GHORKA ARMY khukri

Kismet

Kismet

Joined
Jan 30, 2002
Messages
7,269
OK!!! Because I was TOLD to find an inexpensive Khukri by Cliff
Stamp, I got this thing on eBay. It should arrive in 10 days.
For the price, anything they send me will be fine.
But, I'm told it has GHORKA ARMY stamped on it, and the number 124.
It could well be tourist junk, or some clone.... But, does anyone have
an opinion of what I got here. I was told it was approximately 14 inches long. The pommel cap has crossed khuks
Thanks....
(just following orders)
Kis

(I have picture, just can't figure out how to post it here. Let me know if you want to see the new toy. Thanks, Cliff.)

__________________
Kis
 
Dear Bill..

I mis-read, mis-typed, generally did it wrong... it reads
GORKHA ARMY in upper case, and has the 123 etc..on it.

thanks
Kis
 
Kismet, you'll really need to provide a photo. Or better yet, several, with any inscriptions, emblems, etc... visible. Then maybe we'll have a better idea of what you've got :)
 
It is probably something like this :

http://home.adelphia.net/~swords/images/S093.JPG

which is for sale on ebay now as an "official kukri". I would expect that you will want to clean up and sharpen the edge and that it will be a little soft so you may get a ding on knots and sharpening will be fairly frequent. Hopefully the handle will stay on long enough to get an idea of what the style of knife is capable of. Prying or any other hevay work is likely to bend the blade rather easily.

-Cliff
 
Thanks, Cliff. It looks a little stubby in the pix -- wonder if it really looks that way in real life.
 
Yes, that could be the angle. I don't know anything about who made it or whatever, but I would bet strongly that the comments I made above would apply in regards to performance. Hopefully once Kismet gets it we can hear a little field use feedback.

-Cliff
 
...and for an eBay what-the-hey purchase, very nice. Thirteen inches over-all. Nine inch blade, 2 1/4 inch at the widest point. Crossed khuks with "66" stamped over them on the brass pommel cap. Picture appeared to have oxidized blade, actually is high shine steel. No conspicuous use. VERY dried-out hide on sheath, splitting at top. C & K are rough, one horn-handled, the other (C) wood.

As shown in Cliff Stamps' posting of the picture, "GORKHA ARMY" stamped on right side of blade (as you hold it) running length-wise down the blade. "124" stamped horizontally on right side, just above brass. One narrow rule about an 1/8th inch from the top on either side...minimal blood groove maybe?

Questions remain: Anyone familiar at all with such a blade? I would not have thought that the Armed Forces would have to identify their issue knives, but I may be wrong. Serial numbers I'd expect to be non-existent, or much higher than "124", but this maybe a model, or maker ID? Also, a 9 inch blade seems small compared to the khuks I've seen for weapon use; yes? no? Expect to put neatsfoot oil on sheath to moisturize it, then black Kiwi shoe polish...any suggestions?

Mr. Stamp? What light duty tests would you like me to try? This will probably be a back-pack tool, replacing a hatchet.

The balance of the design is amazing to me. I think I may have developed a new obsession. Let's see: Ann-Margret; sxs shotguns; old cycles; edged tools; books, and khukris. Seems like a nice balance.

I'd appreciate any information, or wild-a**ed guesses.

Thank you all.

Kis
:rolleyes:
 
There is no "Ghorka Army," and hasn't been for a couple hundred years.
There are Gurkha troops serving in Her Majesty's Army as well as the Army of India. There is a Nepalese Army.

Why would the army of a foreign, non-English speaking nation stamp it's blades in English?

I think the knife was stamped that way as a sales...um....gimmick.

If you want a guaranteed quality khuk, buy one from Uncle. And he didn't pay me to say that! :)


--Mike L.
 
I don't think the markings mean anything except that somebody has gone to the trouble to put them there.
 
Kismet :

What light duty tests would you like me to try? This will probably be a back-pack tool, replacing a hatchet.
Click to expand...

Some pretty standard wood work would be my first series of testing. Fell a few soft-medium small trees (4" and under), limb them out and buck them up into 1' long sections. Here you are looking for (a) raw penetration, (b) low wedging, (c) accuracy and precision, (d) grip comfort and security and (e) edge durability and retention. This work should not have significantly blunted the edge nor damaged your hand.

Next is where you raise the stakes quite a bit more and use the khukuri to split the wood. Since the wood is quite small, you should be able to do this without any difficulty just by chopping into the ends of the wood. Since they are uneven from the bucking you might need to trim one edge off with a saw, or just clip a bit with the blade. You are again looking for the same aspects as in the above. Here it is quite possible to see much more dulling because you are chopping right into knots on occasion, but you should not see visible deformation.

Now you sharpen the blade. It should rise back up to a fine shaving finish quite quickly, being a carbon steel, either plain or spring most likely. Depending on what manner of hones and finishing equipment you use this should only take 5-10 minutes. If it is longer then the blade was blunted too much, or suffered too much damage. This assumes of course you are freehanding, with clamps and such it might take much longer so use your experience to judge.

Next I would look at fine cutting ability, wood whitling, rope cutting, that kind of thing. Carve a few points on some of the wood you cut and, and put some handles on some of the other pieces, try using it as a draw knife. Try some push cuts through rope as well as slices. Try it out on some fabrics and other materials. To enhance the slicing performance you might want to leave the edge near the handle at a rougher finish (lower grit), and put a high polish around the sweet spot up out on the blade for chopping.

Lastly I would find a decently large piece of wood, at least 8-10" or better (20" or better if you are related to Will Kwan) and chop through it. This is going to take some time and induce a decent amount of fatigue and sweat. This will let you look at extended use handle characteristics as well as the edge durability when your technique starts to get sloppy.

Other non-cutting testing would include hammering with the spine, point work, for example breaking up a stump to get dry wood for tinder, or heavy prying (lots of uses), and root and bone chopping. Some of these will induce damage no matter what the knife, root chopping for example can induce rock contacts, and all can cause damage if taken to the extreme. In order to interpret the results you need to have some experience with other knives in order to know what is good and what is poor performance.

The above is a decent place to start and is roughly how I first take look at large wood working blade. There is lots more you can do obviously, you are only limited by your imagination. A khukuri is a very useful all around tool and there are quite a few ways that it can be used by creative people. Check some older posts for lots of details.

-Cliff
 
Cliff, and Bill, thank you both very much for the suggestions and
information you provided. I was told that HI forum had generous, knowledgeable, and courteous experts. You two bear out that reputation.
I hope I have not imposed upon you too greatly. If so, I apologise.

Cliff, I will give your test program a shot. It may be that I will be the element that wears out during it, not the knife.

I'd hoped that someone might have seen a blade like this. Apparently not. The signature on it, in my opinion, may well be like a Swiss Army knife...a designation indicating a model for consumers, not an issue item. I expected it to be a low-end tool, not that standard that HI holds, but it is still the tool I have.

Fare well, where ever you fare.

Kis
:rolleyes:
 
Kismet :

It may be that I will be the element that wears out during it, not the knife.
Click to expand...

That's the ideal case, let us know your thoughts on the design after you work with the blade a little.

-Cliff
 
I was out on the hillside, following instructions and wearing
out an already tired arm, trying to do as Cliff Stamp suggested
testing the capabilities of the khukri (alleged Gorkha Army model),
when a neighbor stopped. He saw me hacking away at multiflora rose
bush roots with the khuk, and said he had one like that and would
I like it? So, back he comes with what could be a clone of the "official" khuk that Cliff linked to earlier...never having used it...and gave it to me.
The difference is profound. The 9" bladed one I bought is almost a
surgical tool compared to the bent spring with a handle that he
had gotten. I'm presuming that there is an equally large quality
gap between mine and the HI products. This generic POS model is a
larger blade (11" to my 9") but far beyond that...the steel quality, the finishing work, the capability to hold an edge...are night and day
apart. Weight is about double, handle is huge..beyond comfort for me, and in a brief comparison test...the POS model crushes as much as it cuts, whereas the smaller blade slices...even at right angles to the impact surface.
Moreover the weight is centered lower to the handle--a full tang, so that more effort is needed to move the blade, the whole arm must be used to utilize the mass of the knife, whereas with the smaller blade, weight is centered out near the bend of the blade and wrist action helps with creating velocity for impact.

The design of the instruments is remarkable, and I like it very much for the sort of camping, land-use utility I had in mind. But, the difference between quality, and comodity products...makes ALL the difference.

I'll report back on my progress with Cliff's suggestions.

Thanks again.

Kis
:rolleyes:
 
Hard to tell about quality by style or markings. My first khukuri was given to me for 10th birthday by my father. I had a blast playing with it but it would blunt, as in flatten out at the edge, from chopping on wood. Just a cheap junk model, like the ones that give khukuri's a bad name. Now I have one that looks almost identical, with the same broad arrow and 'India' markings, and its perfectly heat treated and feels awesome in the hand. This one came from a friend who traded it out of a Gorkha he was training with in the mid 80's in Hongkong. It's name is Raven's Beak; hence my forum moniker. If you saw a picture of it on ebay you would think it was junk. I think it is the K45 style but I haven't seen a good picture yet to tell for sure.

Kismet, just wait until you try out an HI.

:D

Pat Mc
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top