Malay Sundang for comment

kronckew · 7th January 2016, 10:12 AM

i hope the blade clamp was not installed on top of the wood core then forever covered and held by the soldered cover or you may never get the grip off in one piece. the experts may have a comment on how this was likely made.

i know nepalis use 'laha' a tree resin based cutlers cement, along with stuff like animal hair & dung to hold their tangs. thais similarly used tree resin based glues, so i think that the resin based glue you have may be similar.

anyhow, when a khukuri grip needs replacement, you need to heat the grip up enough to soften the resin till it can be pulled off. holding it over a flame or putting it in the oven is not an option, you don't want to damage anything. also laha stinks to high heaven when hot. your 'significant other' will not be amused. anyhow, a trick is to use a large pot of water deep enough to immerse the whole grip, get it boiling. an put the grip in a large plastic heat resistant ('cook in in the bag' type) bag and secure the bag around the blade well above the grip with tape, rubber band, making sure you get as much air out as possible before securing. then immerse the bagged end in the water and simmer (ie. turn down the heat till it just stays bubbling) and let the heat soak into the grip for an hour or so. then take it out (use gloves, it's HOT) and try pulling off the grip. if it moves but won't come off, cook it in the bag some more. if it still won't come off, you are screwed. abort.

best done while the wife is away for a few days (or in a man-cave far from the female parts of the house), so you can clean up the mess and get the stench out of the house. you should clean off as much goop as you can while it is hot. use something hard like a wood chopstick to clean the hole in the handle - do not use a cloth poked in the hole as it will be a biotch to get out when it sticks. if it does, use the bag trick again. do NOT use her favourite pot. she will not be amused. she would likely take a large chef's knife and damage you. anyhow after replacing all the tools and cloths now covered in stinky laha, and remembering why the heck you started this disaster, you can make any changes you want, use google to find a recipe for a new batch of (if possible, non-stinky) tree resin glue and put everything back together. remember if you use a nice smelling fragrant pine resin, she-who-must-be-obeyed may still not like it covering 'her' kitchen and cooking stuff. if your significant other is perchance male, you may be able to ignore the misogynistic anti-feminine, politically incorrect remarks above, if she is female, do not let her read this. i do not want to be looking over my shoulder or get 1gb of insults and threats on my facebook page. one of my ex wives could easily have done that on her own, & i don't want to know how many stranger women it would take.

p.s. - one of my ex-wives did in fact try to cut me with a largish kitchen knife. not laha related or she would have used my two hole shootsgun and buckshot. anyway, it did not turn out well. she missed & hit the wall. she found out why a guard is normally fitted to a stabbing knife, after getting her to hold the towel over the cut in her palm, i figgered with both hands occupied i was safe for a while so i drove her to the emergency room where they gave her about 10 stitches. she suffered from PMS & migrains a lot.

drac2k · 7th January 2016, 12:16 PM

You were quite charitable and I would say you were the one who was very lucky! First she missed you with the knife and secondly you weren't arrested for having the audacity of moving out of the way of the knife and thus causing her bodily harm ; a clear case of modern day domestic violence.
On a side note, your manner of removing a handle seems worth a try.

kronckew · 7th January 2016, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drac2k

...and secondly you weren't arrested for having the audacity of moving out of the way of the knife and thus causing her bodily harm ; a clear case of modern day domestic violence.
..

it happened in eastern saudi arabia, so no political correctness involved. or stinky laha. they stitched her up at the company hospital & sent her home. she left a short time later. i stayed for a few more years. she did get half my assets on the way out...

my main regret now was the local antique stores didn't have any real saifs, some had the std. tarnished silver jambiayahs but no swords. some tourist shops had flashy overpriced chromed sword replicas that didn't look all that well made. i wasn't into collecting as much them then so i didn't try as hard as i could have, my contacts could easily have located one i now reflect.

drac2k · 7th January 2016, 09:17 PM

Maybe it was for the best that you didn't have any "real swords," or "knives with guards," as you previously stated ; if you had, she may have gotten a second "stab," at you. You could have been the one getting stitched up.
The glass is half full ?

Battara · 8th January 2016, 01:48 AM

To bring this back to the sundang, Kai you can heat the blade just below he hilt and that will heat the tang and get the hilt off. Use a butane torch for soft solder, that way the heat won't be hot enough to damage the steel blade.

kai · 9th January 2016, 01:05 AM

Hello Jose,

(BTW, it's Leif who is planning to work on this kris

)

I'm with you and also strongly recommend heating the base of the blade with an open flame: either a candle and lots of patience or a very gentle/flickering torch flame and being even more careful! Once the heat dissipates into the tang, it is usually fairly easy to remove the blade. Don't worry, the flame doesn't hurt the blade but try to get as little direct heat at the hilt. I usually wrap the grip with some cloth and wear gloves. Especially for the pommel this is a way more gentle approach than the cooking procedure described above! (Not needed for any SEA blade I tried to remove and I also doubt it is really called for when working things khukuri - heating Nepali blades did for me so far but my experience is admittedly very limited.)

The clamp is quite loose (looks a bit large for this kris) - once the resin softens due to the heat, it should be easy to gently bend it aside so that the blade can be removed from the hilt. When the tang starts to wiggle when gently pulling and twisting blade vs hilt, keep gently heating the blade until the tang comes off easily. If it doesn't, let it cool down and try again next day; even stubborn ones do come off after a few cycles.

Regards,
Kai

7th January 2016, 10:12 AM	#1
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,228	i hope the blade clamp was not installed on top of the wood core then forever covered and held by the soldered cover or you may never get the grip off in one piece. the experts may have a comment on how this was likely made. i know nepalis use 'laha' a tree resin based cutlers cement, along with stuff like animal hair & dung to hold their tangs. thais similarly used tree resin based glues, so i think that the resin based glue you have may be similar. anyhow, when a khukuri grip needs replacement, you need to heat the grip up enough to soften the resin till it can be pulled off. holding it over a flame or putting it in the oven is not an option, you don't want to damage anything. also laha stinks to high heaven when hot. your 'significant other' will not be amused. anyhow, a trick is to use a large pot of water deep enough to immerse the whole grip, get it boiling. an put the grip in a large plastic heat resistant ('cook in in the bag' type) bag and secure the bag around the blade well above the grip with tape, rubber band, making sure you get as much air out as possible before securing. then immerse the bagged end in the water and simmer (ie. turn down the heat till it just stays bubbling) and let the heat soak into the grip for an hour or so. then take it out (use gloves, it's HOT) and try pulling off the grip. if it moves but won't come off, cook it in the bag some more. if it still won't come off, you are screwed. abort. best done while the wife is away for a few days (or in a man-cave far from the female parts of the house), so you can clean up the mess and get the stench out of the house. you should clean off as much goop as you can while it is hot. use something hard like a wood chopstick to clean the hole in the handle - do not use a cloth poked in the hole as it will be a biotch to get out when it sticks. if it does, use the bag trick again. do NOT use her favourite pot. she will not be amused. she would likely take a large chef's knife and damage you. anyhow after replacing all the tools and cloths now covered in stinky laha, and remembering why the heck you started this disaster, you can make any changes you want, use google to find a recipe for a new batch of (if possible, non-stinky) tree resin glue and put everything back together. remember if you use a nice smelling fragrant pine resin, she-who-must-be-obeyed may still not like it covering 'her' kitchen and cooking stuff. if your significant other is perchance male, you may be able to ignore the misogynistic anti-feminine, politically incorrect remarks above, if she is female, do not let her read this. i do not want to be looking over my shoulder or get 1gb of insults and threats on my facebook page. one of my ex wives could easily have done that on her own, & i don't want to know how many stranger women it would take. p.s. - one of my ex-wives did in fact try to cut me with a largish kitchen knife. not laha related or she would have used my two hole shootsgun and buckshot. anyway, it did not turn out well. she missed & hit the wall. she found out why a guard is normally fitted to a stabbing knife, after getting her to hold the towel over the cut in her palm, i figgered with both hands occupied i was safe for a while so i drove her to the emergency room where they gave her about 10 stitches. she suffered from PMS & migrains a lot. Last edited by kronckew; 7th January 2016 at 10:27 AM.

7th January 2016, 12:16 PM	#2
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,262	You were quite charitable and I would say you were the one who was very lucky! First she missed you with the knife and secondly you weren't arrested for having the audacity of moving out of the way of the knife and thus causing her bodily harm ; a clear case of modern day domestic violence. On a side note, your manner of removing a handle seems worth a try.

7th January 2016, 09:17 PM	#4
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,262	Maybe it was for the best that you didn't have any "real swords," or "knives with guards," as you previously stated ; if you had, she may have gotten a second "stab," at you. You could have been the one getting stitched up. The glass is half full ?

8th January 2016, 01:48 AM	#5
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,284	To bring this back to the sundang, Kai you can heat the blade just below he hilt and that will heat the tang and get the hilt off. Use a butane torch for soft solder, that way the heat won't be hot enough to damage the steel blade.

9th January 2016, 01:05 AM	#6
kai Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 3,255	Hello Jose, (BTW, it's Leif who is planning to work on this kris ) I'm with you and also strongly recommend heating the base of the blade with an open flame: either a candle and lots of patience or a very gentle/flickering torch flame and being even more careful! Once the heat dissipates into the tang, it is usually fairly easy to remove the blade. Don't worry, the flame doesn't hurt the blade but try to get as little direct heat at the hilt. I usually wrap the grip with some cloth and wear gloves. Especially for the pommel this is a way more gentle approach than the cooking procedure described above! (Not needed for any SEA blade I tried to remove and I also doubt it is really called for when working things khukuri - heating Nepali blades did for me so far but my experience is admittedly very limited.) The clamp is quite loose (looks a bit large for this kris) - once the resin softens due to the heat, it should be easy to gently bend it aside so that the blade can be removed from the hilt. When the tang starts to wiggle when gently pulling and twisting blade vs hilt, keep gently heating the blade until the tang comes off easily. If it doesn't, let it cool down and try again next day; even stubborn ones do come off after a few cycles. Regards, Kai