Mike Kilo Niner said:
Holey moley! Uncle Bill, watch out! Yangdu's lost her mind! I ordered a blem WWII from the latest bargain bin, and received a triangular box this afternoon. Enclosed was a note from Yangdu:
"
Sorry, but we sold out of blems. Sent you a
new one for the blem price." (emphasis mine)
It's completely flawless! Sharp, perfect blade. Uncracked wood handle. Karda, chakma intact. Scabbard in perfect condition. There's just no flaw!
I tell you, it's an absolutely crazy way to run a business! And I love it! I've heard mention of HIKV, and now I think I understand it better: good karma from all the great customer service pays for itself in no time! Now, which one to order next...
Thanks so much, HI -- you've snared yet another devoted customer!
It always embaresses me when the triangular box arrives the same day, or the day before I mail the check. I don't have access to the usual kind of convenient mail drop-off most people have, so by the time I get a check written and actually get to a mail drop, it takes a couple days and more than once the khuks arrived before the check was mailed.
And as far as "blems" go, more than once I've been a little suspicious of my so called blems - couldn't find a thing wrong them. In fact, just received a blem 21" Gelbu today. The only thing I see "wrong" with it is that the butt-plate wants to rotate a wee bit, but other than that the piece is flawless as is the scabbard and two little pointy things.
My brother in law at first thought I was a bit unhinged because I kept buying these khuks, sometimes one to three a week for weeks at a time.
He'd ask me what I was going to do if I didn't like them. I told him that if I didn't like them I could sell them, and for the quality of these khukuris, even the blemished ones would allow me to not lose too much money, if any, if I had to sell them.
I wish I could say I sold a lot of HI khukuris that didn't quite fit. But the fact is, I've kept a STACK of them, and the ones that don't fit me, my daughter latches on to them.
For example, I bought two 18" Sirus. One's staying, one going. Bought three 20" Sirupatis, but for some reason, none of them fit me, so they are all going. I think for me the 18" Sirupati is the biggest Siru I like.
Bought three 20" Kobras. As much as I want to like them - they just don't work for me. No problem - my kid's keeping two of them.
Bought a 15" AK. Nice, but the handle is too small for me. Was going to sell it, but my daughter snagged it. She said it's tough and powerful for being so small, like a dwarf from Lord of the Rings. I jokingly said we ought to name it "Gimli". She liked that, so, it is named Gimli (shrug).
Bought two WWII's, an 18" and a 16.5". I really dislike the blade profile on the WWII's, but wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Danged if I'm not keeping both of them, and the 16.5-incher is probably my favorite of all of them now.
Bought a 21" Chitlangi to be a "war sword". Didn't like the grip at first, so sanded the ring down so it wouldn't bite me. Kinda grew on me, so I kept it.
Decided to buy a 21" Gelbu and would keep the better of it or the 21" Chitlangi, and sell the other. Looks like I'm keeping both.
Bought a 15" Sirupati to give as a gift. But liked it too much. Kept it and instead gave a more expensive Swiss Army Knife (grin).
Lots of other anecdotes I could tell.
The ladies and gents here warned me about HIKV and I didn't take them seriously. The moment I hefted my first HI Khukuri, a British Army Service, I was hooked big time. Within a month I had ordered something like six or eight HI khuks.
My brother-in-law thought I was nuts, so I brought the whole collection of some eight or so at that time, out to his house so he could see them first hand. He wouldn't put my BAS or my Gelbu down. Kept asking me how much I'd sell them to him for.
Within a couple months he had FIVE of his own.
Yep, HIKV is virulent in the extreme, but the odd thing is, no one seems to want to be cured. (LOL!)
Don
Food.....?