Wanted to share my recent experience with Kailash. I've always liked the khukuri design; I'm not a big knife owner/user but I figured what the hell; let's do something fun.
So here's a rough timeline. I note that now on their website due to the current massive covid outbreak and govt. restrictions their queue times may be longer, and some parts may be harder to source than usual.
On 16th March 2021 I ordered from Kailash a Historical Service issue (11.5", Performance Grind, Micarta wrap, copper hardware, small handle, 1x traditional sheath, 1x salyani style, satin finish) and a Mini in the same configuration, but with a 7" blade, polished finish, and a buffalo horn handle.
On 22nd March I received an image of the work in progress blades saying they were ready to be put in the grinding queue.
On 21 April I was told they were complete and ready to ship.
On 28th April I received them from Fedex in the US (Note that the fedex original location was Dubai; they use a forwarding service. It might be good for Kailash to mention this on their website somewhere if they don't already; I assumed this delivery was for someone else when I first got the text).
Packaging was great, everything arrived in good condition — the HSI had a small area of dirt on one side that was easy to clean up. Initial impressions are; everything is pretty awesome — and I'm not just saying that because of the 10% off on the next order deal they offer if you give them a proper review (so keep that in mind if scouring the net for reviews). The mini in particular feels really great in the hand; I'm not sure how much I'll actually use it for anything but it's a damn cool blade. Both are fairly sharp and the hardware joinery around the handle all looks great, no dodgy dents or ill fittings. I did a little bit of chopping old firewood with the HSI and it was pretty fun; no issues with the edge and I didn't hack my leg off, which seems like a genuine possibility.
So the sheaths. Construction quality seems excellent; the Salyani leather is a little more of a brown hue than the images on their website but that's to be expected if the camera isn't whitebalanced, photo was edited and so on. Retention is hit and miss; on the HSI salyani it requires vigorous shaking to get it to drop out maybe 2cm, after that happens a bit more shaking drops the blade out. I think that's quite good and doubt I'll have an issue. Typical inserting/removing the blade works perfectly. Retention is a bit worse on the traditional sheath but nothing awful.
For the mini the Salyani retention is not great, a moderate shake will drop it out, there's also a stiff area when inserting the blade that makes it a little less smooth. Still, works quite well. On the traditional sheath it's the same situation but a little bit better. Overall I think the sheaths are quite good, and it's pretty good value to get the traditional ones free when getting the Salyani. Note that I'm not saying one style has better retention than another, just that out of the 4x samples I have this is the variance you can expect — from decent-but-needs-adjusting to pretty much perfect on arrival. There are supposedly ways to loosen/tighten sheaths with oil/heat since organic materials can adjust due to environmental effects and so on, so if it bugs me I'll give those a go. Anyway.
Copper hardware has some minor blemishing, I suspect it isn't full copper but electroplated or some such (edit: Nope, see post below, it's a weld seam), probably Andrew or someone at Kailash can correct me on that. I was pleasantly surprised to see copper as an optional extra; I think it's quite beautiful. Also in this picture the handle-side end of the cho was fairly sharp on arrival, I softened it up with a file just in case my hand slips forward; one less sharp edge can't hurt (.....)
Micarta wrap feels quite good, didn't have any complaints after a minor amount of light chopping without gloves but I'm no expert so take that with a grain of salt. For what it's worth Micarta seems like a great option. I will note that the Cho on my HSI seems a lot larger than the ones pictured on the store page — I've read the cho thread here and really don't think it will be an issue, but just for peace of mind I'd probably have preferred a smaller cho. At the shortest point at the cho the blade is 25mm tall. Anyway, it almost certainly won't ever matter.
So overall — very happy with the purchase. I might end up collecting more khukuris in the future — I have a cheaper modern service issue I ordered from KHHI, before Kailash, that I've no idea on the status of.. so plus one to Kailash there for turnaround times. FWIW both companies responded to emails quickly.
I will note the HSI balance seems very tilted to one side:
If you're considering buying a khukuri Kailash definitely seems like the premier option for these reasons:
1) Their website is excellent — a lot of other khukuri sellers websites are atrocious — difficult to navigate or downright shady-looking. Kailash's is easy to navigate and browse, has good info and a reasonably modern design.
2) They oil quench and have a three stage normalisation and tempering process. I know very little about bladesmithing and don't have the apparatus to test these claims (but have no reason to doubt), so I can't attest to how much of a deal this really is — but worth considering.
3) Simple & practical customisation options — they're not trying to sell you a keychain and stand and a bunch of other crap at the same time. No karda/chakmak also keeps the costs down. Brilliant. Clear and distinct modern & traditional sections.
4) Ethics — I was reading a lot about Khukuris and it was very common to see "The K word" used in various manufacturers pages & youtube videos, so I was surprised to read Kailash's thoughts on the term. It's also nice they have a staff section on the page with a short bio and pic along with their maker's mark so you can tell who made your knife.
Another manufacturer that seems interesting is Dragonfly Khukuri and Knives: They have some curious models (MK5 workhorse) and offer some khukuris in 52100 ball-bearing steel — maybe a worthwhile change, maybe not — but I can't find anything about their tempering process. They also offer far fewer options than Kailash. At this point I think if I were to order another Khukuri I'd probably be getting a Pensioner or Angkhola Dui Chirra, or perhaps a Mutiny, and maybe a Chitlange from Kailash. I also wonder if there'd by any point in a modern service issue with a ~6mm spine thickness. I like the shape but it's clear from the description they don't think you should be buying a MSI. I'm also seeing some interesting designs from another Australian who goes by DML on the tubes. He also has some decent Khukuri content if you're interested.
That's it for now, if you have any questions about these two let me know and I'll do my best to answer. Big thumbs up to Kailash for the great knives and service; hope you guys make it through this latest covid outbreak OK.
So here's a rough timeline. I note that now on their website due to the current massive covid outbreak and govt. restrictions their queue times may be longer, and some parts may be harder to source than usual.
On 16th March 2021 I ordered from Kailash a Historical Service issue (11.5", Performance Grind, Micarta wrap, copper hardware, small handle, 1x traditional sheath, 1x salyani style, satin finish) and a Mini in the same configuration, but with a 7" blade, polished finish, and a buffalo horn handle.
On 22nd March I received an image of the work in progress blades saying they were ready to be put in the grinding queue.
On 21 April I was told they were complete and ready to ship.
On 28th April I received them from Fedex in the US (Note that the fedex original location was Dubai; they use a forwarding service. It might be good for Kailash to mention this on their website somewhere if they don't already; I assumed this delivery was for someone else when I first got the text).
Packaging was great, everything arrived in good condition — the HSI had a small area of dirt on one side that was easy to clean up. Initial impressions are; everything is pretty awesome — and I'm not just saying that because of the 10% off on the next order deal they offer if you give them a proper review (so keep that in mind if scouring the net for reviews). The mini in particular feels really great in the hand; I'm not sure how much I'll actually use it for anything but it's a damn cool blade. Both are fairly sharp and the hardware joinery around the handle all looks great, no dodgy dents or ill fittings. I did a little bit of chopping old firewood with the HSI and it was pretty fun; no issues with the edge and I didn't hack my leg off, which seems like a genuine possibility.
So the sheaths. Construction quality seems excellent; the Salyani leather is a little more of a brown hue than the images on their website but that's to be expected if the camera isn't whitebalanced, photo was edited and so on. Retention is hit and miss; on the HSI salyani it requires vigorous shaking to get it to drop out maybe 2cm, after that happens a bit more shaking drops the blade out. I think that's quite good and doubt I'll have an issue. Typical inserting/removing the blade works perfectly. Retention is a bit worse on the traditional sheath but nothing awful.
For the mini the Salyani retention is not great, a moderate shake will drop it out, there's also a stiff area when inserting the blade that makes it a little less smooth. Still, works quite well. On the traditional sheath it's the same situation but a little bit better. Overall I think the sheaths are quite good, and it's pretty good value to get the traditional ones free when getting the Salyani. Note that I'm not saying one style has better retention than another, just that out of the 4x samples I have this is the variance you can expect — from decent-but-needs-adjusting to pretty much perfect on arrival. There are supposedly ways to loosen/tighten sheaths with oil/heat since organic materials can adjust due to environmental effects and so on, so if it bugs me I'll give those a go. Anyway.
Copper hardware has some minor blemishing, I suspect it isn't full copper but electroplated or some such (edit: Nope, see post below, it's a weld seam), probably Andrew or someone at Kailash can correct me on that. I was pleasantly surprised to see copper as an optional extra; I think it's quite beautiful. Also in this picture the handle-side end of the cho was fairly sharp on arrival, I softened it up with a file just in case my hand slips forward; one less sharp edge can't hurt (.....)
Micarta wrap feels quite good, didn't have any complaints after a minor amount of light chopping without gloves but I'm no expert so take that with a grain of salt. For what it's worth Micarta seems like a great option. I will note that the Cho on my HSI seems a lot larger than the ones pictured on the store page — I've read the cho thread here and really don't think it will be an issue, but just for peace of mind I'd probably have preferred a smaller cho. At the shortest point at the cho the blade is 25mm tall. Anyway, it almost certainly won't ever matter.
So overall — very happy with the purchase. I might end up collecting more khukuris in the future — I have a cheaper modern service issue I ordered from KHHI, before Kailash, that I've no idea on the status of.. so plus one to Kailash there for turnaround times. FWIW both companies responded to emails quickly.
I will note the HSI balance seems very tilted to one side:
If you're considering buying a khukuri Kailash definitely seems like the premier option for these reasons:
1) Their website is excellent — a lot of other khukuri sellers websites are atrocious — difficult to navigate or downright shady-looking. Kailash's is easy to navigate and browse, has good info and a reasonably modern design.
2) They oil quench and have a three stage normalisation and tempering process. I know very little about bladesmithing and don't have the apparatus to test these claims (but have no reason to doubt), so I can't attest to how much of a deal this really is — but worth considering.
3) Simple & practical customisation options — they're not trying to sell you a keychain and stand and a bunch of other crap at the same time. No karda/chakmak also keeps the costs down. Brilliant. Clear and distinct modern & traditional sections.
4) Ethics — I was reading a lot about Khukuris and it was very common to see "The K word" used in various manufacturers pages & youtube videos, so I was surprised to read Kailash's thoughts on the term. It's also nice they have a staff section on the page with a short bio and pic along with their maker's mark so you can tell who made your knife.
Another manufacturer that seems interesting is Dragonfly Khukuri and Knives: They have some curious models (MK5 workhorse) and offer some khukuris in 52100 ball-bearing steel — maybe a worthwhile change, maybe not — but I can't find anything about their tempering process. They also offer far fewer options than Kailash. At this point I think if I were to order another Khukuri I'd probably be getting a Pensioner or Angkhola Dui Chirra, or perhaps a Mutiny, and maybe a Chitlange from Kailash. I also wonder if there'd by any point in a modern service issue with a ~6mm spine thickness. I like the shape but it's clear from the description they don't think you should be buying a MSI. I'm also seeing some interesting designs from another Australian who goes by DML on the tubes. He also has some decent Khukuri content if you're interested.
That's it for now, if you have any questions about these two let me know and I'll do my best to answer. Big thumbs up to Kailash for the great knives and service; hope you guys make it through this latest covid outbreak OK.
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