Half price deal on 15"AKs for veteran HI customers.

Bill Martino

Bill Martino

Joined
Mar 5, 1999
Messages
34,096
Kami sent three 15 inch Ang Kholas in this last shipment and instructed me to sell these for half price to customers who have one or more HI khukuris. He wants the opinion of those who get this knife. Is this kami good enough to work in shop 2? Here's a (almost) picture of one. They are all pretty much the same. Not quite up to the HI standard but close.

Uncle Bill


<img src = "http://members.aol.com/yangduspag/pict58.jpg">
 
Sure wish I already had one so I could get another at half price! Of course I could buy two, one at full price and one at half price for a total savings of twenty five percent...
I don't think that's what you have in mind though Uncle Bill (since I've never used one before)!
Mike K.

[This message has been edited by Hammer (edited 25 May 1999).]
 
8:45 AM and the post office still hasn't gotten packages put up yet! They claim it's due to road construction. The morning mail used to get here about 8, but now it's 8:30 or 8:40 before it even gets in the back door!
This could take 19 or 20 hours from ordering to getting delivery into my sweaty little hands. This is day #5 without a cigarette, but that's minor compared to having to wait for a khukuri another hour or two!!! Rusty
 
All gone!

Rusty, five days without a cigarette! My hat's off to you and I hope you can stay on the straight and narrow. Good going!

Uncle Bill
 
Rusty -- very impressive! I would like to quit, I think, but until my SO does, it's probably not going to happen.

Bill- thanks for the great deal! Glad to help Kami out. I am sure if he is even considering this maker, the knives must be excellent pieces.

Clay

------------------
Clay Fleischer
cdfleischer@yahoo.com

"My redneck past is nipping at my heels..." -BF5
 
Looking over the 15" AK, it's the absence of the scrolling more than anything else that keeps it from being an HI in my opinion. I agree with you Bill, it isn't quite up to HI standards but is getting pretty close.

Since you've said most kamis are older, I wonder how their eyesight is getting to be?
I remember my dad at the shop wearing those 2x magnifying things that fit onto a head like a welding helmet does, but raised and lowered a like 6" wide by one or 1 1/4" height pair of lenses. I think you know what I'm talking about. Wonder if a couple pair per shop would improve quality.
 
Interesting you should mention that, Rusty. Kami Sherpa uses a magnifying glass in the shop. Last time I did any welding I had to use the magnifier lens in my helmet. I am sure some of the old kamis do not have arms long enough and could use some magnifiers.

Uncle Bill
 
After I had a chance to use this khukuri, I thought I would post my impressions.

Firstly, Bill calls this one a "village" khukuri, but this one is much more esthetically pleasing than most of the village khuks, from what I have been told. This is a good looking khukuri. Here are my first impressions that I emailed to Bill:

"The 15" inchers is nice, but definitely not up to HI standards exactly. The Quality of the horn in the handle is somewhat lacking -- looks kinda roughed up. The buttcap is not as nice and it seems to be a little out of shape. The sheath (particularly the frog) is also alot rougher than HI standard. So, basically, it is not as well finished as a standard HI, but is still plenty well made. Will give it some more tests this weekend."

The horn handle seems gray, as opposed to the deep black colouration on my other HI's. It also has light gray streaks running through it. I am curious if this is a matter of finish or of natural variations in the colour of horn types?

After using the khukuri, here are further thoughts I passed on to Bill:

"Used the Village Ang Khola this weekend on some dead tree branches while housesitting. Performed excellently. Sure does make the chips fly. Used it on one branch that probably should be tackled only with a chainsaw, but I cut through it in a relatively short amount of time (much shorter than expected). Many of the limbs, threatened by the massive blade, fell simply under the weight of the blow, with no real cutting needed. Put two dings in the edge when I accidentally hit metal grating that is used to hold bondfire material. They were deeper dings than I expected, but I was unsure as if this was normal or not. They didn't chip at all though. I tried working them out with a chakma, but found my EZ-lap rod was much more effective. Overall, I was very impressed. Brought it home, washed it with soap and water, dried it thoroughly, and gave it a generous coating with a Marine Tuf-Cloth."

I worked on the edge with my EZ-lap rod and the dins in the blade are hardly even noticeable.

In all, I was very impressed. This is an excellent knife. Maybe not up to HI or collector standards, but a serviceable tool that performs its role excellently.

------------------
Clay Fleischer
cdfleischer@yahoo.com

"My redneck past is nipping at my heels..." -BF5


[This message has been edited by CD Fleischer (edited 09 June 1999).]
 
Thanks for report, Clay. The streaking in the horn is natural.

Maybe this guy is good enough. He just needs to clean up his act a little and pretty things up. Sounds like the blade he made is okay. Will get reports back to Kami when he returns from the Solu.

Uncle Bill
 
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