Khukuri Darwin Award near miss

J W Bensinger

J W Bensinger

Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Messages
2,228
Brought my copy of the little 19th cent. Khuk to the farmers market where I sharpen yesterday-Marine friend of mine asked to see it and did this unsheathing it:
image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
Bear in mind that scabbard was router cut, not traditional, so he pulled it through 3/16" of solid poplar-lucky, lucky dude...he's definately buying the beer for a while-that leather was a lot of work.
 
Thanks Gehazi-image.jpg here it is with the original. It's very thin-i think we woulda been taking some fingers to the ER in a sandwich bag full of ice if he'd had a slightly different grip on the sheath.
 
wow, could not love that cho more, thats a great example JW, thanks for the side picture-- that is just a wicked cool blade, not seen many like it
 
And his first words were....?????
I like that studded frog. something like that is needed so one can slip the sheath between the belt and pants. The standard frog is too floppy for my tastes.
 
I had it set up with an old bianchi shoulder holster harness. Shoulda left it that way and just handed him the knife.
 
J W Bensinger said:
I had it set up with an old bianchi shoulder holster harness. Shoulda left it that way and just handed him the knife.
Click to expand...

Handing someone a khukuri has its own hazards if he's not used to that type of blade.

I remember when I got my first HI khukuri. It was a 32 oz CAK, probably the heaviest knife I had ever held up to then. Intimidating. Could easily amputate a toe if dropped. For the first few minutes I handled it like a live grenade. Several months, and several HI blades later, I got complacent while wiping mineral oil onto a blade, and the tip gave me a nice gash on the finger. A very clean cut, almost surgical, about 1/4" deep. No lasting harm, but I had my finger taped up tightly for a few days.
 
The first khukuri I made( 1994 or so)a Tamang style sirupati- got me good. I was splitting willow withes to make a compost bin-the piece of wood I was splitting let go and I sliced the entire side of my thumb off (draw a line using the side of your thumbnail as a guide-yep, everything from there out was gone).
I felt it happen, clenched my hand around it, looked at the khukuri, and noticed the side of my thumb stuck to the fuller...good times...
 
J W Bensinger said:
The first khukuri I made( 1994 or so)a Tamang style sirupati- got me good. I was splitting willow withes to make a compost bin-the piece of wood I was splitting let go and I sliced the entire side of my thumb off (draw a line using the side of your thumbnail as a guide-yep, everything from there out was gone).
I felt it happen, clenched my hand around it, looked at the khukuri, and noticed the side of my thumb stuck to the fuller...good times...
Click to expand...

Gives new meaning to the term "shaving sharp." :(
 
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J W Bensinger said:
The first khukuri I made( 1994 or so)a Tamang style sirupati- got me good. I was splitting willow withes to make a compost bin-the piece of wood I was splitting let go and I sliced the entire side of my thumb off (draw a line using the side of your thumbnail as a guide-yep, everything from there out was gone).
I felt it happen, clenched my hand around it, looked at the khukuri, and noticed the side of my thumb stuck to the fuller...good times...
Click to expand...

Yikes! My wife would've said, "See? No more Khukuris for you", and leave me there to stop the bleeding myself, while mumbling something incoherant as she calmly walks away, hoping I don't come into the house bleeding like a faucet.
 
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