Kailash Blades
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2015
- Messages
- 1,054
We've been working away on this project for a while- have a look and let us know what you think.
We usually make very big knives. Anything under 11" is considered small in our workshop. We have some smaller knife options and they're pretty popular- I think a lot of people are more used blades in the 5"-7" range and want something that kind of size to fit into their life. We get asked pretty often to make mini khukuris smaller than 5" and we usually say no. To fit a broad cutting belly and recurve for carving into such a small blade leads to a very cramped blade that looks ugly and suffers a lot functionally. The goal with this project is to deliver as much "khukuri" as we can into a small package while keeping things simple and beautiful.
Naturally to make a blade shorter that's still excellent we need to shake a few things up. Firstly no cho- there just isn't real estate to spare.
We take all thaecurvature of a khukuri blade and allow it to flow into the handle of the knife. This allows the belly to relax and open up, creating a more beautiful and smooth blade that still has a similar silhouette, ornamentation and form factor as a khukuri. The broad cutting belly and dropped point remain while carving duty is relegated to a small flat section directly in front of the bolster.
This particular blade is made with a stacked leather handle, polished white metal hardware and a traditional dap. Some specs: Blade: 3.5" Handle: 4.25" Spine Thickness at Bolster: 4mm Total Weight: 90g
Once we made a few of these blades though it seemed like the design also made sense in a slightly larger size. Something in between our mini khukuri sizes. Not quite as compact but still at a size where the khukuri recurve can make things a bit cramped. As a result we went ahead and released a 6 inch version.
As the blade has been stretched out it benefits from a larger and gentler belly for superior surface work, a wider straight carving section near the bolster and a significantly less stubby tip that's a bit better for fine work and ease of penetration.
The spine thickness has also been increased slightly at the bolster to 4.5mm to give a little more insurance in the rowdier work that this knife will now be seeing.
This specific blade has a 4.75" rosewood handle, polished finish, brass hardware, performance grind and traditional dap.
Which size do you guys prefer the look of?
Do you think the general concept works?
Thanks for taking the time to read
Take care,
Andrew and the team at Kailash
We usually make very big knives. Anything under 11" is considered small in our workshop. We have some smaller knife options and they're pretty popular- I think a lot of people are more used blades in the 5"-7" range and want something that kind of size to fit into their life. We get asked pretty often to make mini khukuris smaller than 5" and we usually say no. To fit a broad cutting belly and recurve for carving into such a small blade leads to a very cramped blade that looks ugly and suffers a lot functionally. The goal with this project is to deliver as much "khukuri" as we can into a small package while keeping things simple and beautiful.
Naturally to make a blade shorter that's still excellent we need to shake a few things up. Firstly no cho- there just isn't real estate to spare.
We take all thaecurvature of a khukuri blade and allow it to flow into the handle of the knife. This allows the belly to relax and open up, creating a more beautiful and smooth blade that still has a similar silhouette, ornamentation and form factor as a khukuri. The broad cutting belly and dropped point remain while carving duty is relegated to a small flat section directly in front of the bolster.
This particular blade is made with a stacked leather handle, polished white metal hardware and a traditional dap. Some specs: Blade: 3.5" Handle: 4.25" Spine Thickness at Bolster: 4mm Total Weight: 90g
Once we made a few of these blades though it seemed like the design also made sense in a slightly larger size. Something in between our mini khukuri sizes. Not quite as compact but still at a size where the khukuri recurve can make things a bit cramped. As a result we went ahead and released a 6 inch version.
As the blade has been stretched out it benefits from a larger and gentler belly for superior surface work, a wider straight carving section near the bolster and a significantly less stubby tip that's a bit better for fine work and ease of penetration.
The spine thickness has also been increased slightly at the bolster to 4.5mm to give a little more insurance in the rowdier work that this knife will now be seeing.
This specific blade has a 4.75" rosewood handle, polished finish, brass hardware, performance grind and traditional dap.
Which size do you guys prefer the look of?
Do you think the general concept works?
Thanks for taking the time to read
Take care,
Andrew and the team at Kailash
... Great designs........
