first reaction upon unpacking this one-of-a-kind UBDOTD pairing the work of Sanu and Terry Sisco was "awesome rig!"
My second reaction: what in the world was I thinking of in buying a 25-inch Sirupati?
I'd never held one before. It turns out that a 25-inch khukuri is a very l-o-n-g knife. Strapped to my belt, the sheath extends below my knee--and I'm 6'2". I have been humbled to discover I don't have the upper body strength to control this K. It's not the weight--I have heavier ones I can handle ok--it's how the weight is distributed. Not only is the Sanu Sirupati a long (beautiful, too) piece of work, the balance point is way, way out there down the blade. As a result, when I swing it, the thing just wants to keep on going. Reminds me of my lifelong bowling nightmare (I'm not a bowler) that my fingers will get stuck in the ball so that when I roll the thing I go right with it down the alley, finally assuring that elusive strike.
So I caution my fellow forumites, a 25-inch Sirupati is more than a handful. This is a specialty blade for users with some serious arm strength.
As for the sheath, this was also my first time handling Terry Sisco's work. It's like a lightbulb being switched on. This is a major, major advance in sheathdom. With a Sisco quick-release rig your problems with a tight, sticky sheath or a loose, rattling-around one are over.
It looks much like the sheaths we're familiar with except that the upper section is open across the front, so in cross section the upper shealth forms a V. The K is secured by a leather strap with snap. Unsnap the guard, pull up and forward on the handle, and the K comes free effortlessly.
You don't get the leather tooling the sarkis with no names are so good at. What you do get is an extremely well thought out and executed sheath that I would say is ideal for a long or forward-curving type of K. This one doesn't have space for a karda or chakma. In fact, the rig didn't come with them. That's fine with me. Cuts down on the weight, and I don't have to worry about them coming loose and falling out, as with a traditional rig. It's kind of liberating, in a way, not to have to deal with the k & c, which are often small for my hands. Besides, I've got about a million of them sheathed with my other Ks. And I don't see the 25-inch Sirupati as the kind of tool anybody'd be using in the field for hours and hours at a time, where you'd want to do an on-the-job touch-up with the chakma.
Anyway, I can now comfortably recommend Terry's work to anyone. Highly.
My second reaction: what in the world was I thinking of in buying a 25-inch Sirupati?
I'd never held one before. It turns out that a 25-inch khukuri is a very l-o-n-g knife. Strapped to my belt, the sheath extends below my knee--and I'm 6'2". I have been humbled to discover I don't have the upper body strength to control this K. It's not the weight--I have heavier ones I can handle ok--it's how the weight is distributed. Not only is the Sanu Sirupati a long (beautiful, too) piece of work, the balance point is way, way out there down the blade. As a result, when I swing it, the thing just wants to keep on going. Reminds me of my lifelong bowling nightmare (I'm not a bowler) that my fingers will get stuck in the ball so that when I roll the thing I go right with it down the alley, finally assuring that elusive strike.
So I caution my fellow forumites, a 25-inch Sirupati is more than a handful. This is a specialty blade for users with some serious arm strength.
As for the sheath, this was also my first time handling Terry Sisco's work. It's like a lightbulb being switched on. This is a major, major advance in sheathdom. With a Sisco quick-release rig your problems with a tight, sticky sheath or a loose, rattling-around one are over.
It looks much like the sheaths we're familiar with except that the upper section is open across the front, so in cross section the upper shealth forms a V. The K is secured by a leather strap with snap. Unsnap the guard, pull up and forward on the handle, and the K comes free effortlessly.
You don't get the leather tooling the sarkis with no names are so good at. What you do get is an extremely well thought out and executed sheath that I would say is ideal for a long or forward-curving type of K. This one doesn't have space for a karda or chakma. In fact, the rig didn't come with them. That's fine with me. Cuts down on the weight, and I don't have to worry about them coming loose and falling out, as with a traditional rig. It's kind of liberating, in a way, not to have to deal with the k & c, which are often small for my hands. Besides, I've got about a million of them sheathed with my other Ks. And I don't see the 25-inch Sirupati as the kind of tool anybody'd be using in the field for hours and hours at a time, where you'd want to do an on-the-job touch-up with the chakma.
Anyway, I can now comfortably recommend Terry's work to anyone. Highly.
