Grip Modifications?

[CanDo]

Hey guys,
I'm loving these HI khukuris for their awesome blades but can't say the same for the handle. As feared, the upward flare chews up my palm during a lot of use. I may have to bring it down on the belt sander, though I really don't want to mess up the kami's fine work. Is there any talk of an HI khukuri without this flare being produced?
Without it, (but with the addition of a wrist lanyard) the khuk could be held with the first two fingers like some machetes allowing for greater leverage and a flick of the wrist (a 12" would act like a 14" and a 16" becomes effectively an 18" when you need them to be). As I actually happened to learn in tennis, the wrist can generate tremendous power (rather, it serves to transfer the rest of your body's energy into the knife very efficiently, like the crack of a whip). Even in a normal grip, this benefit could be realized with a reduction in the flare's size.

Any thoughts? Am I doing something wrong? By chocking up (middle ring between my ring and little fingers) the problem is largely minimized, but is somewhat counter-productive in that leverage is being lost. Any sort of grip in which the last 1/2" of the palm could roll around the bottom would be simply awesome .... in my mind, it would open up the khukuri's full potential. After half of a millenium of experience, I'm inclined to believe the kamis have a good reason for the upward flare though.... why?

~CanDo

 

[Salamander42]

I think the whole design of the handle with the middle ring and the flared butt is to provide a secure grip as possible without needing a lanyard. I think most khuks are too heavy to use extensively for "machete work" anyway so I'm not sure how useful the 2 finger grip you described would be. It might work well with a lighter khuk though. Heck, it might work fine with a regular khuk too, I've never tried it. It just doesn't sound practical to me as I sit here in front of my computer without a full sized khuk within reach.

Perhaps you have a khuk that's a bit too small for the size of your hands?

I have a baby BAS model (only about 9" overall) that I had a similar problem with. On mine the ends of the flared parts were rather pointy and sharp. I rounded them off a bit with a file and have had no problems since. Unless you have a khuk with some engraving on the butt plate I wouldn't worry much about "messing up" anything with some modifications. Just go slow and test it frequently. You might need to remove less material than you think.

 

[Aardvark]

Neither choking up, nor modifying the flair are bad ideas. Remember, it's your knife. If it doesn't suit you, you're not going to use it. Which is bad karma. Or something like that. Sometimes, the top flair digs into my hand when doing a lot of chopping. So I sand it down (belt sanders may actually be THE magic bullet...). Modified a number of khuks that way. Depending on the khuk, I'll grip the bolster between my thumb and index finger and chop that way. Whatever works for you.

 

[jnphares]

I started a thread about the problem I had (and corrected) with the bell of a Dharane Chitlangi and a couple others posted about making similar handle mods:
Dharane Chitlangi handle - like or dislike?

You can do as you'd like, but I'd recommend only removing/reducing the back flare. Also, unless your lanyard idea is to make a D-guard and assuming that it doesn't hit someone else, you'd be far better off with letting the khuk go rather than having it tethered to you if it slips. They can inflict severe injury (not unlike being cut with an axe).