How kukris are heat treated

I would ask on the HI ( Himalayan Imports) sub-forum. Karda knows pretty much everything about Kukri.

I can move this there if you want.
 
The tradition is to heat the blade to critical, then pour water from a big teapot onto the portions to be hardened-a lot on the area of the point of percussion, less on the tip and the "neck" of the blade. There's a certain amount of autotempering, and also some incomplete hardening at tip and neck.
It's my theory that the advent of 5160 as khukuri raw material has had something to do with the overwhelming thickness of some newer khuks-if you water quench thin section 5160 it almost invariably goes kaboom.
I have some older khuks that are a lot lightwr than even the lightest modern khukuri (yes, the longleaf blades from AC and IMA have thick spines-but the longleaf I have is fullered into almost a "T" section and if it was 5160 I wouldn't try to water quench it)
 
J W Bensinger said:
The tradition is to heat the blade to critical, then pour water from a big teapot onto the portions to be hardened-a lot on the area of the point of percussion, less on the tip and the "neck" of the blade. There's a certain amount of autotempering, and also some incomplete hardening at tip and neck.
It's my theory that the advent of 5160 as khukuri raw material has had something to do with the overwhelming thickness of some newer khuks-if you water quench thin section 5160 it almost invariably goes kaboom.
I have some older khuks that are a lot lightwr than even the lightest modern khukuri (yes, the longleaf blades from AC and IMA have thick spines-but the longleaf I have is fullered into almost a "T" section and if it was 5160 I wouldn't try to water quench it)
Click to expand...

yep i wouldn't quench 5160 in water
 
At the top of this page, left hand side, you will find the Blade Forums logo...directly underneath is What's New... And underneath What's New is Forum Home. Click on Forum Home, when that page opens scroll down till you find Manufacturer's Forum. Within that box, far right column you will Find the Himalayan Imports sub-forum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top