- Joined
- Dec 27, 2010
- Messages
- 6,852
By way of introducing this thread, I should mention that I spent many weeks searching for information on Khukuri, and was able to find virtually no solid information, aside from that most people don't seem to like Kabar or Cold Steel, and DO seem to like Himalayan Imports. I could find virtually no information about the non-traditional KLO's such as the Kabar Kukri or Cold Steel's various offerings. End result, I bought both, and plan on sharing some photos and thoughts with you. This includes only my initial impressions, and I'm well aware of the problems that are supposed to crop up with the Kabar's Kraton-G handle. So far, after about 200 hours of use, I have not encountered them. Without further ado:
I think you can probably guess which is which, so I'm not going to say much about that.
I'll start with the Himalayan Imports Khukuri (henceforth to be abbreviated HI, as seems to be standard). I ended up getting the 18" WWII model, since the 15" Ang Khola was out of stock. I knew in advance that the knife would be forged by a kami (that is, a master in the art of making khukuri, often from a long line of such masters, for those new to Khukuri, like myself). I also had gleaned that the knives are generally made from leaf springs from trucks. Now, I'll be honest with you, I love BIG knives. It's probably because they're close to short swords, so they're big enough to feel like I've got a real weapon, but short enough to use in close quarters. Not that I ever intend on getting in another fight involving knives, or any other kind of weapons, but hey, if you need it...
I also want to mention that the folks at HI are fantastic. Absolutely impeccable customer service. They were willing to answer all of my questions, and were completely aboveboard. Quick responses, and willing to work with someone on a student budget. I was a bit sketchy about sending them a credit card number via email, but given their popularity, I figured it would be fine. It was, they're totally on the level. So if you're thinking that their shop looks sketchy or anything, not to worry. I would expect your transaction to go smoothly, and I will almost certainly do business with them again in the future. Okay, enough talk, more review.
The 18" WWII model comes in a handmade leather sheath, which is extremely sturdy. The knife itself was smaller than I had expected; the 18" I think refers to the overall length of the knife, rather than the length of the blade.
The sheath itself also contains two smaller knives (of sorts). The top knife is called the karda, and is a small knife for cutting tasks that do not require a gigantic blade. The other knife is called the chakma, and does not have an edge. I gather it is used for light sharpening. I think the general idea is that when you use a knife, at least, a properly tempered one, the edge will roll to the side slightly (or it will chip, if the temper is not ideal). By periodically running the chakma over the edge, this process can be corrected, much like you would do with a steeling rod. The chakma came with a number of scratches all over it; I was unsure if that was intentional or not.
The karda did not have nearly as many scratches on it. It also sports the same wooden handle as the khukuri. Both karda and chakma appear to be glued into the wooden handles. I am not sure what kind of wood is used, but it has a very nice grain, and feels as if there was a wax finish applied. It looks fairly similar to mahogany, which makes me wonder if the usual neem wood was used (neem is a type of mahogany local to Nepal) The blade appears to be epoxied or glued into the handle.
The sheath is very durable. It is made out of some kind of leather, probably water buffalo hide, since that seems to be traditional. However, it is very rigid, leading me to believe there is some kind of a wood insert stitched inside.
Overall the finish was surprisingly good, although not up to par with some of the swords and other weapons I buy. There were a few wrinkles here and there, on the front side of the sheath, and on the back.
The bottom of the sheath is protected by a brass cap, which has some small scratches, as if its been polished with fine grit sandpaper.
You'll note how thick the frog is as well from some of the earlier pictures. I would normally prefer a ring to tie the bottom of the sheath to my leg, but the khukuri barely moves around on my belt, despite the heft of the giant knife, so the thick frog seems to be doing its job.
Overall I'd say the sheath is very nice and useable, which is good, because I really intend to use this knife as a field knife. Nothing like getting those weird looks from the hippy backpackers around here because I'm toting around a giant knife on my pack.
Anyways, lets take a look at the Khukuri itself.
The knife itself is pretty huge. It's 18.25" long from pommel to tip of blade, measured straight, and the blade itself is 12" long. It is 5.5" to the bend, measured along the spine of the blade, and 7.25" from the bend to the tip of the blade. The handle is 6" long, and nicely finished. The blade is probably inserted into the handle by way of a stick tang, which is glued into the handle through the use of a local epoxy called laha.
The blade looks beautiful, although I will remark that it came pretty dull; it was largely unable to cut through even a cardboard box, which the Kabar kukri made short work of. So I ended up sharpening it before I did any serious cutting with it. I'm not sure if that's universally true of HI knives, but if you're not at least somewhat competent at sharpening, you may end up with more of a bludgeon than a blade, in terms of out-of-the-box sharpness. I admit I was a bit disappointed about that.
That being said, the blade is gorgeous. The steel is amazingly strong and really holds an edge nicely, once you put a decent one on. I went for a convex grind for strength, which took me quite some time to do, since I'm no expert, although I tend to be very picky about my blades. It also has a funny shaped indentation 1" up along the blade, along with some sort of marking, which I assume is the signature of the kami. The inch between the cho and the handle is unsharpened.
As I understand, the cutout is called the Cho, and there are a wide variety of explanations for it. My personal favorite is that the Cho symbolizes the trident of Shiva, the Hindu god of war (and creation). I had initially thought that Nepal was more Buddhist than Hindu, but it's evidently more than 80% Hindu, so this explanation does seem to make sense.
The engraving of the makers mark has obviously been done by hand, and not engraved by a machine. It's clearly been scratched into the blade with a hand tool, although it looks pretty good, and honestly, the fact that it's handmade by a kami really endears the blade to me. Not to mention that this kami really knows his stuff. The blade is beautiful. The markings are different on each side, and I'm not entirely certain what each means. I did some research, but could not find the markings on my blade, so I guess HI maybe is using a new kami who has not yet been added to the list.
There's a fuller along the back of the spine of the blade extending up to the curve, possibly to reduce weight, but certainly to improve the aesthetic appearance of the blade. The back of the blade is beveled, I assume for strength, and because it cuts down on sharpish edges on the back. The blade is 1 3/8" thick at the base, but widens to 2" past the curve. The blade is a whopping 3/8" thick. I think the sheer size of the blade, along with the fact that it's made of basically extremely heavy duty spring steel, is probably why HI Khukuri come so highly recommended. I immediately get the feeling that this blade is virtually indestructable, and will really last a long time. It will certainly outlast its owner!
The handle is made out of wood, and has a nice waxy finish that makes it really easy to keep a good grip. It also looks great. A really close examination reveals that the cuts in the hilt are not perfectly even, which I assume means that they were done with hand tools. It's very hard to tell, however.
There is a brass fitting where the blade meets the hilt, which appears to be flawless. Polish looks great, and there are no sharp edges. The hilt is also capped with brass. There are 3 noticeable flaws, including a gouge in the pommel cap, and two burs, which provide sharp edges and need to be sanded down. The hilt also flares out, possibly to prevent the wielder from losing his grip, since you generally don't want to death-grip a khukuri.
I did a few cutting tests with what I had available. I love to chop cardboard boxes. Even sharpened, however, it doesn't cut as well as the Kabar knives I own, or the benchmade combat knives.
I had to swing pretty hard to cut that deep, and you can see the edges are pretty torn up. Here's another one:
It fared quite well on wood, however. The khukuri weighs around 2 pounds, mostly in the blade, and that's a lot of heft for chopping. I tried it out on some seasoned cherry, and it did a good job of biting into that, chopping through a 1" stick in a few hits. It also kept its edge nicely, without so much as bending. Overall, I'm certainly happy with this khukuri.
To be continued...
I think you can probably guess which is which, so I'm not going to say much about that.
I'll start with the Himalayan Imports Khukuri (henceforth to be abbreviated HI, as seems to be standard). I ended up getting the 18" WWII model, since the 15" Ang Khola was out of stock. I knew in advance that the knife would be forged by a kami (that is, a master in the art of making khukuri, often from a long line of such masters, for those new to Khukuri, like myself). I also had gleaned that the knives are generally made from leaf springs from trucks. Now, I'll be honest with you, I love BIG knives. It's probably because they're close to short swords, so they're big enough to feel like I've got a real weapon, but short enough to use in close quarters. Not that I ever intend on getting in another fight involving knives, or any other kind of weapons, but hey, if you need it...
I also want to mention that the folks at HI are fantastic. Absolutely impeccable customer service. They were willing to answer all of my questions, and were completely aboveboard. Quick responses, and willing to work with someone on a student budget. I was a bit sketchy about sending them a credit card number via email, but given their popularity, I figured it would be fine. It was, they're totally on the level. So if you're thinking that their shop looks sketchy or anything, not to worry. I would expect your transaction to go smoothly, and I will almost certainly do business with them again in the future. Okay, enough talk, more review.
The 18" WWII model comes in a handmade leather sheath, which is extremely sturdy. The knife itself was smaller than I had expected; the 18" I think refers to the overall length of the knife, rather than the length of the blade.
The sheath itself also contains two smaller knives (of sorts). The top knife is called the karda, and is a small knife for cutting tasks that do not require a gigantic blade. The other knife is called the chakma, and does not have an edge. I gather it is used for light sharpening. I think the general idea is that when you use a knife, at least, a properly tempered one, the edge will roll to the side slightly (or it will chip, if the temper is not ideal). By periodically running the chakma over the edge, this process can be corrected, much like you would do with a steeling rod. The chakma came with a number of scratches all over it; I was unsure if that was intentional or not.
The karda did not have nearly as many scratches on it. It also sports the same wooden handle as the khukuri. Both karda and chakma appear to be glued into the wooden handles. I am not sure what kind of wood is used, but it has a very nice grain, and feels as if there was a wax finish applied. It looks fairly similar to mahogany, which makes me wonder if the usual neem wood was used (neem is a type of mahogany local to Nepal) The blade appears to be epoxied or glued into the handle.
The sheath is very durable. It is made out of some kind of leather, probably water buffalo hide, since that seems to be traditional. However, it is very rigid, leading me to believe there is some kind of a wood insert stitched inside.
Overall the finish was surprisingly good, although not up to par with some of the swords and other weapons I buy. There were a few wrinkles here and there, on the front side of the sheath, and on the back.
The bottom of the sheath is protected by a brass cap, which has some small scratches, as if its been polished with fine grit sandpaper.
You'll note how thick the frog is as well from some of the earlier pictures. I would normally prefer a ring to tie the bottom of the sheath to my leg, but the khukuri barely moves around on my belt, despite the heft of the giant knife, so the thick frog seems to be doing its job.
Overall I'd say the sheath is very nice and useable, which is good, because I really intend to use this knife as a field knife. Nothing like getting those weird looks from the hippy backpackers around here because I'm toting around a giant knife on my pack.
Anyways, lets take a look at the Khukuri itself.
The knife itself is pretty huge. It's 18.25" long from pommel to tip of blade, measured straight, and the blade itself is 12" long. It is 5.5" to the bend, measured along the spine of the blade, and 7.25" from the bend to the tip of the blade. The handle is 6" long, and nicely finished. The blade is probably inserted into the handle by way of a stick tang, which is glued into the handle through the use of a local epoxy called laha.
The blade looks beautiful, although I will remark that it came pretty dull; it was largely unable to cut through even a cardboard box, which the Kabar kukri made short work of. So I ended up sharpening it before I did any serious cutting with it. I'm not sure if that's universally true of HI knives, but if you're not at least somewhat competent at sharpening, you may end up with more of a bludgeon than a blade, in terms of out-of-the-box sharpness. I admit I was a bit disappointed about that.
That being said, the blade is gorgeous. The steel is amazingly strong and really holds an edge nicely, once you put a decent one on. I went for a convex grind for strength, which took me quite some time to do, since I'm no expert, although I tend to be very picky about my blades. It also has a funny shaped indentation 1" up along the blade, along with some sort of marking, which I assume is the signature of the kami. The inch between the cho and the handle is unsharpened.
As I understand, the cutout is called the Cho, and there are a wide variety of explanations for it. My personal favorite is that the Cho symbolizes the trident of Shiva, the Hindu god of war (and creation). I had initially thought that Nepal was more Buddhist than Hindu, but it's evidently more than 80% Hindu, so this explanation does seem to make sense.
The engraving of the makers mark has obviously been done by hand, and not engraved by a machine. It's clearly been scratched into the blade with a hand tool, although it looks pretty good, and honestly, the fact that it's handmade by a kami really endears the blade to me. Not to mention that this kami really knows his stuff. The blade is beautiful. The markings are different on each side, and I'm not entirely certain what each means. I did some research, but could not find the markings on my blade, so I guess HI maybe is using a new kami who has not yet been added to the list.
There's a fuller along the back of the spine of the blade extending up to the curve, possibly to reduce weight, but certainly to improve the aesthetic appearance of the blade. The back of the blade is beveled, I assume for strength, and because it cuts down on sharpish edges on the back. The blade is 1 3/8" thick at the base, but widens to 2" past the curve. The blade is a whopping 3/8" thick. I think the sheer size of the blade, along with the fact that it's made of basically extremely heavy duty spring steel, is probably why HI Khukuri come so highly recommended. I immediately get the feeling that this blade is virtually indestructable, and will really last a long time. It will certainly outlast its owner!
The handle is made out of wood, and has a nice waxy finish that makes it really easy to keep a good grip. It also looks great. A really close examination reveals that the cuts in the hilt are not perfectly even, which I assume means that they were done with hand tools. It's very hard to tell, however.
There is a brass fitting where the blade meets the hilt, which appears to be flawless. Polish looks great, and there are no sharp edges. The hilt is also capped with brass. There are 3 noticeable flaws, including a gouge in the pommel cap, and two burs, which provide sharp edges and need to be sanded down. The hilt also flares out, possibly to prevent the wielder from losing his grip, since you generally don't want to death-grip a khukuri.
I did a few cutting tests with what I had available. I love to chop cardboard boxes. Even sharpened, however, it doesn't cut as well as the Kabar knives I own, or the benchmade combat knives.
I had to swing pretty hard to cut that deep, and you can see the edges are pretty torn up. Here's another one:
It fared quite well on wood, however. The khukuri weighs around 2 pounds, mostly in the blade, and that's a lot of heft for chopping. I tried it out on some seasoned cherry, and it did a good job of biting into that, chopping through a 1" stick in a few hits. It also kept its edge nicely, without so much as bending. Overall, I'm certainly happy with this khukuri.
To be continued...
