tips on steeling, anyone?

2

2dreamtime

Joined
Aug 27, 2002
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Got my beautiful 20" Sirupati today, and decided to test it. While whacking it on some wood, the blade slipped and hit a bit of hard material, which bent the edge about 1/3mm deep :mad: (the only damage to the edge :)). It's about half way between the belly and the tip. According to the FAQ, I'm supposed to steel this out. Could anyone give me hints on how to do this with the chakma? Or will I have to pound it back to shape?
 
I usually try with the flat of the chackma first. If that doesn't work I can apply more pressure with the edge.

If I still can't get the ding out I give each side a couple of strokes with a mill bastard file. The ridges on the file will either catch and straighten the bent edge or file it off.
 
Tips on stealing...

I don't recommend it, but, if you must, I recommend getting up a good head of steam and reach a hand out, grab what you need and keep on bookin'. Err...what's that...steeling?! Oh...never mind.;)
-SB:D :footinmou
 
Originally posted by SharpBits
Tips on stealing...

I don't recommend it, but, if you must, I recommend getting up a good head of steam and reach a hand out, grab what you need and keep on bookin'. Err...what's that...steeling?! Oh...never mind.;)
-SB:D :footinmou
Click to expand...


AH! - you beat me to it! I was going to say 'don't get caught' ;)
 
For you experts: am I wrong?

I usually evaluate how much damage there is.

I decide if it is better left alone

If I take metal off, I make the damaged area sharp but do not bother removing metal from the entire blade edge just to make it 'look right'.
... .... ...
I swung a small Ganga Ram and it not only cut what I asked but struck the concret slab I'd crouched over. A few small dings in last two inches of blade, and one pronounced gouge in concret. I'm going to leave the dings in the blade and just resharpen.


This is good, bad, neither?

munk
 
I did sort of the same with a 15" AK. I tapped with a small ball peen hammer and got the edge more or less realigned. It still has a wave to the edge but it still works. :yawn:
 
Beoram - I think we are spending too much time here !!

When I saw the post I thought exactly as you did !!

:)
 
thanks for the tips, guys. I agree, it is too much to take metal off just to straighten a minor ding. Like you said, as long as it works. It does add character to the blade:)

This probably belongs in another thread...has anyone here used the Razor Edge system to sharpen your khukuris?

Cheers
Eric
 
Originally posted by Brendan
Beoram - I think we are spending too much time here !!

When I saw the post I thought exactly as you did !!

:)
Click to expand...

Probably! :eek: ... or maybe it's just great minds thinking alike ;)
 
I tried using a sharpening system (or two) for khukuris but found that it didn't work well for me. Dunno about the Razor's Edge stuff tho. I'm sure someone around here has made everything work at one time or another.

Do a search of the forum for many sharpening techniques.
 
The only problem with a ding in a blade was my son's knife from India. I ran into a piece of barbed wire that had been in that tree limb for so long that it could not be seen. It was kind of like having a 1/8th inch dip in the edge of the knife. The only luck in it for me was most of the displaced steel was on one side of the blade.

I tried useing a chakma with little success. I really did not wont to file away the steel if I could help it. I wrapped the blade with an old T-shirt and clamped it in a vise. with an old #4 phillips screw driver I worked that part of the blade as hard as I could with that screw driver.
I did get most of the ding out of the blade and the rest came out with the diamond hone and stroping. I forgot to mention that I made sure that I had a good pair of work gloves on when doing the steeling. with the blade in the vise and useing as much pressure as I was trying to use, it was probably an equation for disaster but I was trying to protect myself a little bit.

I was lucky that things worked out as well as they did.:)
 
You make a good point, Pappy, and leather gloves won't help if youmake the fatal mistake. Careful, boys, careful. Knives can cut even when you don't want them to.
 
Cliff Stamp made an interesting post somewhere on these forums, where he noted that excessive steeling could cause work hardening of the steel, and subsequent micro-chipping of the blade.

This might be relevant to those who eschew filing or sharpening in favor of steeling. You may not be saving as much steel as you think.

For a deep ding I would certainly be tempted to bend it back as pappy did, rather than filing a large amount of metal off. Be aware that the bent part may be more prone to breaking out in the future.

I use the chakma when in the field and it's needed, use ceramic stones at home to both align and sharpen, and will bring out the diamond hones or the file when needed to remove metal. I would guess that a balance between steeling and sharpening gives good edge life without excessive work hardening.

Probably a good research project for a grad student in materials science. Lot's of time and effort to find out the answer, but I'm not sure it matters much for practical purposes. It will take a long time to sharpen all the way through to the spine of a khukuri. Longer than I will be around. Even if I did manage the feat I have a number of khukuris so I would just get to begin again on another.
 
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