.

I will also probably not worry about sealing the wood either and just periodically give them a wipe with some oil. I assume linseed once soaked in and dry, it will polymerize and strengthen the handle? Does mineral oil do that too? I've used mineral oil on some cutting boards I've made, but never noticed it get harder.

I see. So, if I understand you correctly SingleGrind, you're saying I should simply BUY ALL THE THINGS! I'm sure that will happen at some point after I'm out from college and (hopefully) get a real job! I wasn't planning on another purchase so soon, but now you've gone and done it! Now I can't decide between a Tamang and a Sirupati. "Get both!" I know, I know...
 
Tamangs don't show up everyday but there's a whole pile of Siru's in a multitude of sizes that show up pretty regular and I believe Auntie keeps or tries to keep in stock. You can start with those and if a Tamang shows up and you somehow beat me to it you can snare that too.

I'd like to add a Tamang to my accumulation too.
 
Well, buy all the things that sing to you! That's my technique :)

I should add that I was not patient enough to wait for a DOD Tamang, just bought it sight unseen after asking Auntie if there was any in stock.

Let me see if I can find the pic I took after sanding the DC, and one from after "contaminated" BLO treatment. I snagged one cuz I knew it wouldn't stay that light no matter how hard I tried, but again, it still got way darker than it should have. Basically back to the color it was before I sanded it.

Ok, found a before sanding and a pic from when it was new, but I don't have one of after. I'll have to take one later. For now, here is new and untouched, followed by sanded.





And for comparison for now, this one is a picture of the blade after being used, but before sanding and treating. The handle looks most like this now, but is even darker. All in all, I still wish I could get that pretty blonde color back, but that's alright. Good amount of the reason I only use crystal clear mineral oil now though..



Edit: Alright, got another pic. It's gonna bother me endlessly that these are out of chronological order, but I also don't feel like redoing half of this post. The pic with the black on the blade and my hand is from before the handle was blonde. Easy to tell, the blade is tarnished in that pic.

Anyway, here's what it actually looks like today, as captured by my phone's terrible camera.

 
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Bet you played heck getting that off your hands. I've found the best way is a soak in a hot tub. Helps even more if you use Scotch to flush the pores out.

It's very tough to maintain that blonde color on a handle, it's very tough to maintain a blonde wife now that I ponder it some.
You need to definitely not use anything contaminated and it's best to seal it. Otherwise the oil in your hands especially when your hands are like your photo work into the wood and oil in the handle and it gets darker and stained.

This is where Tru Oil or Varathane something that seals and gets hard wins the day. It doesn't allow stuff to penetrate it and has a much better chance of staying blonde.

FWIW I love the look of that Thamar handle, it sings.
 
Bawanna, I do like it a lot, and know the blonde is hard to keep blonde, but I still liked it better before :)

Got a couple pics, including a comparison with the Tamang. I'll post those here, but add my solo DC handle pic to my above post, to keep that together.

Here is what I meant about the Tamang handle being slim, though the Dui Chirra handle is also quite beefy. They both feel perfect though, despite my smallish hands.


Jackal, you asked about the straighter profile of the Tamang compared to other blades? My DC is about the most curved khuk I've got. In this pic, I made the bolsters parallel. They feel about as different in hand as they look.


Oh ya, and I didn't have any trouble getting the juglone stains off my hands. Just washed em with soap and water before dinner, then had a nice blackish orange tinge to my fingers for the next 2+ weeks :D time was my best solution.
 
You say the straight profile is great for chopping. I thought that the downward curve was was made them better choppers? Is there something I"m missing?
 
No, I tried to figure it out myself, because that's what puzzled me the first time I swung it at some wood. Maybe that it gives a bigger arc for the blade to accelerate during the "flick" motion, or something as simple as that my Westerner approach to swinging a blade fits that knife more naturally.

Don't get me wrong, the Dui Chirra can outchop the Tamang all day, but it has extra weight and length as well as more curve. The Tamang easily outchops a KLVUK, and is as easy to use and versatile, while the DC outchops the Tamang, but is a little more difficult to use and gets a bit tiring after a while.

I guess one thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the chopping the Tamang excels at is sideways or at funny angles. Chopping away at an overgrown shrub or scraggly tree. You can swing it in funny ways because of, I don't know, some magical property about it. But whatever the reason is, it's a joy to use, and it works like a charm with hardly a peep.

After more thought, I'd have to guess that I'm onto something with the angles and acceleration thing. The Tamang has probably 30-40° more "wrist-flickability" than the Dui Chirra, to get technical about it. Bear in mind that the khuk is straighter than some other khuks, but still more curved than a hatchet or machete. That little bit is all you need I'd say.
 
Sorry if I'm not being too clear. Worked a 14+ hour day and my brain is scrambled eggs right now. On that zombie ramble now. Bedtime, then I'll see if I can figure out what I'm trying to say in the morning. Right now I can certainly tell you that if I were to go on Nekid and Ascurred tomorrow, I'd have a mighty tough time choosing between bringing the Dui Chirra and Tamang, and I'd probably only choose the DC if I could bring the karda and chakmak, otherwise it'd be Tamang all day.
 
Your scrambled eggs made plenty of sense, so no worries. Unfortunately, getting another blade any time soon is out of reach for the time being, so the Tamang is on the back burner. I see a Chitlangi or a Sirupati in the nearer future anyway.

For what it's worth, I don't think the darkened handle on the DC looks bad at all. Then again, I don't favor blonde handles (or women. Sorry, Bawanna). And on a side note, I'm sure people raise a few eyebrows at the swastika marking. That is, if they don't know what it's actually supposed to mean.
 
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