Christmas bargain arrives - BAS villager 15" w/ pics

[Mindz_I]

Snagged one of these from the 6th day of christmas sale, unfortunately being in the UK it took until today to arrive with me.

This is only my second khukuri from HI and I'm exceedingly impressed as ever (though I've now had 6 different AK's through my hands as most of my team have them ).

My other khuk is a 15" Horn handled AK by Sher that's a weighty beast to say the least - I ordered two horn handled AK's at the same time and was somewhat in love with the lighter 15" Kumar with an amazing handle, however O gave this up to my friend as it fit his larger hands better. Since that though I have grown to appreciate the extra weight of my Sher given it's almost exclusively used for chopping.

I was sitting toiling with the idea of ordering a larger khuk for better chopping performance but thought i'd loose the 'knifeish-ness' of the blade and have to carry a smaller knife, so instead though I'd try and go a little more portable than the AK.

Spotted this Bura Villager 15" and was intrigued by both the brushed / satin finish (had not yet seen a village model) and the possible advantages the lighter BAS might have over the 15" AK.

--

As I say, it only arrived this morning and I've not had a chance to test it yet.

I appologise for the terrible pictures and for the awful hack-job of sharpening the 15" AK :'(

To close a quick question; I find the lower portion of the handle a bit too wide for me so was thinking of sanding i down slightly by hand. Will this be easy enough to achieve with regular sandpaper on the buffalo horn? What should be used to finish / protect it once sanded down?

Thanks

 

[ALBPM]

The WATCO brand Danish Oil works good on Horn Handles. Four coats about eight hours apart for the minimum treatment.

 

[M. Taylor]

I've been very impressed with the villager BAS that I received as well. It's very nice for light chopping. I had to experiment a little to find the right hand placement / grip, but when I got it dialed in, it was quite comfortable. Not much shock was transferred to the hand when held correctly. I would say that (as a light duty / camping knife) it fits the bill very well. This was money well spent. I'm already thinking about the kuk that I'll be buying for my birthday.

 

[Mindz_I]

Cracking Thanks

I guess I'll pick up some sandpaper and get to work when I'm bored over the holidays

M. Taylor - Glad to see another fan really glad I saw these on the DOTD

 

[Mindz_I]

Just to add some symbol questions;

Do all villagers bear symbols in native script or at least different script to the 'standard' line?

Just from the positions I'm assuming the symbols on it are roughly the following (could someone please confirm ?) -

At the bend near the spine in the blade - BirGorkha (Is this different to on the standard line?)

Near the cho, one side - I'm assuming from the symbols that the script is Bura's initials or name?

Near the cho, opposite side - I have no clue I'm guessing maybe UB or HI in native script?

Cheers for any help guys

 

[kgriggs8]

I got a 15" Villager BAS from Bura as well. Mine looks almost identical to yours but I think my horn handle was done a little nice. There are no gouges on my handle. It was my first HI Kukri but is not my only one or my last one. I just got a 20" Surupati and I will probably get two others that I am eyeing.

I had to sand down the sharp edge of the back of the grip cap because it was hurting me. I took the opertunity to sand it well and then buff the brass and the horn handle to nice gloss. Mine it very much nicer than new now and I think I will probably look for more villagers in the future because it only takes a few minuits to polish up things to make them look nice. I will leave the blade satin as that is what I would prefer on a user anyway.

 

[Fiddleback]

I like that villager appearance. I "villagered" my chiruwa AK as soon as I got it. I like the flat finish because it aids in holding the knive while swinging it. Sweet BAS. I gotta get one of those...

 

[Yvsa]

TJ, it's my understanding that the BirGhorka Village Khukuris are indeed stamped with the initials that stand for BirGhorka in Devengari and the new khuks are being initialed with the kami's initials in Devengari.
It's (was) also my understanding that the initials for Uncle Bill would always be in English but that may have changed for the BirGhorka Villagers.
Yangdu will be able to sort it out, email her the pic and ask and then please come back and let us know what she said when you get an answer.

 

[ddean]

" I find the lower portion of the handle a bit too wide for me so was thinking of sanding i down slightly by hand. Will this be easy enough to achieve with regular sandpaper on the buffalo horn? What should be used to finish / protect it once sanded down?"

easy to sand
don't breath the dust

go slow feel the grip as you proceed
& you'll find a little asymetry will help tune it up
feel both horizontal & vertical

Lots of threads ofn:
horn grip treat finish


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