Indian made Kukuris

Here is another example of items that raise only questions. Another EBay opportunity:


"KUKRI- GENUINE GURKHA - MILITARY SURPLUS - WWII
. . .
This magnificent weapon is genuine, un-issued, unsharpened, military surplus from India. It was produced in the mid 1950's." [:rolleyes: ]



[You know. That other WWII. The one that ended in the mid 1950's -- or thereafter.]


[The vendor's website will sell it to you for $34.99, including "two companion knives (usually used as eating utensils)" and an "Officer's" leather sheath.]

It appears to be the usual Windlass item.
 
Thomas Linton said:
One good rule regarding Indian-make khukuri is to avoid any with a metal lion's head in relief on the butt (They usually have metal bands around a black, horn handle and really bad scabbards.). These "lion butt" khukuri have been made since the 1920's and are strictly wall-hangers (although they would create blunt force trauma if you hit someone).
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EXCELLENT advice the above is a dead giveaway.

Thomas Linton said:
Windlass/Atlanta Cutlery sells genuine vintage and antique khukri for $79 UP. They are not new and do not appear new.
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I have personally seen these at a gun show. I think that Atlanta Cutlery bought out some Indian or Nepalese armory and got a huge load of these. They have some rifles also.

John Powell helped them set prices on selling the khuks.

My take on the khuks was that they are pretty good. I don't see them as great antiques and they are certainly not as good, not anywhere as good as Himalayan Imports.

I did not buy one, and I have a trunk full of HI Khuks. As a serious antique sword collector, HI khuks are the ONLY edged weapons that I buy multiple pieces. I may buy one Spyderco for instance.

I rarely wholeheartedly recommend ANY manufacturer. I have been disappointed in a few others with uneven quality. BUT I have NEVER been disappointed by ANY khuk (or any other design piece) from Himalayan Imports.

Speaking of disappointment I bought a hand-made Chinese Jian for $1200 bucks from a major manufacturer. It was bad. Poor quality blade and scabbard. Looked good in the pictures.

The seller is on eBay. One of the few I used to recommend. He did a lot of grumbling about the return and charged me a "restocking fee." I gave him his first negative. To let y'all know, I have given only three negatives in the five years I have been on eBay and have bought over 800 products, so I don't give negatives lightly. But this was unacceptable and I feel that people needed to know.

However, I am continually amazed by the quality of workmanship. The balance. The useabaility. The power and also the "presence" of an HI khuk.

You simply can not go wrong buying HI. I have bought both blems and "10" rated HI products. I have no hesitation about buyiing any of these.

When friends come by, other antique collectors who would never buy a "modern made blade," I show them my HI pieces and they always fall in love with them. They are blown away when I tell them the low prices. They want to know where I got mine and I give them the HI website and Forum.

They are not disappointed either.

You simply can not find a high quality khuk, or sword, that sells for such a low, very low price as these HI pieces. I am serious that comparable pieces I have seen will cost you ten times as much to get the quality you can buy here for such dirt cheap prices.

HI khuks are awesome. Most of mine are never used, but I have a hellova kudzu killer. A YCS blem that gets plenty of use!
 
Greetings: Thomas Linton
This is J. W. Kilpatrick here. Hey, Thomas I am just having some fun in dealing with the subject of High Quality Khukris Comming Out of India.
I am not a man that splits hairs on different issues. I always go with the preponderance of evidence rule and the preponderance of evidence on this matter is that one does not go to India to buy high quality khukris. One goes to Himalayan Imports to get high quality khukris and I know that we here at Blade Forums all agree upon this matter.
However, here are some more of my thoughts on the subject of getting high quality khukris from India:
I am almost certain that all the kamis in India that made good high quality khukuris were probably trained by Bura when he was on vacation in India or those kamis in India that made the good quality khukris were able to save up enough money to go to the Bir Gorkha Factory and get their training for making khukris from Bura at the Bir Borkha Factory. However, I am pretty much convinced that most of the kamis in India that can make high quality khukris are probably dead by now, since I have never seen a good quality khukri come out of India. Now, India puts out some top notch mathmaticians and engineers, but I just can't acknowledge that India puts out top notch quality khukris.
QUESTION--- Does one go to India or the Bir Gorkha Factory to get top notch khukris? ANSWER -- hmmmmm, let me think about this for a while. hmmmmmm, this could be a difficult decision to make, since America has been flooded with so many high quality khukris from India, right?
However,I have finally come to the conclusion that one gets more bang for one's hard earned buck, when one buys one's khukris from Himilayan Imports Bir Gorkha Factory. Thankyou, Uncle Bill. You did a great work with your life while you lived upon this earth. You were a kind and gentle spirit with a great dream of helping others. God Bless you.
J. W. Kilpatrick
 
Thank you, J. W. Kilpatrick for your positive remarks about HI Imports. The company under Yangdu is not only maintaining the highest standards set by the late Bill Martino for his Khukuris, but is moving HI forward.




munk
 
Nasty said:
I bought that one that showed up in a crate once. Bill sold it to me for $10 (shipping). The scabbard is nice...decorated with studs and such and fits an antique I had that was missing its original.

The khukuri shaped piece of dead soft scrap metal that came in the scabbard is in the bottom of my pond.
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LOL! Nasty, you had better watch out for the EPA. I think that counts as water pollution. Of course by now it has probably dissolved... :D
 
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