Following up on some advice in another thread, I ordered two historical kukris from Atlanta Cutlery that were part of the Nepalese trove from a while back. One was advertised as a WW2 kukri with period scabbard (probably a Mk2?) and the other a WW1-era piece.
They arrived yesterday, slathered in (apparently) dried cosmolene, so the first thing I did was try to get the gunk off. First used Dow Scrubbing Bubbles on everything, then some odorless mineral spirits (just on the blades). Some of the gunk resisted even that, so I left those parts alone. Stabilized the metal with CLP, and the leather on the scabbard with Lexol leather conditioner.
The blades are nicked here and there, and the end cap on the pommel on the WW2-era one is loose. It's supposed to be secured to the tang via two, well, prongs, but one has come detached. The handle on the WW1-era one is entirely wood with a smallish crack running along the right side.
Anyway, here's a link to a photo album of the pieces:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bbrown20904/album?.dir=/bd18re2&.src=ph&.tok=phS5jYFBOxS6fg1R
The WW1-era one is on top (blade a little less than 13 inches, OAL 17 inches), while the WW2-era one (blade a little more than 13 inches, OAL 17.5 inches) and scabbard are below.
For those interested I can e-mail larger copies.
The one with three fullers is supposedly the WW1-era piece. Can anyone identify it more definitely? The only marking I can find is on the end of the wooden handle, unless the stuff near the cho is really gunked-up markings. Couldn't get that stuff off easily, so it stays on until I can figure out a safe way to remove it.
The one with a single fuller is the WW2-era piece; the markings on the blade indicate made by PIONEER in Calcutta in 1943.
The scabbard is interesting. A lot of the black stuff (similar to the stoving found on British weapons????) came off with the Scrubbing Bubbles, but not enough to make the markings near the throat readily discernable. I seem to make out '44', but whether that's part of a date or something else I can't tell.
I'd appreciate any information about these.
Bryan
They arrived yesterday, slathered in (apparently) dried cosmolene, so the first thing I did was try to get the gunk off. First used Dow Scrubbing Bubbles on everything, then some odorless mineral spirits (just on the blades). Some of the gunk resisted even that, so I left those parts alone. Stabilized the metal with CLP, and the leather on the scabbard with Lexol leather conditioner.
The blades are nicked here and there, and the end cap on the pommel on the WW2-era one is loose. It's supposed to be secured to the tang via two, well, prongs, but one has come detached. The handle on the WW1-era one is entirely wood with a smallish crack running along the right side.
Anyway, here's a link to a photo album of the pieces:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bbrown20904/album?.dir=/bd18re2&.src=ph&.tok=phS5jYFBOxS6fg1R
The WW1-era one is on top (blade a little less than 13 inches, OAL 17 inches), while the WW2-era one (blade a little more than 13 inches, OAL 17.5 inches) and scabbard are below.
For those interested I can e-mail larger copies.
The one with three fullers is supposedly the WW1-era piece. Can anyone identify it more definitely? The only marking I can find is on the end of the wooden handle, unless the stuff near the cho is really gunked-up markings. Couldn't get that stuff off easily, so it stays on until I can figure out a safe way to remove it.
The one with a single fuller is the WW2-era piece; the markings on the blade indicate made by PIONEER in Calcutta in 1943.
The scabbard is interesting. A lot of the black stuff (similar to the stoving found on British weapons????) came off with the Scrubbing Bubbles, but not enough to make the markings near the throat readily discernable. I seem to make out '44', but whether that's part of a date or something else I can't tell.
I'd appreciate any information about these.
Bryan
