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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
When I was a kid I used to use an old khuk --- probably 19th century --- to hunt feral pigs --- we'd run the pigs down with dogs through the lignum and then finish them with knives or spears.
I never really found the khuk to be a lot of use as pig knife, mainly because you need to swing it, rather than thrust.
I finally stopped using it and went back to the Lee Enfield bayonet that I had previously used.
However, I did continue to use the khuk as a general purpose bush knife, and it was pretty good for this.
A few years ago the blade came unstuck from the hilt, and I was very surprised to find that the tang was only a short stub tang held with natural resin. This seemingly ineffective tang had stood up to a lot of pretty heavy work, and when I got the knife the grip was already well worn, indicating that it had had a lifetime of work before I got it.
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That's the problem no one considers when pressing old blades into service, especially ones where the exact construction details are presumed to be a certain way.
No one would think about getting an X-ray first.
The saddest tale of woe I have ever heard is that a descendant of Jim Bowie took one of the earliest Bowie knives, possibly the first one ever, on a hunting trip.
Long story short, the pirogue tipped over and dumped them and the contents into the water. The knife was lost! Family history, arms history, American history, and a knife that eventually would have great intrinsic value was irretrievably lost.
I've always thought it best to get the best modern equipment available and put faith in it when it's going into a situation where it could be ruined or, worse yet, taken and enjoyed by an "enemy combatant"!
Think about the movie, Pulp Fiction, where an Air Force captain played by Christopher Walken returns a watch with three generations of combat service to the young son of his POW cellmate!