HI: "another viillage model" = ??

Thomas Linton

Thomas Linton

Joined
Jun 16, 2003
Messages
20,207
On the HI site, when you look at the material on village models, you come to a picture of three "village models by Bura." (Love to have one!) Below that is a khukuri whose back actually slopes up to meet the shoulder, creating an extra wide forward half - nearly twice the width of the first half of the blade - a real brute. It is labeled "another village model." Is there a name for that model? Does anyone out there have one?

TAL
 
Bulldog1%20villager.jpg


looks real heavy like a short AK without the fullers - no idea

Andreas
 
I've got a non-HI Villager that looks very similar - except that the blade is more straight, spine and edge, in the Sword of Shiva area. I'd say it's one of my sharpest khuks, complete with the classic sheath split. Very capable blade. Some day I'll get around to pinning the handle (only partial tang) and reworking the sheath or getting a Sisco special, and it will be first out of the gate for camping and hiking.
 
If I'm recalling correctly, and there may be some doubt to that, Bill once told me this was a Dhankuta Style kukri.
The style is portrayed by the hump on its back.:)
 
Yvsa, 'fraid not. The Dhankuta illustrated at the HI site is a very, very dress AK looking khukuri - no hump. Thanks for try.

TAL
 
"The Dhankuta illustrated at the HI site is a very, very dress AK looking khukuri - no hump."

Thomas,

RE "very very dress"...If you mean fine finish by this, remember that the Villagers are not made by HI. They are purchased from real village kamis who don't have electricity, buffers, etc. Likely they couldn't find anybody except HI to pay up for a finely polished khuk from them even if they did polish it by hand. HI does make something occasionaly called "village sytle" or "HI villager" or the like, which is pretty much a normal HI model without the polish and equipped with steel furniature.

Models like the pix you linked were sometimes referred to as "Bulldogs" by formites. I gave one to my folks, it was about 14" long, I don't recall seeing much bigger ones that look like this. Pretty handy little tool.

Howard's FAQ, before it was merged with the new HI pages did have a page describing a khuk charcterized by a hump on the back...but I can't find those pages in the new set-up, though most of the rest of the FAQ is there.??:confused:

Well I did a google search--this should teach ya, don't argue with Yvsa, unless he really insists his memory ain't working!!:D

dhankutakhuk2.jpg


Dhankuta is located in SE Nepal. The population is largely Rai and Limbu which makes the Sirupati a very popular khukuri in that area. But the Sirupati is not geared for some jobs so the make a very standard looking khukuri which generally has a little "hump" (like a camel) on the back of the blade. Why, I can't tell you and the hump is not always there.__ Bill Martino "

Not eactly like the pic you posted, I'll agree--but there is a "hump" on the front part of the spine.

from:
http://www.himalayan-imports.com/faq/Styles.htm

This is one of several pages of the FAQ which don't seem to be linked up anymore. I don't know if the info they contained was put elsewhere or not. I guess a lot might have been repeated somewhere else, but I don't think all of it.

I think that J.P. once said that there were at least 200 styles! Add to that individual Kami's interpretations or mixing of styles.... If you asked the village Kami who made it, he might just look at you funny, and say "It's an ordinary knife, what do you mean?"
 
Looks more like the "Sherpa style" that is seen on unc Bill's avatar. Might be easier to find in the crest of H.I.
 
I appreciate the input. Let me get back to square one. I was hoping to find out the name (if one exists) of the khukuri I described in the HI site pictures "another village model"). That khukuri does not look like any khukuri identified as Dhankuta that I can locate on the HI site or in any post in this forum (lots of references to Dhankutas). Dhankutas seem to be fancier than the normal HI product.

The khuk I was interested in slops up to meet the shoulder resulting in a forward half of the blade that is wider than it would be but for this sloping up. If I were to describe a "hump," it is the forward half of the blade that has it.

Thanks again.

TAL
 
From what I remember, those are from the batch of Butt ugly 14" village models that Pala brought back from a trip to town.

I gots one of thems but it's slightly different. It has more style. :D I reckon it's a village kami's interpretation of a khukuri. It's probably from the same batch as Tohatchi's. Mine's pinned too. ;) Not a great chopper but good for general stuff.
 
Originally posted by Pan Tau
Bulldog1%20villager.jpg
Click to expand...
I have one I've always called my 'pug' villager.

Terrific blade, though ugly as anything you want to name.

As bruise said" Butt ugly 14" village models that Pala brought back from a trip to town"

John Powell (?) put a pic of several military models in a thread
a couple or more months back, I need to find it for the refernce,
I think there was a name for it.

Aha! Found the thread! :)
But no joy.
Pic link is no good--- no pic now. :(
 
Found what -I think- was John's comment on this blade style,
although not what I recalled.

"I still don't think this any particular style....just a short, sturdy chopper."

Wish the pic was still there for reference.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

OK.....I reread the thread & found what I recalled;
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=264398
Where JDP says,
"about issue kukris:
The Nepalese Army and the RGR still get the model pictured in the top of this photo. At times Indian Gurkha Regiments got this same kukri."

I remember thinking at the time, "Hey! That's my pug villager.
It's a real style after all."


-------------------------------------------

Here's Kismet's pic from above posted link:
attachment.php
 
quote: from post by Firkin
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I did a google search--this should teach ya, don't argue with Yvsa, unless he really insists his memory ain't working!!


Dhankuta is located in SE Nepal. The population is largely Rai and Limbu which makes the Sirupati a very popular khukuri in that area. But the Sirupati is not geared for some jobs so the make a very standard looking khukuri which generally has a little "hump" (like a camel) on the back of the blade. Why, I can't tell you and the hump is not always there.__ Bill Martino "

Yep, this is a Dhankuta.:p ;)
attachment.php


The reason I thought so is that I bought one for my daughter in Phoenix. It was a village model by a village kami and not BirGhorka. Bill called it a Dhankuta.
She uses it in her landscape business. It's been used for three years and just a couple of months ago had to have a new edge ground on it because of the rock dings. I sharpened it with a diamond stone a year ago, but this time she had let hired help use it. I doubt she will anymore.:)
Good hard convex edge and will last another 100 years!!!!:D
It ain't pretty, but it works like a banshee and I don't give a crap for pretty anyway when it comes down to a choice between work and pretty.
Neither does Penny.:D
 
yes, the kukri shown under the label 'dhankuta' on the HI site is actually 'royal dhankuta' if I remember rightly. so that may be part of the distinction
 
I'm still looking for the particular picture I recall,
but I did find this one from the HI FAQ Powell Collection page 2.

attachment.php
 
Is the horse dead yet?

I shall not rest until.........

Anyway.

Here's what another distributer calls a Dhankuta kukri:
k3.jpg

saying
"Blade Size: 9inch Handle: 5inch Case: Leather Weight: 600gms
Dhankuta is a village located in Easter part of Nepal and this type of Khukuri is made only in this village. Hence it is called "Dhankute Khukuri". "

----------------------------------

And to confuse things even more.........
These all are Dhankuta khuks from another distributer:
"Overall length is 13.5 inches with 9 inches high graded carbon steel blade. " & " A normal Dhankute Khukuri has 9” blade with 5” long handle."
KH0038_b.jpg
KH0040_b.jpg


KH0016_b.jpg
KH0015_b.jpg


At least the last one looks similar to the pug uglies.
 
Not that confusing really...read again:

"Dhankuta is located in SE Nepal. The population is largely Rai and Limbu which makes the Sirupati a very popular khukuri in that area. But the Sirupati is not geared for some jobs so the make a very standard looking khukuri which generally has a little "hump" (like a camel) on the back of the blade."

Some of the styles are named after a geographical area, some aren't.

So one can have a Dhankuta from Dhankuta, or a Sirupati from Dhankuta.

And, looking at the closed-cho model, in ddean's last post, a Chainpuri from Dhankuta. (Chainpur is in eastern Nepal, dunno how close to Dhankuta or if Rai and Limbu live there.)

So, it could be probably be said that all three are "Dhankuta khukuris", though it wouldn't be very precise. I imagine that one could find khukuris where two Kamis from different villages would disagree on what to call it.
 
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