Another classic, the Durba Dagger

[wildmanh]

Every once in a while the Kami's will come up with some new design, a one off or Prototype if you will. Well back in 2001 Durba came up with what Uncle Bill called the Durba dagger. It's a 5" Bladed hunting knife based off the Western Shark knife from WWII (Or Camillus Pilots Survival knife) but with the Nepali flair. Here are two pictures of the blade before I get more into it's story:

As you can see from the pictures, it has a bit of an upswept tip, false edge, saw back and a place for battoning. The handle is round and made from Brass and horn.

The guard used to be a flat piece of brass, I bent the top forward a little to give it more of a thumb ramp effect. I also filed down the corners. The was a little wavy and flat ground, so I convexed and straightened it out on my belt sander. Did the same with the false edge, it's not as sharp as the main edge, but it works well for opening boxes, cutting the skin of a chicken and so on. The "saw" back wasn't sharp, I think Durba did it cause it looked cool or for notching. Well I took some little files to the saw and made it sharp on the push. One of these days I'll get around to sharpening it on the pull also. Then it will really notch a stick quick, or at least look cooler.

Specs:
Blade: 5-3/8" long
Overall: about 9.5"
Blade thickness: 1/4" along spine at bolster, tapering to 5/32" on edge side near bolster, 5/32" at flat spot along spine

The tip is crazy sharp! Summer 2003 I was at my mom's house working in the back yard and some how the knife slipped and the tip ended up in my thumb. Just slipped in like a needle. Since the blade is rather thick it doesn't cleanly slice carrots, but it sure does hack through them well. Skinning meat is easy though. IMO it's a good hunting/camp knife. Below are a few more pictures that should give you a better idea on the tappering and such:

I didn't take pictures of the sheath, it's just your basic HI pouch style sheath with the lanyard loop for a belt loop. Well, thats what it was when I got it. A few years ago I opened the sheath up, added a simple leather belt loop and retaining strap with snap. Very crude, but it works. Some time in the near future I plan on making a standard sandwich style (Think Kabar) sheath for it. Will make sure to post pictures of the new sheath if I ever get around to it.

Thanks for looking!

 

[cop911]

That's a nice classic blade. I didn't know that HI made stuff like that. Got a knife design running around this mess somewhere, may have to dig it out.

 

[stickfred]

Thanks for sharing this rarity with us wildmanh. That is a nice looking knife. It is good to see work from the old masters that aren't around anymore. How were you able to get this knife with jimlclifton lurking for Durbas?

 

[alexs]

I haven't seen this one before (not saying much though).

Did it come with a sheath?

 

[wildmanh]

That's a nice classic blade. I didn't know that HI made stuff like that. Got a knife design running around this mess somewhere, may have to dig it out.

Oh yeah, either Uncle Bill, Kami Sherpa or one of them asked the Kami's to come up with some new ideas and the Durba Dagger was one example. With some refinement, I believe the Durba Dagger would be populare. (Oval handle instead of round, remove the saw back). Dig up the designs and post them. You never knife, it might be populare. The Farm knife worked out well.

Thanks for sharing this rarity with us wildmanh. That is a nice looking knife. It is good to see work from the old masters that aren't around anymore. How were you able to get this knife with jimlclifton lurking for Durbas?

You're welcome! I'm glad to share the few oldies I have with everyone. Years ago I needed some money to help with some College expences so I emailed Jim about my Durba Dagger. He passed on it and I'm glad he did. It's one I plan on passing to my kids/grand kids if I ever get married. Now a Durba M43, that I would have had to hide from Jim.

 

[wildmanh]

I haven't seen this one before (not saying much though).

Did it come with a sheath?

Alexs, yep the DD came with a sheath. Just a basic leather pouch that covered the blade. Since you asked, I took some pictures to show you. I added the Mahogany leather (belt loop and retaining strap) to the sheath.

When wearing the sheath strong side, on my right, the handle tends to dig into my side a bit. So I normally wear it cross draw which works out pretty well. Though these days I wear a pouch on my left side, so I definantly need to make a right handed strong side sheath for it if I'm ever to wear it much.

 

[tjarlz]

Here's a recent style that comes close;

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=719083&highlight=bag+marne