How's the performance of the village khukuris compared with the HI ones?

[golok]

I have read in numerous posts that village khukuris are excellent in their cutting and chopping performance.

Are they on par with the HI khukuris in terms of cutting capability?

In finishing, of course the village ones would probably lose out but how is it when it comes to heavy duty cutting?

 

[SamuraiDave]

Edge and blade wise Village Khukris are on par with HI knives. The only thing that sets them apart with HI khukris is that the makers take a little bit more liberty in doing their design, you get to see a full convex edge, sometimes you dont, it all depends on the maker.

The only inferior thing that I can think of with a Villager is some of them have partial tangs. Therefore the handel will have to be replaced after 50 years instead of 100 years.

But for the price nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can even shake a stick at a villager.

I once had this sweet sweet 11" village bas. Pointy as hell, steel hardened like a friggen diamond in a near full convex grind, with full tang and handel that was just excellent. I was stupid to sell it off, but hopefully somebody is out there using it and it is loved as a great tool.

My second villager, a very pointy 15" BAS, I gave to my brother. He tells me his friends freak out whenever he shows it to them. But he has really grown attached. It now sleeps beside him and it is his primary Home Defence khukri. I tryed to get him interested in a firearm, and he likes his kuk just peachy keen.

Nothing can beat a Khukri.

 

[ddean]

You need to differentiate between:

Village Khukuries--made in a village shop by a village kami.

Village Khukuries--made in the HI shop by a HI kami and normally marked as such.

I'm not aware of a clear terminology difference in use within the forum.

The 1st are highly variable.
As mentioned, almost always with partial tang;
so handles are -not- guaranteed.
Those here who pin the tangs (see below) of these villagers
report great confidence in the result.
The village created khuks occasionally sold by HI have
passed -at least- 3 inspections by HI before being sold.
[Buyer,Pre-shipment,Yangdu,Bill]
And often polished up a bit before shipping.
I have a little (13") pug villager from village kami.
It's irregular and ugly, but street tough.

Haven't seen any villagers for a while.
Biltons were originally non-hi production,
but I don't know about now.

The 2nd (HI Villagers) are 'less finished' HI khuks with full warranty.

Do a Search
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/search.php?s=
for "village OR villager"
or "village kami OR kamis"
or "tang pin OR pinned OR pinning"
or "handle pin OR pinned OR pinning"
in HI forum -and- in HI Archive forum.

 

[Ferrous Wheel]

Gifted a 15" HI villager to a friend, steel fittings, unfinished wooden handle. Convex edge, but it did need a bit of reprofiling to make it sharp across the entire blade. No problems with it yet. Had a really nice-n-hard chakmak.

Keith

 

[Rusty]

Khuks marked HI in devanagari were made in HI's Birgortha ( Brave Gurkha?Gorkha ) shop to HI standards.

Khuks made as down and dirty working tools village style at HI's Birgorkha shop are marked BG (for Birghorkha ) in devanagari, in the same spot the HI is placed. These are just as good for all purposes as the HI's, except for a rough finish that cuts down the time spent prettifying them.

So if you see an ugly duckling with two devanagari letters besides those you're used to signifying HI - and the work looks suspiciously like one of the kamis you know, well, you're probably right.

Good village kamis used to bring their stuff by to try selling them to Pala. When they moved from shop 2 to Birgorkha, the village kamis didn't know where to find them.

Now they are moving even further out so not even the maoists can find them.

 

[golok]

Thanks for that interesting explanation, Rusty. In fact, I am looking for those kind of village khukuris. I notice they have been missing from the scene for sometime.

Let's hope the Maoists don't make their life too difficult so that we can continue to enjoy their good work!

 

[Rusty]

The stuff someone like Pala or Yangdu can come up with from just looking over khuks from various village aruns - culling those brought to them for sale - is awesome. If it passes those two's inspection, it's worth buying.

That's how HI got started.

Then they went to contract with an arun down in the Terai ( shop 1 ).

Then they got a shop of their own ( shop 2 ).

Then they moved and called the place Birghorka. ( Shop #3 even if no-one called it that. )

Now they are waiting for the new place being built to get finished. Kinda close enough to get the khuks to Kathmandu but still enough out of the way of the maoist tax collectors.

Some ways it's like the Kentucky and Tennesee whiskey industry during Prohibition days. ( "Them Yankee revenooers are coming, break down the still and hide the corn likker!" Made at night so nobody'd notice the smoke from cooking the mash - ain't that why they called it moonshine?)