input wanted for the next chapter

[JDP]

I am in the midst of a chapter about grips. Here are the subjects covered and I would like to know what else you would like answered that may not be here:
types
materials used
attachment
ID of kukris by grip style
pommels
bolsters

Here is a type of bolster I have never seen before. Well made and of a very angular design. Anybody have something like this?

 

[Bill Martino]

The ridge at the top of that bolster is not uncommon -- the angular shape is.

The handle has as many inbred meanings as the blade. If you could hit some of these it would be informative and certainly interesting. Of course, all of it is oral info that has been passed down for 4 or 5 hundred years and added to, taken from, and otherwise well corrupted but it is still interesting stuff. Eye of god buttcap shape, 4 winds, 4 directions, keeper. The lines around the center and the ridge are there more because of tradition than funtion -- what do they mean?

 

[spiraltwista]

Hi There Folks!
Bill, this is purley my conjecture based on making a handle for a very old hanshee I picked up for peanuts, {because it had spent 60+ years in a shed!}

The first two handles I tried to whittle out of some slow grown walnut, went wrong when I cut/split through the ridges,so I then cut some lines into the circumfrance of the next handle, and I have found they work as a stop to prevent splitting the ridges off!
I got the idea, from looking at the cuts round the ridges on other old khuks.

My guess is thats where they originate from.
best regards,
Spiral

 

[Aardvark]

John, there may not be anything to say about grips on the following subjects, but they occur to me:

- geographical differences
- evolution of size/shape

 

[firkin]

The HI (all Bir Ghorka) bolsters seem to resemble ferrules in that the handle is reduced in diameter and projects inside. This would prevent or counteract splitting and add strenth and durability.

Is the shorter type in the pix more of a butt-joint?

The various types of carving or decoration of the handles may deserve separate treatment in some cases--it seems that Chainpuri type grips often have more extensive carving or checkering for instance. Other carving on the handle rings seems to occur in knotted or rope patterns accross a larger number of styles. Then, of course there are elaborately decorated handles with lots of carvings or metal studs.

Perhaps there is no pattern to the decorations by origin or khuk type, but it seems that there might be.