Bookie's Baby

Bookie

Bookie

Joined
Mar 25, 2014
Messages
2,010
Lucky me. One of Mrs. Martino's triangular boxes magically appeared upon ye door step this morning. You know the kind. Lay it on a bench and the triangular box explosively shreds, seemingly all by itself, because of your over-wrought brain has went into overload and your latent psychic powers suddenly go off the gauge. Poof! Out pops a 15.5 inch villager khuk. Not just any ol' villager khuk, but one that is totally different than what HI customers are used to. This was ordered on a whim before last Christmas. You know how much I love my Keshar Lal villager, it gets used heavily, so one from his son seemed like a good stocking stuffer. A family set or collection, perhaps. Needless to say, the good Doctor got just what he ordered and in my opinion, even more. Some of the features specifically ordered was the villager had to be by Keshar's son, have a wooden handle with no metal butt cap, traditional tang with the tang held in place with laha only. Also, the handle was to be a specific length to fit my hand. The kamis normally mark their khukuri with their cartouche. They are skilled, dedicated, and become popular and well known by the customers. The sarkis on the other hand are just as dedicated, skilled in their craft, and important as the kamis, thus being worthy members of the HI team. With that thought in my head, I asked that the sarki who made the sheath for this khuk to carve his name in the front of the sheath, and you know what? Shyam did just that! Here's a few pics to feast your eyes upon. Eat yer heart out Bawanna, and thank you, Mrs. Martino!!!
a_2.jpg
[/URL][/IMG] Just a "Plain Jane" khuk.
b_1.jpg
[/URL][/IMG] The spine is nicely polished and contrasts beautifully with the evenly blackened blade.
c_2.jpg
[/URL][/IMG] It has a dramatic, but nicely ovaloid butt with no embellishment.
d_1.jpg
[/URL][/IMG] Now check this out. It sports a nicely executed karda and close by, you'll find a little notch on the bottom of the ricasso. Undoubtedly, this will be a question generator. (Just for you, Kamidog.)
f_1.jpg
[/URL][/IMG] Fits me paw pretty well, don't you think? Ought to reduce handle movement during use.
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[/URL][/IMG] Shyam's name carved in Devanagari script on the sheath and makes the entire rig a little "special".
I am really pleased with the khuk and the blade appears to be just as good as his Dad's, so I consider myself fortunate indeed.
 
wow! congrats. That is a "Girl Next Door in fitted jeans an a baseball tee" pretty. Naturally, effortlessly gorgeous:)

I do like the the traditional tang idea. Very neat:)
 
I think it's damage from when he bashed it into something for calling a Cho a Karda?

But for our purposes I like the idea of a notch for downing enemy planes. I like that one a lot. Let's go with that.

I'm just happy to see Bookie on board and posting and I'm sure he's feeling better upon receipt of the medicinal triangle box.

Does seem to be a perfect fit for thine paws.
 
I have to wonder if there would be enough interest to do villager models like this as the sort-of extra-villager model, costing less and giving an interesting change of pace.
 
Great post and pix, thank you for sharing
 
Hmmmm? Ovaloid butt with no embellishment and notch in the Ricasso! Can we talk about that stuff here? Im pretty sure somebody's gonna get a spankin doc:eek: Thats a fabulous knife! and I agree about the Sarki marks! I wish they all got that:thumbup:
 
Scara said:
I have to wonder if there would be enough interest to do villager models like this as the sort-of extra-villager model, costing less and giving an interesting change of pace.
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Obviously that would be up to Yangdu, but I certainly wouldn't mind it. It's taken a few years, but the new warranty about what you can and can't do with particular models seems to be sticking. I think a KLVUK with a traditional epoxied tang would be a neat yard work khuk. I would just be curious how long it would take to work loose. I don't mean that in a bad way. I would seriously like to test it out and see how long it would take. Empirical data is my friend:)

I remember Bill telling stories of how folks in Nepal would use a traditional laha-glued khuk for years and years. Eventually it would work loose or split the handle or whatever. They just took the knife in to the kami who gave it a tune up for a reasonable fee and the khuk continued to work a hard life for another decade. Being indestructible isn't a major concern.

I'd like to see more like this:)
 
I love it. The plain butt and fire scale make my heart thump.
I'm thinking a lot about how nice the villagers are, I think the black finish is something I might really enjoy.
 
Wow thats gorgeous definitely one for the collection i especially like the signing on the sheath and all the other little details. Great khuk
 
Very cool knife Bookie! Love the solid wood handle. Also love the sarki signature. I'd like to see that more often!

I'm a little confused on the kami mark though. I'm just putting this together now, but does Keshar Lal have 2 sons?? Are Anil and Ram Lal brothers???
 
Awesome! I'm torn between getting a 12" or 15" KLVUK for backpacking trips. I really only want to have one.
 
Dane M said:
Awesome! I'm torn between getting a 12" or 15" KLVUK for backpacking trips. I really only want to have one.
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I don't recall seeing any KLVUK in 12". Though 12"PEN is awesome belt knife for hiking/camping - big enough to do bushcraft, and small enough to carry without catching everything in rough terrain.
 
Loving that all wood handle, Bookie. Great call!
Sarki signature very cool too. Perhaps we'll see more signed.
 
joeraz said:
I don't recall seeing any KLVUK in 12". Though 12"PEN is awesome belt knife for hiking/camping - big enough to do bushcraft, and small enough to carry without catching everything in rough terrain.
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The 12'' Pen knife is a gem, quite handy for many things.

I'd chose the 12" Pen before a 12" KLVUK if there is one. I know there are smaller ones.
The 15" would be my first choice for a KLVUK. Much smaller and they lose their chopping qualities.
 
Oh I see, I must have been mistaken! Would you choose a 15" klvuk before a 12 Pen knife for backpacking? I figure I'll strap it to the pack, not my hip or anything.
 
Either would work fine in my opinion. It kind of depends on what your foresee as it's most often applied purpose.
If it's a lot of chopping, fire building, shelter building etc then the KLVUK wins the day.

If it's some of all that with maybe some food prep added into the mix, the Pen Knife has some advantage.

I think there are some larger Pen knifes from time to time as well to add to the confusion.

Strapped to a pack backpacking I'd probably opt for the KLVUK today. I might change my mind tomorrow though.

I'm probably not helping am I?

(Picture Light Bulb lighting up above bawanna's head!) Actually in your shoes I'd try to scoop the KLVUK that Yangdu posted yesterday. Good length and exceptionally light.
Might honestly be the best of both worlds. Last I checked nobody had claimed it.
Excellent price. No sheath but that's easily remedied especially for a back pack type set up.
 
Dane, I'd second Bawanna's recommendation - if it's still available snag 14 3/4 in 14oz VUK on Yangdu's "Weekend Special" - that's a great size and fantastic price!

PEN is my all-around 'grail', but VUK was my first HI love and hard to beat if you're packing it.
 
joeraz said:
Dane, I'd second Bawanna's recommendation - if it's still available snag 14 3/4 in 14oz VUK on Yangdu's "Weekend Special" - that's a great size and fantastic price!

PEN is my all-around 'grail', but VUK was my first HI love and hard to beat if you're packing it.
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I thiord that! Grab that beautiful KLVUK! It just happens to be a few ounces lighter than the normal one. That one is a perfect packing knife. Just enough weight to do some chopping and heck you could baton some pretty large stuff if you needed to split some sections. I have about five already and a Dhan VUK about the same size as that one posted so im holdin out ....for now. Killer price too.
 
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