mPsi:
I received the 19-incher on this thread yesterday.
Your description pretty much matches my knife, down the the loose buttcap! Actually, mine loosened up after the little bit of chopping that I managed to get in. I don't have bench-vise, so I held the knife point down against a large chunk of hardwood, and carefully peened down the protruding end of the tang with many fairly gentle taps. If you don't see any difference after a dozen or so taps, go slightly harder. I took care to keep the point, tang end, and hammer blows in line to avoid any chance of bending the point which was stuck in the wood. No problem. Buttcap seems tight so far. I doubt the kamis have a big vise, so they must do something similar.
Don't have a WW II, but I thought the same thing about the shape from photos. I'd be interested in a description of how they compare chopping-wise.
I've sanded the down the karda and chakma handles, and applied some orange oil. Wood is as nice as it looked like it would be. The khuk handle looks like it will be even prettier. My plan was to go for a quick finish-- a few coats of orange oil with sanding/polishing, and then wax, in keeping with the utilitarian concept of these models, but the wood is so nice that I may be unable to resist doing the full Walosi...
My first by Kumar, and I'm impressed. Very nicely shaped handles on everything. The karda and chakma handles weren't fully rounded out, but an little coarse sandpaper did the trick. Very light forging marks on the khuk flats which fits the "villager" concept. Fit seems excellent all-round, except the the keeper, which is not quite up the very nice job on the rest of the knife. One of the best scabbards I've seen--everything is very neat and tidy at the top where the leather is tucked in and a very good fit for blade and tools.
A real bargain, this is a HI khuk dressed in working attire.
Hopefully Ferrous Wheel can educate us all when he shows us his YCS work.
