- Joined
- Oct 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,178
I spent a few hours on Sunday inflicting additional pain and misery on the blackberries with the assistance of the Kobra.
That description I got of surface softening during heat treatment (thanks Dean and others) wouldn't have been believed by me if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. I now believe it's true. It seems that every time one of my khuks spends some time in the field, comes home and gets touched up with chakma/hones/cardboard strop, it winds up even better than the last time. I'm seeing this the most with the Kobra as it's seen the most use.
The first time it went out, it came back with minor dings, a few small spots of rolled edges, and one good section of blade that had been turned out to a fiercesome depth but not rolled. Some enthusiastic chakma work, a bit of time with the file and some honing had brought it back to fighting trim. The time after that, only a touch of the file and hones were required and it would shave in spots with effort. (It scratched a bit though.) Maybe too sharp for machete work but I figured that I'd try it out.
The last outing was fairly interesting. There were only a few ground strikes while processing the petrified woody ground cover of blackberries from years past but at one point I encountered a small tree - 3-4" or so. Remembering my landlady's instructions, I made plans to remove it. My first thought was to slog back to the house to grab an AK but I decided to see what the Kobra wanted.
"Cut it down," it said. "I won't break a sweat on that." I proceeded to attack it. Two swings later it went down. I removed some low branches from other trees and a good amount of "wooden" blackberry stalks besides that. At the end of the evolution, I found that there were no visible dings, dents, rolls, etc. The chakma told me there were a few invisible dings; I was able to iron them out without any real trouble. It ended almost as sharp as it started. I touched it up on the hones and it is now honestly shaving sharp along its entire length.
The edge has truly gotten better with use. I can't wait to see how far it'll go.
I've learned four valuable lessons here:
1. While the Kobra isn't designed for field work, it handles it like a champ.
2. The knowledge base on this forum is incredible.
3. I've got to start using my other khuks more often.
4. A "user patina" is a perfectly attractive finish to me.
On a related note, I'm done for the time being with oiling the handle on the Cherokee Rose. I broke out the Dremel to form a new tip on it. Praise be to the Khukuri Gods, it turned out far better than I expected it to and I doubt that anyone would notice that the tip had been ground down without a side-by-side comparison. (As a bonus, most of the pitting is gone now too.) I kept a cup of water handy for cooling purposes and it never really got warm, let alone hot. I cold blued the 16.5" AK recently and was very pleased with the appearance; I'm considering the same for the Rose. It has a shaving edge along its entire length and will hopefully see some hard use over the next few days to prove its worth. My money's on the Rose passing with flying colors - Bura hasn't let me down yet - but the proof is in the pudding. After that, I'll have to do something about that sheath...
Again, my thanks to the usual suspects - UB, Yangdu, the kamis and (in the case of the Rose, for the handle if nothing else...and there are other noteworthy things) Yvsa.
That description I got of surface softening during heat treatment (thanks Dean and others) wouldn't have been believed by me if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. I now believe it's true. It seems that every time one of my khuks spends some time in the field, comes home and gets touched up with chakma/hones/cardboard strop, it winds up even better than the last time. I'm seeing this the most with the Kobra as it's seen the most use.
The first time it went out, it came back with minor dings, a few small spots of rolled edges, and one good section of blade that had been turned out to a fiercesome depth but not rolled. Some enthusiastic chakma work, a bit of time with the file and some honing had brought it back to fighting trim. The time after that, only a touch of the file and hones were required and it would shave in spots with effort. (It scratched a bit though.) Maybe too sharp for machete work but I figured that I'd try it out.
The last outing was fairly interesting. There were only a few ground strikes while processing the petrified woody ground cover of blackberries from years past but at one point I encountered a small tree - 3-4" or so. Remembering my landlady's instructions, I made plans to remove it. My first thought was to slog back to the house to grab an AK but I decided to see what the Kobra wanted.
"Cut it down," it said. "I won't break a sweat on that." I proceeded to attack it. Two swings later it went down. I removed some low branches from other trees and a good amount of "wooden" blackberry stalks besides that. At the end of the evolution, I found that there were no visible dings, dents, rolls, etc. The chakma told me there were a few invisible dings; I was able to iron them out without any real trouble. It ended almost as sharp as it started. I touched it up on the hones and it is now honestly shaving sharp along its entire length.
The edge has truly gotten better with use. I can't wait to see how far it'll go.
I've learned four valuable lessons here:
1. While the Kobra isn't designed for field work, it handles it like a champ.
2. The knowledge base on this forum is incredible.
3. I've got to start using my other khuks more often.
4. A "user patina" is a perfectly attractive finish to me.
On a related note, I'm done for the time being with oiling the handle on the Cherokee Rose. I broke out the Dremel to form a new tip on it. Praise be to the Khukuri Gods, it turned out far better than I expected it to and I doubt that anyone would notice that the tip had been ground down without a side-by-side comparison. (As a bonus, most of the pitting is gone now too.) I kept a cup of water handy for cooling purposes and it never really got warm, let alone hot. I cold blued the 16.5" AK recently and was very pleased with the appearance; I'm considering the same for the Rose. It has a shaving edge along its entire length and will hopefully see some hard use over the next few days to prove its worth. My money's on the Rose passing with flying colors - Bura hasn't let me down yet - but the proof is in the pudding. After that, I'll have to do something about that sheath...
Again, my thanks to the usual suspects - UB, Yangdu, the kamis and (in the case of the Rose, for the handle if nothing else...and there are other noteworthy things) Yvsa.
