Gelbu Special came in today. NICE, but one problem.

Roadrunner

Roadrunner

Joined
Jun 9, 1999
Messages
4,729
This was my first HI khuk, a 'blem' offered by Uncle Bill on Monday. I'm very impressed, the blade is massive but nicely fullered and extremely well polished. The chakma and karda are nearly works of art they're so nice. I especially like the handle. It fills up my big hands very nicely, unlike another khuk that I bought from GH. This is not a problem with the GH khuk per se, it just caused my irritation because of the size of my hands. Once I snd down the ring on this GS it'll be perfect. There is one problem though; when I was messing with it right after cutting open the box I pushed the chakma and karda deep into their slots on the sheath since they were riding kind of loose and I didn't want them to fall out onto the kitchen floor. This was immediately after I opened the box. Whenever I first drew the karda out to inspect it, there was a deep ding in the handle near the blade! I looked in the slot in the sheath that it came out of and realized that one of the nails that holds the sheath together was sticking out and when I shoved the karda deep into the hole it gouged the handle! The same happened with the chakma, only it had multiple dings because I had pushed it farther into the sheath. I was disapointed by this overlooked area of the sheath. The two nails stick out pretty far and did a hell of a number on the beautiful handles of these two tools. It won't be a hard problem to fix, I think a little strategically placed moleskin will cover the nails, but the dings in the chakma and karda go pretty deep. So in conclusion, I love the knife and the tools, but the sheath could be better.
 
RR, I am involved in a struggle with the sarkis and ultimately I will win. I am sending a copy of your criticism over to Gelbu so he can read it in front of all employees, many of whom cannot read or write.
Pretty soon they are going to get the message.

Sorry.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
Roadrunner.
You are certainly not the only one who has experienced this problem. Yvsa posted some good suggestions some time ago. I've found that the problem is usually that the nails are put in at a slight angle, and the high side of the nail head causes the scratch. I usually smooth down the high side with a small triangular file to avoid damaging the handles. I doubt if it is realistic to expect the sarkis to be able to put a nail in that small opening and get it perfectly straight. The use of nails to attach the karda & chakma holders to the scabbards seems to be a fairly recent technique, probably adopted as a time-saving measure, and as Yvsa notes isn't unique to HI. Older khukuri scabbards, and the one on my HI ganja walla (which is modelled after an old one) are sewed together. This is obviously a much more labor-intensive, time-consuming, and thus more expensive alternative. In fairness, the nailed holders are sturdier than the sewed ones, which are often ripped or torn on older specimens.
Berk

[This message has been edited by Berkley (edited 07-14-2000).]
 

I've experienced this with every khuk I've handled from H.I. Which is not many, unfortunatly. I just take a pair of pliers and sqeeze down on the nail until I'm sure it's in then I file it down. Maybe three minutes of work for a wonderful knife. I can handle that. What about the rest of you?

- D


 
The point is, Daniel, if you can do the repair in three minutes the sarkis should be able to do it in the same amount of time. My question to them is why don't you do it rather than making the customers do it? All it takes is three minutes.

------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
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