Couple of Questions

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Rayski

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Apr 27, 2009
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186
Hello all, I just got my first Himalayan Import to add to my collection. It's actually my first khukri also. I've been watching the DOTD here for a minute and finally snagged a keeper. The 21" Gelbu Special by Kumar. I also got one of the Bhairab masks. What a work of art this is!

Man I love this knife. (I'll post pics when I figure out how). But I have a couple questions for you experienced users:

1. Are all of Kumar's knives made of the same metal and what does he use?
2. This knife is so pretty, how rough can I be with it? (It looks like it's built for heavy use but pretty knives like this have failed me in the past)

I hope I don't offend with that last question. I'm new to Himalayans.

Anyway, thanks again to Yangdu for the great service and super fast shipping. I'm sure this is just the start of my khukri add-ons.
 
Rayski said:
Hello all, I just got my first Himalayan Import to add to my collection. It's actually my first khukri also. I've been watching the DOTD here for a minute and finally snagged a keeper. The 21" Gelbu Special by Kumar. I also got one of the Bhairab masks. What a work of art this is!

Man I love this knife. (I'll post pics when I figure out how). But I have a couple questions for you experienced users:

1. Are all of Kumar's knives made of the same metal and what does he use?
2. This knife is so pretty, how rough can I be with it? (It looks like it's built for heavy use but pretty knives like this have failed me in the past)

I hope I don't offend with that last question. I'm new to Himalayans....
Click to expand...

1. All of the regular HI models are made from the same 5160 steel. It's a high carbon steel that is excellent for heavy use knives. It does rust easily, so clean the knife well after each use and keep it coated with mineral oil or other protection. The HI kamis generally get their steel from the leaf springs of trucks that they find in junkyards in Nepal or India. Old Mercedes vehicles have been a favorite for a long time. The only exception that I know of are the "Reti Knives" that are reforged from large, worn-out shop files. I'm not sure what kind of steel that is, but probably not 5160.

2. The Gelbu Special model has an edge profile similar to the AK or CAK, which is well suited for chopping. Your new Gelbu is slimmer than a typical AK, so I wouldn't use it to chop down trees or cut up thick logs, but short of that it can do just about everything. And in a pinch it would probably stand up well to heavy chopping.

There's nothing offensive about your questions. HI blades rarely fail. If it does happen, send an email to Yangdu. She will probably replace such a blade, unless it was subjected to extreme abuse. You could also post such an event (preferably with pictures) to this forum, but it's best to first give Yangdu an opportunity to evaluate the event and make it good.
 
Pretty much all HI blades are made from leaf springs from light trucks. They harvest them from scrap yards in India and drive them up to Nepal. As for the exact alloy, it's probably 5160. HI does on occasion make blades from worn out files, but they always leave the file texturing on the sides of those, and they are called Reti knives as a result, so you would know if yours was a file.

And you can be very rough with it. However you should exercise prudence. And make sure that you avoid hitting anything like metal or rocks. Those can very easily deform or damage the blade. Also make sure you are hitting with the sweet spot. That is the hardest spot on the blade, and on an HI blade it is located where the knife begins its final curve towards the tip. I'm sure someone will be along with a picture that explains that better than my words.
 
You'll find that as you get more comfortable with your knife that it will swing more naturally and do more work with less effort. It's one of the reasons why you can see decades old khuks of much thinner stock and glued on handles being used hard by Nepalis. They know the limitations and let the blade to the work for them.

I wouldn't build a log cabin with it, but pretty much any reasonable use it should handle.
 
Excellent. Thanks for the responses gents.

That villager design looks great and will be my next. Thanks again!
 
Rayski said:
...my first khukri...21" Gelbu Special by Kumar...This knife is so pretty, how rough can I be with it?
Click to expand...

I don't have a Gelbu Special (yet), but I know that ndoghouse ndoghouse is a big fan of them, for good reason. I thought he'd be chiming in by now, but since he hasn't, I'll quote the good man:

The Gelbu Special is really a unique and ingenious design. It blends the chopping ability of an Ang Khola with its obtuse edge and the speedy light weight of a slashing Sirupati with its graceful lightening fullers all in one blade. Its designed for speed to achieve its ultimate task of blowing chunks rather than weight for bulldogging chunks. Seems counter intuitive but Mr. Gelbu dang sure did some Khukri defying dynamics and did it so well! His design will live on for good reason. ENJOY!
ndoghouse, 8-26-2016

Gelbu Special is a bit more chopping oriented than say...a Sirupati or Chitlangi with their more acute edges. Listen very carefully now fellas;). GS has an Ang Khola edge but takes advantage of speed rather than mass to take the same cut. For acceleration you need length right? A 21" GS is a thing of beauty! Force=Mass*Acceleration no matter how you slice it. In other words: Chopping Destruction (CD)=Ang Khola(AK)*Gelbu Special(GS) (CD=AK*GS). Direct mass/accel relationship ya know. Therefore: It can be stated that if you cant get that Gelbu moving fast enuff to cut or you cant handle the weight of the AK then there's no difference. Sirupati and Chitlangi have thinner edges than AK*GS therefore Siru*Chit<AK*GS but only for heavy chopping..Uhhhhh..Im gonna have to finish this later. I forgot my formulas temporarily;) OK to answer yalls question..Uh..What was the question?
ndoghouse, 9-14-2017
 
Ndog wrote all that? That was quite eloquent and sounded like a college professor wrote it.

Color me totally impressed. Makes me feel kind of dumb.

I have a Gelbu but durned if his eloquence don't make me want to get me another one.
 
HA! Oh man that was almost two and one years ago respectively! Yall cant expect me to remember that! Hmm...? Well...I guess it was me. I still got them formulae henscratched on my coffee stump. Good find Mr. Tall and thank you sir! Somehow i missed this thread? I do like a good Gelbu Special.
Rayski I did see that one you bought and got a Khul Bhairab mask with it! Lucky you! I have a small 15" made by Rajkumar and love it but I think 21" or 25" would be more practical for me and that 25" one we recently saw was my dream knife! Treat it like an Ang Khola and at 21" it will be fast especially at that weight. At 21" you can do a lot with just a wrist snap. I do have a 21" Single fuller Chitlangi, 21" Sirupati, and Hmmm? Maybe some more and that length is awesome so I can only imagine about how sweet a GS would be in that length. Dont be afraid to scratch it up some! It was made to be used. ENJOY!
 
Just to add one point to the above: The kamis tend to maintain the proportions of each model, so a longer HI khukuri will usually be somewhat wider and thicker than a shorter version of the same model. Even though the Gelbu Special is a slimmer design than, say, an Ang Khola, the 21 inch version of a GS is a very robust blade. My 21" Gelbu Special by Tirtha weighs 29 oz and has a pretty thick spine. I would trust it even for heavy chopping. The spine on this one is a full 1/2" thick, tapering very gradually toward the tip. It would be much heavier if it were not for the deep forged fullers that can be seen in this photo:

GelbuSpecial21in-Tirtha29oz-for Dave-01.jpg
 
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