Kukri Design

This is great. Exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. Alright, one final question and may the traditionalists forgive me, but why in 2500 years has no one managed to put a
guard on a khukuri?
 

Alright, one more final question. How does the regular AK compare to the Chiruwa? I know that there's the obvious weight difference, but beside that which one preforms better? I want to hike the whole Appalachian(sp?) trail starting this summer and I'm not sure what to carry. I don't think that the weight difference will affect me that much. What are your opinions? Thanks.

- D

------------------
Spar paa vannet, drikk ol
 
Joe99, my guess is it's because a hilt on khukuri does not work effectively on khukuri to khukuri combat by its forward bent blades. even if you can guard your hand from your opponent's khukuri when the blades contact, the edge is likely to reach your head.
As for protecting hands from sliding forward onto the blade and getting cut, a khukuri is used not by thrusting but swinging.

All these are just guess from khukuri geometry, so let's wait for experts come and help.

BTW, is your name from a kinda supermarionation hero?

VHD, if weight is no matter to you... how about BOTH?
 
Joe99,

They did. Here are some from long ago.

NepalMuseumKhuk1.jpg


There are lots of other similar pictures at http://www.tx3.net/~howardw/Khukuris/Historical.htm . The guards make sense in blade to blade combat, but decrease ease of use for a utility knife.

[This message has been edited by Howard Wallace (edited 01-10-2000).]
 
Ok, in order, what is supermarionation? Joe is my name and i tossed 99 on the end after taking 18 trioes to come up with a unique name on Yahoo. I really wanted to use 'WrongFriend', but unfortunately, that was already taken.

Thanks for the pictures. I can see how that design would interfere somewhat with the utility of the knife. I suppose it's time to actually buy the bloody thing now.
 
On lanyards:
Drilling the handle is a good idea if you are skilled at drilling! But it can be tricky. I haven't done it -- I don't feel that I can do it with the finesse required. Uncle -- can you post pix again of the khukuris with the handles off so we can see the tang design?

Believe it or not, you can tie a 550 paracord around the handle just in front of the flare of the butt, and keep an eye on stretching of the cord -- tighten it periodically. Do it first at home and work with the knife, keep tightening until any "give" is gone from the paracord. That way, it's already "broken in" by the time you get in the wilds. 550 paracord is rated to hold 550 pounds of weight. It'll hold any knife and then some.

With leather you can do same -- but leather stretches easily when wet and can get brittle when dry again under stress, and can therefore break or slip off. I would still use it though if I had it properly conditioned (Sno-Seal in this case would be good to waterproof a leather lanyard.) Just prepare it the same way as the paracord, but it'll take a little more doing: wet (reallly soak it!) the leather lanyard, and hang the knife from it. The lanyard stretches and dries. Do it a couple more times, then when fully dry and fully stretched, put on waterproofing. Additionally, you could (and should) add glue to the part around the handle to keep either the paracord or leather from slipping off. Just be certain it ain't water-soluble glue!!!
biggrin.gif


Another option is wrapping the whole handle in paracord (very comfortable) and leaving enough at the end to make it into a lanyard.

It works great so you don't accidentally drop it into unrecoverable areas. A cavaet: make sure you can feel where your blade is, and where it's going at all times during swinging (if bushwhacking or other "free use") -- a short lanyard can spin the heavy knife right back into you if you're not careful. If you are using it in an area where dropping the blade means just picking it up again without losing it -- then don't bother with the lanyard.

On Guards:
I've found that "thrusting" with the khukuri requires orienting the point so that the force on your hand isn't directly forward towards the blade, but more sideways, or diagonally, directly towards the tip of the blade. In other words, if you put a piece of string at the base of the handle and stretch it straight across to the point, you have a diagonal line that bypasses the blade it self. That's the general direction your hand wants to move during thrusting in the foreward grip. That angling, combined with the notch on the handle, works fine for controlling slippage. Why? You're not actually thrusting. You're really still swinging the blade, but orienting it so the tip hits the target at an earlier point in the arc of the swing. That, combined with your body positioning and timing, sinks the tip into your target. Keeping your hand towards the flare on the back of the handle gives you better momentum when chopping or swinging and helps you keep your grip there because you can feel when it's NOT there.

If you look at the history of the Ghurkas, the only amputees were their enemies...and they didn't have guards...
biggrin.gif


That said, I don't thrust with it much if at all in the woods -- I haven't found a real need. In combat, yes, I would, and it works quite well if you know how to handle the knife.

Another great point (no pun intended) about the karda: the little karda that comes with the 15" AK is plenty of knife for skinning large animals like deer and elk!

The other great thing about the Khukuri is that, in many instances, the mass of it allows you to knock things down with the spine of the blade, saving your edge for other work. Smaller knives can't do that very well.

Also, you can do fine work with the 15" blade itself by sticking the point into a log, straight up, and working small material around the knife rather than trying to work the big knife around delicate material. (Make sure you face he blade away from you and pull the material over it towards you.).

Glad to hear you're getting an HI Khukuri -- it will do the best job for you of any brand out there: The HI is the ONLY Khukuri I would stake my life on in the wilderness, no offense to the other brands. And welcome to our little family...

Best,

Brian.



------------------
Suburbia: Where they tear out the trees, then name streets after them.
 
Brian, you are on a roll! Another excellent post.

I'll try to dig out the pix of the tang.

If you decide to drill a lanyard hold you need to drill off center to miss the tang. There is plenty of handle area for a 1/8 or 5/32 hole -- big enough for a lanyard.

------------------
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ

 
My pleasure, Uncle!

Daxx -- sorry: forgot to answer your question about length of the lanyard: I usually make it long enough to loop easily over my wrist with extra room -- you want it long enough so it doesn't constrict your motion while using the blade, but not so long that it just falls off all the tim back onto the knife... experiment so it's comfortable. You can push it up to your forearm near your elbow and grip the top spine of the knife near the tip for fine work (or move the lanyard around to any position in between) -- the lanyard keeps the blade steady and distributes the weight -- it surprising how dextrous you can be with the knife in this position.

Hope this helps!

Brian.

------------------
Suburbia: Where they tear out the trees, then name streets after them.
 

No thanks, I don't really think that I'd want to carry both! I really want to know what the biggest diffrences are between the 15" AK and the 15" chiruwa and how they preform compared to each other. Does anyone know? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

- D

------------------
Spar paa vannet, drikk ol
 
There were Sci-Fi TVdramas from UK around 30 years ago, like "Thunderbirds" " Captain Scarlet" and "Stingray" etc, all played roles by marionettes. One of the series was "Joe 90", your name reminded me of it.

I feel glad Uncle Bill gave the answer, or I might have to do test myself...
Thank you, Uncle!


------------------
\(^o^)/ Mizutani Satoshi \(^o^)/
 
Given the same size performance will be almost identical. However, for some reason unknown to me the kamis tend to make the Chiruwa bigger and beefier. That skews the performance. Bigger knife bigger performance.

------------------
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ

 
Vampire Hunter D, a friend of mine hiked the Appalachian Trail this summer. I think you will have a blast; he did. A few things though. People ALWAYS overpack their packs when they begin the trip, especially if they are hiking from south to north. I have read, and it happened to my friend, that the first Post Office north of Springer Mountain GA does a LOT of work sending packages back home, where people have WAY overpacked for the trip.
Another thing... my friend made out with a SAK for the entire trip. He just didn't need a big knife on the trail. With all the shelters on the trail, he would only use his tent one or two nights a week. All the other times, he would sleep in the shelters, or even in a hotel once or twice a week.
The longer he was on the trail, the lighter his pack got. By the end of the trip, he did the entire 100 mile wilderness with a ruck-sack on his back (ie, no load supporting hip-belt). So, as much as I like to support buying any knife, I don't think you'll be wanting to carry a 15 inch piece of steel of any shape. Just things to think about.

------------------
"Absolute safety is for those who don't have the balls to live in the real world."
 

Thanks Rockspyder! This information is quite valuble. When I go hiking and camping I usually underpack and have to make up for it later. I really planned on staying in woods as deep as it got the entire time if I could. I'm going north to south, then I'll probably go on to florida to visit friends, and take a plane back to the area the car is in. I think I might also take on the Lake Superior trail, any tips?

- D
 
I think that Howard, who has been there and done that, will back me up on this when I say one of the things I noticed about trekkers in Nepal was they definitely overpacked. And, they did the same as mentioned here -- started getting lighter by giving away to folks along the trail a lot of the stuff they realized they didn't need.

Personally, I like to travel light.

------------------
Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top