Yvsa Special, new thread

D

Dave K

Joined
Jul 5, 1999
Messages
933
I am having no luck posting to the old thread.

It came yesterday! Happy day! It looks better in real life than in the pictures; nice and shiny and sharp along the whole length of the blade. The engraved flower is quite nice as well.

Yvsa was also kind enough to tighten the fit of the sheath with the insertion of a scrap of leather.

Balance seems almost unaffected by the heavy duty-buttcap. I have another shop 2 sirupati that almost matches this one exactly except that the Yvsa Special has a thinner blade and is thus more neutrally balanced.

All in all the blade looks great, feels even better in the hand, and also even possesses a 10-lifetimes warranty, which is the longest warranty I have ever heard of for a knife.

A knife worthy of a trulku, perhaps...

Thank you so much Yvsa!

-Dave
 
Now you see why I prefer a broken tang to a broken or bent blade. With Yvsa's help you have a khukuri that is actually better than new. Had the blade broken in half you would have at best a botched up knife and probably just two pieces of knife.

------------------
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
http://members.aol.com/himimp/index.html
 
:
Dave you are very welcome.I am truly glad you like it.Nice edge on it wasn't there?
And how about that polish on the blade?
smile.gif


I have to get some things mailed out later this week.I am finally going to get Steves metal mailed to him.I ain't sending that Aluminium bronze though.I am convinced that stuff would make one tough knife blade.
I think he will be much happier with some copper and brass.
Then I may get to that little village Sirupati.-vbeg-

If any of the ones coming aren't exactly what I want to use all the time there may be a "Yvsa Special."
I have something in mind and now that I know what most of the big and heavy ones "feel" like I might try to design one to my specs and make it a special order with the fancy scabbard and extra little tools and such.
If I do this I will carve one out to what I think I want and let the Kamis make it.Then the proof will be in whether I knew what I was thinking was correct or not.

The funniest thing about doing something like this is me knowing that it surely has been done before.
I was telling my g'kids once about a Flute I was going to make and that it would be the only one like it ever.We were going to the museum when I said this.When we got there and was looking around there was the Flute I was going to make.Granted it was a little smaller and such,but someone 2 thousand years before me had thought of the same thing.
There is nothing new under the sun.
smile.gif


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>>>>---¥vsa---->®
Cornbread ain't s'possed ta be sweet!....Dagnabit gurl,whut did they teach you way up north in....;) hehehe.

Khukuri FAQ


 
How did you get that knife so sharp Yvsa?

Mirror finish is quite nice. Perhaps I will try to shave with my cutthroat britva using the khukuri as the mirror.

I was thinking about the whole ten lifetime warranty thing. Is it supposed to apply to my next ten incarnations or to my next ten generations of descendants if I am lucky enough to have them? And if the knife has any problems in the next ten lifetimes, whose descendants or incarnations should be harassed?
wink.gif
(I intend to hold _someone_ accountable for the warranty.) heh heh heh...

Seriously though, how did you get the knife so sharp?

-Dave


------------------
"I'm not a complete idiot; some parts are missing."


 
:
Dave the trick is to use the red grit on a DMT® duofold and then a pair of fine ceramic sticks on an angle in a bock of wood.Several brands of these I think.The Khukuris come out fine with this alone.

The final trick is to have it polished first,carefully use the diamond and the sticks.Then very carefully run each side of the edge on the buffing wheel twice and only twice.
This takes off any wire edge that may possibley be left on the edge.
If you hit the edge more than twice you just about have to start over.
The buffing wheel can dull as quickly as it can sharpen.

I just have one of those little $35.00 Black and Decker grinders.That's also what I made my karda and chakma for the 18" AK on.

There has been some talk over in the Shop Talk forum about grinding and such.I amfortunate to have been blessed with steady hands.
It did take some effort on my part in the beginning,but this is something I really wanted to do.
When I could still see I ground some tools by hand that I had to hold 0.005" tolerance with.I used a scale instead of calipers to measure them with.I won a little money that way once in a while.No one would belive I could do it until they saw it.
smile.gif



------------------
>>>>---¥vsa---->®

Whales are mammals.Mammals have hair!

SHAVE THE WHALES !!!!
Use a Khukuri.It's no fluke.It's just a whale of a tale,or the tail of a whale.

Khukuri FAQ


 
Yvsa, when I see an old master kami freehand the edge and it comes out looking like a product of an NC machine I just shake my head.

I am no good at free hand and having tried to do it myself I am in great awe of those who can such as yourself. Can you still do it or have the eyes become too fuzzy and the hand too shaky with age and meds.

You know, Yvsa, when the kamis are making the "magic" khukuris they do it exactly like you but leave out the ceramic sticks and use the "magic" stone for final finish of the edge.

------------------
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
http://members.aol.com/himimp/index.html
 
Wow Yvsa.

Maybe I will try to purchase a grinding wheel. Something tells me that it would be a while before I could duplicate your results, though...

I tend to just use liberal amounts of elbow grease in polishing and sharpening these knives. I was especially pleased with myself the time I used scotchbrite and then paper towels and brasso to shine up some rough looking horn.

I thought of you in class today Yvsa because the lecture was about the history of Christianity and American Indians and the history of the Cherokee was also mentioned.

When I was a kid my family lived on Cherokee road and I went to Cherokee elementary school, (in Illinois) but the actual Cherokee themselves were never mentioned.

Perhaps I will tell my prof that khukuris are traditional Cherokee knives and see if I can get extra credit!

-Dave

------------------
"I'm not a complete idiot; some parts are missing."


 
:
Dave,Uncle,et al:
Dave that's interesting.How did the Scotchbrite and Brasso work?
Tallwingedgoat is looking for a way to shine up the horn and he doesn't have any power equipement.
I wouldn't have thought of using Brasso,but I probably would have tried it if I had some.I will try "almost" anything once.
smile.gif


Also Dave,Cliff gave me the best advice ever had about a sharpening tool.That DMT is the finest thingI have ever used.I had bought a little EZ-Lap and although it is good for it's intended use I am like Cliff and think the DMT is the way to fly.
I am going to get me the next duofold down in grit though.
The "red" is plenty polished enough for most purposes and I think the "blue" would be awesome in restoring a really badly dmaged edge.There is a "black" grit that is the most aggresive they make.
I imagine it would almost be like using a file.
I would love to have a "blue" and a "red" bench stones in at least the 8" long size.A 12" would be the absolute.
smile.gif


I have to agree with Jeff Randall about Christianity and the Indigeneous peoples.To paraphrase Jeff he has said "that it does them harm in many areas."
There were some people found I think in the Phillipine Jungle some years ago.If I recall it right there was 15 of them.
They were living the true hunter,gatherer life and blew some theories right out of the water.One being they couldn't stay in one place without starving.
smile.gif

The only interference that was done is that the people were given 16 axes.When they left thier cave one morning each person had 1 axe.Someone asked if anyone was going to take 2 of them.They said "Why? We each have 1 and that's enough.The intruders ere looking for that "power" that the think some people have over another.
The Indigs were also taught how to make one of the foods from a palm tree.

Uncle I had pretty good luck with the last ones I tried.I can be hurtin like the blazes to the point of where I ain't that steady and pick up a piece of steel and put it to the wheel and my hands are like a rock.I don't know if it's because I love it so much or all the years of practice.Probably a combo of both.
I really need to start spending more time in my "room." When I go in there the world and time stops.
It won't be long now until some things will be happening in there.

The eyes are a different story.I have a little story about those magnifiying glasses that can go over your glasses,but I won't tell it here anymore.
I will just say "I almost went to far." hehehehe

I wouldn't be surprised to see some truly really sharp from the scabbard Khukuris before to much longer.A couple of people have stated thiers came like that.I must be next to Will in getting the dull ones.
smile.gif

hehehe


------------------
>>>>---¥vsa---->®

Whales are mammals.Mammals have hair!

SHAVE THE WHALES !!!!
Use a Khukuri.It's no fluke.It's just a whale of a tale,or the tail of a whale dum dum KHUK.It's no fluke...

Khukuri FAQ

[This message has been edited by Yvsa (edited 20 October 1999).]
 
dum dum KHUK. It's no fluke.

Otherwise I love it, Yvsa.
 
:
Thanks Rusty.
This better?
I knew it needed something.Didn't realize it was a fluke.
smile.gif


------------------
>>>>---¥vsa---->®

Whales are mammals.Mammals have hair!

SHAVE THE WHALES !!!!
Use a Khukuri.It's no fluke.It's just a whale of a tale,or the tail of a whale dum dum KHUK.It's no fluke.

Khukuri FAQ

 
Oops, I messed up. I am losing my memory and growing senile in my old age.

It wasn't scotchbrite that worked. I tried the maroon and grey stuff first but it was all too rough. I had more luck with 400 grit sandpaper followed by the finest I could find which was 1500 grit.

Then I used paper towels with liberal amounts of brasso, and then old cotton t-shirts and brasso, and then just dry cotton, finally followed by some hoof lubricant to (hopefully) prevent cracking.

The flat sides of the karda 'n chakma handles polished up real well, but the edges of the handles were more difficult and I never got them too well, but it was the flat sides that mattered as far as looks go. It was a bit time-consuming.

Hopefully this will help tallwingedgoat in the ongoing quest for shiny bits of horn!

-Dave

------------------
"I'm not a complete idiot; some parts are missing."


 
Ooops, gave wrong impression. Try it like this:

Use a khuk, it's no fluke. It's a whale of a tale or the tail of a whale.

or just maybe:

Use a khuk, shave it's fluke. It's a whale of a tale or the tail of a whale.

Time for my medication.
 
I think it is time for the medication, too, Rusty.

Yvsa, that's good to hear that your hand is still steady and the eye is okay. One of the problems the old kamis have is with their eyes going bad. That red hot steel can take something out of your eyes after you look at it for 60 years. I learned my lesson as a youngster welding with a torch -- burned my eyes something terrible. I thought only arc welders burned your eyes. I never made that mistake again. As far as my freehanding ability -- forget it. I need a Bridgeport!

------------------
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
http://members.aol.com/himimp/index.html
 
:
Uncle I sure know what it's like to have the eyes burned.One of my past duties in the machine shop was to weld up rollerskate toestop plates.I used a Heliarc.I also learned early on to wear a thick shirt.I had some real nice welding burns on my chest and arms from being that close to the heliarc.

Hot steel over the years would most definitely cause eye problems.

------------------
>>>>---¥vsa---->®

If you mix milk of magnesia with vodka and orange juice do you get a phillips screwdriver?

Khukuri FAQ


 
I have the DMT x-coarse and fine 8" benchstones. They are very nice for sharpening small to medium sized blades. 3M also is supposed to make good quality diamond abrasives, as well they are now using a different method of bonding on their regular sandpaper. It is called Trizact and it produces pyramids which are supposed to make grinding much easier and faster :

http://www.mmm.com/product/index_A/index_A_7.html

-Cliff

[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 25 October 1999).]
 
Dave K,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to give brasso a try. I tired everything I could think of, but nothing worked for horn. *DO NOT USE TOOTHPASTE*.

The finest sandpaper I have is 2000 grit, I know there is 2500 grit out there. You can also finish up with 1 micron diamond paste.

I know a lot of people in the semi-conductor business. I don't know what they use to polish the silicon waffers that serve as the foundation for the chips. But whatever it is, it produce a perfect mirror surface.
 
I must toss in a compliment for Yvsa here. When he returned the khukuris he had repaired I was amazed at the finish he had on both blade and handle. Here is a man who can not only talk but he can do the walk, too. I could see those 35 years of shop experience on those khukuris. I greatly admire those who can do really fine work. I admire the master kamis and I admire the work that Yvsa does. Pala wants to hire him!

------------------
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
http://members.aol.com/himimp/index.html
 
I have pretty good luck polishing horn with fine steel wool then I use rubbing compound like you use on cars. It is a very fine grit and put a high shine on the horn and brass. Just put a little of the paste on a cotten cloth and rub it on moderatly hard then use a clean cloth to rub off the dry dust and exces compnoud. Should like the results. Caution though, the hanle tends to get a little slippery to hold when its that smooth.
 
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