Some observations about new kami Get's work (after an opportunity to examine it):
Overall, nice! Not the grand master Bura is in terms of fit and finish, but nothing to complain about. A little more visible laha fill in the gaps, but nothing at all bad.
Very nice woodwork. Very pretty, as you see above.
Heat treatment seemed excellent. No noticeable deformities at all after energetic hard use on hard woods.
Note the prominent ring in the middle of the handle. Where this falls into the right location (which it did in the one I checked out), it really locks the handle into the hand nicely. It really shows a good grasp (pun half intended) of hand ergonomics. The ring in the middle of a khukuri handle seems intended to correspond to the space between the middle and ring fingers, and (a little less obviously, due to the fact that these bones are covered with flesh), the space between the 3rd and 4th metacarpals of the user's hand. (These are the bones in the hand that connect directly to the middle and ring fingers, respectively). When you wrap your hand around the handle, it basically puts a circle of bone directly in front of, and another circle of bone directly behind, the ring--making for a good hold, provided the ring lines up correctly with the user's bone structure. So far, the Get Bhadur Bishwakarma rings I've seen seem to be fairly prominent. I guess this could make it a little uncomfortable if the ring fell into the wrong place in the hand, but if the placement is right, it's a good thing indeed.
The Get chiruwa ang khola (CAK) I handled had an interesting shape and taper. The length was a little shorter than the typical 16.5 inches; the weight was robust, the spine retained much of its half-inch thickness for much of the blade, then tapered a little less gradually than some. Not at all bad; just saying that this will be even more robust as a substitute crowbar than some. No amount of leaning on the knife after it was chopped into a log gave any sign of bending, waving of edge, or any other problem.
Most interesting feature--maybe accidental, but something that might be good to repeat on purpose--is that the "back valley" or indentation at the spine distal to the curve was not a simple thinning of the spine; rather, the metal at the very spine actually thickened a little from its narrowest point, which means you could actually grasp the blade with your hand over the spine and your fingers in the "back valley", and keep a decent grip. This will make it easier to choke way up on the blade, holding it by the spine distal to the curve, and use the blade for fine work. You get a similar phenomenon with a "Gelbu special" or Udhaipur model, I think they're called--the fullers give you something to grip if you hold the blade instead of the handle.
I believe H.I. has itself another good kami. I'll be interested to hear everybody else's observations.
