15" Sirupati Villager, elegant in it's simplicity

ferguson

ferguson

Joined
Feb 21, 2001
Messages
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Sarge thinks a 15" Sirupati is an excellent all-round blade. I agree. After receipt, I took it out and smacked he** out of the flat of the blade on a tree. Then I chopped some 2" dried pine branches. Temper is good, and handle is secure. I was going to mirror polish the blade, and do the full woodchuck treatment on the handle, but I realized that this was wrong. This villager was meant to work. Of course, it can be pretty too. The edge got a convex sharpening, the blade got rubbed with some scotchbrite. The handle was quickly sanded with 220 grit only, and 2 coats of Tung Oil were applied over several days. 2 coats of wax finished the wood. The buttplate overlapped a bit, and had blue paint on it. Must have been a car door in a previous life. This was filed and sanded off. The scabbard got a coat of Fiebings Black Leather Balm.

This thing feels so good. I love big blades, but for a little fart like me, a 15" Sirupati becomes an extension of my arm. It's not a great chopper, but will do whatever you ask of it, within limits. Thanks Uncle Bill, Yangdu, and Kumar.

Steve

Sirupati_15_Kumar_Villager.jpg

Sirupati_15_Kumar_Villager_Handle.jpg
 
That looks very similar to a 12" villager I've got that Pendentive worked his magic on. It's one of the nicest little working blades I've ever seen. Good score.
 
I like the sirupati villagers. My Kumar 17" looks like yours, but I used a wiping varnish on the handle. It has a higher gloss, but the wood looks alike. Like you, I have a satin finish on the blade.

I just honed the blade of my "no name" 12" villager with a horn handle. It has good, hard steel on the edge. I got a nice shaving edge from the chopping curve to the tip, but left a toothy edge in the concave area near the cho.

These are nice blades. I also have a 15" Amtrak Sirupati, and I have a 19" Chainpuri on the way.

I have to stop looking at these specials! TOO MUCH EYE CANDY!
 
Beautiful.

I recently bought a 12" Siru that I'm planning on giving to a friend, but it's just too small for me to get into a kuk that size. Perhaps with a heavier blade type, 12" would be okay...

John
 
Another fine set of pictures, Steve. I especially like the bottom one. Looks like you did a great job truing up that buttcap.
 
Spectre said:
Perhaps with a heavier blade type, 12" would be okay...

John
Click to expand...
John I have both a standard and a villager 12" AK that I'm very fond of, I like the villager the best but they just somehow appeal to me more than the pretty finished ones.
Guess they look more like what I think a khukuri should look like.:confused: ;) :)

To further expound on this I carried my little Balance Model, 13" oal, out at one of the local nature preserves for a long, long, time, sorta compares to the same size Sirupati IMO.
Now that I have the 12" AKs one of them will take the Balance Model's place.:D
 
Yvsa,

Well, I may have snagged one of the 14" BDC's. If so, I'll give that to my friend instead of the Siru. Then, I'll give the Siru to another (female) friend. I've already given her a 15" Golok, so she can use a smaller knife.

(This latter friend is a full-blooded NDN. She has chased a home invader out with a butcher knife and cleaver, stopped two young men making off with her lawn mower- made the guy who had it put it back [she was holding a Hi-Power], and never returned a knife she borrowed from a good mutual friend some 30 years ago. It seems she was hitchhiking...and someone didn't want to let her go...so she left the knife in him. :D)

John
 
Personally, I'd rather have a Browning in my hand when facing intruders. ...or my Ruger 357.
 
How does a 15inch Siru tend to compare to a BAS, overall? Similar blade shapes and thicknesses, and yet the impression I have from people is that the same-size Sirupaties are lighter and faster...is this accurate?

---and I heartily agree on the firearms. In a fight I'll reach for a blade after all of my ammo is gone, not before. :D
 
Spectre said:
Yvsa,
It seems she was hitchhiking...and someone didn't want to let her go...so she left the knife in him. :D)

John
Click to expand...
My kind of gal! A pity about the knife though.;)
 
A 15" Sirupati is a nice all round do anything khuk, but has substantially less belly to it than a BAS the same size. And the 15" AK is heavier and thicker than the BAS.

A 17" Sirupati will do the work of a 15" BAS, and an 18" Sirupati the work of a 15" AK.

I'm currently awaiting a 17" 23oz. WW2.

In short, you dance with the one you brought.
 
Oh, hell. I have an 1800 word article that still needs minor editing before submission to a gun rag, that emphasizes that knives are tools, first and foremost.

The time my friend chased the invader out with her blades, she had no ready access to firearms.

She does now. :D

John
 
Thanks Rusty--I took a look at the khuk dynamics page and with them right next to each other I see more difference. I dearly love my BAS--probably the best edge holder of all my khukuries. I think Bura tempered most of the the length of the edge.

Warren
 
t1mpani: the problem with khuks is the handmade nature and purpose the kami had in mind for the khuk when he made it. The weight of the khuk varies so much within each caregory you really gotta pick it up and feel it.
 
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