Developing a fascination with KC Nepal Khukuris

Now there are a load of Khuk´s around on the market. Some are decent, some are of subterranean quality, so to say. And some are legendary, and some deserve to be. In my humble opinion, the folks at the tiny Kathmandu smithy KC Nepal qualify. Talk is cheap.

Watch.

Enjoy.

And find their website here: www.nepalkhukuri.com

Also take note that I am not getting paid to say this, even if some of you may sense a bit of fish odour ;-). But these folks do it with a passion. They burn for what they do, they work hard, under circumstances most European smiths would mock at. People make fun of me because I use salvaged spring steel and other materials and not some heebie-jeebie-goobalahbah unobtanium steels, and they mock at me for using my hammer, my tongs and not much more, they laugh at me because I do not have hundreds and thousands of money to spend on tempering ovens and wuptity controllers ;-).

Fact is, it´s true. I don´t have the money, of course. But that is not all there is. It does not matter. If you don´t understand the passion, the fire and the fierce desire to always get better, you will not understand. I am fascinated by these guys, not because they are the "significant other". Not even by the quality of their knives, nor the bargain prices they offer. Even if I have little money, I would pay more for their work.

I am just a mere hobbyist, an amateur. But these guys do this shit for a living... and still yet, they burn with a fierce passion for their work. Even if I work with simple tools... I cannot even compare to them. It is not in the equipment, it´s in the mastery of the equipment you have.

Those who know me and have followed my blog know that I don´t just do "Tribal knifemaking" as a mere fashion fad (oh, yes, there ARE people around like that), but had the privilege to have had, one must sadly say, several "true" "tribal" knifemakers (they would whack me if they knew I called them thus) as tutors, the late Mielenko Bednarcz from St. Petersburg and Viktor Paukow, a smith from Kazakhstan, who was a tutor of mine from 2004 until 2014, both of which taught me a lot with sparse words, some brawls, a bit of Vodka and a lot of making me watch in awe.It was definitely no formal training I received. What they taught me, first and foremostly, is respect. 

And thusly, it is not that I would not, with a bit of time and preparation, be able to make a knife that would do similar things. It is not that it is about the "product". It is a matter of respect and modesty.

I don´t like the words, but for me it is part of Bushido. I don´t like the words, because they seem not to apply. Maybe you can see it that way: We live on a planet, and there are several different kinds of human beings on it. Some do what they want, some do what they can, and some do what they must, some do whichever is force-fed to them. 

I do not want to define them, because, even if I have the privilege to call Ambar a friend, even though we have never met in actual and most likely never will, which tells a story in itself, I know that we might have many similarities, but that there are differences, too. But this is exactly the point.

Sometimes I feel a bit ashamed of my fellow Westerners. I mean, while of course there are loads of guys and gals doing a really, really great job with so-called "modern equipment", most of the blades they produce go to fatcat, overweight nocturnal predators who would rather cut their own head off with a knife than peeling an onion. A knife somehow has become sort of a fetish, to be polished and admired, but not for actual use, for the rich. And then there are some of those knifemakers, mostly amateurs like me, who as I said sneer at a lack of equipment.

Try this, BSTDs... I doubt most of them would be capable to make a knife like this with modern equipment, let alone with the traditional setup. Don´t get me wrong... there is nothing romantic about forging that way. It´s back-breaking labour.

I know how it is to forge that way. I know how a herniated vertebral disc feels like. Tried that, tickles.

And this is why this will not be the last you have read about KC on my blog. Because they make excellent knives. Because they burn with passion for what they do. And because they fucking deserve it! 

Torture testing my new knives and talking a pile of rubbish as usual

So here they come, some small clips (of lousy quality, of course, uncut and cut-off, I know you liek it rustic;-)) of me sitting in the woods and doing harm to some examples of insult to the idea of a knife;-). First comes the bushcraft knife I made recently and of which I have already posted a clip of testing the tip strength. I first did some chopping (aged and dried beech wood). It chops quite well, as I thought, due to the offset angle of the handle.

Then it was checking for sharpness, cutting paper. The paper I brought with me in my rucksack and it had been raining a bit, so it was, while not wet through, slightly clammy. The knife did well enough cutting through it, but there is still room left for improvement. Guess I have to work on my normalizing before heat - treating still. As is, it´s shaving sharp, but not hair - splitting sharp.

And this is some testing of my new En - Nep fully integral. I am quite fond of it, for in this case the tempering is spot - on. It´s also withstanding a load of abuse, including some 80 kg of fat-arsed Fimbulmyrk;-):

I want to emphasize that this is gross abuse of a knife. Do. Not. Try. This. At. Home. At least not with a run-of-the mill production knife.

The spine came out straight after this. I then tested the tip strength in my usual manner. It came out unscathed, and I really, really like it. Must I mention that I took all of my rubbish (paper) home again?;-)

So, why do I do this? The answer is simple: I simply think you cannot get better without a challenge. And I want to work on my consistency. It´s getting there, but I have high standards, and I want my very own no-frills, hardcore bushcraft knife that I can rely on 100%, and that I can replicate at will. It´s still some way to go, but I think I am on the path. And when I have the monosteel wired, I will then work even more on laminate steel, damascus and self-made wootz steel. I then hopefully have enough years left of my life to someday be able to forge a sword worthy of a tale and a testing. That´s my goal.;-)

New Bushcraft knife done and being tested

 So this is it - the new blade I made recently, finally completed. Ilkka might not aprove, for there are mosaic pins on it;-), but he was the one who inspired me again. But then I did not simply want to copy his works, I want to keep my honour after all! Also, I am fond of this handle design, and love convex bevels.

 Handle´s curly birch, the spine thickness is about 5 mm. The blade is made from x75CrSi spring steel, forged to final shape. You can still see it in the rough spine. The blade is of course selectively tempered.

 And another angle. I am currently finding out what works best in a bush beast and it is rewarding to simply try out. I offset the angle of the handle a bit to aid in chopping and hard whittling tasks.

For starters, I carved this flower out of some aged birch twig lying around not doing anything. Worked quite well, but I was not overly fond of it, so I redid the bevel already.

Edge retention seems to be on the spot, but there will be some severe tests coming on. Above is a little vid of how I test the tip strength. I also did some chopping and the edge came out well enough, although the temper is fading a bit towards the handle, but as is, it performs well enough. Quenching wasn´t so easy, for I did it in solid lard, and due to the offset handle I could not get it in deep enough, so I put a block of lard (actually frying fat) on the tub and drew the blade through. As is, I like it, but there´s still room for improvement. Watch this place for more tests!

Hardcore knife with a traditional pedigree - hardcore test surprise

 On the recent knife expo at the Solingen industrial museum "Gesenkschmiede Hendrichs" I got the opportunity to meet with Mr. Rommel, new head of corporation and chief manager of Otter knives. Otter knives still specializes in making simple, traditional pocket and working / utility knives. Hailing from a background of decades of handicraft, the corporation certainly knows a thing or two about making sensible utility designs. I came across this "Berufsmesser", as it is called in the Otter catalogue. Yap, I know, I already own one, but, hey, you know how it is;-). I played it some, and realized the blade was straight, which my old one was not, the craftsmanshipalmost meticulous, but not so much as to make it too beautiful to use. It came with a beautifully grained Cocobolo wood handle. The blade is a very old German style, the so called "Hamburger" style, dating as far back as the middle ages, often used in bread and kitchen knives, but also in utility folding knives as early as the 15th century. As I have mentioned before, the knife comes in very cheap for the quality, about 18€. The blade is made from high carbon steel, with a finely accomplished "Solinger Dünnschliff" (convex, "Hamagore" bevel), and polished to a blueish sheen. This example of the type came shaving sharp. I am informed it is made from medium high carbon steel with 0,75% carbon content, and yes, there´s also iron, period. This makes for an edge that can be finely ground and made wickedly sharp.

 The knife has a slip-joint mechanism that stops at 90 °. It came with no side or axial play. The smoothness of the action leaved something to be desired, but with a drop of tootpaste and turpentine oil (Balistol) and few minutes of working it, it set in and was nearly as smooth as silk.

 The blade cut into this iron rod with ease and no damage whatsoever to the edge.

 Same thing with this piece of stag antler, where I slammed it in several times.

 I then slammed the tip into this tin can lid, and the stiff slip joint spring inspired my confidence. Of course, the sheepfoot blade design is no stabbing knife at all, but it can be made possible.

 What it does best is cutting, even after the abuse. It made short terms with this piece of paper.

 I cut the paper while it hung free. After the abuse, (cut on the left), there was a little more playing around involved, and the cut in the paper is a bit ragged at the beginning, hinting of a bit of a loss of sharpness on the edge. But the paper was a bit damp, making it not the easiest for cutting while hanging free.

 It was easy, however, to cut the paper after overcoming the initial resistance of thecutting material.

 Stag antler, iron rod, cutting paper...

and then it made this out of a piece of fir wood;-). Sweet.

 The real surprise came when I did the spine whack test normally reserved for liner lock knives. The spring is so stiff it keeps the blade secure even under this extreme stress.

And here´s a lousy clip to show you I did not spare it when whacking on the stag antler;-)

 I found overall that this is a knife with an extremely huge potential. I heard some rumours that Otter wants to do some mods on it. What could be improved is a bigger lanyard hole, for it comes stock with but a 3 mm hole. I drilled it, of course, for I voided it of its warranty nonetheless. I then realized the hard way;-) the iron liners bent, and, looking at it intently saw another feat of high potential. For the spring does not go around the butt of the knife, leaving an empty space. You could with little effort insert a block of G-10 or volcanic fibre, and, by fitting a simple clip in, making this knife an even more versatile carry. Am I enthused? You bet. You will be hard pressed to find a slipjoint folder that is capable of doing this and come out almost unscathed. The knife also comes in different lengths suitable as a legal carry even in the UK or Denmark, and rumour has it there will be still more options available in the future.;-). And NO, I did NOT get payed to write this;-).

Every knife shall have something of simple beauty to it, and so I made this lanyard mojo for it. Silver fittings, leather, of course, an agate pearl, aaaand: A glass bead jewel made by my beloved magic troll. If you want one, she will trade or sell. Contact her on her Blog:

Koboldkerker.blogspot.com

or via her facebook accont. Shameless crossposting, I know, but I guess you appreciate it;-).