wildmanh
Part time Leather Bender/Sheath maker
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2000
- Messages
- 7,764
While going through the utility drawer in mom's kitchen this afternoon I found the Kumar Karda that I gave her for Christmas back in 2001. Let me give you a little history before I show the pictures.
The fall of that year I got a Chiruwa style WWII with horn slabs that was about 16.5" long and weighed around 28oz. It was purchased around the Dashain And Tihar holidays in Nepal. Back then (Probably still happens today) right before the holidays the Kami's get in a big hurry to finish blades before their 3 week break. Normally about 3 blades slip through with a problem, either poor heat treat (either durring quenching or polishing), bad handles or what not. After getting my new Khukri I took it out back to test it out and the bolster broke do to a bad weld. I got one of the Holiday glitches. So I returned it to Uncle Bill and got 3 different blades. 2 wood handled Kumar Kardas and a horn handled JKM-1.
One Kumar Karda went to my sister, one to mom and the JKM-1 went to my brother. Before gifting the blades away I worked over the wood on the Kardas. First I cleaned them with oil soap and a scrubbing brush and let them dry. After that I rubbed about 10 coats of Semi Gloss Tung oil into the handles. After that I touched up the edges on my wet stone and gave them away for Christmas.
Mom has been using her Kumar Karda for years. It's her go to utility knife for cutting up cardboard boxes, carpet and other heavy things. When I moved back to the area a few months ago she mentioned to me that she would like me to sharpen it sometime after it's found. It wasn't in any of the drawers that normally have kitchen stuff in them so I forgot about it till I found it this afternoon. Was needing to go out side and cut up some old cardboard boxes to make kindling. Was going to use my SOG folder which works quite well. But after finding the Karda and putting a nice toothy edge on it, I just had to let it slice up some boxes. This knife is a box cutting monster! The spine is about 3/16" thick and it has a semi steep grind, but it sails though boxes and carpet. Holds a good edge too. I know why she likes using it the way she does.
The handle is about 4" Long from butt cap to end of bolster and it has about a 6" blade. Not sure what it weighs, probably about 5 to 7oz. As I said earlier, it's about 3/16" thick. The balance point is about 1/2" in front of the bolster. The wood handle is carved with ferns and IMO very pretty. I wish some of the current generation of Kumar Kardas would come with carved handles. The Spine is pretty straight and it has a bell shaped handle, which I find perfect for this style knife. There are only two markings on the blade, H.I. and the Kami's mark which is a Nepali flag. Since it was made in 2001 I believe that means it was made by Durba. Can anyone confirm that for me?
A 10" Kumar Karda is about the perfect belt knife to me. Especially one with a hidden tang. The forward balance aids in chopping sapling. Pair it with a folder or Multi-tool and a chopper and you are good to go. It's a solid, well built knife with a classic look and appeal.
So who else has a KK That they use? Feel free to post pictures and talk about them. Pictures of my mom's KK are posted below. Thanks!
The fall of that year I got a Chiruwa style WWII with horn slabs that was about 16.5" long and weighed around 28oz. It was purchased around the Dashain And Tihar holidays in Nepal. Back then (Probably still happens today) right before the holidays the Kami's get in a big hurry to finish blades before their 3 week break. Normally about 3 blades slip through with a problem, either poor heat treat (either durring quenching or polishing), bad handles or what not. After getting my new Khukri I took it out back to test it out and the bolster broke do to a bad weld. I got one of the Holiday glitches. So I returned it to Uncle Bill and got 3 different blades. 2 wood handled Kumar Kardas and a horn handled JKM-1.
One Kumar Karda went to my sister, one to mom and the JKM-1 went to my brother. Before gifting the blades away I worked over the wood on the Kardas. First I cleaned them with oil soap and a scrubbing brush and let them dry. After that I rubbed about 10 coats of Semi Gloss Tung oil into the handles. After that I touched up the edges on my wet stone and gave them away for Christmas.
Mom has been using her Kumar Karda for years. It's her go to utility knife for cutting up cardboard boxes, carpet and other heavy things. When I moved back to the area a few months ago she mentioned to me that she would like me to sharpen it sometime after it's found. It wasn't in any of the drawers that normally have kitchen stuff in them so I forgot about it till I found it this afternoon. Was needing to go out side and cut up some old cardboard boxes to make kindling. Was going to use my SOG folder which works quite well. But after finding the Karda and putting a nice toothy edge on it, I just had to let it slice up some boxes. This knife is a box cutting monster! The spine is about 3/16" thick and it has a semi steep grind, but it sails though boxes and carpet. Holds a good edge too. I know why she likes using it the way she does.
The handle is about 4" Long from butt cap to end of bolster and it has about a 6" blade. Not sure what it weighs, probably about 5 to 7oz. As I said earlier, it's about 3/16" thick. The balance point is about 1/2" in front of the bolster. The wood handle is carved with ferns and IMO very pretty. I wish some of the current generation of Kumar Kardas would come with carved handles. The Spine is pretty straight and it has a bell shaped handle, which I find perfect for this style knife. There are only two markings on the blade, H.I. and the Kami's mark which is a Nepali flag. Since it was made in 2001 I believe that means it was made by Durba. Can anyone confirm that for me?
A 10" Kumar Karda is about the perfect belt knife to me. Especially one with a hidden tang. The forward balance aids in chopping sapling. Pair it with a folder or Multi-tool and a chopper and you are good to go. It's a solid, well built knife with a classic look and appeal.
So who else has a KK That they use? Feel free to post pictures and talk about them. Pictures of my mom's KK are posted below. Thanks!
