- Joined
- May 18, 1999
- Messages
- 15,395
A few years back I gave one of our daughters a Dhankuta Villager made by a village kami, not BirGhorka. Penny didn't use it for a year or two, but it still languished in the Phoenix climate.
She wanted to keep it nice and I told her to use it because that's what it was made for.
Besides I wanted to see how it holds up under severe use.
She took my words to heart and use it she has!!!! I would even venture to say "used and abused!!!!"
Penny brought it up for it's annual sharpening this trip. I found the blade chipped up almost its whole length, but none any deeper than 1/16" of an inch!!!!
What has really surprised me is the horn handle and the way it's held up!!!!
There was one little surface crack just starting in the middle of the handle. And this isn't a solid black handle which is the strongest.
This handle has an extreme amount of gray and white along the top side.
There's also a fair amount of green colored horn in this handle.
The scabbard is badly scarred and chafed.
The whole rig in general hasn't had any care at all, just use.
I put the blade on my belt sander and went up to a worn 220 grit belt which gives a reasonably smooth finish.
I repolished the horn and the brass on the handle and the brass chape.
I then polished the edge to a razor sharpness and put one coat of Kiwi on the scabbard.
(The leather on the scabbard, isn't. It's more of a rawhide and reminds me of some of the early Shop 2 scabbard's.)
Then I took it to my strop and finished it up. The next step was to put some Ballistol-Lube on the handles, I also sharpened the little bitty karda, finally.
After the B-L treatment the crack in the handle has closed up nicely and the whole rig is ready for another year or two-s use.
It really does surprise me the way the horn handle has held up because of all the trouble some have had with their handles cracking.
This khuk rides in the toolbox of Penny's truck where the phoenix summer sun beats down unmercifully and still no major problems!!!!
Penny uses the khuk for taking out and/or trimming Agave, Prickly Pear and the like. The nicks in the blade comes from making contact with the rocky Arizona gravel landscaping.
All this kinda makes me wonder how a regular BirGhorka model would have faired, BUT I know Penny would never have consented to use one of the pretty ones, kinda like some of the guys here.;P
She wanted to keep it nice and I told her to use it because that's what it was made for.
Besides I wanted to see how it holds up under severe use.
She took my words to heart and use it she has!!!! I would even venture to say "used and abused!!!!"
Penny brought it up for it's annual sharpening this trip. I found the blade chipped up almost its whole length, but none any deeper than 1/16" of an inch!!!!
What has really surprised me is the horn handle and the way it's held up!!!!
There was one little surface crack just starting in the middle of the handle. And this isn't a solid black handle which is the strongest.
This handle has an extreme amount of gray and white along the top side.
There's also a fair amount of green colored horn in this handle.
The scabbard is badly scarred and chafed.
The whole rig in general hasn't had any care at all, just use.
I put the blade on my belt sander and went up to a worn 220 grit belt which gives a reasonably smooth finish.
I repolished the horn and the brass on the handle and the brass chape.
I then polished the edge to a razor sharpness and put one coat of Kiwi on the scabbard.
(The leather on the scabbard, isn't. It's more of a rawhide and reminds me of some of the early Shop 2 scabbard's.)
Then I took it to my strop and finished it up. The next step was to put some Ballistol-Lube on the handles, I also sharpened the little bitty karda, finally.
After the B-L treatment the crack in the handle has closed up nicely and the whole rig is ready for another year or two-s use.
It really does surprise me the way the horn handle has held up because of all the trouble some have had with their handles cracking.
This khuk rides in the toolbox of Penny's truck where the phoenix summer sun beats down unmercifully and still no major problems!!!!
Penny uses the khuk for taking out and/or trimming Agave, Prickly Pear and the like. The nicks in the blade comes from making contact with the rocky Arizona gravel landscaping.
All this kinda makes me wonder how a regular BirGhorka model would have faired, BUT I know Penny would never have consented to use one of the pretty ones, kinda like some of the guys here.;P
