Help choosing a Khukuri

D

dirkh96

Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
25
Hello,
I recently decided that I wanted a khukuri to help with chores outside. Several years ago, I thought about purchasing a Himilayan Imports Khukuri, but I had no need for one at the time. However, now I would have many uses for a khukuri.
I don't know which one to purchase though. I thought about a village khukuri, the british army service model, and the ang kholas. This khukuri will be mainly experience heavy use, such as chopping wood (I mean, for example, cutting up large branches of oak and poplar when they fall after storms), clearing debris, and other basic work. What size and model would likely serve me the best? This Khukuri will not serve as a showpiece, but will be meant for work. At this time, I am only going to buy one Khukuri, however, I likely will buy another, especially if I am satisfied with the one I do purchase (I highly expect I will be after reading all the great things said on the forums).

Thanks!
 
Welcome to the forum! Depending on how big you are, the thread below this advertising the Deal of the Day for 6/30 has just what you need. Great choppers at great prices. As FuriousFist said, go for lighter ones, less tiring and safer to start. I'm sure some more knowledgeable folks will be by shortly. Also, this question gets asked a lot so the search function will help. Welcome again and feel free to stay awhile!
 
Deal of the Day period. These Kukris are cheaper and of the same high quality of regular HI Kukris. So you can buy a few to see which suits you best.
HIChitlangi020.jpg
Any 24 oz to 28 oz Kukri sounds about right for your heavy woodwork. I personally like lighter Kukris for multipurpose use and because I hike to my camping areas were weight is very important. Plus the original design of the villager Khukuri seems to focus on doing a lot of different farming tasks were if the Khukuri was too heavy your arms would tire quickly.
 
Welcome Dirk!
Let us know how big a person you are and maybe we can match you up to a Khukuri better.
For what you want to do our Chiruwa Ang Khola, Ang Khola, WWII or M-43 would suit you well.
As others have said theres a nice sale right now on some nice CAK's.
 
Thanks for all of the warm welcomes! I'm 6'1" and about 150 pounds, so I'm pretty large, but quite lean. How often do you have villager Khukuris for sale and around what price would one suited for my work be? I may not buy the Khukuri for a month or two, but I wanted to get an idea for what I wanted now so that if I saw a really good deal on exactly what I wanted, I could get.

I've been reading past posts on similar topics and it looks like I would definitely prefer a villager style Khukuri with some blemishes because it would save a lot of money, and I won't want to use a new one since it looks so nice! The wood around here that it would chop is mostly oak and poplar, but there are some other woods. I do have a diamondstone, strop, and honing compound because I own a few other knives.
 
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Hi, Dirk:

Villagers are not necessarily cheaper. They tend to be less polished and with less fancy fittings, but some people prefer that. A khukuri for heavy use won't keep its high finish anyway. The practical value of villagers is reflected in their price, which depends more on the amount of steel and quality of construction than the degree of finish. A villager is just as "new" as a polished model. In fact many villagers can be turned into polished models by .... well, polishing it. Some people go in the other direction, changing a polished blade to satin finish.

A "blem" on the other hand, is often much cheaper in Yangdu's Deals Of The Day (DOTD) on this forum. Usually the blemishes can be ignored or easily fixed, such as a hairline crack in the handle or some tarnish on the blade. Sometimes it's just a missing scabbard or karda/chakma. More severe blems, such as a knife that needs rehandling, are less frequent but much cheaper. Yangdu identifies that in her postings.

It sounds like you will mainly be chopping on your own property or nearby, so the weight is limited by what you can handle physically, rather than what you can carry long distances. Here's a list of models that have the HI warranty for heavy chopping:

1) Chiruwa Ang Khola
2) Ang Khola
3) British Army Sevice
4) World War II
5) M-43
6) Ganga Ram Special
7) Bonecutter
8) Pen Knife
9) Ang Khola Bowie
10) Amar Singh Thapa Khukuri

People have their own favorites, but your decision will be affected by whatever comes up as a less-expensive DOTD "blem" in the right length and weight. If you can get one of these models at 18" and 32 oz or less, you can't go wrong. Even a few ounces can make a big difference, if everything else is equal. (Which it never is. :) )

One of the CAKs that Karda mentions is 18", 30 oz and would be great for your purpose. It's also quite beautiful and the price is somewhat discounted due to a couple of cosmetic blemishes. I almost went for it myself earlier today.

Good luck and keep us posted.

-- Dave
 
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Thanks Dave for all of the information!
I went and read a dozen or so similar posts, and I decided that for my first Khukuri I want one around 28-30 oz. and probably a WWII, CAK, or Ang Khola model. Which handle material would be the best for this knife? I was thinking wood, since it seems like it would be less likely to crack. I'm going to keep watching the DOTD's since I want to get the knife for about $120-130 total.

I was looking at past DOTD's and I noticed that some knives that are the exact size I want were about $100 because of a crack in the handle that was fixed with epoxy. If a knife like this comes up, is it still well worth the $100, or will the handle break quickly since Ill be chopping a lot? If it won't affect the strength of the handle much, but is merely a blemish that mostly impacts the visual appearance, I'll try to get a knife like this for my first.

In the future, I definitely want to get a couple other Khukuri's, probably a light weight model for clearing brush, and maybe a middle-weight model for medium jobs. HI seems like a fantastic company, and I'm even more impressed after reading all about the kamis and the beautiful knives that the create. Happy upcoming fourth of July to everyone!
 
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I've been looking at every DOTD, and I just missed out on the villager CAK today :( However, I noticed that the 15in 20oz. BAS from a few days ago is still unsold. What would this knife be best for? Should I remain patient until a larger knife comes along? Eventually, I do want a knife the size of that BAS, but, at this point, my primary use would be for splitting wood, so would it be too small?
 
dirkh96 said:
I've been looking at every DOTD, and I just missed out on the villager CAK today :( However, I noticed that the 15in 20oz. BAS from a few days ago is still unsold. What would this knife be best for? Should I remain patient until a larger knife comes along? Eventually, I do want a knife the size of that BAS, but, at this point, my primary use would be for splitting wood, so would it be too small?
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Depends on what you mean by splitting wood. If you're further splitting already split cords into smaller pieces or kindling to start the fire with, sure. If you're planning on cutting decent sized rounds, hell no, you're risking the blade.
 
abdelhazred said:
Depends on what you mean by splitting wood. If you're further splitting already split cords into smaller pieces or kindling to start the fire with, sure. If you're planning on cutting decent sized rounds, hell no, you're risking the blade.
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Well, for cutting large pieces of wood, I use a sledgehammer and wedges. In terms of splitting wood, I would be cutting smaller pieces up some, but mostly cutting large branches (most around 5" in diameter at the widest) into smaller pieces. There are many trees where I live, so I find that I have to cut these branches up quite frequently when they fall during storms. I would probably take the knife with me when I go camping to do any jobs that I need it for. Would a 15" Khuk be a good size for what I want to do with it? I really like the WWII and M-43s, but those are larger. I would probably get a larger (28oz-30oz)khuk in a year or so if I end up getting this one.
 
dirkh96 said:
Well, for cutting large pieces of wood, I use a sledgehammer and wedges. In terms of splitting wood, I would be cutting smaller pieces up some, but mostly cutting large branches (most around 5" in diameter at the widest) into smaller pieces. There are many trees where I live, so I find that I have to cut these branches up quite frequently when they fall during storms. I would probably take the knife with me when I go camping to do any jobs that I need it for. Would a 15" Khuk be a good size for what I want to do with it? I really like the WWII and M-43s, but those are larger. I would probably get a larger (28oz-30oz)khuk in a year or so if I end up getting this one.
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Chopping. You're looking for a chopping blade. Yes, you should be able to handle that just fine with a 15" blade. It's not everyone's personal preference, I've done such work with a much shorter (non khukri) blade and didn't find it excessively exhausting or painful.
 
On the non-Chiwura Kukris how securely is the blade attached to the handle and how big is the tang?
 
Karda said:
It is glued in with "himalayan epoxy" called Laha, which is as strong as any western epoxy and the tang is peened thru the buttcap for extra security. H.I.'s tangs are the largest and strongest in the industry.
Please see this:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/937058-Knife-handles?p=10656686#post10656686
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Thanks Karda. I just ordered my first two HI Kukris the other day and am eagerly awaiting their arrival. A CAK and a 20" Siru. I was wondering how strong the "hidden tang" was in comparison to the Chiwura. I think a 15" and 18" Siru will be in my future as well. Speaking of which, I've seen pictures of Sirus that look like they were made by HI but they had the Chiwura style full tang. Do you guys make those occasionally as specials?
 
falar said:
I've seen pictures of Sirus that look like they were made by HI but they had the Chiwura style full tang. Do you guys make those occasionally as specials?
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Anythings possible around here :D
If it didnt have the H.I. markings, chances are it wasnt an H.I.
 
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