Some experimental reject blades!

Kailash Blades

Kailash Blades

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
808
Siru has been taking advantage of his dashain break time to use some rejected blades in experimental projects! These might give you a glimpse into the kind of prototyping we have been doing recently.

t2k6s3ulo3wb1.jpg


Here you can see a rat tail chitlange which has been shortened and given a desert camo front bolster, black micarta rear bolster and yellow micarta wrap with a more modern handle style.

vnx6y2ulo3wb1.jpg


He's also taken a sirupate and made it into a bolted, partial tang handle with the handle made of an extra thick single scale of traditional fabric.

jbj3v8ulo3wb1.jpg


These aren't for sale and will be kept and used by his family members
🙂


n6tgm3ulo3wb1.jpg


These are a little rough and ready- as many of siru's projects are. With that said though there's some very cool ideas here! The shortened chitlange has a really interesting profile to it, the octagonal handle shape looks good and has some historical precedent with khukuris also. Plus more micarta colours are always welcome!

93e0r3ulo3wb1.jpg
 
Octagonal handles do look nice, and something I could see having a small extrusion for a guard, kind of like the Scourge does, though I assume it would be worse for hotspots and not suitable to a heavier-bladed chopper? Cool experiments regardless.

This also reinforces how it's super weird to see khukuris without a cho. It's too iconic and just provides a nice visual breakup at that 30/70 mark.
 
HJA said:
Octagonal handles do look nice, and something I could see having a small extrusion for a guard, kind of like the Scourge does, though I assume it would be worse for hotspots and not suitable to a heavier-bladed chopper? Cool experiments regardless.

This also reinforces how it's super weird to see khukuris without a cho. It's too iconic and just provides a nice visual breakup at that 30/70 mark.
Click to expand...
There's some historical precent for hexagonal and octagonal khukuri scales but I'm not sure how comfy they'd be in real life. I recall some ivory examples that might suggest a they're a bit less utilitarian.
I think you're right- traditional blades without chos can look quite strange. I think it's possible to make khukuris that look good without them but the profile and handle shape needs to be switched up a bit to provide some different proportions.
 
That octagonal handle, in the shape of a coffin, might work well with your Bowie.

When I ordered my 9" Mini, I asked for a brass, curved guard. Do you think something fairly close to that could be fashioned from micarta, and would it be strong enough to give long life?

The one Siru fashioned might slow any hand movement forward, but it still angles towards the blade. Curving it rearward a bit, might act as a stop and be much lighter than brass. I envy their ability to work with steel and fashion whatever strikes their fancy.

It's amazing how this arrangement locks my hand into the Mini. It would have been perfect if that guard had been a bit shorter, as it cramps the hand just a bit, but it still feels great. Could something similar be done with micarta?
 
Micarta is great for some shapes of bolster and is lighter than brass. However it's not as strong as our metal options and in particular I think cutting a scallop out for the finger to rest in as with that guard could create a failure point if the guard was hit very hard against something (sometimes during rough and careless chopping). For shorter and non concave bolsters though it's a great option
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top