Take out the dings or sharpen naturally?

[kamagong]

I've been looking for a bolo for a while now. Most of the ones that I've seen are of the cheaper, mass produced variety. Serviceable, but nothing to write home about. I guess I could always hunt on the 'Bay, but I don't want to overpay for it. So I decided to just wait it and see if my one of my relatives would magically appear with one. My hopes were finally fulfilled this past New Year's Eve. While setting up the poker table in my Uncle's garage for our weekly poker game I spied a couple of knives on the shelf where he keeps his camping gear. I decided to take a closer look. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the bigger of the two knives was a Philippine bolo. The scabbard was dirty and the blade's surface had a superficial layer of rust, but I could tell from the moment I picked it up that this blade was special. It's nice and thick, and the balance is good. The fit and finish is adequate; it is akin to the villagers that HI used to sell. All that does not matter though. This is a using knife and its maker took care during the most important part of its manufacture, the blade. It is full convex, from spine to shoulder. In short, this was the bolo I've always wanted.

I guess my Uncle saw the gleam in my eyes because right then and there he made a gift of the knife to me. I tried to refuse but he would hear nothing of it. I'll make it up to him and give him a khukuri in return. I wonder if he'd prefer a 17" GS or a 21" Chitlangi. But back to the topic at hand, I now have the bolo I've always wanted. As I've mentioned, this is a user knife. It is well made, but little effort went into beautifying it. It is not polished and the forger's marks are all over this blade. My uncle had also used this knife before he gave it to me. There are a few dings near the tip. They look like they're the result of careless technique as a few swipes with a chakma indicated that this bolo has good hardness. Time will tell though. I spent some time today restoring it today, polishing and sharpening the blade and cleaning up the handle and scabbard. A few more sharpening sessions while watching television and it should be ready to accompany me up Mount Diablo come springtime. But how far should I sharpen it? Part of me wants to sharpen it past the dings, but I don't want to waste unnecessary steel. Are dings truly detrimental, or are we just being paranoid and babying our treasured knives? As things stand now I'll probably leave the dings and just sharpen them out over time. Thanks guys.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

Great find! I've been kicking aroung getting a bolo for quite some time. How bad are the dings? Dings used to bug me to death, still do to some degree. However, as long as my chopping user's dings are nothing more than a little mashed material and not chips that could have fractures or tears in the steel (at the softer parts) or just flat out huge and ugly, my policy is to just leave them be and let the sharpening process take them out over time. Obvioulsy, if I damage a knife edge that is used for slicing, then I take the time to get the edge smooth again. On a khuk or a bolo...fuhgitdahboudit

Jake

 

[Daniel Koster]

as with axes...don't sharpen past the dings...waste of time and steel.

 

[the possum]

In general I would tend to agree with the others, and just let them disappear over time naturally if they're not too big, and you have plenty of sharp edge on either side of the dings. But I might actually sharpen the dings like you would a serration (except from both sides) in the meantime, if the bottom of the notch is flat mashed out. Otherwise this will provide a place for further damage to take hold.

Also, this depends on how important of a task you're using it for. For just general brush clearing and hacking in the back yard, I wouldn't worry about it too much. But for serious use (whatever that may be for you) you might not want to take the chance.

 

[ferguson]

I love Philippine blades! Congratulations on the very nice gift. Hope you can get some pics for us. My first Visayan bolo was in an antique shop. Got it for only $25. Lots of surface rust but no pitting. Is yours sharpened just on one side, like a chisel?

Steve

 

[kamagong]

The dings aren't too bad. They're not chips, they're just a little mashed material to put it in Jake's words. Most of them are only the depth of a fingernail's thickness, one might be closer to a toenail's thickness.

The blade is full convex on both sides. The scabbard looks as if it's made of of kamagong, although I do not know what wood the handle is made of. I'll try and take some pictures, but I have no way of posting them. Steve, would you mind posting them if I sent them to you? Thanks again guys.

 

[ferguson]

I'd be happy to post the pics.

Steve

 

[Fiddleback]

Me love the bolos. I've got an HI, and two from Ref of Asia. Very different, and all good choppiness. I've also got that Valiant Golok. Choppy goodness there too.

 

[ferguson]

Kamagong,
Thanks for emailing the pics. Neat bolo.:thumbup: Simple, efficient, graceful tool.

Steve

 

[Daniel Koster]

nice indeed!

 

[kamagong]

Thanks for posting the pics Steve. I'm looking forward to using this bolo. It's a bit crude, but the maker took care where it counts. The blade is good, and the handle is surprising. I wouldn't expect a bolo to have a contoured handle, but as you can see this knife has this feature. It fits my small-medium sized hands very well.

The khukuri in the picture is a 16.5" GRS. It is one of my favorites due to its smallish egg-shaped handle. It is the very first BGRS.