Giant Chitlangi Bowie -- arrived today!

S

Steve Tall

Joined
Aug 28, 2010
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Ten years ago, the first Giant Chitlangi Bowie was made in Nepal by Kumar and sold by Auntie Yangdu as a Deal of the Day:

Yangdu said:
GIANT CHITLANGI BOWIE BY KUMAR

Overall length -- 24''
Weight -- 53 oz.
Spine thickness -- 3/8''
Steel guard
Buffalo horn handle
Brown leather scabbard
Outstanding work by Kumar
ONE ONLY $275.00 *SOLD*
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This week on Halloween day, another GCB by Kumar was offered by Yangdu, and this one was significantly underpriced as a "blem" (due to the handle wood slab shrinkage that could require some minor filing on the chiruwa full tang):

Yangdu said:
...
24.5 inch 44 ounce Giant Chitlangi Bowie by Kumar. A great blade. Slight shrinkage of satisal wood handle. Add to your Bowie collection at $195. *SOLD*
...
Click to expand...

I got lucky and snagged it. Some photos appear below.
 
Giant Chitlangi Bowie
Overall length: 24.5"
Weight: 44 ounces
Satisal wood handle

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The weight of this one is 44 ounces, which I assume is significantly more manageable than the first one which weighed 53 ounces.
 
Grats Mr. Tall! That is a killer price on a killer blade. Sure dont look like a blem. Mine is 52 ounces but the balance and blade thickness really makes it very manageable. Amazing craftsmanship in them fullers alone. This is one of them blades that you have to put in your hands to really appreciate it! Should get my Tarwar tomorrow! Cant wait! Kumar rocks!
 
Yes, I imagine it would be rather unwieldy at 53 ounces. 44 ounces should serve much better. I have a 32" Manjushree and a 39" Janawar Katana that are 54 ounces each. They are slow enough although for different purposes. IMHO, that is chopping weight for that length and the purpose for a GCB is not chopping.
 
Thanks for the comments. Just realized that I forgot to post the spine shot.
Just under 3/8" thickness.

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I'll say he did good. This Giant Chitlangi now affectionately referred to as the Good Karma Chitlangi is already sitting behind me on my desk.

Meister Tall sent it on my way with no prodding on my part I might add, least ways not at first, perhaps we should call it the pass around Chitlangi except I ain't gonna pass it along no more.

Good Karma for Meister, good karma for me and most importantly good karma for Yangdu and her people.

Thank you Meister Tall. I've been a sick man lately and as you suggested this helped. Good timing too, wife don't usually hurt me when I'm sick but she does have a long memory.
 
Mr. B. made me an offer I couldn't refuse, haha. Actually, I passed it along to him at the price I paid for it, since I knew his collection had a GCB-shaped hole in it (and the GCB was never really on my "most wanted" list anyway).
 
Spent some quality time with the GCB last evening. Got it soaking in linseed to nourish the wood as much as I can, then will address the slight shrinkage. Actually not a bad thing at all. With my little girlyman hands it should be a perfect fit when I get it all fixed up.

Funny how you kind of chant wow oh wow as you hold it. Very impressive.
 
Bawanna! GCB!!! Wow! You finally got one:thumbup: Very kind of Mr. Tall. Grats Mr. B! You dont need that battering ram anymore. You could pretty much breech anything with that!
 
Great pix and post, thank you
 
Spent a little quality time with the GCB today. The handle had shrunk considerable which as I mentioned earlier isn't a bad thing for me since I have smaller hands but we can't have proud metal just sticking up on a beauty like this.
Here's some shots of the exposed tang.



So Monday or Tuesday I decided to do a linseed oil soak. Where's Waldo?




I really need to straighten up the bench I reckon. Anyhow I left it in that bottle all week until this morning. I took it out and let it run off most of the day while I did other stuff. It's still weeping like Bookie after a fall on a sharp rock from his mule, but that's good.

This afternoon I went after it with the file. The wood didn't really regain any volumn but it's well nourished for sure.

Some shots after some filing, sanding and a wax job on the blade.





And a shot of my knife blank from Bookie I been a filing on trying to make it look good. Taking it slow and it's slow going but it's starting to look like something.



Dinner bell just rang. I'm plumb starved! Later.
 
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