My African Knives

[bruce moulds]

i have noticed a few people using a kukri as a survival knife on the tv series "alone".
the guy that won series 1 used one.
it surprised me how versatile this knife is.
of course there is a lot to learn about survival knives, and there are many types on alone.
bruce.

 

[Von Gruff]

With the pattern laid out on the blank tio check it fitted, I was able to get at least the dagger ground flat and true with it being .250 and the ricasso and .135 at the tip.

 

[rookhawk]

I am keeping a bit of video and will upload it later in the project but while I was doing the thinning and a distal taper to both pieces I noticed the hammer tempo had slowed and upon checking, found the final drive pulley was slipping on the shaft. It had only ever had the two grub screws to tighten the pulley center to the shaft and there were no 1/2 in grub screws in town so it was a quick run down to Milton (1.2 hr each way) for another screw so I could get everything tightened down again. That put a bit of a hole in the day but I did get the two blades thinned and a distal taper forged in so I could mark out the patterns on them.
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The kukri needed to be bent to follow the bend of the pattern so with that done, the angle grinder was used to remove much of the surplus .

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@Von Gruff im a bit of a kukri aficionado. Nice!

im Sure you know this, but there is a miniature version of the kukri That was designed by the Nepalese for South African export? Called the Biltong Kukri and it’s the size of a conventional hunting knife but in the kukri blade shape with way less mass. Also, a straight grip rather than an enlarging grip since it’s not used for heavy chopping.

 

[Von Gruff]

@Von Gruff im a bit of a kukri aficionado. Nice!

im Sure you know this, but there is a miniature version of the kukri That was designed by the Nepalese for South African export? Called the Biltong Kukri and it’s the size of a conventional hunting knife but in the kukri blade shape with way less mass. Also, a straight grip rather than an enlarging grip since it’s not used for heavy chopping.

I hadn't known that but it is an ideal shape for many different chores and when looked at closely the smaller knife has many of the feature of a good skinner and slicer so I can see the potential for its use in the smaller size. May have to put one in the "to do" list for when I have time to play.

 

[Von Gruff]

Have the tangs to attend to and I can get to some grinding. They both weigh in at a lb for one and 15 oz for the other

 

[rookhawk]

Have the tangs to attend to and I can get to some grinding. They both weigh in at a lb for one and 15 oz for the other
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15 ounces pre-grind sounds pretty light, @Von Gruff . One of my Nepalese kukri (authentic) is greater than 1/4” at the spine and has three or more deep fullers shedding weight nearer the edge. I could put it on a scale for you, but at about 10.5”+ of blade it’s a multi-pound beast.

 

[Von Gruff]

15 ounces pre-grind sounds pretty light, @Von Gruff . One of my Nepalese kukri (authentic) is greater than 1/4” at the spine and has three or more deep fullers shedding weight nearer the edge. I could put it on a scale for you, but at about 10.5”+ of blade it’s a multi-pound beast.

Is yours a saber grind or full flat grind.

 

[bruce moulds]

among other things, like making a good draw knife, they can be a good chopper.
a convex grind might suit one that is to do a fair bit of chopping?
bruce.

 

[rookhawk]

15 ounces pre-grind sounds pretty light, @Von Gruff . One of my Nepalese kukri (authentic) is greater than 1/4” at the spine and has three or more deep fullers shedding weight nearer the edge. I could put it on a scale for you, but at about 10.5”+ of blade it’s a multi-pound beast.

mine weighs 2lbs. The grip, guard, pommel, and pins must account for 6-8 ounces of that.

im not suggesting mind is better or worse, only advising to authentic Nepalese weights for their highest quality models. (Mine is a $250+ model, not the entry level types)

 

[rookhawk]

Is yours a saber grind or full flat grind.

took some pictures of the blade geometry for you. There are many blade geometries out there. This one is razor sharp, but truly is a chopper, hammer, trench tool, etc. tremendous amounts of weight behind the cutting edge.

the reason I mentioned the “biltong” is that model would be built using the rough dimensions of your JT ranger with steel about as thick as your bush craft model. It would be an exceptional safari knife and of course if you held it by the blade you could skin, cape, scrape, and do a lot of meat and hide work with it. The traditional full size is an absurdly heavy, durable camp tool, but it’s not “cutlery” the way I think of a Von Gruff custom knife, more of a machete/hatchet.

A biltong would be an amazing weapon. I’ve never seen a custom made, high quality version of the el-cheapo originals.

 

[rookhawk]

Correction on thickness: it’s 3/8” thick at the spine!

 

[Von Gruff]

Correction on thickness: it’s 3/8” thick at the spine!

That is thick. So yours has a double grind by the look of things plus the fuller.

 

[Ridgewalker]

WOW Rookhawk! That is definitely a beast!

 

[Pheroze]

Very cool project!

 

[Von Gruff]

Got the pre grind done on the kukri and the dagger and everything including a few that are for later orders) heat treated yesterday afternoon but the dagger had a small bend and the kukri had a slightkly larger one so while they were back in the tempering oven to correct that, I did the finish grind on the other blades.

First job is to clean up the tang

after the finish grind I give them a shot of wd40 which is why they may look less than perfect but it is only dust etc that has settled on a couple of the blades. A bit of handsanding to get them ready for handles.

 

[Von Gruff]

Finished the grind on the Templar knights dagger this afternoon and rather pleased how it turned out. Going from the preheat grind to the post heat treat grind requires a continuous cycle of the 4 faces watching the center line on the each face and the edges to keep it symetrical.

 

[rookhawk]

The grinds turned out very well, @Von Gruff . Amazing work as always! Do you think a kukri should have a changing bevel at various distances on the blade? It looks like that’s what you did and it would seem a useful feature. (And an authentic one) Did that happen easily or was it a chore to accomplish shallower angles closer to the grip?

 

[Von Gruff]

The grinds turned out very well, @Von Gruff . Amazing work as always! Do you think a kukri should have a changing bevel at various distances on the blade? It looks like that’s what you did and it would seem a useful feature. (And an authentic one) Did that happen easily or was it a chore to accomplish shallower angles closer to the grip?

Thank you @rookhawk. The dagger is not a really difficult grind to do if you keep doing a couple of passes on each bevel all the time watching the grind creep toward the center marks. It does take a bit of time with a hour and a half to work down to the finish grit. Have a short video I will upload of the last few minutes of titivating to make sure all the grind lines are right but being youtube it takes some time to upload.
The kukri.. I am really contemplating a do over on this one. There is a common angle along the blade as shown but that is pre grind and the edge is thicker on the thicker part of the blade so to finish it out I would have to do a change in grind angle along the length of the blade. The spine on this one is only 5mm and the waist groin down to 3 at the tip so unsatisfactory in to many ways to continue with. I appreciate the informaqtion in our PM conversation and will start again on another blade soon with thew spine in the proportions you have mentioned but while the spine may change in thickness along its length so too will the edge have to to guve the "chopping section" on the belly of the blade the strength behind the edge to give it the strength to stabnd up to some solid hammering into the tough stuff with the finer point and back into the waist. A complicated grind to be sure but as the first one was the first real use of the power hammer and not as successfull as I had hoped. I want to make another couple of dies before the next attempt to make it easier to controll the tapering in the directions it will have to go.
Will concentrate on the dagger for now which is probably the best thing to do rather than having two complicated projects on the go at the same time

 

[Von Gruff]

Video has finally uploaded of the last few minutes of titivating the lines on the blade. have the 220grit Trizact belt running at about 30% speed so with it going this slow I have very good controll which allows for carefull taking of a little bit here and a little bit there to get everything straight and true

 

[Von Gruff]

Handsanding all done and looking at the guard design. Have a length of inch by inch brass to cut it from.