New Khukuris Have Arrived

ghorka

ghorka

Joined
Jul 7, 2002
Messages
140
HI ALL FROM DOWNUNDER WELL THE 2 NEW KHUKS I BOUGHT ARRIVED TODAY, BOY THAT WAS QUICK??? . I COULDANT WAIT TO UNPACK THEM FIRST THE 15INCH ANG KHOLA BY BURA, FEELS NICE IN THE HAND, LOOKS GREAT,APART FROM THE BLEM MARKS, BUT I EXPECTED THAT, LOTS OF FUN TO COME TIZZYING IT UP.BIT DISSAPOINTED ABOUT SHARPNESS,BUT THAT CAN BE REMEDIED ALL IN ALL 7OUTA 10.
NEXT THE 16INCH WW2 AGAIN BY BURA FEELS WONDERFULL IN THE HAND, MORE MY SIZE GRIP,LOOKS GREAT APART FROM AGAIN THE BLEM MARKS,AGAIN LOTS A FUN DOING IT UP,BUT AGAIN SHARPNESS ???? WONDER IF THIS IS NORMAL.
8 0UTA 10. NEXT KAGUS KATNE WHAT CAN I SAY PERFECT LITTLE KHUK.
well i hung em up on the wall thinking ill do something with em tomorrow, ha ha. 30 mins later i had to get them of the wall and take them out the back yard to give them the chop test.i selected a dry 1inch by 4inch pine board and chop chop chop with the 15inch ang khola wow not bad at all.feels a little light for me though. next out with the 16inch ww2 again same timber chop, chop, pause, bloody hell
no wonder you run when you here ayo ghorkali. that extra one inch and extra bit of weight makes a massive difference. i couldant believe the chopping power.[IMAGINE IF IT WAS RAZOR SHARP EEEEEEK]. the mind boggles when you think of what this would do to a person.well i was so immpressed i went online and ordered a 18 inch ang khola by bura
not a blem this time but a posh one, I CANT WAIT TILL THIS ONE ARRIVES. i reckon this size will suit me fine,ill let you know.if this 18 inch is up to expectations i will definitely continue my hi collection, if not ????.ALSO 2 QUESTIONS FOR BILL
ONE is there such a thing as a scabbard for a left hander like me ??.
TWO MOST IMPORTANT how thick is the horn the handle is made from as i am going to customize the handles, and dont want to ruin them by going through the horn to the laha. what do you think.regards ghorka:) :) :)
 
A razor sharp knife, especially one meant for chopping like the khukuri, is more prone to edge damage than one that is sharp enough to do the job, but not so sharp that it'll shave hair.

You don't need a razor sharp axe to chop down a tree. Same idea with a khukuri.

Of course, a very sharp khukuri will cut/chop better...
 
A razor sharp knife, especially one meant for chopping like the khukuri, is more prone to edge damage than one that is sharp enough to do the job, but not so sharp that it'll shave hair.
Click to expand...

Unless I misread his reply to my sharpening question awhile back (which is possible), Cliff Stamp seems to disagree. I'm I wrong on this Cliff? Anybody?

Congrats on the new blades Ghorka!:) Good choice on the 18" AK you won't be dissappointed!
 
None of my Khuks are very old but, I seem to be lucky. I have only one blade that seems to have a slight concave grind just before the final edge. The other blades I have are either pretty flat or slightly convex. I'm in doubt whether one can sharpen a convex edge too sharp. They are naturally stronger than the concave edges. At the same time it makes some sense to me to get the convex edge pretty sharp too. They need all the help they can get. I would still try not to pound them into real hard knots. A man can try very hard to control how that blade hits the target and if the blade rolls a bit, it may not be the users fault in some cases. Some of the grain variations in some of the hard woods can not be seen from the surface your looking at when you start chopping.

Some older trees that I have had to cut to clear my yard a bit had knots in them that I couldn't tell were there. Years back people (a lot of them anyway) used to trim the small limbs too close to the trunk. after the trunk healed on some of these and a lot of years went by those knots could hardly be seen. So, the concave edge may wind up in a piece of wood that it is not built to handle.

I am not too sure that a concave edge belongs any where but a straight razor. As far as getting the blade too sharp, I wouldn't worry about that as much as getting that final taper too flat.

This is just the way things seem to work out for me. Like Uncle Bill says, everyone is going to have his own likes and dislikes. Everyone to his own poison.:D
 
I think Stamp's idea is that a proper uniform sharp edge is actually strong, because the metal is backed by metal bulking behind the edge evenly. I can't speak like an engineer, sorry. But without the small jags, hollows, side to side wavering, etc, a very sharp edge is strong.

What I don't fully understand: looking at the outline of a Egyptian pyramid, you see a triangle, a knife edge. Is the higher, narrower triangle not as strong as the shorter, fatter one? At the edge they may be equally sharp, but there is more metal backing up quicker behind the short and fat. (khukuri)

So I am assuming the ultimate fine hair edge may degrade about as fast, but the working edge of a khukuri will last longer.

This is pathetic. Would you believe I come from a family of engineers and math whizzes?

Stamp and mostly Yvsa are the only one's I've ever read that make sense to me about blade sharpness.

munk
 
What I can't grasp is something as simple a tool as a knife has engineering questions about it that spiral out of control of my brain.

I am not a knife guy, I just know I like Khukuris.


munk
 
What I can't grasp is something as simple a tool as a knife has engineering questions about it that spiral out of control of my brain.
Click to expand...

You're not the only one!

Sometimes I read Cliff's answers (several times) and am just amazed at how much he knows about blades, and how much I have yet to learn. This goes for others here as well Like Yvsa, Tom Holt etc..etc..Art S. etc..Forgive me if I left any experts out but there's so darn many of you here!! which of course is a VERY good thing for the rest of us:)
 
Yep, the 18" was the way to go, for me as well. I cut all manner of stuff with it! Wood, metal, rawhide, leather, what a toy!

"a scabbard for a left hander like me"-- Hi Ghorka. There is. But you have 4 choices:
1. Switch the frog around for instant lefty.
2. Adapt to righty scabbard by strongside reverse draw.
3. Carry righty scabbard at small of back on belt, draw with left.
4. Remake the scabbard (or have some silly barstard do it!)

I too am a lefty, or "south Paw". I remade the scabbard for my YCS as can be seen in the thread "A look Into the Sarki's Art" to be lefty, so even the toools are on the other side of the scabbard.
Page 3 of the thread has the left handed scabbard pix.

Cheers!

Keith
En Ferro Veritas
 
Thanks for report from down under.

We do make left handed rigs on special order -- 2 to 3 month wait if you're lucky. If you're not lucky they will use the order to start the fire in the forge.

I think one of the reasons Cliff sharpens every knife to razor edge is it gives him the same starting point when testing.
 
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