White Bone handled chitlangi

ferguson

ferguson

Joined
Feb 21, 2001
Messages
4,238
I got the 18" white bone handled Chitlangi today. It was beautiful! It had been at the post office since Thursday. There were minor cracks in the bone handle as Uncle Bill had said, but they weren't open enough to wick any superglue into them. I took it outside to give it a shakedown, as I do all of my new babies, and cut up a 3" sapling that had been broken by the storm. After making a few cuts, I noticed more cracks in the bone. I slapped the side of the blade against the tree, not hard, but firmly, and the bone crumbled in my hand. Oops.

Bura did not fill the entire bone cavity with laha, only the first 2.5" near the bolster. Also, the bone on one side under the checkering was only .110" thick after shaping. I don't know why the bone was so brittle. That's natural materials for you, sometimes they just aren't as strong as normal. Maybe the animal it came from had osteoporosis.

I think I will try to put a new handle on it myself. The blade, buttcap and scabbard are worth far more than the $75 that I paid for it. I'm sure Uncle Bill would replace it, but I have gotten so many bargains from him that I'm already ashamed. This will make a nice little project. The handle was a little long and big for me anyway, now I can customise it to fit my small hands.

The blade is gorgeous. The brass buttcap was made in two pieces and silver soldered together. The workmanship is unbelieveable. The talent that the Kamis have developed for shaping steel, brass, wood and horn is amazing.

Now I just have to find some white, natural handle material that will hold up. Bura made it white and I'll keep it that way. I think I'll call wssi (wood stabilizing specialists, intl) Monday and see if they have some stabilized bone. The size will be a little larger than most knife handles, since the butt flares out on a khuk.

I've rambled on long enough (2 glasses of Merlot). Even with the bad handle, this chitlangi is a bargain. I think it found the right home. Thanks for listening.

Steve
 
Aw. Sorry to hear it crumbled. Looked like a beauty. Make sure you keep us up to speed on your project. Maybe you can get stabilized giraffe bone in a big enough size.
Best of luck.
 
Duh.
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Steve,

Bought an 18" BGRS a while ago. Beautiful bone handle. Pretty much disintegrated when I tried it out. Will stay away from bone handles in the future, even though they are very pretty.

Let me know if you find a good way to repair yours.

Thanks.
 
:eek:

I thought the whole back end was supposed to be filled with laha.

Looks like a good learning project for 75 bux. Or you can wrap it with duct tape and use it for 100 years, no problem.
 
How about a stacked leather handle like on `the fame KaBar USMC fighting knife? I've3 done a few stacked leather handles, and they are a breeze, look and wear well (especially if soaked in hot beeswax).

Keith
 
Originally posted by ferguson
Now I just have to find some white, natural handle material
Click to expand...
Pet supply.
Find a good dense heavy-walled chew bone with a small hole through.
Bone's known to be brittle.
But if you fill it with epoxy there shouldn't be muuch stress
on the bone itself (I think).

Antler?

Isn't there a dense white wood?
?

Non-traditional:

Bleached Rawhide.
Think of rawhide hammers---very durable.
Wet, wrap, form.
Been thinking of trying that myself,
just to see.


BTW---It was a beauty, & will be again.

Nice, informative pix.
 
BTW----

if you are about to throw out the laha,

I'd be happy to pay shipping to get it as a sample to play with.
 
Originally posted by ddean
Isn't there a dense white wood?
?

Non-traditional:

Bleached Rawhide.
Think of rawhide hammers---very durable.
Wet, wrap, form.
Been thinking of trying that myself,
just to see.
Click to expand...

Dean hackberry is pretty white, if'en ya can find it.;)

The rawhide would make a darned strong and durable handle, but it would have to be varnished or otherwise protected from the wet.
Wet rawhide is Slliiimmmeeeeyyyyy.

Dean, I might have a bit of laha laying around here, not for sure and will have to look, but if I do it's yours.:D
 
Originally posted by ddean
BTW----

if you are about to throw out the laha,

I'd be happy to pay shipping to get it as a sample to play with.
Click to expand...

Ddean, there's only about a teaspoon or two, but you're welcome to it. I melted it off the tang with a heat gun and let it drip onto a 2x4. Let me tell you that is some good adhesive. It's got fiber in it to make it stronger. The brass pommel was epoxied on with aluminum colored epoxy. I had to bake it in the toaster oven for an hour to break it down.

Email me your address if you want this small amount of laha and I'll drop it in an envelope in a baggie. Wonder if the postal inspectors would think it's hashish?:rolleyes: Not that in my younger days I ever saw something like that.;)

Steve
 
I have a friend that showed me a cataloge once with all sorts of supplies for differene things. One of the beautiful items was some sort of nut that looks just like ivory when worked and polished. They were big enough that two of them would make a handle. I will have to ask him to see that thing again. This stuff looked so much like ivory IIRC that professionals could be fooled by the results. These nuts were fairly cheap also.
The stacked washer idea sounds like a great idea too! That project could be done with different colored woods stacked to make a nice pattern.
Paper Micarta and artifical ivory look great on handles. I have used them before. They look good and are stable. Check out some of the knife supply places on the net. They have tons of products and one handle would most likely cost you 10.00 or less in materials.
Good Luck! It could be a fun project!:D
 
I was sorry to see this pretty grip smashed to pieces. It has been my experience with grips that weren't solid bone, horn, metal, etc. that the void would be filled with a wooden core or at least wood splints and then have the laha poured in. Large amounts of laha dry out and shrink or in this case just don't fill the empty space.

I'm sure Bill will be forwarding these pictures to BirGorkha.
 
Originally posted by ArchAngel
I have a friend that showed me a cataloge once with all sorts of supplies for differene things. One of the beautiful items was some sort of nut that looks just like ivory when worked and polished. They were big enough that two of them would make a handle. I will have to ask him to see that thing again. This stuff looked so much like ivory IIRC that professionals could be fooled by the results. These nuts were fairly cheap also.
The stacked washer idea sounds like a great idea too! That project could be done with different colored woods stacked to make a nice pattern.
Paper Micarta and artifical ivory look great on handles. I have used them before. They look good and are stable. Check out some of the knife supply places on the net. They have tons of products and one handle would most likely cost you 10.00 or less in materials.
Good Luck! It could be a fun project!:D
Click to expand...

I think I may have one of those nuts. I bought it in Quito, Equador and it is like stone with beautiful brown lines running through it.I don't think I have the source were I obtained the nuts any longer as it was 6 years ago.
 
Sorry to see that happen to the handle, Steve. But like you said, each khuk finds the right owner. If I had gotten that khuk, there's no way I would be able to do it the justice you can. I am looking forward to seeing what your skills produce. :)
 
The only problem with tagua is it turns brown after a few years..I've used them for some time and they are quite hard buy vary alot in thickness and they have a void on the inside...maybe white micarta would be a better choice..if not I do have a chunk of mn ironwood thats been sitting around for a few years,is extremly hard and is very light cream in color if your interested its yours.
 
Arrggh! Can't see pix, probably because of the spaces in the file name. But the description is more than adequate.

I experienced something similar with a chakma. There was a bit of a void on one side where the tang was inserted. Not enough laha. However, when sanding, an area about 3/4" x 3/16" collapsed since it was paper-thin. This revealed a huge empty space inside the handle, much deeper and wider than the tang. Even though only partially glued, the blade was secure. The laha is pretty impressive stuff. I think that these large holes are why sometimes the blades of kardas and chakmas aren't in line with the handles.

I partially filled the space with G.B. Weld, then used a clear epoxy/sawdust mixture up flush with the surface for cosmetics.

Bill describes a comercial laha that doesn't have to be melted and poured. I guess they place a few pellets in the hole and insert a hot tang. Seems another case where the quicker, more convenient new isn't as good as the old. Pouring in molten laha, would much more likely to fill all the voids. Seems somebody really enjoys using the electric drill too--the hole was 3 or 4 times bigger than needed.
 
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