Handle question

RockFarm

RockFarm

Joined
Mar 27, 2008
Messages
193
I have been looking at the antique blades brought over from Nepal in 2006 for a while now and finally bit. Soon a bare Bhojpure blade will be at my front door hopefully ready for a new life. A traditional hidden tang handle is what I hope to make, using an epoxy to hold everything in place. My question is, should I go with Hardwood or grab some Buffalo horn? All my khukuri's so far have been either wood, micarta or rayskin. So I lean toward horn just to try something new, however you guys would probably know better.
 
Purely personal preference. I just worked some Buffalo and it's really nice to work with. It's plenty dense and the same all the way through unlike Antler or stag which is why I ended up working buffalo horn in the first place.

Don't get it too hot while your working it. I've removed several horn handles and if you get it too warm it crack and does bad things. The piece I was just working was off another knife that I removed very carefully and it turned out great.

Many folks just prefer wood over horn, I'm kind of partial to both after having worked both.

Being as it is your knife, it's your choice. I'd love to see it when you get r dun.
 
Buy one of their original, but unused handles for that blade. Only about 8 bucks.
 
That would be the smart choice! I have a huge amount of respect for the handle design on these kukri and want to see how close I can copy it.
 
It's tough, I'll tell you that much. I haven't completely succeeded yet.
Those kami's got talent. I'm not giving up but I haven't even come close yet.
 
That's something I've wondered about. The kamis make the blades, and the sarkis make the sheaths, but it seems like the sarkis, being wood & leather workers, would be the ones making the handles, instead of the kamis who are primarily metal workers? Or are there handle "specialists" who do nothing but make the handles?
 
Yangdu once told me the Kami's make the handles. I assume on the elaborately carved handles somebody else does it.
Seen video's of the kami's fitting the handles. I can't comprehend how they make a blade including a handle so quickly.

Seems I recall an Uncle Bill post where he said despite prodding they would produce about one knife a day. Don't seem possible to me. Would take me days just to make a handle.
 
I picked up some flat brass, buffalo horn and epoxy and they shipped it today, I will keep you guys update :)
 
Hey guys, well I received the blade yesterday and cleaned it off by soaking it in brake fluid.
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It shined up well and there were no bends or bad gouges, just normal sharpening marks and some scratches on the sides from use, plus almost zero rust!
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This was the only identifier on the entire blade...any guesses?
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Next step was to get my supplies together, a chunk of horn, epoxy, brass, torch, solder kit and head to the shop.
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The next few hours are kinda a blur, I removed the old LaLa and cut the horn to size. After heating the tang to burn a spot in the horn, next came annealing the brass and cutting it into shape. I was trying to copy the Kami's style best I could, needless to say I came up a bit short! The biggest issue for me was the soldering, I really need to do a lot more practice on it but this was a great learning experience. After filling the horn with epoxy then filling and sanding down the extra bits I finally got to feel the balance :)
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17" Overall, 27oz. with a 12.5" blade and 4.5" horn handle

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The last thing I did was step off into the woods and take down a few dry Oak and Hickory limbs plus a Cedar or two. The edge geometry is really nice, it snicks right thru the small stuff and buries into the hard without getting wedged. A file did not touch the edge in the shop but could bite into the spine and after my little cutting test the edge showed no deformities or dulling!!!! The horn is real pretty but might be too slick for me, I figure buy the time this handle begins to fail I might be better a soldering and give it a new grip with wood. Thanks for taking the time to read this guys, hope you enjoyed it!
Take care,
Jim
 
Very nice job on that handle RF! I really like the bell chitlangi shape alot. The horn did you very well. Cant wait to hear how it performs. Im assuming its a user?
 
https://goo.gl/photos/KuG8jtXPBFrnvQak6

Thanks guys, the balance is great! For 27oz it is quick in the hand and the bites very deep into wood (green or seasoned) but does not get stuck. From scraping the old lala off the tang to polishing the old sharpening marks and scratches along the blade, you can tell that this tool has many stories. Possibly one day the riddle of the numbers on the spine will solved and I can find out where its been.
 
Very nice job. Sure cleaned up well and that handle looks great. Probably would fit my little hands perfectly, might be a bit small for some of our larger than life members though :D I don't see the papu mark on the side of the khuk blade. I thought all the blades in the Kathmandu cache had that stamped into them. A little symbol looks sort of like a letter B with a longer straight side. As far as the spine numbers, those don't look like the usual ones from that cache either. So extra cool find, it might be unique.
 
I dont think they stamped them at the time that blade was made. I could be wrong but I do know they were reissued and even old engravings were filed off and re engraved. The stamp probably came much later in the life of the blade. Id wait for Spiral or someone more knowledgeable so dont bank on my word.
 
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