WWIII status report - 3/25/00

O

old_engineer

Joined
Jun 22, 1999
Messages
67
Hi guys,

The second group of 6 knives went off to Edgeworks on Friday, 3/24. These are all bead blasted blades and handles, 6 black, 6 green.

The third batch of 10 (polished blades, polished handles, 5 black, 5 white) should go for blueing around the end of next week.

WWIII care department:

1. I shipped the second batch with the blades wrapped in waxed paper, instead of plastic bags to prevent rubbing. One of the blades I was working on for the next batch showed some rust spots in the plastic bag (probably from "sweating"). I'm not sure if this would happen to a blued blade with Tetra lubricant applied, but the waxed paper is probably a safer shipping & storage medium, since it allows some air flow.

2. Sooner or later you're going to scratch the blueing. I got curious as to what would be the best "touch up" for the charcoal bluing we are using. I purchased several small bottles of cold blueing solutions and tested them. The one that works best (at least on the bead blasted blades) is Birchwood-Casey "Perma Blue". On light scratches, the touch up is undetectable. The color is that good a match. I didn't try scuffing up a larger area, since it's my own blade I'm working on. I cleaned with Acetone, applied the cold blue solutions with an artists brush, watched the color change, and wiped with water when it looked right.

I'll get back to you when there's more to report.

Thanks,
Bob Couture
 
Bob, thanks for the report. I guess it goes without saying how excited we are. Just out of curiosity, is there much variation in blade shape from khuk to khuk? (length, width, thickness, weight, etc.)
 
Pictures, Pictures, PICTURES
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How about showing us some pictures of the finished product???

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http://www.dd-b.net/RKBA/ http://www.tcsn.net/doncicci/freedom.htm http://home.earthlink.net/~spwenger/spwenger.html http://216.199.9.84/Misc/library/Metal_and_Wood.html
 
Bob, we appreciate your commitment to this project. I, for one, am certainly excited about seeing the finished product, which is just one step closer to becoming reality!
 
Me too! Here's some news from the admin side of the house. Now that all the pieces are falling into place, it's clear to me that the price might rise by a few dollars (I'm talking 10 or 15) to cover our costs, what with all the shipping back and forth these things are doing (if they could earn frequent flyer miles, each khukuri would come with a free airline ticket!). But we've decided to make NO PROFIT on the stateside production of these babies (about 90% of the price). Of course, the 7 or 8 remaining "unclaimed" WWIIIs will be sold at a high collector's premium - maybe something like $295.00. My dream is to see these 40 numbered WWIIIs become collectors knives with a pricetag significantly higher than the purchase price. For those of you who sent in deposits, it's sort of like buying wine futures.

Once I get the first batch back from Edgeworks, I'll figure out the total cost to produce the WWIIIs and post a figure here.

Then, you'll be able to send in a check for the balance. In order to avoid the confusion over keeping track of who has paid and who hasn't (and to avoid sending the wrong WWIII out to the wrong person), I'll level the playing field and ask everybody to mail in checks BEFORE the khukuri is shipped (unlike my general policy to mail khukuris out to forumites as soon as they are ordered).

Robert: Can you post the numbers of the second batch so we can start salivating?

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
Hello all,

X-Head,

I haven't paid as much attention to the blade area as I have to the handle tangs, so I'm not sure how much variation in blade shape & weight there is. I suspect there is at least some. Each knife is hefted and swung by me several times in the process of putting the final shape on the handle. The "feel" and "feedback" seems similar in all the ones I've worked on so far.

Craig,

The first batch consisted of Knife numbers 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, and 16. The second batch included numbers 4, 14, 17, 25, 31, and 35. The third batch will include numbers 1, 3, 8, 9, 19, 29, 33, 36, 37, and 38 if all continues to go well. Remember that 38 is a replacement for 32, which we experimented on initially.

Thanks,
Bob Couture
 
Hellooooo Olive Drab handled & sheathed WWIII #04!!! YeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaa!!!

Thanks for the update, Bob!

Chris

What, me get excited?
 
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