Posted by: Chris Wissmann
making kama handles - 03/25/12 11:31 AM
I bought a set of kama about a year ago, and the handles are pretty much destroyed.
There’s a technique in the kata I learned where you hook an opponent’s neck with one kama and then split his skull with the other; the handles come together then and as a result they’ve worn out pretty badly.
I bought some Appalachian hickory dowell rods with which to make some new handles for the old blades. My first attempt failed— the screws broke off when I was trying to attach the blades, probably because I didn’t line up the holes in the blades to where I was driving the screws. Next time I’ll try to drill a pilot hole in the handles to take some stress off the screws.
Anyway, I thought I’d see if anyone here has tried this and if they had any suggestions, from how deep to cut the notches in the handles to how to line up the holes in the blades with the screws to the many things I probably haven’t considered.
There’s a technique in the kata I learned where you hook an opponent’s neck with one kama and then split his skull with the other; the handles come together then and as a result they’ve worn out pretty badly.
I bought some Appalachian hickory dowell rods with which to make some new handles for the old blades. My first attempt failed— the screws broke off when I was trying to attach the blades, probably because I didn’t line up the holes in the blades to where I was driving the screws. Next time I’ll try to drill a pilot hole in the handles to take some stress off the screws.
Anyway, I thought I’d see if anyone here has tried this and if they had any suggestions, from how deep to cut the notches in the handles to how to line up the holes in the blades with the screws to the many things I probably haven’t considered.