- Joined
- May 9, 2002
- Messages
- 12,609
Well I was quite surprised when the mail man rolled up to hand deliver the mail this afternoon. He never does that unless he’s packing something oversized. As soon as he stepped out, my heart skipped a beat and I started to salivate (sure signs of HIKV flaring up). He was packing one of those wonderful triangular boxes!
Inside I found numerous goodies (thank you, Yangdu). Once I got down to the bottom I found something heavy. I could tell that steel was wrapped up under all of that newspaper. I could smell it. Once you contract HIKV you can almost TASTE Nepali steel. With ravenous fury, I tore the paper off to find a Chit Bowie staring me in the face. A hulking brute of a blade designed by our very own Lefthandblack. I had been lusting after one of these for the better part of a year. Now, here it was in front of me.
Upon gripping it I noticed straight away that this thing is a handful! The grip is thick to incorporate the standard chit “checkered” bolster (sub-bolster on the bowie) as well as the chiruwa design. However, for a 14.5” 1lb 10oz knife, it balances perfectly at the steel cross guard. I have no idea how Vim Bahdur did it. You literally slide you hand up to the guard and the weight of the knife disappears. You have 8 and ¾ inches of steel blade that will go where ever you will it. Slide you hand back down with the meat of your palm right next to the “bell” of the handle and blade feels like it weights 4lbs. **preliminary tests indicate that the knife swung while being held in this “chopping mode” will penetrate over ½ inch into a treated cedar shipping pallet…impressive** Held in a reverse grip, I could stab the tip of the blade through a ¼ inch board using only about ½ of my arm strength. This thing is a dynamo!
Cosmetically, this was probably not Vim’s best work. The guard is pretty rough and marred from fitting it to the blade. However, all of my blades are users, and he put his time in where it counts! The fullers were executed extremely well. Very clean, very even. The edge is immaculate. It is constant and straight. Perfect from tip to guard (and that includes the tricky recurve on this type of blade). Most importantly, it came SHARP. Not field sharp with a burr. Not maybe-sharp-one-day-if-you-put-some-time-into-it. SHARP. Sharp enough that with just a few licks across a strop it would scrap hair easily. I plan on getting this bad boy honed to a razors edge!
Which leads me to the scabbard. My oh my, HI has come leaps and bounds in the sheath/scabbard department! The sheath is perfectly stitched and fitted. The chape is even and well done. The frog fits flush to the incorporated ring “stop” near the mouth. To top it all off, the leather is soft and supple as well as beautiful milk chocolate brown color. Normally, I make my own sheathes for my straight big knives since all too often the frog slips or the stitching is loose or the color is pretty ratty. However, this is one scabbard that I will gladly use and show.
I plan on making this my camp knife. I remember Lefthandblack calling this blade the “Chit Campanion”. I think that’s a fitting name. Everything about this knife points to performing well as a camp blade. The edge is thin and sharp, it balances nicely when you choke up on it, it’ll chop kindling and baton through medium stuff quite easily. While some might frown upon a double guard in a camp knife, I welcome it. It both balances the blade as well gives you the piece of mind that you hand is not going to slip up onto the blade should you need to stab downward.
I want to thank Yangdu for sending me such an excellent blade. Also, Vim deserves a shout out. I have handled 2 or 3 pieces of his work, and I love it. He has a very “Kumar” feel to his finished product. Of course, I want to thank Lefthandblack for his design. I am one very happy camper.
Here's a pick of said knife:
I plan on getting more pics when I have have the chance to steal my wife's camera. I'll be leaving town at the end of the week for a few days, so I won't be able to do a FULL review until i get back home
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings!
Inside I found numerous goodies (thank you, Yangdu). Once I got down to the bottom I found something heavy. I could tell that steel was wrapped up under all of that newspaper. I could smell it. Once you contract HIKV you can almost TASTE Nepali steel. With ravenous fury, I tore the paper off to find a Chit Bowie staring me in the face. A hulking brute of a blade designed by our very own Lefthandblack. I had been lusting after one of these for the better part of a year. Now, here it was in front of me.
Upon gripping it I noticed straight away that this thing is a handful! The grip is thick to incorporate the standard chit “checkered” bolster (sub-bolster on the bowie) as well as the chiruwa design. However, for a 14.5” 1lb 10oz knife, it balances perfectly at the steel cross guard. I have no idea how Vim Bahdur did it. You literally slide you hand up to the guard and the weight of the knife disappears. You have 8 and ¾ inches of steel blade that will go where ever you will it. Slide you hand back down with the meat of your palm right next to the “bell” of the handle and blade feels like it weights 4lbs. **preliminary tests indicate that the knife swung while being held in this “chopping mode” will penetrate over ½ inch into a treated cedar shipping pallet…impressive** Held in a reverse grip, I could stab the tip of the blade through a ¼ inch board using only about ½ of my arm strength. This thing is a dynamo!
Cosmetically, this was probably not Vim’s best work. The guard is pretty rough and marred from fitting it to the blade. However, all of my blades are users, and he put his time in where it counts! The fullers were executed extremely well. Very clean, very even. The edge is immaculate. It is constant and straight. Perfect from tip to guard (and that includes the tricky recurve on this type of blade). Most importantly, it came SHARP. Not field sharp with a burr. Not maybe-sharp-one-day-if-you-put-some-time-into-it. SHARP. Sharp enough that with just a few licks across a strop it would scrap hair easily. I plan on getting this bad boy honed to a razors edge!
Which leads me to the scabbard. My oh my, HI has come leaps and bounds in the sheath/scabbard department! The sheath is perfectly stitched and fitted. The chape is even and well done. The frog fits flush to the incorporated ring “stop” near the mouth. To top it all off, the leather is soft and supple as well as beautiful milk chocolate brown color. Normally, I make my own sheathes for my straight big knives since all too often the frog slips or the stitching is loose or the color is pretty ratty. However, this is one scabbard that I will gladly use and show.
I plan on making this my camp knife. I remember Lefthandblack calling this blade the “Chit Campanion”. I think that’s a fitting name. Everything about this knife points to performing well as a camp blade. The edge is thin and sharp, it balances nicely when you choke up on it, it’ll chop kindling and baton through medium stuff quite easily. While some might frown upon a double guard in a camp knife, I welcome it. It both balances the blade as well gives you the piece of mind that you hand is not going to slip up onto the blade should you need to stab downward.
I want to thank Yangdu for sending me such an excellent blade. Also, Vim deserves a shout out. I have handled 2 or 3 pieces of his work, and I love it. He has a very “Kumar” feel to his finished product. Of course, I want to thank Lefthandblack for his design. I am one very happy camper.
Here's a pick of said knife:
I plan on getting more pics when I have have the chance to steal my wife's camera. I'll be leaving town at the end of the week for a few days, so I won't be able to do a FULL review until i get back home
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings!
) However, my hands are kind of small. I would say that most people with larger mitts won't have a problem. Also, you would only grip it toward the "fatter" part to choke up for closer work. Then, the weight of the blade disappears.
