How I learned about khukuris.

Bill Martino

Bill Martino

Joined
Mar 5, 1999
Messages
34,096
Many of you may wonder how I gained my knowledge of the khukuri so I'll tell you. First, I looked, listened, read, asked questions and asked more questions and kept on asking questions. If I thought somebody had some information and knowledge about khukuris I'd ask them questions -- Gurkhas, kamis, scholars, historians, any and all.

Then I did the one thing that taught me the most about the specifics of a khukuri and its manufacture -- I tried to make a khukuri myself and I think I made every possible mistake that could be made. Even though our shop 2 kamis think I might make a decent kami they are dead wrong about this. I will not live long enough to ever make a good khukuri.

Years ago I had access to a good shop with every piece of modern equipment I might need to make a khukuri. I tried and I simply could not forge a khukuri -- period. I quickly realized that it was going to take considerably more time than I was willing to spend to ever make a decent khukuri. Then I did the next best thing...I modified some khukuris. I could weld on different tangs, modify the grind if I wanted, and actually made some handles that looked good and got them fitted well. I had all the tools so I made my bolsters and buttcaps of solid brass or steel -- strong and looked good. I used a Brigeport mill to drill the hole for the tang (if the kamis could see that!) and good quality epoxy for setting the handle.

I got a few blades from Nepal that were not hardened or finished and tried the zone hardening process myself, imitating the kamis method in Nepal. I learned mostly what IMPROPER heat treating would do to a khukuri but with a little practice I got good enough to harden the blade the way I wanted it. With 7 or 8 different sanders in the shop finishing the blade was easy.

All this taught me a lot about the khukuri and the reason for learning was this: I figured if I was going to try to sell khukuris I'd best know something about what I was trying to sell.

So what's the real story here? Experience is the best teacher.

Uncle Bill
 
William James' three criteria for Truth:

Congruence.
Usefulness.
Luminosity.

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Ghorapani on the other hand tends to be yellow.
 
Bill,

Some things can only be learned by doing. I think we're fortunate you found Khukuris so interesting.

Thank you for sharing your learning experience with us.

Rusty,

I'm still chewing on the Truth thing.
wink.gif
 
Bill's comments fit into the realm of experience, reality, and truth.

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Baloney, Braggadocio, and Bovine ( or Equine ) byproduct don't, hence the reference.
 
Rusty,

Yes, very germane. Although if I had anticipated the bovine reference I probably would not have used the phrase "chewing on".
smile.gif


[This message has been edited by Bob Irons (edited 16 July 1999).]
 
I was being too abtruse.

The Congruency part means that truth does not contradict itself, or bite it's own tail. It is consistent throughout.

The Usefulness part means that it has application to something immediate and important.

The Luminosity part is partially the Light Bulb going on in your head, but more that it doesn't just throw light on what you were looking for, the way a mini flashlight does, but that it's light illuminates the things all around what you were looking for. It shows you new previously uncomprehended relationships.

The reason I quoted that is that I regard Uncle Bill as not a master but a quite competent journeyman and student in an arcane field. Just because no-one in the western hemisphere knows more about kukhuries than him doesn't make him an expert. I don't think he will have any problems with this description. I certainly hope not, and treasure his opinions because of his humility and honesty. He knows what he knows from experience, and he doesn't pretend to know more. He either tells you the truth as he knows it or tells you up front that he's guessing. Mostly pretty good guessing.

He sells his goods by being able to tell you just what they are and just what they can do.
He doesn't hawk his wares like a carnival barker.

Edit: Next morning thought. A guy on another forum once stated the most important thing about his hollow handle survival knife was that it let him carry a lock of his wife's hair in it, to remind him what he was surviving for.

If you don't understand that, then you aren't equipped to understand the HI kukhuries' spiritual qualities and impact on our varied sixth senses.

[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited 17 July 1999).]
 
Thanks, Rusty. Quite a compliment.

I guess everybody here has seen the khukuri, village model about 25 inches, that Yangdu holds so easily. I think the pix is on our village khukuri site. Take a look at bolster, buttcap and handle. All done by Uncle Bill.

As I remember that village knife came in with a quick and dirty partial tang handle. I tore it apart, welded an extension on the tang, and made the solid brass bolster and buttcap and the handle. I may have mentioned somewhere that the kami had made bolster and buttcap out of solid brass. Well, I was the kami.

I would not offer this information before because I felt nobody would believe me. Now I have enough confidence to tell the whole truth because I think after reading the HI forum for awhile forumites will know that Uncle Bill seldom tosses out a bunch of BS.

Uncle Bill
 
:
I was going to post some things about Loyalty,Honesty,Helpfullness,etc.and then realized that Rusty already said them better than I could.

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>>>>---¥vsa---->®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.
 
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