A trip through the world of H.I.Khukuri collecting.

Yvsa

Yvsa

Joined
May 18, 1999
Messages
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I got to thinking about this when I was making my last post.:)

It is sorta funny, the trip we all make through the world of
H.I.Khukuri's as individuals.
I haven't paid much attention lately nor am I privy to what Uncle Bill has sold the most of for the last while, used to be the 15" AK, but nearly everyone at one time started off with the 15"-18" AK for their very 1st khukuri.
And if not an AK then the 18" WW II.
When I first came on the H.I.Forum it seemed that we all wanted the biggest and baddest of the bunch and I believe the AK's still hold the title as the biggest and baddest.:D

And for a while it seems as though we all have a period where we submit to HIKV indiscriminately and buy more khukuris than we can sometimes really afford, or have actual use for, and with no rhyme or reason why we're buying that particular khukuri.
( Uncle Bill is good at helping us out that way.:) )
Then as time goes on we get more and more settled on what our favorite size, weight, and length is and then we tend to buy more in that range.
And I think a lot of that depends on just how many we have accumalated over time. I also think the more we have the easier it becomes to pick a favorite size, length and weight.

I believe I have a khukuri for just about any task imaginable with some over lapping duties and others more specialised and out of all of the H.I.Khukuri's that are in my possesion the
YCS, BGRS and Chitlangi (As well as the old looking 17" steel mounted villager that holds a warm place in my heart)are my absolute favorites among my favorites.
I would be dayumed hard pressed to choose just one of them as an absolute favorite, and I just don't believe I could do it.
(Remember I said a while back something to the effect that I had to group my favorites into sizes?:) )

Another kinda funny thing........ I actually had a couple of khukuris that I hadn't removed the "Made in Nepal" tags off, let alone sharpen, of until today.
Do you suppose that means my quest for the perfect khukuri is about over?;)
Well if there were a way for a H.I.Khukuri to shapeshift from a YCS to a BGRS, to my 18" Ak, to a Chitlangi then the quest might be truly over, but I'm not seeing that happen anywhere near soon.:)

And now I'm beginning to wonder what the next step to my trip is.;)
I do know after seeing one of the Hisaias(sic), the little harvest hooks, that I absolutely have to have one of them, perhaps one of each size.:)
I have a Tarwar and was considering for a while to trade Brent out of the one he's wanting to trade for a Busse, but I sometimes use my Basic 9 and having one Tarwar I really have no need for another, although his is so very beautiful that I would really like to have it!!!!

So in the end I suppose it's whether we're real collectors, both large and small or people who will only buy knives they will or can use.
Billy told me Sunday when he came down with Merle that he wouldn't have a knive he wouldn't use. I understand and yet I kinda feel a bit of pity for him.;)

Or in my case one of my self made rules that I do my best to live by......
"What are you willing to give up to get what you want?"
That little self made rule has saved my rear many times as I have applied it to all facets of my life when making a really serious decision.
It has helped me to walk my talk....
And it will continue to serve me well on my continued trip through the world of khukuris and other toys.:D

I'm still wondering what the next step or level is. I have no doubt that it will be interesting and fun and what more can a man ask for?............
 
...but it seems to fit in here with Yvsa thoughts.

As you go along you learn more and your tastes becomes more refine, and what was a collection a few years ago becomes only an accumulation as you focus more intently on some of the subcatagories.

I have been at it for a while now (going on 22 years). The strangest change for me is that although I am more demanding and focused than ever on the details, I am less interested in individual knives. I now routinely pass up knives that I would have only dreamed about previously becuase they simply do not fit well with the rest of the stuff.

My objective is drifting towards putting together better and better collections. Every knife I purchase gets lumped under a catagory, and each year I review each catagory to see which ones are doing well and which ones are going nowhere. Then I trade off the weaker ones to build up the stronger ones. The "collection" is still just a moderate accumulation of stuff, but it is getting better, and the shape of what eventually might be a real collection is beginning to form. I have been surprised so often that I am completely clueless on what it might be - although when I eventually get there I claim I was collecting it all along.

In another 20 years I hope to be traveling the world, digging under every rock and putting up a significant purse, in the quest for that evasive missing piece that completes whatever I end up putting together.

That is why this stuff is so much fun.

n2s
 
Yvsa, At some point in the not to distant past I was reading a article about men collecting knives and the author said that the average number of knives owned by blade fanatics is 32-34. At the time I kind of laughed thinking I would never have that many I couldn't use them all..........HA HA HA. I've passed that point a while back.
 
I have a British customer who says quite simply with each purchase, "one can't have too many khukuris." I think he sums it up as well as anybody.
 
But before I get too many more I'm gonna have to buy myself another safe to keep them in.:D
And of course that would lead to another safe and then another and finally into a bigger house with a huge bank vault installed!!!!:D:D:D:D

Mayhaps an underground house that's totally fire proof with only one way in or out, protected by 20 pit trained pit bulls with AIDS.:D:D:D:D:
 
Eeeeaaasy, there Bro - that has a familiar ring to it :eek: If, OTOH, you are really serious, I know of a couple of big limestone caves up in Osage County, near the old T-Down :D
 
One is (was-AC wasn't born last time I saw it) part of an MK&T ballast mining pit. Huge, and far, far away from civilization (could be a supermarket parking lot by now). Had to cross a suspension foot-bridge to reach it, over the Verdigris River. The ceiling would flake off from time to time - flakes about the size of a 50' semi trailer :eek: No bats there - they aren't dumb. The other was across the highway to the west, up in the hills. Plenty of friendly bats, and housepets (some a bit growly, some just "buzzed" and stayed coiled up :D They're up near Skiatook, where a friend's mother-in-law fed me my first Yellowjacket Soup. Yum :p She also treated my one and only snakebite with ground, raw potatos and a poultice of ground roots.
 
He went quickly but not quietly - I didn'tknow "Khukuri" then, but I did know "Smith & Wesson" :rolleyes:
 
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