12" Ghopte, modify or anoter buy

WrongFriend

WrongFriend

Joined
Jul 6, 1999
Messages
1,151
I few months ago, I got a special order Ghopte from Uncle Bill. I found it's true that 12 inchers have got too short handle, as many 12" afficionados say. Reading through threads, it seems the best reasonable way to file off the points of "bell". Still I'd like to seek perfect solution.

Is there some easy way to extend the handle?
Can I order another 12 incher with a handle of "proper" length?
Any opinions, and/or recomendations are welcome.

Pic of 12" Ghopte, extra fat.... with 1/2 inch thick blade.
Ghopte.jpg
 
NICE!!!!

Sorry I don't have an answer for your handle question, but I love that knife.:)


As Tsimi would say its "CUTE":p (razz intended for Jim not wrongfriend:) )
 
I usually hold mine further up on the handle. On the 12" my index finger goes up near the cho. Even on my larger khuks I find myself putting my thumb on the angled part of the bolster. It keeps the knife from rotating if your hands are slippery. :o
 
That is a beautiful piece. And with 1/2 inch spine, it should serve you well.

I can appreciate your not wanting to modify it. However any of mine likely to be used are relieved of sharp butts slowly and to the least extent that suffices to make them useable.

Try using gloves.

After that, some variation on removing the buttcap and keeper, stretching the tang ( cold hammering should work on a dead soft tang - how much you can stretch it is the question. Then cut handle material and add a 1/2" to 1" piece of horn, bone, etc, somewhere along the handle and replace the buttcap and keeper.

Or have tang extended by welding an extension rather than cold hammering.

Replace buttcap with a Chesapeake bay knife club style cap to lengthen.

Too many possibilities but that may give you some ideas. The main thing is to have the tang peened over something to hold it. It needn't go all the way, it could be done and recessed into the present handle material. A small washer would do, and then it could be fitted with a blind cap over the butt.
 
Ghopte???

Haven't seen this in the FAQ or HI sites. No shoulder on the spine, just a smooth curve? VERY pretty. How many more patterns has HI made that aren't on any of the sites? (Maybe I just missed it)? Or is the number of patterns esssentially endless? Not counting the new ones cooked up by forumites I mean.
 
Firkin,
For the Kamis infinity is only the beginning. Variations of length, width, thickness, tapering, fullers, handels, shoulders, and blade/edge geometry make endless possibilities within a single pattern. No two are alike.

I think there are also 800 somethink patterns, or models....who knows? :confused:
 
On second thought, pull khuk, karda, and chakma handles and replace with ivory to make it a proper gentleman's knife.
 
Thank you all for invaluable input from dear forumites.
I had to clarify this first, I love my Ghopte since I opened the box, saw the knife, and put my hand on it as MauiRob would agree. I'm not whining nor complaining, but just want to know if there's any simple way to go its last inch to perfection.
Thanx to Rusty (and other forumites who posted the same solution), I had executed the idea of mild filing the butt cap slowly, believing it would fit my palm in near future... until mid January.
I had a chance to compare Ghopte to one of my pal's AK of the same. He's a recent HI customer, and haven't shown up to Cantina yet. However he's a frequent customer within a month, surely an HIKV carrier. We put our 12 inchers side to side and looked into them. To my great surprise, his AK, a "pocket battleship" looked like a twig.... half size in width, half size in thickness, half diameter of the buttcap. AK's "sharp" butt did not get into my palm at all! I had developed several ways of smooth grip, mainly as Bruise suggested. It worked perfectly with AK. Thus I came to think if the handle is 1 inch longer between "ring" and buttcap, I'd hold that part not only pinky but also ring finger, it will give perfect grip without spoiling its style. I mean, a 13" Ghopte with same blade, same between bolster and "ring", and 1" extention between "ring" and buttcap.
My current options in mind is;
1. Send it back to BirGhorka via Uncle Bill, for this modification
2. Send it back to BirGhorka via Uncle Bill, to make improved version, to have two Ghoptes.
3. Keep it as-is
Disassemblying it, and stretching the tang is too heavy and risky for me. I'm a kind who disassembly and reassembly a radio, then have some extra screws after that.
Uncle, is either of 1 or 2 works? Can you transfer what exactly I want? If possible, I'll take less misunderstanding way.

firkin, Ghopte is a kind of forward curving khukuri that means "hunchback" as I learned from HI forum. Forward curving khukuri is an old style where modern khukuri like AKs have more angular spine line. I thought that style fit more to small, beafy khukuris. Dave knows much more than I, though.

Ivory handles sound nice, but is there any ivory available nowadays?
 
Thanks all for information.

Would it be possible for someone to assemble a simple list of these less common beasties that are possible to obtain by special order? I mean ones that have been made before; I have seen that darn near anything can be made by these guys with enough information provided. That way one could do a search and hopefully find a picture.

And yes, I relize that special orders may be up in the air due to the unspeakable difficulties the factory may be facing. I haven't commented on this so far as any comments I've found applicable would be transcribed to **** ****....
 
Originally posted by WrongFriend
Thank you all for invaluable input from dear forumites.
I had to clarify this first, I love my Ghopte since I opened the box, saw the knife, and put my hand on it as MauiRob would agree. I'm not whining nor complaining, but just want to know if there's any simple way to go its last inch to perfection.
Click to expand...

My current options in mind is;
1. Send it back to BirGhorka via Uncle Bill, for this modification
2. Send it back to BirGhorka via Uncle Bill, to make improved version, to have two Ghoptes.
3. Keep it as-is
Click to expand...

Disassemblying it, and stretching the tang is too heavy and risky for me. I'm a kind who disassembly and reassembly a radio, then have some extra screws after that.
Uncle, is either of 1 or 2 works? Can you transfer what exactly I want? If possible, I'll take less misunderstanding way.
Click to expand...

WrongFriend, the costs sending it back to the US and then on to Nepal would be very prohibitive, much more than the knife would ever be worth.
May I make another suggestion, that you find a local knifemaker who is good but perhaps not well known yet and get him/her to lengthen the handle for you?
I know there are some world class knifemakers and knifesmiths in Japan and surely there must be a few just getting started?
By getting someone like that to do it for you the costs shouldn't be near as much as someone famous.
No doubt much less than sending it all the way back to Nepal via Reno in the US.
All in all it's not too difficult a task for someone who knows what they're doing. There could even be a threaded stud welded to the tang so that a really nice keeper could be screwed onto the tang fitting everything together nicely, just a suggestion. The peened tang has worked for centuries.:)

Ivory handles sound nice, but is there any ivory available nowadays?
Click to expand...

WrongFriend, an ivory Micarta(r) is available that has the apearance of ivory and even takes scrimshaw well.
It also seems to me I read something just a few days ago about a new product that not only had the appearance of ivory, but also aged to a similar color as well. My short term memory right now is pretty well non existent though and I can't recall where I saw it or even if it was a brand new material or an old one that had never been tried before.:(
 
Just a note on ivory. You can still buy supposedly pre-ban ivory, that is ivory harvested before it was banned, and you can also buy mastadon ivory. Im actually contemplating getting some myself to repair a ivory cockatua on a kris that I have coming, though I have to ask a restorer friend as to a good place to find it. As you can imagine its very expensive, though from what Im told ivory carves very easily. Also theres oosic, and a whole dearth of other animal materials that stand up very well in aesthetics next to ivory and are much more affordable.
 
look here for ivory/oosik and the like.

http://www.boonetrading.com/index.html

Apparently, import/export prohibitions apply even to at least some pre-ban stuff. These guys say you can't export Alaskan pre-ban walrus tusk ivory from US, don't say anything about oosik though. They have lots of seemingly totally unrestricted stuff including hippo and elephant.
 
... My current options in mind is;
1. Send it back to BirGhorka via Uncle Bill, for this modification
2. Send it back to BirGhorka via Uncle Bill, to make improved version, to have two Ghoptes.
3. Keep it as-is
...
Click to expand...
Wrongfriend - Now you have option # 4 - Send it to Mohd in Malaysia, insyaa-Allaah Mohd will pay you the price (ie. preferably an offer price! ;) ); and you order new Ghopte from Pakcik Bill! Please email me if you like this new option
 
Don't forget to 1) check Japan's import laws, and 2) check other countries export laws.

I remember a Canadian company much like the Boone trading company ( no, I don't remember the name ) but they could not ship many items to the US due to the US being a signatory of CITES ( the Commission ( or Committee ) on International Trade of Endangered Species.

I agree with you that the current 12" AK's are not pocket battleships. They are beautiful works of the bladesmith's art, and probably more useful day in and day out, but I miss the 1/2" spine and solid feel of my early blem with 1/2" spine that was barely AK fullered on one side and not on the other ( unless you look closely ). That's part of the beauty and spirit of these blades. Each one is special. It's also a source of frustration to see something just right get slowly changed into something else.
 
Although the Caveman probably won't believe it and will jump on this whether he believes it or not we do have a number of customers who like and use 12 inchers on a regular basis.
 
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