Engraved AK pics and a bit of comparison

mPisi

mPisi

Joined
Oct 12, 2001
Messages
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Seeing the old Ashley thread come up to the surface, to console myself I went and played around with my dragon engraved 15" AK that I bought recently from a good guy on Knifeforums LINK He still has three available. I'm moving this week, so my workbench is empty but my photography is not improved. I'll have enough space in the new place to work on some better pics.

In digging it out I found I now have 20 Himalayan Imports khuks. How did that happen??? They sneak up on you!

Here's the left side:
AK_LT.jpg


The right side:
AK_RT.jpg


Now on to the comparisons. As almost all my khuks were purchased in the past two years or so, I was very interested to see this Shop 1-made khuk (I believe, corect me if I'm wrong). It has a scrolled buttcap (which I couldn't get a picture of), the old-style bolster (does this have a name?), and no makers mark.

I took a pic of the Shop 1 engraved 15" AK on the top, and a recent chiruwa AK by Kumar. I've lined up the start of the handle of both khuks. Interestingly, the chiruwa AK has a longer blade and OAL, while the engraved AK has a larger handle than the chiruwa. You can see the habaki bolster of the newer chiruwa on the bottom.

AK_COMP.jpg


Marked in yellow is the difference in position of the cho or "cho creep". I really like the old one in this respect.

edit: I forgot to mention that the old AK has the most impressive white-streaked horn handle I've ever seen. But the subtle color bands don't show up well in my pics. I'll try again out in the sunlight sometime :)
 
Somebody ask mamav for some pics of the Gurkha House Kothimora she has. Very nice engraving on it. Looks like it could be the same maker.
 
I like the creepy cho on the 15" or less models. It gives your fingers a little more space to hold.

Edited for poor grammar or spelling. Maybe even both.
 
I like the creepy cho on the 15" or less models. It gives you fingers a little more space to hold.
Click to expand...

That is right. I would not be able to use my Pen-knife if the ricasso was shorter. The handle is only 3.3 inches.
But wait - that is not quite true. If you do not care about a missing index-finger you could use it without cho-creep too.:eek:
Better were larger handles.

Andreas
 
I also don't mind the cho creep much, but I have been tempted to add a second one in the blank space (choil?) between the cho and bolster on a few of mine.

Sorry Mpisi, for any bad mems, but looks like you've compensated accordingly with that wonderful model! It is definitely the best of the batch.

Keith
 
Originally posted by BruiseLeee
I like the creepy cho on the 15" or less models. It gives your fingers a little more space to hold.
Click to expand...


That was the interesting thing about the handle sizes... The older khuk had a longer handle despite being a smaller knife overall. On the Chiruwa AK the handle was shorter and the length replaced with cho creep. Which would you choose?
 
If you look closely at the photos you will see the cho is about the same distance from the bolster in both knives. What's changed is the bolster is longer in the newer knives, and the handle possibly shorter.



munk
 
You were fortunate to get the Dragon engaving. IMO it is by far the most attractive.

Regards,

Svashtar
 
Originally posted by munk
If you look closely at the photos you will see the cho is about the same distance from the bolster in both knives. What's changed is the bolster is longer in the newer knives, and the handle possibly shorter.
Click to expand...

True... check out the 1/22 deals though, it seems even farther there (2 cho-widths versus 1.25-1.5 on these examples). I did not have a recent 15" AK to compare with, but I think with one we would see the sharpened blade length decreasing...

Svashtar, I agree about the dragon, that's why I grabbed it. Spendy but worth it.
 
for the record, when I looked at those blades awhile ago, I thought the dragon the one to get.




munk
 
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