wait till Yvsa gets back from holiday

Ken that's what I figured when I 1st saw this post.
That happened to the very first YCS although it had only one chip it was about the same size.
I put the blade on my Grizz grinder and ground away the chip being very, very careful not to get the blade too hot.


i dont understand yvsa ??, if i just attempted to grind out the 2-3/4inch long by nearly i/2inch deep chips, there would be a crater,left in the blade????
or did you also have to continue forward and remove more blade to make it level making a new shape to front of blade ???.:confused:
 
yeh bruise i am waitin to hear from yvsa what he actualy had to remove to get his back intio useable condition, i think the damage to mine is much more serious, especialy when you look at it in person.i drew lines on it several times with a black marking pen , and yep it would end up like a fat sirupati.
do me a favour bruise an copy the picture of the post, and in paintshop see what you can comeup with by drawing a line where you think it would have to be ground back to. then post it for me. it will be interestin to see if i was correct in the way i was doin it. :)
 
Originally posted by Kendo
or did you also have to continue forward and remove more blade to make it level making a new shape to front of blade ???.:confused:

Ken I reshaped the edge of course to blend in the point as well as the blade just in front of the cho.
When Bill saw it he said it didn't look as if it had ever broke out.
The edge is still nicely hard which led me to believe the edge was way to hard to begin with.
It doesn't have the deep belly it once had but I believe I like it better as it's more pointy.:)

What's confusing to me is that the BirGhorka Villagers are more like the original H.I.'s were when I 1st started buying them, but the last one I got had more of a flat edge so I don't know how they will continue to be.
Hopefully the older and better convexed edge will appear once more on all the H.I. Khukuri's. It's very disappointing to me the way the current H.I.'s are being made as IMO although most seem to be okay there's a chance of failure unlike the older models.
My 18" AK is still the khuk I would most rely on as well as a few others bought early on when Shop 2 was first formed as they have the thicker convex edges made more like an axe.
I do have to add that the thin ones I have thoroughly tested I know I can trust.
The best way to test the thin flat or hollow ground edgees is to chop with a twisting motion right at the end of the depth of penetration into a hard wood like well seasoned oak.
This puts more torque on the edge and if it holds up for a couple of dozen hard chops into the hard wood then the blade is probably okay.
My 18" AK just laughs at this treatment and seems to say, "Is that all you got ndn? LMAO!!!!" :)
It's also the one I think an Abram's Tank could run over and not damage.:D
 
What's confusing to me is that the BirGhorka Villagers are more like the original H.I.'s were when I 1st started buying them, but the last one I got had more of a flat edge so I don't know how they will continue to be.
Hopefully the older and better convexed edge will appear once more on all the H.I. Khukuri's. It's very disappointing to me the way the current H.I.'s are being made as IMO although most seem to be okay there's a chance of failure unlike the older models.

yes yvsa this is what is worrying me i have done a bit of research, and talked to john powell. about the blade sharpening style, ie convex shape. and looking at old khukris, they major majority have not got the flat style grind, they have the axe like convex edge.
which is far easier to achieve,and does not thicken over time,with constant useage,and resharpening.and has been tested over time .
you also dont need fancy sharpening gear to maintain the edge.
lets face it the khukuri is meant to be a utility tool, for everday use.it should be able to doa variety of jobs.
and the way it was originaly done,
[like as you say the village models] show the axe convex edge is ideal
for wood chopping, cutting ,killing chooks, animals ect. and when it comes to enemies, the axe convex edge will deal with them very nicely to.
hee hee just had a funny image pop into my head,of a ghurka showing the edge of his blade to his enemy who is minus one arm and half his head, the injured guy is asking the ghurka wouldant he be better of with a flat ground blade for cleaner cuts. and would look nicer to.
;) :)

so to sum up i just would like to see the strongest edge possable on the khuks, and this would seem to be the tried and true axe like convex blade shape. :confused: :p :confused: :D :( :) :D
 
Kendo writes:

THIS IS WHAT THE BLADE WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE APPROX IF AN ATTEMPT AT REGRINDING WAS DONE.pretty ugly totaly spoils the look of the ycs i think,
the fullers also create a big problem, and that is takeing the ninimum materiel away, then you would have to sharpen and retemper ect.
i dont fancy attempting such a vast removal of materiel on a grinder. dont like the idea of one slip could result in being dissembowelled..
 
ok i have had a brainwave, :p
been wirkin very hard, :rolleyes:
hang on a bit an you will see the results. :p :D

THANKS FOR PUTTIN THE PIC NOT2SHARP.:D :D
 
bloddy hell i just spent an hour typin in a report of what i did an it spat it out an chewed it up oh nnnoooooooooooo. ow well i will do it again :mad:
 
THE FOLLOWING IS THE RESULT OF PERSISTENCE, AND TOM FOOLERY.
sorry had to post in 2 parts. THE PICTURE ABOVE IS THE FINISHED BLADE.

well i had a brain wave, instead of attempting the rebuild on a grinder, much to dangerous,
especialy with the amount of steel that has to be removed.approx 1/2inch by 6inch long
strip.
so after pondering for a while icame up with my dremel.
i took the y.c.s blade and marked it with a black marking pen to where i would like the finished blade to end up.
it took me 5-7 go's but eventualy i was happy with the shape.
i was trying to take the least amount of steel off needed to repair the badly damaged edge,but
still have a functioning and good looking blade.
THE IDEA IS TO CUT THE DAMAGE AWAY INSTEAD OF GRINDING IT OFF.

WELL OK OUT WITH THE DREMEL
i selected a cut of disk made from the same stuff as angle grinder wheels by the look of it.
only very thin and only about aninch round.
i tentitivly applied the cut of wheel to the marked line,begining from the handle end of the damage,
and proceeded to grind a light groove all the way along up to the point.
this gave me a nice guide for the cutting off of the section marked.
i selected highest speed,and used light pressure lifting of of blade at regular intervals checking to make sure n o exssesive heat build up. just to be on the safe side i got a jug of water to dip the blade in to make doubaly sure.
i proceeded up and down my grooved line deeper and deeper, dunking in the water as i went.
it never got very hot at all but like i said it made sure and also cleaned of fileings as i went.
finaly off it came, a approximate 1/2inch by 6inch sliver of steel.and now i could see the approximate shape my new khuk would end up. it wasant to bad so far.
now i turned it on edge up so i could look at the cuuting part to see what it looked like. i nearly fainted,
 
the forward half of the blade edge was approx 1/8inch thick all the way to the point.

well i had a coffee then decided its no good just lookin get on with it.
i layed the blade flat edge faceing me and selected a dremel grind stone about 1/2inch thick by 1/2 inch
round, not sure what grit, probably medium by the way it removed metal, it was orange in colour.
i proceeded from the handle end of the blade,BEGINNING FROM THE CUT OUT BIT, up to the point making a 1/2 inch wide light groove all the way.
i then started from the beginnig lightly grinding from right to left, doing a section 3inchs at a time proceeding up to the point then starting again. slowly angling the stone as i went, so as to make a convex edge,to about the middle of the edge. i checked frequently looking at the edge so i new when
1/2 way. i then turned the blade over and proceeded to do the same.
i then held the blade edge up and looked along it up to the point, it looked pretty good to me.

i then selected three grades of emery paper, medium,fine and extra fine. i got a dremel sanding drum disk, approx 1/2 by 1/2 inch an cut strip of medium emery to fit nicely round the little drum, then super glued it straight on, i waited about a minute, then blade faceing me ,sanded up and down the new ground dection until satisfied,then turned over did same to other side.
then cut fine piece emery to suit drum,then superglued it straight over the old piece, waited min then blade edge faceing me, again sanded up and down towards the point,till satisfied, then turned over and did the same to other side. then finaly fit a extra fine piece of emery to the drum and do same again till you are happy with look of blade. i will say here some times i changed the emery cloth 2 times as it got worn down so use common sense.

again looked at blade edge on looks great, the funny thing is you end up with a dual blade khukri.
the first 6inches or so are flatground,and the front 6inches are convex ground. i blended the two sections together as i went ,so you cannot see a joining of the two, they just meld into each other.
both end up razor sharp after sharpening.
lastly sharpen and hone the new ground section remembering to sharpen as for convex blade.
then lightly touch up the back section as for flat ground blade.
maybee i have inadvertantly invented the dual blade khukri. i dont know, what a fluke.
it looks great an cuts great. i have done the chop test in the back, same iron hard wood,
but this time,what a difference.
the front convex shaped section cuts like wildfire, i also did as yvsa told me and twistd the blade at first tentitivly, then becomeing more savage as i went on gaining confidence.

the rear section cuts well to and slices and dices finely as its thinner profile permits. the front section is as i said a magnificent chopper, and slicer to ,just heavyer slices.
i finished of by throwing different targets into the air, so as to see the actual slice, and cutting abitlity.
5 big lemons of the lemon tree were sliced through with just a flick of the wrist, boy is this knife good.
next thinner tree branches, started of with thin stuff about 1/8 inch to see if it would cut them of easily istead of pushing them away as they were so wispy, but no slice cleanly little effort, same applied right up to about inch thick clean cut. larger stuff up to 2-3 inch heavier swing no problems straight through.
decided the final test should be something with meat an bones, the dog looked at me lookin at him funny, and decided inside was a safer place. heee heee.
i persuaded the wife it would be a good idea to test the meat choppin capability of the khuks as we might need to rely on them when we go to tassie in 9days time.
very dubiously she surrendered the chook, [chicken for you non australians] that she was preparing to cook for tea, it was going to be chopped up with the cleaver anyway soooooooooo.
i washed and cleaned the khuk, and hung the chook ceremoniusly on the washing line.
meanwhile while the missus wasant lookin i stuffed a nice big steak up its bum, as i wanted to simulate more closely a large meat an bone target with no empty space in between.
i was very carefull attathing it with three lenghts of meat wrapping twine. so as when it got chopped hopefully none would land on the ground,
[ i didant voice this fear to the wife as she might not let the test procced]

well now was the big momment i lined up on the chook, i had decided on a large chop left to right,OOPS I MEAN RIGHT TO LEFT.
which would take out the wing bones ,chest, meat, then on through the steak and exit sonewhere through the thigh bones. the wife of course had other visions of how it would end up cut in half.
i wasant gonna tell her my plan. he he
the other reason for the right TO left swing was of course because i am left handed, and i wanted the khukri swingin away from me if it did chop the chook up.

weel murphys law took over didant it, i swung a mighty blow the chook was chopped cleanly in half like a surgeon had done it with a laser, i was happy you think ???.
yes and no, i was elated at the cutting ability of my khuk, BUTTTT
i had chopped through everything string an all, one half of the chook was in the dirt.
guess which bit i get for tea.

my wife has seen the funny side of it an is going to share her bit with me,an the dogs are happy to,they get the other bit.
wife cant figure out why the butcher would have put a bit of steak inside the chook. i just acted surprised an said eh well we got a piece of steak as well as the chook for tea to now. :D :D

so all that ends well is great. i will now inform bill i dont want another khuk i am keepin this one.:cool: :) :D
 
Kendo,

Good Job! Although, the original serrated version would have made a great meat tenderizer. :)

n2s
 
thanks also for the pics not2sharp.
maybee i will put a meat tenderizer on the next one. heee he

the other thing i am realy happy about is bill dont have to replace it now.he is great with the after sales service ect, but hey this turns out great for both of us.:D :D :D
 
Kendo, you may be ready for a job as an apprentice at BirGorkha. 25 cents per hour and all the rice you can eat.
 
the kami's would be to busy laughin at my dremel,to get any of there work done bill.;) :) :D
 
Nice, work Kendo! Sounds like you saved the blade and turned it into good worker.

Dunno if you can patent the "dual blade" though...some of my khuk are ground flatter or even hollw in the recurve conpared to the belly. And I think Uncle recently put up a HI village model that he described in similar terms. Maybe it tends to happen naturally since the belly is harder?

Keep working on the steak-stuffed chicken though...maybe you can win a cooking contest!

I repost a monumental recipe to inspire you:

Baked Camel
Yield: 400 servings

1 lg Camel
2 lg Sheep
4 lg Turkeys
20 lg Carps
200 md Sea-Gull Eggs
400 lg Dates
Banana-Leafs

Cook the eggs, peel them. Scale off the carps. Fill the carps with the dates and the eggs. Fill the
turkeys with the Carps. Fill the sheep with the turkeys.
Fill the camel with the sheep. Dig a large mould, give in about 500 kilos of charcoal and light
them. Wrap the camel in the banana-leafs and give into the mould. Cover with earth and bake for two days.

To serve with rice.
------------------

from
http://www.conk.com/world/quetl/

I don't think anyone would find a large khuk inappropriate for the carving chores either.
 
Great Job Ken!!!!!!! You make me proud,:D
Congrats on saving your YCS and truly making it your own. Neat test too.:)

Excellent wirk!;) A friend of mine and a fellow Cherokee Ray Kirk of Raker Knives makes work knives he calls "Wirk Knives" and made from 52100 ball bearing steel I know they will work!!!! Still have to get one of them one day soon.
I have one of the prettier ones Ray made and I love it but don't want to take a chance of carrying it every day and potentially loseing it to confiscation because it's a tad too long.

Ken what you done to your YCS is pretty much the same thing I did to mine.:)
I'm curious as to how hard you think the edge is now after the repair?

Mine is still plenty hard and I know I won't ever wear it out.
Like I've said before, "A knife that's 56-57 Rc isn't bad, just needs sharpened a little more often but my YCS is still up around 59-60 Rc which is what leads me to believe the edge was just too thin too begin with. Had it of had the convex edge it should've had I would rate it even higher than I do now, like I do my 18" AK. I know my 18" AK is around 62 Rc at least along the sweet spot and with its convex edge a khukuri that will last for several generations down the line in my family.:D
If all the H.I.Khuk's had the same edge conformation and hardness my 18" AK has there would be absolutely no faliures of any kind in the H.I.Khukuri line up!!!!

It doesn't take too much of a convex on any edge to make any knife much, much stronger.
All of the older khukuris I've seen almost always have thin blades as well as thin edges. The difference is in the convex edge itself.
The old military khuk I bought from John Powell has the same conformation as other old khuks I've seen and works like you wouldn'r believe although it doesn't hold an edge as well as some which benefits a military knife.
 
Well done, Kendo. It takes courage and a cool head to lay into an expensive piece of high class steel with a high-speed cutting tool. I'm delighted it worked out so successfully.

Regarding the use of the chicken as a test medium; that reminds me of a favorite story my late pal Dave Potter (of Reno, NV) told me...

A while back, there were a number of cases of military aircraft coming to grief because of birds flying into the windshield and shattering it (with terrible consequences, given the enormously high speeds and altitudes involved). Accordingly, NASA built a machine to test aircraft windshields by catapulting a dead chicken at them at tremendous velocity.

Some time later, the British government were trying to develop a high-speed train, to rival the French and Japanese efforts. One of the many problems they encountered was - shattered windshields, caused by collisions with birds. So the British engineers asked NASA for a loan of their apparatus, and NASA kindly obliged.

A few months later, NASA got a very perplexed e-mail from the Brit boffins. The machine, they reckoned, must be miscalibrated or malfunctioning; because even when it was programmed to its lowest setting, hurling the dead chicken at velocities which were well below the tolerances expected of ordinary industrial windshields, the result was always the same - crunch, smash, air full of tiny needles of high-speed razor-sharp glass schrapnel. Could NASA please advise on what had gone wrong, and what they needed to do in order to fix it?

NASA replied by return of e-mail; "First, defrost the chicken..."
 
sure glad i didant get a frozen one,i maybee silly but not that silly.:)
allthough it sure would have tested the blade strength ;)

thanks yvsa, i will find out exactly the hardness of the blade now, when i next go up to the custom knife guy at handorf.
i will also take the cut out piece.an see what that was to.
and as for the khuk, yep i luv it now,couldant bear to part with it at any price, its amazing what workin on a blade will do for you,i put my heart an soul into this one,an it sorta whispers to me every time i go past it now, [draw me out an look at me,stroke me] an most times i do. i must say yvsa this is one pretty khuk,even if its a bit battered now.
honestly i think its like you said its improved, personalised,an definitely, POINTY.
i am realy proud of this one now. i have even remodeled the scabbard.
i will try an scan a pic of it. what i did was cut two little slots in the front of the scabbard, just above the top edge of the frog.
i started with a realy sharp pointy thin blade,just to start the slot evenly.then used the actual blades that came with the y.c.s. just slid them in,sorta like as if it was already a sheath.that way you get a near perfect fit.then remove the frog.then i slightly widened the slots,cut a new piece of thin black leather the lenghth of each blade.plus 3/4 inch.
i made them the right width at the top to fit the slots, and angled them down to a point. so they end up triangle shape,but not real pointy,about 1/4inch wide at bottom.
then slid it in the slot,leaving a Flap pokin out, then you carefully resheath each karda knife,in the slots again,BEHIND THE NEW FLAP. this will then cut its self a little wider to compensate for the extra leather.you can now put the frog back on, then carefully put super glue on the flap then fold over and hold in place about 20 seconds till it stays put.this achieves two things, it hardens the leather,and shapes it in and around the top,and secures the frog in place.SO BE SURE THE FROG IS IN THE EXACT POSITION YOU WANT IT TO BE. after about 30-40 sec pull out the karda then apply a bit more super glue to the edges of the slot, agin this will harden the leather.wait for the glue to soak in, and keep touching it till it dont stick to you. then push the karda back in and out a few times then leave it in there.
then repeat same on the other flap.then finaly i mixed up some 5min epoxy glue and a spot of shoe polish, black of course,about a 1/2match head size piece.then smear it neatly over the edged of the flaps,blending it in with the frog and scabbard,so it all looks nice.
same around the edges of the slots you made, of course being carefull not to get any on the kardas.
you do this with them in so that the epoxy hardens and helps to form the slots to shape.pull the kardas out after the 5mins when the epoxy is hardened,then make sure alls well. any little spots that are on the karda blade will easily come of at this stage.
ok all done and it looks fantastic with the little karda blades standin out proud on the front of the scabbard.in easy reach for quick access.the other advantage of this is you now have two original extra slots, to place a small file+ezylap sharpener ect in.which is what is in mine now. ;) :p :D
 
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