The Zulus have a word... 'U-Qobolwayo', meaning 'its very essence', 'the real thing'; and thence by inference 'outstanding', 'as good as it gets', 'way cool'.
Today the mailman delivered the very essence of a khukuri; a 25" Kumar Kobra. From the moment I hauled it out of the scabbard, I knew it was The One - a scaled-up version of my beloved 20" village sirupati, with an even better front end profile, fantastic weight distribution and quite sensational cutting power. Quite simply, everything you could ever want from a khukuri. Its very essence.
The blade is a gnat's under 18 inches. Blade thickness at the elbow is an entirely adequate 0.345", with the thickness tapering evenly down in *both* directions - 0.210" at the point, 0.325" at the bolster. Blade width is 1.575" at the the elbow (widest point) tapering in essentially a yataghan profile (did I mention I like this khuk?) to a Japanese kissaki of a point. centre of balance is radically forward - 6.450" from the bolster, just behind the elbow - but this is a good thing given that the weight is a mere 1lb 14.5oz.
Kumar has his faults; I figure he's impatient (for a kami) - he can't wait to get started on the next blade, so he's not too fussy about finishing up, polishing out the last few hammer-marks and pits. His wooden handles can be a bit crude, and the kardas on this rig and the King Kobra both had several fatal cracks in the edge (caused, I guess, by over-enthusiastic quenching)rendering them useless.
I don't care; it doesn't matter. The blade is what it's all about, and every square centimetre of the 25" Kobra blade demonstrates an understanding at the very deepest level of how steel works, and what makes a blade handle and cut. The secret of the 25" Kobra is the way he's moved the steel around, tapering and profiling so that there's no dead weight or redundancy. This is a blade that's 100% efficient, with all the waste pared away. It's also exceptionally graceful, sleek and slender and *right*... Even my wife, confirmed knife-hater and hoplophobe, took one look at it and said, "Hey! That's nice!"; then, after a signifigant pause; "That's *really* nice..."
The proof of the khukuri, of course, is in the cutting. On Fridays I go to my dad's place, to continue the war against encroaching Nature that I've been slowly losing all my life. Today, however, we almost won...
The battlefield was the stream (our only water supply and/or main drain, depending on which way you happen to be facing at the time), where a thick, tangled stand of mean, determined willow, hazel and briar has been strangling the water supply since I was a teenager (it's downstream. See above; go figure). At various times it's beaten back determined attacks with billhooks, staffhooks, chainsaws and even the machaera. Those are trees with attitude.
The 25" Kobra did for the lot of them, and left me wondering what all the fuss had been about. Whether it was hacking through 6 and 8 inch branches, or slicing through tangled swathes of springy bramble, the khuk carried on moving effortlessly, always light and lively in the hand, achieving devastating cuts through its combination of cutting profile and handspeed, using the long, slow curve of the concave edge and the perfectly-shaped convex centre of percussion to slide through the stringy green timber. The blade-length, too, is exactly right for accelerating round-arm diagonal forehand and backhand cuts, allowing me to get the blade moving at a thoroughly impressive speed. I've always preferred a light blade travelling fast to a heavy one going slowly, and that's what the 25" Kobra does, in spades. The hand-and-a-half grip is exactly right; slim enough to hold securely in one hand, long enough to accomodate both hands for the really powerful cuts. And it stayed solid, by the way, despite some pretty intense action. It's not a beautiful grip, but it's definitely efficient.
So; that's that. I've found my perfect khukuri. Excellent though the other seven khuks in my boot cupboard may be, I can't see myself ever using them again; and the same goes for a garageful of edged tools, ranging from hatchets to glaives and bardisches. This is it; true love at last.
Which is good news for all you HIKV victims out there. Get yourself a 25" Kobra. It's all the blade you'll ever need.
Today the mailman delivered the very essence of a khukuri; a 25" Kumar Kobra. From the moment I hauled it out of the scabbard, I knew it was The One - a scaled-up version of my beloved 20" village sirupati, with an even better front end profile, fantastic weight distribution and quite sensational cutting power. Quite simply, everything you could ever want from a khukuri. Its very essence.
The blade is a gnat's under 18 inches. Blade thickness at the elbow is an entirely adequate 0.345", with the thickness tapering evenly down in *both* directions - 0.210" at the point, 0.325" at the bolster. Blade width is 1.575" at the the elbow (widest point) tapering in essentially a yataghan profile (did I mention I like this khuk?) to a Japanese kissaki of a point. centre of balance is radically forward - 6.450" from the bolster, just behind the elbow - but this is a good thing given that the weight is a mere 1lb 14.5oz.
Kumar has his faults; I figure he's impatient (for a kami) - he can't wait to get started on the next blade, so he's not too fussy about finishing up, polishing out the last few hammer-marks and pits. His wooden handles can be a bit crude, and the kardas on this rig and the King Kobra both had several fatal cracks in the edge (caused, I guess, by over-enthusiastic quenching)rendering them useless.
I don't care; it doesn't matter. The blade is what it's all about, and every square centimetre of the 25" Kobra blade demonstrates an understanding at the very deepest level of how steel works, and what makes a blade handle and cut. The secret of the 25" Kobra is the way he's moved the steel around, tapering and profiling so that there's no dead weight or redundancy. This is a blade that's 100% efficient, with all the waste pared away. It's also exceptionally graceful, sleek and slender and *right*... Even my wife, confirmed knife-hater and hoplophobe, took one look at it and said, "Hey! That's nice!"; then, after a signifigant pause; "That's *really* nice..."
The proof of the khukuri, of course, is in the cutting. On Fridays I go to my dad's place, to continue the war against encroaching Nature that I've been slowly losing all my life. Today, however, we almost won...
The battlefield was the stream (our only water supply and/or main drain, depending on which way you happen to be facing at the time), where a thick, tangled stand of mean, determined willow, hazel and briar has been strangling the water supply since I was a teenager (it's downstream. See above; go figure). At various times it's beaten back determined attacks with billhooks, staffhooks, chainsaws and even the machaera. Those are trees with attitude.
The 25" Kobra did for the lot of them, and left me wondering what all the fuss had been about. Whether it was hacking through 6 and 8 inch branches, or slicing through tangled swathes of springy bramble, the khuk carried on moving effortlessly, always light and lively in the hand, achieving devastating cuts through its combination of cutting profile and handspeed, using the long, slow curve of the concave edge and the perfectly-shaped convex centre of percussion to slide through the stringy green timber. The blade-length, too, is exactly right for accelerating round-arm diagonal forehand and backhand cuts, allowing me to get the blade moving at a thoroughly impressive speed. I've always preferred a light blade travelling fast to a heavy one going slowly, and that's what the 25" Kobra does, in spades. The hand-and-a-half grip is exactly right; slim enough to hold securely in one hand, long enough to accomodate both hands for the really powerful cuts. And it stayed solid, by the way, despite some pretty intense action. It's not a beautiful grip, but it's definitely efficient.
So; that's that. I've found my perfect khukuri. Excellent though the other seven khuks in my boot cupboard may be, I can't see myself ever using them again; and the same goes for a garageful of edged tools, ranging from hatchets to glaives and bardisches. This is it; true love at last.
Which is good news for all you HIKV victims out there. Get yourself a 25" Kobra. It's all the blade you'll ever need.
